A Murder Of Crows [boyxboy]

There were sounds I found calming. Rain tapping against a window, a fan blowing out a steady stream of air, water babbling its way down a stream.

The sound of some poor bastard begging for mercy and being hit in return certainly wasn't one of them.

"Please...P-please!"

The voice was faint in my ear, the sound of my typing rivaling it. Shut up, you whiny asshole. I was trying to focus.

"Please stop, I'll have the- agh!" A particularly loud crash made me wince a little. Someone being thrown against a garbage can, maybe?

"Should've had it on time." This voice held no emotion, and the sentence was followed by the sound of someone being hit a few times. There was a light rustling noise, and then footsteps.

Realizing how short I suddenly was on time, I got back to typing hastily. I wasn't looking to join that guy in a beating tonight.

"Do you have it?" The voice still held no emotion, but I knew it was directed at me.

"Almost, almost," I said. "Stop being so impatient."

"Get it or you'll join that guy, Jpeg," the voice said.

"Get it or you'll join that guy, Jpeg," I mocked under my breath.

"What did you say?"

"I said I got it. According to his account records, he should have the money to pay up by now," I said, eyes scanning over the records and information in front of me. "What'd you get off him?"

"All the cash in his wallet plus the gold cross he was wearing," the voice said. "We'll run the drop off. Wait for us."

The line clicked dead and I hid my digital tracks before leaning back in my chair. I didn't want to wait for them. I wanted to go the hell to sleep and hope I woke up from this nightmare that was my life.

"A little slow tonight, Jpeg. Something on your mind?"

I turned in my chair, my mood sinking lower. "Just how much I hate that nickname."

Val laughed a little and took a seat on my bed. I didn't even know why I bothered locking the door to my room anymore; it never stopped her from getting in.

"Could be worse, Cor," she said. "How angry is Kieran going to be when he gets here?"

"With him? Who knows," I said. "He's always angry. He never left his edgy phase."

"Neither did you," Val said, gesturing to my face. "Lose the glasses."

"They're prescription," I said. "I like to see, you know."

They liked to make fun of me because I wore prescription sunglasses. I'd hacked into my mom's email years ago and lied to the school about how my eyes were sensitive and I had to wear the sunglasses to avoid headaches. In truth, I just liked to hide my eyes.

"Can you see the mirror over there? Because it'll show you that you look like an idiot." Val laid back on my bed, folding her hands behind her head.

"I don't remember inviting you in," I said.

"And I don't remember needing to be invited." Val shot me a smug smile. "Perks of our friendship, Jpeg."

"I'd call it more of a hostage situation," I grumbled.

Val's smile grew. "Isn't that what I said? Friendship."

"I'm going to do my homework before Kieran gets here to bitch at us. At least keep quiet so I can focus on that," I said, turning away from her and grabbing my school bag.

Val shrugged and put a headphone in, taking out her phone. I got to work on my unfinished homework, relieved Val would actually shut up long enough for me to do it.

After a little while, though, my bedroom door banged open. I sighed and put my homework away, turning to face the two new people in the room.

"Val, pay attention," Kieran said, swiping a tissue box off my desk and throwing it at her. His voice had switched from emotionless to irritated, and I had a feeling my mood would join his by the time he was done speaking.

Behind him stood Mia, the final piece of our lovely little group. She sat on the end of my bed and eyed Kieran.

"Blood," she said, gesturing to his gloves.

He looked down at them, where a little bit of blood was indeed on the knuckles of his gloves. He pulled them off and tucked them into his pocket. As disgusting as that was, I was just grateful he didn't toss them on my desk.

"You're sure he had the money?" Kieran said to me.

"Positive," I said.

He turned his attention to Val. "Then it's your job now. I want that payment by the end of the week."

"On it," Val said, twirling her headphones around her finger. "How bad did you beat him, anyway?"

"I can't promise all his teeth are there, but nothing's broken," Kieran said dismissively.

"And the Crows?" Mia said. "He'll report the attack to them."

"He will, and they'll still be none the wiser to who's behind the attacks," Kieran said. "We're done for the night. Val, don't slack. End of the week. That's the deadline."

"I won't slack if you won't nag. I heard you the first time, Kieran," Val said, sitting up.

"This is great and all, but can you get out of my room now? There was no reason for you to come here in the first place. You could've just gone to Val's room," I said.

"We didn't want to leave you out of the fun, Cor," Val said, ruffling my hair. I swatted her hand away and she caught my wrists, clapping my hands together. "Isn't it so much fun?"

"I have never wanted to die so much in my entire life," I said.

"Then die," Mia said. "At least we won't have to hear you complain anymore."

"Oh, just get out," I said, yanking my wrists free of Val's grasp. "Go."

"I'll be back if we need anything else from you," Kieran said, pulling the door open.

"Can't wait," I said dryly.

Val waved cheerfully before following Kieran and Mia out of my room. I got up and locked the door, knowing it was no use but feeling better with it locked regardless.

I sat down at my desk, trying to focus on my homework. But my mind kept slipping away, and I found myself searching around online.

Nothing, of course. The attack had just been carried out. Of course there wouldn't be a report about it yet.

I slumped back in my chair, thinking of Kieran's bloodied gloves and the sound of his victim pleading for him to stop.

How did I always manage to get myself into these situations?

***

"Students, settle down," Mr. Ferrick said as kids talked eagerly during first period. As they hushed, he rubbed the back of his neck. "We received report that another student was attacked. We believe it's connected to the other attacks."

I doodled on my notebook as he talked. I peeked up, eyes hidden by my sunglasses. Kieran didn't bat an eye at the news of the attack, just watched our teacher in boredom.

"The police are investigating the matter, and the headmaster is working with them. Crowe Academy takes the safety of its students very seriously, and urges all of you to remain on campus until this matter is solved," Mr. Ferrick said. "Students have only been attacked off campus. We've upped the security around here, but it won't do you any good if you go off into town. Never go off alone, and always stay to main roads and paths. If anyone has any information, you can contact me, any of the Academy staff, or the local police. Now, pass up your homework."

As I passed up my homework, I wondered just how much of the truth the police were telling the school. Plenty of the attack victims had been students from the Academy and the local public high school, as well as a nearby college. Surely one of the victims had told the truth about why they were targeted.

Was the school keeping it a secret? Or were the cops? Some of the students knew, as I'd heard the true reason spreading around as gossip and rumors do at a place like this. But maybe the Academy just hoped that the parents didn't know the truth.

It was true, though. Parents couldn't get angry at the Academy, because they'd upped their security and an attack had never occurred on campus. All attacks had occurred off campus, and off the main paths of the town.

Well, it didn't matter. If Kieran wasn't kicking the shit out of me, then it wasn't my problem.

I focused on the lesson, taking notes and following along with Mr. Ferrick's lecture. By the time class let out, the whole ordeal had faded to the back of my mind.

Maybe this whole situation was morally wrong, but morals were opinions and opinions weren't facts. It wasn't for me to say whether any of this was right or wrong. It was just my job to watch my own ass.

Val caught up to me in the hallways. "Hey, Jpeg."

"I'm going to stop answering when you call me that," I said.

"But you just answered me," she pointed out.

"To inform you," I said.

"Oh, I like to be informed. In fact, I like my friends to be informed, too. So I'll let you in on a little secret. The Crows are already looking into this newest incident, and they're looking at students who were off campus last night," she said, her voice low. "Good thing you work from home, huh?"

"I don't know why you're telling me this. I'm not the one beating people in a dark alley," I said. "The Crows can investigate whatever they want. It's not my problem."

Val pat my shoulder. "Sit with us at lunch. I have a little more information than just that. It's information I think you'll all want to know."

She disappeared into the crowd of students. Annoyance stirred up, and I wondered why Val had to be so dramatic about everything. Why couldn't she just tell me here?

Whatever. I went into class and let my mind focus on the lessons I had. Val liked the attention, and she liked the idea that she had information we didn't have. She loved to taunt us with her knowledge.

Classes seemed to pass far too fast for my liking. I didn't want lunch to come so soon. God, what a shit life I was living when I preferred lectures to lunch.

But lunch came around anyway, and I made my way to the dining hall. I made my tray and went to the quieter back corner, where Kieran and his friends always sat.

Sure enough, he and Mia were already at the usual table. I set my tray down and took a seat with them.

"What's this news Val has?" I said.

"How should we know? She's not here," Mia said.

"I didn't see the Crows snooping around classes," I said.

"I heard they had a meeting this morning," Kieran said. "They're on the lookout, trust me."

The Crows were Crowe Academy's lamely named student council of sorts. The Academy structured their student council to be small and hand-picked by staff, instead of elected by students. Every grade had Class Officers, but most of them just reported to the Crows and weren't actually members. The Crows held a lot of power, encouraged by the fact that only the staff could remove them from their positions. As long as they sucked up to the right people, they could stay on until they graduated.

They tended to investigate major issues concerning the Academy and the students. Of course students showing up beaten would get their attention, but they had no leads to follow.

I found them a minor thorn in the side, but Kieran hated the whole lot of them. Honestly, the guy needed to find his chill.

"There you are," Kieran said.

I looked up as Val approached the table with a tray in her hands. She sat down next to me and reached over, taking my spoon.

"I forgot to grab one," she said.

"Not my problem," I said, snatching it away from her. "Get on with your information and then get off your lazy ass and grab your own spoon."

"Right, my information!" Val said, as if she'd forgotten all about it.

"Val," Kieran said, his voice that impatient tone he often got with her when she was frustrating him.

"Oh, shove that sandwich down your throat if it'll shut you up. I'm getting to it," Val said, flicking Kieran's tray closer to him. "So, the Crows are getting a little smarter. They were looking at last night's attack a bit differently. They were looking at students who were off campus."

"So? Official records won't show any of us off campus," Kieran said. "We never signed out."

To leave campus, you had to sign out with the person in charge of your dorm, just for safety purposes. Obviously, Kieran didn't strut up and ask for permission to leave so that he could go beat some dude in an alley.

Val held up a hand. "You're missing the point, Kier. They're looking at students as possible suspects now. And something even more interesting than that."

Kieran's expression darkened. "Just get on with it."

Val smiled. "I checked their computer histories. And it turns out, they checked our dorm list first to see who was in and who was out."

"Son of a bitch," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "That means what I think it means, doesn't it?"

"That's right, friends." Her smile grew a bit, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "They're starting to catch onto us."

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A.N.- Thank you guys so much for all the patience, I know this took me a few months to get out. And, honestly, I'm still a little nervous about releasing this one (especially since I meant to step away from academies and crime, but that's okay). Let me know what you think so far, and I hope you guys will end up liking this story!