A Murder Of Crows {8}

The sky was starting to brighten as I weaved my way through the trees on campus. I'd wandered off the path, but my feet carried me exactly where I wanted to go.

And then it came into view; a tree stump, a big wild old thing that sat low to the ground. I approached it, brushing my fingers over the rings in the wood.

I sat down, dropping my school bag at my feet and looking up at the changing sky. Today seemed like we might get a small break from the rain, at least during the day.

A break from the rain, but not a break from Jamison.

Buy me dinner for real some time? He was supposed to be getting close to me, not flirting with me. Was I reading the note wrong? Thinking too hard about something too simple? He'd said he wanted me to join him for dinner again. Maybe it was just that simple.

I spread my fingers along the wood, feeling the grooves in the stump. There was too much I didn't understand about these people and this situation, and it was frustrating me.

I was usually good at reading people. Growing up, I'd always preferred to sit in the background and observe. I'd pick up on peoples' habits, their speech patterns, their body language. I'd study it as a way to keep myself from boredom.

But then there were those people I just couldn't seem to read.

People like Val and Jamison and sometimes even Kieran.

I dug my fingers against the tree stump. People I just couldn't read. Val, Jamison, Kieran. And the one who kept me in this mess. I was stuck working for a drug dealer because of someone I couldn't even figure out.

Maybe I should just go to dinner with Jamison and his friends. If I could just observe them more, maybe I could find a better way to play this game. News of last night's attack had surely reached the Crows by now, even though it wasn't a Crowe Academy student who was the victim.

Game. This was all just a game.

I'd go to dinner with Jamison tonight. I'd let him have his way and find out how to manipulate him until I got my way. I'd keep myself safe until I graduated, and then I'd get the hell out of here.

I watched as the sun rose above the trees slowly. I squinted my eyes at it, adjusting my sunglasses.

If Jamison thought seeing me in my dorm during the time of the attack cleared me, or at least credited me some innocence in the situation, then maybe he was just using me to get to Kieran. Clearly, the Crows couldn't plant a spy in Kieran's life directly. Val was the most outgoing and the easiest to think you were close to, and I was the wild card. The Crows didn't know much about me or how I fit into the group.

I watched the sun for a little while before checking the time. I picked my bag back up and walked along my own hidden path back to the campus sidewalks.

Kids were streaming towards the academic buildings already, and I joined in the crowd. Jamison was persistent enough that he'd surely ask me to join him for dinner tonight, and this time I'd accept.

I entered my classroom and took a seat. I watched as Jamison came in, walking alongside our teacher and talking to him with a charming smile on his face.

Jamison excused himself from their conversation and looked around the room. He spotted me and started heading my way. So predictable.

"Let me guess, you have an excuse not to go to dinner with me?" Jamison said, his charming smile turning into a teasing one.

I held up one finger. "One more chance tonight. You bore me at dinner again and you don't have to bother ever asking me to eat with you again."

He looked a little surprised. "Really? I don't have to fight with you about it? You'll just...come eat dinner?"

"I figure it'll bore me and then I don't have to deal with it again," I said.

"No way," he said, shaking his head. "It won't be boring. No more awkward small talk."

"I'll do you the courtesy of not getting my hopes up," I said.

Jamison opened his mouth, but all that came out was a surprised noise as he was shoved out of the way. Kieran put a hand on my desk and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Val," he said, his voice informing me that Val had, once again, gotten herself into trouble for fun. "Where the hell was she this morning?"

"Not with me. Haven't seen her since yesterday," I said with a shrug. Her trouble wasn't mine.

"There are politer ways to move people than body slamming them. A nice little 'excuse me' does the trick," Jamison said.

Kieran turned to Jamison. "Excuse me, president, but shut the fuck up because I'm not talking to you."

Jamison's lips twitched the slightest. "There, see, a nice little 'excuse me' is all it takes."

"And yet, you still haven't shut the fuck up," Kieran said.

"I'll see you at dinner, Cor. Dining hall stairs at five," he said, turning and heading to his seat.

There was something more there, though. Something between him and Kieran I was missing. Whatever Kieran had said, it went deeper than just being his usual asshole self.

Kieran turned back to me. "Dinner with that pompous fuck lord?"

"You guys wanted me to manipulate him, right? Then I have to learn how to do that," I said, crossing my arms. "I don't know where Val is. I don't care where Val is."

"Just be at lunch," he said before heading to his own seat.

I rolled my eyes and shifted my attention to the teacher as he called for our attention. The first part of the day was busy, with worksheets and in-class essays and in-depth lectures. No one mentioned last night's attack, because if it wasn't a Crowe student, it wasn't a Crowe concern.

By the time lunch came around, I was ready for the break from constant work. I shoved my stuff in my bag and stood up, scowling a bit as I saw Kieran and Mia waiting for me by the door. I'd prefer to walk alone.

"Bitch better show up to lunch," Kieran grumbled as we left the classroom together.

"Val always shows up," Mia said.

"Probably late," I said, surprised Val hadn't bothered me at all today. "Are you people going to bother me tonight? I have homework to do."

"We're all in the same rotation, we all have homework to do," Mia said. "Besides, unlike your scrawny ass, I'm going to the gym tonight."

"I'll go with you." Kieran rolled his shoulders. "I haven't worked out in almost two weeks. I need to be on my game or the Doctor will drop me for someone else."

"You two have fun at the gym. I love myself too much to attempt lifting weights in front of strangers," I said.

They could tease me all they want; I knew I'd always been more brain than brawn. I'd never had to learn how to fight. No one had ever bullied me or attacked me, and I'd never felt the need to hit the gym every week. As long as I was in shape, I didn't see a problem with not being overly muscular.

We entered the dining hall and looked around the downstairs part for any sign of Val. Kieran stopped so suddenly that I almost ran into him, just barely managing to swerve away from him.

Mia crossed her arms as she followed Kieran's gaze. "She likes trouble."

Val was standing nearby, talking with Cole. But she was looking past Cole, eyes locked on Kieran, smile on her face. She waved him over and Cole turned to see who she was gesturing to.

Cole and Kieran locked eyes, and I felt that same heavy tenseness that came around when Kieran and Jamison were near each other. But the look of anger in Cole's eyes was raw, unlike Jamison's casual dismissal when it came to Kieran.

"Go get here," Kieran snarled at Mia. "I'm going to the table."

"You have legs. You want Val, walk over there and get her yourself," Mia said, turning and heading for the stairs.

"I'm not part of this, don't even bother asking me," I said, following after Mia. I caught up to her as we reached the stairs. "Bad blood between them?"

"Ask him yourself," she said.

"No thanks. I'm not looking to die," I said.

That was another thing I couldn't seem to figure out though. Kieran and Mia didn't exactly seem to be friends, but they seemed too close to just be spending time together because they worked for the Doctor. If there was a history between them, I didn't have a clue what it was. As curious as I was about them, I'd never dug into their backgrounds. If I did and Val found out, she'd use that information to control me, and that was the last thing I wanted.

Mia and I grabbed trays and sat at the usual table. Kieran joined us a few minutes later, his anger silent but present. He was going to tear Val's head off if she taunted him today.

Oh, god, if only I could be that lucky.

I waited until I spotted Val and Cole walking together with trays. Val said something before leaving him and making her way towards our table.

As soon as she sat down, Kieran shoved her tray to the floor. "I'm not someone to piss off, Valeria."

"I'll be sure to tell the cleaning crew that," Val said, frowning down at the mess of food on the floor. "I'm not really sure what my lunch did to piss you off, but I'm sure it's sorry now."

"Why was she there yesterday?" Kieran demanded. "She doesn't live in my dorm building."

"Who?" Val said, her tone innocent enough but the slight curve of her lips giving her away.

"Don't play dumb with me. She was asking around about me, too dumb to be sneaky about it. She was trying to find out if I was actually in my room during the attack," Kieran said.

"Oh, you mean that little Crow!" Val said. "What was the name?"

"You damn well know the name, and you damn well know you're pissing me off," Kieran said, any shred of patience he'd managed to have slipping away.

Val rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Hulk. Her name is Nia and as far as I can tell, she was investigating you on her own, not under orders from Jamison. She's just a little Crow trying to play hero by solving the case first."

Kieran shook his head and looked down at his lunch tray. "She's sloppy about it. She'll be easy to contain. It's Ken-" He paused, narrowing his eyes a little. "It's Mackenzie that we should be keeping an eye on. We know Jamison's and Cole's moves, we know what Nia is trying to do, but Mackenzie has been silent. We don't know what she's been up to."

"Don't worry so much. She's probably pulling some strings behind the scenes while Cole and Jamison try to distract us," Val said. "Just keep being careful, and none of her efforts will matter."

"She's a reputable person. If she makes a claim, the Academy will listen," Mia said, her tone bitter. "We can't just ignore her, Val."

"I didn't say ignore her. I just said not to worry so much. You guys focus on beating the shit out of people, and Jpeg and I will keep the rest under control," Val said.

"I have a name," I said.

"Is Jpeg really worse than Cor?" Val said, raising an eyebrow.

"Cor's better than Valeria," I grumbled.

I took out headphones and put them in to tune out the others so I could get some homework out of the way now. Kieran didn't yank them out of my ears, so I was assuming he was done with me anyways.

When lunch ended, I kept my headphones in and hurried away from the three at the table. I wanted to be kept out of their drama as much as possible.

I took my headphones off and dropped them in my bag when I reached class. Another busy round of classes started up, my hand cramping from all the notes I had to take in such a short amount of time.

By the time class was officially over, I was ready to amputate my own hands just so I'd never have to take notes again. Crowe Academy shoved plenty of information down its students' throats, expecting them to memorize it all and put it to good use for essays, quizzes, and tests.

It wasn't the information dump that bothered me. It was just all the damn notes. We weren't allowed to bring laptops or tablets to class for note taking, which I found ridiculous.

I made my way back to my dorm and tossed my bag aside. I could worry about my homework after dinner. My hands needed a break before they fell right off.

I sat at my computer and brought up the local news. Sure enough, there was a small article about the recent attack, with police saying that the investigation was still ongoing and they had no further information to share with the public at this time.

Still no mentions of the drug problem, which was a fool move. They should've been warning kids that this was a problem. The more kids who were aware, the less who would be stupid enough to get caught up in it. But the town seemed determined to keep the rampant drug problem as secret as they could for as long as possible.

Whatever, that was there mistake to make. Anyone who was dumb enough to get caught up in this mess on their own didn't have my sympathy.

I played around on my computer for a bit until it was time to meet Jamison for dinner. I got up, leaving the dorm and heading down the sidewalk towards the dining hall.

I had to be carefully observant today. Kieran was right; Kenz was probably up to something, so I should be sure to pay attention to her, too.

I reached the dining hall and, sure enough, Jamison was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. He perked up as I approached him.

"So you're actually here. I was wondering if you were just making a fool of me," he said, starting up the stairs.

"Is Val eating with us too?" I asked.

Jamison shook his head. "Cole asked her to, but she said she was busy."

That damn liar. "Shame."

We grabbed trays and loaded them with food. Jamison led me over to a table and we sat down together. Kenz was there, lecturing Cole about something.

"-and that's just the start of what'll happen if you skip another homework assignment. You're a Crow; you're supposed to be an example to other students," she was saying, her voice stern.

Cole's shoulders were hunched a little and he didn't meet her eyes. "I was just busy, that's all."

"Busy with video games, you lazy ass. Don't act like I don't know you," Kenz said, whacking him in the back of the head. "Do your damn homework, Cole."

He rubbed his head, pouting. "So much for a shining example."

"I never said shining," Kenz said, raising her hand again. "Do your homework, or I smack you into the future so you can see how empty it is without a good education."

"You got anything to add?" Cole asked Jamison. "Want to threaten to smack me into the past so you can stop me from getting into video games?"

"No, I think Kenz said it pretty well," Jamison said.

Cole picked at his food moodily, ignoring us. Kenz turned her attention on me, her eyes sharp.

"Cor, right?" she said.

"Yea, that's me," I said. "I'm just here so Jamison will quit bothering me. I doubt you'll see me again after this."

"Hey, I said I'm not going to make this boring," Jamison argued.

"You're already failing," I said.

Jamison opened his mouth to reply to that, but he shut it. The change in his expression had me wondering if Kieran had suddenly appeared behind me.

But when I turned, it wasn't Kieran. It was a younger girl, one I wasn't familiar with. She had a nervous smile on her face as she set her tray down at the table and took a seat.

"Hey, Jamie," she said.

"Nia, I thought you were working in the Nest today," Jamison said, his voice more a warning than a question.

"Well, I got hungry." She looked at me. "Who's your friend, Jamie?"

Nia, huh? The girl questioning the dorm about Kieran. So, Mr. Friendly over here did get angry sometimes.

"This is Cor," Jamison said. His words were sharp, clipped. He was clearly angry, but trying to disguise it in a way that I wouldn't pick up on it.

"Hi Cor. I'm Nia," Nia said. She had the Crow pin on her blazer.

"Eat and go back to the Nest. You have a lot of work to do," Jamison said, and promptly ignored her to turn back to me. Nia shrank down a little, dropping her gaze to her food.

I knew the Nest was the private room only the Crows and faculty could go into. It was mostly used for the Crows to hold meetings and plan whatever they needed to. Regular students like me weren't allowed in the room.

"What do the Crows even do?" I said.

"We have a lot of responsibilities around the school," Kenz said, straightening up a little. "The Crows were established so students could learn advanced responsibilities before they graduated."

"Wow," I said unenthusiastically. "Fascinating."

"What about you, Cor? What are you going to do after you graduate?" Jamison asked.

I shrugged. "College, I guess."

"You guess?" Kenz raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a senior? You should've already been applying and visiting campuses. You should at least have an idea of what you want to do."

"Kenz thinks she's everyone's mom," Cole informed me.

"I've applied to colleges. And I have an idea of what I want to do, but no desire to share that with people I've just met," I said.

"Fair enough," Jamison said. "You're not in any clubs though, are you? And I've only ever seen you hanging out with the same three people. So who do you share stuff like that with?"

"No one," I said, which was a lie. I told the academic advisor that plan of mine to get her off my back, but there was one person I'd willingly told my future plans to. Not that it mattered now. That had been before I'd gotten caught up with the Doctor and everything changed.

"You should be careful who you surround yourself with," Nia said. "That Kieran guy seems like a troublemaker."

"I never said who I hung out with," I said, and Nia shrank down again at the cold look Jamison shot her.

"I must have mentioned it to her when I told her about you and Val eating dinner with us," Jamison said, his tone thoughtful and a smile on his face.

But I'd seen that look he'd shot Nia. Jamison might come off the cheerful Crow, but something told me he had a side as dark as Kieran's.

"Kieran's never been in trouble in school. At least, not that I know of," I said.

"Surprising," Cole muttered, shaking his head.

"Don't you have any other friends here?" Jamison asked. "I mean, it's fine to have a close-knit group of friends, I don't mean to sound rude. I've just never seen you with anyone else."

I shrugged. "Not overly interested in it. If someone comes along that I like, fine, we're friends. If not, oh well, I'm not losing any sleep over lack of friends."

"Fair enough. Some people are just antisocial," Cole said.

"And some people forgot that it was the day of the week with their favorite soup," Jamison said, getting up. "Come on Nia, let's go get that broccoli cheddar soup."

Nia nodded and got up, following Jamison back towards where all the food was. I sipped on my drink, watching them out of my sunglasses, glad my eyes were hidden so the others wouldn't notice.

As soon as they were a safe distance, Jamison's friendly expression dropped and a cold, stern one replaced it. He said something to Nia, leaning close to her. She dropped her head and mumbled out a reply.

"Cor, I've never seen you around until Jamison brought you here," Kenz said. "Are you in any of the clubs or sports teams?"

"Not my thing," I said.

"Some people prefer to focus on their work," Kenz said. "Clubs and sports are a good way to meet people, though. Did you go to the early Crowe schools?"

Crowe Academy was freshman through seniors, but it also had elementary and junior high school buildings. Some kids transferred to the Academy because it housed them in dorms, while the other two schools were more for local kids.

"Yea, I live in town," I said. Living in the dorms wasn't required, but most local kids preferred the chance to get away from home while still being able to head back whenever they wanted. "I've been a Crowe student my whole life, lucky me."

Kenz frowned. "Hm, then I've probably seen you before and just don't remember."

"Dunno." I knew Jamison because he was the president of the Crows, but I'd never cared much about the Crows.

Back in those early years, there was only one person I'd enjoyed talking to. Now I was stuck with a drug lord's muscles.

Jamison returned to the table and sat down. Nia picked up her tray, her eyes sad but her expression determined.

"I'm going back to the Nest to do some work. It was nice to meet you, Cor. I'll see the rest of you later," she said, heading off towards the takeout containers.

"Nia's our newest Crow," Jamison informed me. "She's got a lot of work to do to get herself steady before Kenz and I leave at the end of the year."

"Who takes over when you're gone?" I asked.

"Probably Cole," Jamison said.

"Probably? I thought I was the heir to my parents' empire," Cole said, looking between Kenz and Jamison.

"Only if you can get your act together," Kenz said. "Eat your dinner and quit complaining."

"Yes, mom," Cole said.

Kenz pulled out an agenda book and flipped it open. "Jamison, are you coming over after dinner? I have to work on that Frankenstein paper and I haven't decided on a topic yet."

"I'd say go a biblical comparison route," Jamison said.

"I have two other papers to write tonight, I'm looking for a simple analysis to make," she said, scribbling something in the agenda book.

"What's more simple than a biblical comparison?" I found the words leaving my mouth before I could stop myself. "There's plenty of comparisons of the monster to Adam and Eve."

Jamison gestured to me and nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. He seeks wisdom only to be met with rejection. You could write a whole paragraph just off of that alone."

"His very existence was a sin he was continuously punished for and seeking answers to," I said.

"Alright, alright, I get the point," Kenz said. "No need to gang up on me."

"Fan of reading?" Jamison said.

"Sort of," I said with a shrug. I'd spent a lot of time combing through the books in the library in my house when I was younger. A lot of them had been biographies or books on concepts far too advanced for someone my age, but I'd found books about computers, as well as some older general fiction like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The String Of Pearls.

Jamison had his attention on me now. "So, what do you think about the age old 'who was the real monster' debate?"

"They both were," I said. "I'd argue Frankenstein was a monster by nature, and the creature was a monster by nurture. It doesn't matter what your reasons for doing bad things are, though. Wrong is wrong, and a monster is a monster."

I'd never understood it. Sure, I got that nurture could mess someone up. But blaming your parents or your childhood bullies or your significant other for your behavior made no sense to me. You were responsible for what you did, regardless of how others treated you. Your past and upbringing might explain your behavior, but it didn't excuse it.

If someone was forcing you to do something, though, well, that was a little different.

Would I get involved with a drug dealer if I had any other choice? No. But I wasn't given a choice.

"Wrong is wrong, and a monster is a monster," Jamison repeated slowly. "Maybe you should be the one helping Kenz with her paper." He gave me a smile, but there was something behind it, something darker than the cheerful president façade he liked to wear.

I leaned back in my chair a little and started to eat as Kenz and Jamison talked about the Frankenstein assignment. Cole watched them with little interest, shaking his head when they'd start to argue.

But my eyes were on Jamison. There was so much more to him I needed to figure out. Everyone had masks they wore to get what they wanted, but just how many did Jamison have?

I looked from Jamison down to the table. Curiosity was clawing at the back of my mind, desperate for answers about him. The last time I'd been so curious about someone had been-

I bit my lip and mentally sighed. This surely wouldn't be my last dinner with Jamison.