Chapter Text
Amelia shoved all of her books haphazardly into her bag and hoisted it on to her back. Alyssa waited patiently for her at the bus stop. As Amelia skidded around the corner, she commented: "Five more minutes and the bus would be gone!" The bus pulled up at the stop. "Hope she wasn't any later this morning Alyssa," shouted Carrie. "For all of our sakes!" Amelia tumbled into the bus and, of course, her bag sprung open and all of her books fell out, all over the floor. "I'll help you with that," said a honeyed voice. "For a price, of course."
Amelia looked up, although she didn't need too. Nellie was famous around the school for charging everything with a price. And she always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Amelia sighed. "How much is it going to cost me?"
"One brownie, I heard from someone your mum makes good ones." Amelia sighed. "Fine." Nellie kneeled beside her and started tossing her books back into her bag. She held the bag up. "One brownie by Monday." She stalked away, nose in the air. Amelia hated asking Nellie for help. She didn't understand the concept of doing things just because it's right.
Once at school, she stumbled off the bus and her bag ripped down the seam. It wasn't a surprise. Usually, it wasn't her fault. She looked around and saw Stanley snickering a few meters away, a lab vial clearly visible in his hand. Stanley is an expert on chemistry. Give him some chemicals and you'd have a mess on your hands. He's also the reason the chemistry lab got crushed. And the reason that the biology lab caught fire. And the reason the toilets exploded and flooded the gym.
But this wasn't Stanley's sort of trouble. Plus, he already looked like he had spotted a new target. No, but she suspected it had something to do with the dark shadow over her shoulder. She turned, destroying what was left of her bag in the process. "Little Nerdelia. SO nice to see you again." He smiled, showing off rows pearly white teeth. "Miss me?"
"No," said Amelia, her eyes stormy. "What do you want?"
"What do you think? What I've always wanted."
Peter had been Amelia's best friend since kindy. They had played together, walked from school together…and then he had murdered her sister.