Vol 2 Chapter 13 (1/2)
Chapter 13: The Newspaper Club
The 9th day of the seventh month The third day of the practice camp
“Good , everyone” Arthur said as he entered the dor in and put in some hard work at practice today”
Larry, whose right cheek was slightly swollen from Mr Murdoch’s punch, and Seron, mumbled in unison
“I’m tired” “I’m tired”
“Both of you did splendid work yesterday” Nick said from behind them
The previous evening
Seron and Larry returned to the dorht
After the discovery, Meg had glanced at the fuave her father a phone call
The li guided him inside The driver did not question her, as he had been notified by Meg’s father Seron and Larry boarded as well With Natalia, Nick, and Jenny behind them, the limousine left the campus
The man was completely silent His eyes widened when he heard that they were headed for the Sou Be-Il embassy, but afterwards he closed them
A rotund, reeted theood-natured look on his face
Once Meg had explained the situation in Bezelese, ‘the unfortunate Westerner as mistaken for Burt Murdoch’ was taken to the nurse’s office under the care of an embassy employee
That was the last Seron and Larry had seen of Meg They were taken to separate rooms afterwards and showered with questions
The questioner interrogated every last detail about the day’s events out of Seron Just when he thought it was over, the questioner started all over again from the first question This was toIn the end, Seron and Larry ended up giving the same answers four times each
They were provided dinner by the eht before they were finally allowed to leave
Just before they stepped into the taxi that the embassy called for theone back home with her father Then,
“We’re sending the ht back to his horateful” The colonel s
Larry stood up straight and saluted back on reflex And as for Seron,
“Thank you”
He put a hand over his chest and bowed deeply
After breakfast, Seron and Larry went to the gymnasium with the drama club
“Sorry, everyone! My ht now—one of et back to practice and make up for all that lost time!”
Ms Krantz injected energy into the club as practice began The orchestra and the chorus club also joined in
Meg stepped into the gymnasium behind her three upperclassave them a wink
And she put on a beautiful smile
Silently, expressionlessly, Seron trembled
Larry grinned and gave Seron a hearty slap on the back
Then came the orchestra and their instruments, led by Portman
“See you after practice” Natalia said with a smile
“I’ll do h it’s unfortunate that Seron can’t joinup to the drama club
In the midst of all the movement, Ms Krantz seemed to say,
“By the way, Mr Murdoch is on sick leave Mr Jobs from the social studies department will take over for him at the faculty office”
But none of the students seemed to care
Nick’s incredible performance, the orchestra’s powerful s
Seron and Larry lost the their work And in the blink of an eye, it was lunchtime
“You guys can go ahead” Arthur said to the helpers “I’ll see you at afternoon practice”
Seron and Larry left for the cafeteria before the drama club
They were drinking tea in a corner of the cafeteria when Nick approached with an empty cup in hand
“Pardon ?”
In the distance they saw the draet their lunches
“Look I’ here for you” Larry said
“It’s all right Tea, Nick?” Seron offered
“Please”
Noas Seron, Larry, and Nick drinking tea in silence
“Hey! Not eating yet?”
“hello, everyone”
Natalia and Meg showed up
“We aiting for you two, Lia Got so to discuss”
“Great Let’s take lunch someplace else”
“Huh?” “Hm?” “What do you mean?”
The boys asked in unison
“Shaddap and followsomeplace we can chat in peace”
They did as Natalia said and had their lunches packed up in brown paper bags
Students had a choice between grilled chicken sandwiches or clam choith a side of salad and bread
Three students chose the sandwich, and Larry got one of each as usual As for Natalia, she got two of each
“…Don’t tellto double that tomorrow, Lia”
“Shaddap and get walking We’ll get tea e get there”
And as for the rest of the students in the cafeteria,
“I… kinda want to join in over there”
“Give it a shot”
“No way The one with the glasses scares me”
“Since ere they so friendly with one another?”
“I know, right? They don’t even have uys there”
“Wait, you’re including the blond one too?”
“Hht?”
The drairls whispered as the five students left
Sophia, the freckled vice-president of the drama club, watched uneasily
The five students left the building and crossed the grassy grounds It was clear overhead
“How o, Lia?”
“Man up and follow orders, blondie”
Natalia continued to lead them in a march
Seron walked just 2 , just as silent as she was
Eventually, the group arrived—
“I knew it”
“You did, Seron?”
“This is the only place other than the cafeteria and the faculty office where you can get tea”
“Right”
—at the door to the newspaper club
“Please excuse us” Meg said and knocked on the door
“Yeah, yeah” Jenny replied from beyond, and the door opened “Hey there! Come on in, everyone You have my permission to enter”
“Here you are, Jenny! A little so over a paper bag containing two sandwiches
“Thanks” Jenny took the paper bag and spun on her heels “Here it is The lunch you’ve been waiting for!”
“I appreciate it So this is the famous 4th Capital Secondary School cafeteria food” Someone replied The boys stepped inside and spotted the owner of the voice
Sitting in the sofa was Hartnett, holding aas ever, but his attitude was more upbeat
“Oh? I’m not sure we’ve met before, sir” Nick joked
“This is what I usually look like” Hartnett laughed He was in a button-up shi+rt with a tie His navy suit jacket hung froer on the side
“Sit wherever you feel like I’ll brew the tea Just to warn you, it’s gonna be really good And don’t coliest one to Larry”
“That’s fine Just don’tsolution into the tea”
“Now that’s a great idea”
“Jenny”
“Don’t worry Isolution”
“Uh huh”
There was only rooot up and sat in a nearby chair, pulling out his sandwich on the desk and quickly digging in
“This is great! I can’t believe you get to eat this well every day”
Hartnett finished off an entire sandwich before Jenny had brewed tea
Jenny placed the teacups in front of everyone and took a seat herself
Three boys sat on one side, and three girls on the other Seron and Meg were in the middle of their respective sofas Nick was across from Jenny
The teacups were all different in size and shape Larry’s was compact and decorated with twee pink flowers
“Seriously?”
“You know,” Nick chimed in “That happens to be a Rous-Reçel teacup”
“Is that supposed to be a place name?”
“Yes Supposedly each and every white porcelain cup they produce costs about as much as a car”
“Whoa!”
Larry quickly withdrew his hand from the cup Jenny waved him off
“Don’t worry about it I just brought in stuff no one was using at home The rest of the set is broken anyway”
“I… I see”
“Thanks for waiting, everyone Let’s eat” Jenny said, taking the first bite
The rest prayed before theiron their lunches
“There’s a few things I need to tell you” Said Hartnett, turning his chair around “You can keep eating”
“This is great”
Jenny was savoring her sandwich She nibbled at it from the corner like a small animal
“The Confederation Police received word fro”
Seron’s hands stopped
“You can keep eating, Seron I’ you a report”
“Right, sir”
Seron bit into his sandwich A bit of sauce got onto his mouth, so he wiped it aith a thumb and licked it
“According to the eht in yesterday was officially confirmed not to be Burt Murdoch, the former Roxchean soldier and brother to Mark Murdoch I don’t kno they did it, but that’s what happened”
Meg beamed as she nibbled away on her own sandwich
“You like the sandwich?” Asked Natalia
“Yes, I love the sandwich!” Meg replied
Hartnett continued “There’s nothing the police can do at this point about the e questioned about his idiotic , but things are pretty much set in stone at this point”
“Poor guy” Larry bit into his sandith a slight smile His swollen face was still quite visible
“And as for s were happy with how I solved the case so quickly”
“That’s wonderful” Nick said between bites There was a resigned look in Hartnett’s eyes
“I suppose That’s all for the report”
Meg looked up at Seron opposite her and placed her half-eaten sandwich on its paper bag
“Seron, and Larry… were you both afterwards all right?”
Seron had finished his sandwich He replied gently,
“Yeah The questioning just went on a little too long, that’s all The colonel saw us off personally and hired a taxi for us and everything”
“Definitely It was fun, getting to check out the Sou Be-Il emica” Larry added
“Is that so? I ary to s But thisthe colonel phoned my home…”
Meg began choking up Tears welled in her eyes
“You okay? You don’t have to force yourself” Said Natalia But Meg wiped away the tears and continued
“No, I aht The colonel spoke to e to us”