Whispers in the Dark (6 page)

“Nothing, Mr. Ramirez,” Cali answered. “Dorian is just being stupid.”

“No, it's true!” Dorian proclaimed. “I'm tired of everyone walking around here like
nothing happened to Jason and Ashley last year.”

“What are you trying to say, Dorian?” Raven asked, angrily.

“Yeah, they're not missing,” Miranda said. “They just went to a different school.”

“No! They're missing!” Dorian responded. “Jason was my best friend, and something
happened to him. I don't know what, but he hasn't been the same since the birds came
to this school. So to me, he's missing somewhere, and everyone knows what I'm talking
about.”

“Shut up, Dorian!” Raven demanded.

“You shut up, jailbird!” Dorian yelled.

“Don't tell me to shut up!” Raven yelled back. “You shut up!”

“Hey, hey, guys,” I said, trying to calm everyone down.

“Who do you think you are, talking about me and my sister!” Raven yelled, getting
up from her desk.

Dorian and Raven yelled back and forth. There was definitely something going on that
I wasn't aware of. I glanced at the door, and to my surprise, Mrs. Ramsey was looking
in through the glass on the door.

Oh, crap! I thought. This didn't look good!

I walked out into the hallway to explain why everyone was yelling.

“Hey, we're just having a little discussion on today's lesson,” I said, before Mrs.
Ramsey could ask anything.

“Doesn't look that way to me,” she replied, sternly.

“Right,” I said, then walked back into the classroom, knowing I had to get things
under control. “All right, y'all! Cut it out! Hey! I said knock it off!”

Raven stopped yelling at Dorian.

“All right, Dorian, you'll be in group three,” I instructed. “Group two will be Brent,
Miranda, and Robin.”

“Great,” I heard Miranda say, sarcastically.

“Look on the bright side,” Cali whispered. “At least you get to work with Brent.”

“Yeah, but I don't want to work with you-know-who,” Miranda whispered back, looking
over at Robin.

“All right, I want group one over here on the left,” I instructed. “I want group
two over here on the right, and group three, y'all can meet in the back, over there.”

The students got up and went to their groups. Cali, Alicia, and Isabelle moved their
desks together to make a circle.

“Hey, Bella,” I heard Cali say.

“It's Isabelle,” Isabelle corrected her.

“I know,” Cali said. “Bella just sounds better. And you're Alicia, right?”

“Yes, I'm Alicia.”

“So, you're the girl that guy Brent was talking about,” Cali said.

“Which one is Brent?” Alicia asked.

“Oh, I forgot you were new,” Cali smiled. “He's the other new person, over there.”

“Oh,” Alicia said, looking in his direction. “What was he saying?”

“I think he likes you,” Cali whispered. “But that girl Raven was trying to hate on
you.”

“So, you like to start drama this early in the morning?” Isabelle intervened.

“Bella, this is between me and her, okay?” Cali smiled. “So just stay over there.
We'll be with you in just a second. Okay, hon?”

“Whatever,” Isabelle said, shaking her head and looking at the instructions.

“She can hate all she wants. I'm not the one with Payless shoes on,” Alicia said,
making Cali laugh out loud.

The bell rang, and everyone stood up and started packing up their books.

During lunch, I went to the teachers' lounge and saw Denise sitting in there by herself.

“Why, hello, Mr. Ramirez,” she greeted me as I sat down.

“Why, hello,” I said back.

“How are you enjoying the school?” she asked.

“I'm still getting used to it,” I admitted.

“Cali getting on your nerves yet?”

I laughed. “Yeah, she's about there.”

“Yeah, she's full of life. Little Miz Popular. Everyone knows her dad around here,”
Denise explained. “He owns a few dealerships in the area. Ripping people off left
and right. But her family is pretty well off.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Her dad puts so much money toward this place that you can't even say nothing
to her,” Denise continued. “That's the power of a dollar, I guess. Cali and her friends
are a bunch of little mean girls, but every school has them. Let me see, you have
that little wannabe comedian Dorian in there too, right?”

“Yeah, he's in there too,” I told her.

“He's been in trouble and in the office a few times,” Denise informed me. “I tell
him all the time that he's not funny. See, it's certain ones you can say that to
because their parents don't put any money toward the school, other than tuition.
So you can get away with it. Remember that.”

“You mean to tell me some of these parents put more money toward this school, other
than the tuition?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Denise replied, looking surprised that I didn't know that. “These
parents put money toward the construction of new buildings and the renovation of
the older ones. Whenever we have events, I know which parents to go to, because I'm
the one writing the letters.”

“So all of these kids' parents have money?” I assumed.

“Not necessarily,” Denise corrected me. “There are certain ones that are on scholarships,
and they don't have to pay anything. But you have to be accepted into the gifted
program for that. You remember how the gifted program was at Newnan. It's just like
that here. The twins are taking a few gifted classes. I believe you have them, right?”

“I do,” I told her. “I've been meaning to ask you about them. What's their story?”

“You thought they were a little different when you first saw them, didn't you?” Denise
asked quietly.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “They walked into the classroom, and it's like all the kids stopped
laughing and talking and just watched them.”

“Well, Raven is a sweetheart,” Denise explained. “I've talked with her a couple of
times. She's a little more outgoing than her sister. I haven't really had a chance
to speak with Robin. She doesn't say a whole lot.”

“Yeah, there was an argument about some students going missing,” I
informed her.
“Well, Dorian said something about his friends going missing and blaming the twins
for it.”

Denise cleared her throat and her expression changed when I told her that. She slowly
took a sip of her drink.

“Do you know anything about that?” I asked, anxiously.

Denise nodded her head. “Let me give you the story behind that. So, the twins' first
year here was last year, same as mine. There was a student here named Jason, who
used to pick on them all the time because of the way they looked. I know this because
Raven would come and talk to me about it. But there was nothing we really could do
because Jason's parents put a lot of money toward this school. So I would tell Raven
to just ignore him, and that Mrs. Ramsey would have a talk with him. Well, that never
happened. So Jason kept bullying them, and you know when one kid gets away with that,
others think they can do the same thing. So this girl named Ashley started saying
little comments here and there about the twins, too, in class. Raven came to me again,
and I told her to just ignore them and that she was beautiful and gifted. And I remember
the last thing she said to me was, ‘I can ignore them, but my sister can't.'”

“Oh, wow,” I responded.

“Not too long after that, Jason and Ashley both started acting different,” Denise
continued. “Their teachers last year told me how they would just be in a daze and
not say much in class. Then they would break out into cold sweats and just stare
at things that weren't there. No one understood what happened to them.”

“Do you think Robin had something to do with it?” I asked.

“Well, the police came in and questioned them,” Denise said. “But they didn't have
anything to go on. Now, since the twins are named after birds and they were seen
being questioned by the police, some of the kids started calling them jailbirds.
Then a couple of weeks later, Jason's and Ashley's parents pulled them out of the
school.”

“Wow! So no one knows what happened?” I asked.

Denise looked at me, then looked away, as if she knew something.

“You know something, don't you?” I asked.

Denise didn't say anything.

“What do you think happened?”

Denise smiled, and then said, “I don't know. No one knows.”

I could tell Denise was lying. She knew more than she was telling me.

“One thing that I do know is that I have to get back to the office,” she said, gathering
her stuff. “Let me know if you have any questions about anything, Adrian, and enjoy
the rest of your day.”

“Okay. Thanks. You, too.”

Denise walked out of the teachers' lounge as two other teachers walked in. I left
to go to the cafeteria, where all the students were.

As I walked through the hallways, I wondered what it was that Denise was hiding.
There was definitely something going on with my students, and I had to get to the
bottom of it.

My students! Just the thought of having my own students at this prestigious school
put a smile on my face. I smiled as I entered the noisy cafeteria, knowing that I
was there to make an impact on these young students' lives. Years from now, they'd
go on to do great things, some becoming doctors, lawyers, writers, teachers; just
knowing that I was there to help guide them along the way gave me a sense of pride
and satisfaction. If I could get to the bottom of this, then I could really make
an impact.

My thoughts were cut short when I heard yelling coming from one of the tables. Raven
was yelling and getting in Dorian's face! Another teacher and I ran over to break
up the argument.

Raven was shouting, “If I hear you saying one more thing about me or my sister, I'm
going to punch you myself!”

“Well, do it then, jailbird!” Dorian taunted, laughing in Raven's face. “Come on.
Hit me right here!”

“Hey, hey!” I said, coming in between the two. “What's going on?”

Dorian sat back down at the table, ignoring me, and continued laughing with his friends.
I could see tears forming in Raven's eyes. She said nothing, but stormed off in a
rage toward the exit doors.

“Dorian, I'll deal with you in just a second,” I warned him as I went after Raven.
“Raven! Raven! What happened?”

“I'm sick and tired of Dorian and his friends making fun of me and my
sister,” she
said, crying. “Every day, it's the same thing over and over again, and no one seems
to care.”

“It's going to be okay,” I assured her. “I'm going to deal with Dorian and make sure
this doesn't keep happening. Where is your sister now?”

“She's either in the bathroom or in the library,” Raven told me. “She never eats
lunch in the cafeteria because of him.”

I saw Robin and Isabelle coming down the hallway.

“What happened?” Isabelle asked, noticing how upset Raven was.

“Dorian was being a jackass,” Raven explained, angrily. Robin didn't say anything,
but I could see the indignation in her expression.

“It's going to be okay,” Raven told Robin. “Mr. Ramirez said he's going to handle
it. Okay? It's going to be okay.”

Robin looked at me with frustration as she listened to her sister.

“Yeah, I'm about to get to the bottom of this right now,” I said to the three of
them. “You guys go ahead and get ready for class.”

The twins and Isabelle walked off, and I gestured at Dorian to come out of the cafeteria.
“Dorian!” I called out to him. “Let me speak to you outside.”

“What now?” Dorian asked, irritated.

“You're in trouble now, buddy,” one of his friends said, laughing.

Dorian and I headed outside. As we exited the building, I asked, “What's going on,
man?”

“Nothing is going on,” Dorian responded, reluctantly.

“You're going to have to stop with all of this, Dorian!” I warned him. “Now, I don't
know what your problem is with the twins, but it's going to stop now. I will have
you suspended because what you're doing is harassment, and it will not be tolerated
as long as I am here!”

Dorian looked away as if he didn't care about what I was saying. “All I'm doing is
speaking my mind, Mr. Ramirez. I was always told to speak my mind, even if the truth
hurts.”

“But you're not speaking your mind in a constructive manner, Dorian,” I explained.
“It's one thing to have an opinion, and it's another thing to say things just to
hurt or embarrass someone. Those girls haven't done anything to you.”

“They're dangerous, Mr. Ramirez!” Dorian proclaimed. “Everything was fine at this
school until they got here. They're creepy, I don't like them, and I don't trust
them. They did something to my friends, Jason and Ashley, and everyone walks around
like nothing happened. Well, I'm not going to just walk around like that! I keep
telling the teachers to look at the surveillance cameras to see what happened, but
no one wants to look at them. I know something happened. I'm telling you, Mr. Ramirez,
something is going on, and if I don't speak up about it then it's going to get worse!”

I could tell Dorian passionately believed something was going on with the twins,
but I wasn't going to have any bullying. “Dorian, I'm going to tell you one last
time. If I hear anything about you bothering those girls, I'm going to have a meeting
with your parents and the principal. Do you understand me?”