But when she looked at the bed across the room, she found it empty. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, wondering where Savannah had gone.
She threw on some clothes and then made her way to the bathroom, where her question was immediately answered. More of the regurgitation sounds came from behind a closed stall door.
“Savannah?” Kenzie asked. “Is that you?”
The toilet flushed and Savannah staggered out, wearing the same clothes from the previous night but with her hair in disarray and her makeup smudged.
“Yeah,” she mumbled weakly. “It’s me.”
“Are you okay?”
“Does it look like it?”
“You drank too much last night.”
“Yeah, I always think I can hack it. I’m so stupid.”
“No, you’re not. You’re just...in college.”
“So are you, and you didn’t drink at all.”
“It never appealed to me.”
Savannah just crossed her arms and looked away, as though she were ashamed. She walked up to the sink and began brushing her teeth fiercely. As she did, Kenzie thought of something else.
“You were in here yesterday puking, too. You didn’t drink that night. What’s going on with you?”
Savannah spit into the sink. “It’s nothing. I’m probably coming down with something.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Yeah, you can stop pretending to be my mom.”
Kenzie looked heavenward. This was getting old fast. So she tried something else.
“I’ve heard rumors about something going around campus, but it’s making everyone sick, and some people are dying. Have you heard anything about that?”
“Yeah, it’s probably that new pill going around.”
“Pill? What pill? What’s it for?”
“From what I hear, it’s supposed to be like a downer. It numbs your brain so you don’t feel anything. Half the people last night at the party were probably on it. Apparently it can be used to keep you awake too, which is great when it comes to finals. Oh, and it’s also an upper that makes you really high, like you’re flying and just mellowed out. It’s also great to use as a pain reliever.”
“Last night, people had it? Do you know where I can get some?”
“Yeah,” Savannah snorted, “that bitch Addison Pennington, president of the Tri-Fruhm Sorority. She’s always got a stash of the shit.”
Kenzie tried not to frown. “How do you know?”
“Duh. Because she gave them to all of us. I bet she still gives them to her ‘real’ sisters. How else would they manage to party all the time and still be awake enough to study? They probably don’t even sleep.”
“But if they’re on it, wouldn’t they get sick, too?”
“Not if you take just one pill, like you’re supposed to. Some people end up taking two or three, sometimes five. The problem is, the pill does all those things I mentioned, but you never know exactly which effect it will have. So everyone who takes one is like, ‘I want to be mellow, not wide awake, so I better take these until I feel like that.’”
“I see. Well, how does Addison get them?”
“I don’t know where she got it, and I don’t really care. And I doubt you need it, either.”
“Why not? I just got here and finals are in a few weeks. I haven’t had as long to prepare.”
Savannah pursed her lips and pondered this. “Well, that’s only one place I know of that has the stuff. I’m sure it’s somewhere else around here, but I have no idea where. You could ask around, but if you ask the wrong people, you’ll get caught.”
Kenzie furrowed her brow. If only she’d known people at the party last night were on this deadly pill! If only she’d known it would be there for her to ask for! But she’d had her hands full with Savannah anyway. Would it have done any good if she had known?
Suddenly, Kenzie’s cell phone rang. She saw on the caller ID that it was the dean calling. Wow, didn’t he think to make sure she was alone first? Did he want her cover to be blown?
“Sorry, that’s my mom,” Kenzie said apologetically. “She worries.”
Savannah nodded understandingly and left the bathroom. Kenzie was alone and answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“How are things going, Ms. Chandler?”
“Uh…fine. I’ve got some leads. I’m alone now.”
“Well, be careful. The walls here aren’t that thick.”
“Right. Why don’t I just come to your office?”
“Fine, but I’ll have to write you a late pass and come up with some reason for your tardiness.”
Kenzie hung up her phone and dashed toward the dean’s office. She hoped no one saw her suspiciously making her way in that direction.
Once there, Kenzie told the dean everything she’d heard about this mysterious “pill” and its effects.
“What I don’t understand,” Kenzie concluded, “is why there’s no evidence of it in anyone’s toxicology report. If that’s what’s doing that to these students, there should be a record or some sort of trace.”
“Exactly, and without that, we can’t prove anything. Maybe if you got your hands on one of these alleged pills.”
“That’s my next step. I have some leads on who to ask, but there still has to be a main supplier somewhere. They can’t just pull them out of the air.”
“What do you propose?”
“I think I’ll start with the leads I got this morning. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
She almost mentioned the underage drinking going on at last night’s keg party, but decided against it. That would alert the students that someone was tattling on them, so progressing in the case would be that much harder due to the extra caution the students would be taking to hide their activities.
Kenzie then stood up, took her late pass, and went to class. As soon as it let out, she made her way toward the sorority house. She rang the doorbell and found herself staring back at a preppy-looking girl.
“Can I help you?” the girl asked in a voice tinged with forged sweetness.
“Yes,” Kenzie replied, “I’m Mindy Chandler, and I heard you’re just the person I need to talk to.”
“I am? About what?”
“I’d rather talk to you inside, if you don’t mind.”
Addison frowned and scrutinized Kenzie, but finally stepped aside and allowed her in. The interior of the sorority house was immaculate and very feminine, much like the president. Kenzie had a feeling she was getting more than she bargained for here.
“Have a seat,” Addison said as she gestured toward a plush sofa. Kenzie obliged and sat down while Addison sat across from her in a different sofa. Maybe she was afraid Kenzie’s cellulite was contagious.
“So, what do you want with me?” Addison questioned, getting down to business.
“I am seriously stressed. I mean, I know I’m not part of the sorority, but I am kind of in need of some sisterhood help.”
“Okay…”
“The thing is, I just transferred here from Aurora Skies. Finals are coming and the professors are totally up my ass about all my assignments. I hardly have any time to study, and if I don’t pass all these finals with flying colors, I’ll lose my scholarship. Someone mentioned you, or the sorority, could help me out, but they didn’t say how.”
Addison frowned once more. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what that person is talking about. I mean, I’ve heard of something going around campus, but I don’t have any.”
“What have you heard?”
“Well, you may try talking to the psychotic rebels roaming around. They’d be the ones to have something for that. But be careful – apparently it’s already killed some people and made the rest really sick. It’s like a plague that’s spreading.”
“I see. And where would I find these rebels?”
“Probably in an abandoned alley or warehouse, spray-painting the walls and claiming it’s art.”
Kenzie nodded and stood up to leave, thanking Addison for her time.
She hadn’t accomplished her goal in the sorority house, but she had a new lead at least. Now all she had to do was follow it.
It was early evening now, but due to winter, it was already getting dark. She was trudging back to her dorm when she heard an odd sound. It sounded like a hiss, but not animalistic.
Following the source of the noise, Kenzie found that Addison was right about one thing – she came upon a group of people spray-painting a wall, but it wasn’t a hidden one in an alley. It was a pretty public one, the side of the campus library.
And as she stalked forward to confront the vandals, from behind the familiar-looking girl with the blonde and red dreadlocks stepped Savannah Swansen.
No comments:
Post a Comment