Faye looked up and smirked. “Mine and Declan’s possible crimes? That’s a very bold title for such a small notebook.”

  Setsuna’s jaw dropped open. “You can read it?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

  Faye nodded and glanced down at the page for a moment before closing it and slipping it into her pocket. “There’s a lot that I can do that you don’t know about.”

  “It’s not what you think,” she was quick to respond.

  Faye raised an eyebrow. “I think the title was descriptive enough.”

  “But I--”

  “Why don’t you meet Declan and me after school. In room 112B, I’ll give you back your book then.”

  Setsuna didn’t know what to say. “But I need it for class.”

  Faye smirked. “I’m sure scrap paper will suffice.”

  The girl walked around Setsuna and called out over her shoulder. “You better hurry, the tardy bell is about to ring!”

  As if she called it into being, the bell sounded and Setsuna took off, racing down the hallway to her next class. Ms. Bane scolded her for a full five minutes before letting her take her seat, and Declan snickered the whole time in his seat beside her. She sank into her chair and hid her head in her arms throughout most of the class until Ms. Bane called on her, and luckily Declan made a scene that resulted in him being sent to the principal's office again. The whole time Setsuna was dreading her last class with Faye in English. How could she face the other girl? She was mortified at what else Faye could be reading in her notebook. Setsuna had specifically written her notes in Japanese, at least the more embarrassing ones, as well as, all her notes about the pranks so that if the book was ever lost no one could read it. But here was Faye, a girl that could read Japanese, with her notebook. Setsuna’s face flushed as she inwardly groaned. Please don’t let her read anything too embarrassing, she prayed, as the bell to end class rang.

  Chapter Three

  Setsuna walked into Advanced English with her head bowed. Her teacher tutted at her as she entered the classroom. “Ms. Yuunagi, hold your head up. I know English isn’t your first language, but it isn’t so miserable once you get the hang of it.”

  “Yes, Sensei,” Setsuna responded automatically as she shuffled to her desk missing the confused look her teacher sent her. Faye walked in a moment later taking her seat at the front of the classroom, two rows in front of Setsuna. Soon class began, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything the teacher was saying. She just watched Faye the whole time. The teacher had finally finished her lecture and given them free reading time, when Setsuna happened to glance forward at Faye, only to see the girl had her blue notebook hidden within the book titled, The Grapes of Wrath, the current required reading for her grade.

  What scared her even more, was that Faye seemed to be intensely reading whatever page she was currently on. She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Setsuna frowned and attempted to focus on her reading. Before she knew it, the bell rang signaling the end of the school day and in her unique case, the confrontation to get back her notebook. Faye stood along with the other students, but she glanced back at Setsuna with a look as intense as it was calculating. It made Setsuna shudder, before Faye turned around, and left the classroom.

  She gathered her things making her way to her locker to retrieve the necessary books to study for the upcoming quizzes. Turning away from her locker she took a deep steadying breath, then made her way down to the first floor, and to room 112B.

  * * *

  Setsuna was standing outside of classroom 112B with her hand on the knob, but for some reason, her body wouldn’t move. She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to open the door or run away, and as a result, her body seemed to be frozen in indecision. A heavy hand and a light chuckle startled her, making her jump slightly, as a large hand wrapped around her own and twisted the doorknob.

  “No need to be scared, Setsuna. It’s just a room with a door.”

  “And a knob,” Faye’s voice called out as they entered.

  “Like eating corn on the cob,” Declan continued.

  “Only if your name is Bob,” Faye responded.

  “No, he’s in the mob,” Declan laughed.

  “Then your name must be Rob.”

  “Um…okay, you got me.” Declan shrugged dragging Setsuna into the room and closing the door behind them.

  “Glad you could make it, kid,” Faye smirked.

  Setsuna blushed and bowed her head. “I need my notebook,” she mumbled.

  Faye held it up and waved it slightly. “You mean this little thing?”

  Setsuna looked up and nodded.

  Faye stared at the book intensely before meeting the bleeder's gaze with her piercing pale red eyes. “An interesting book, indeed. It seems the kid is a bit of a detective.”

  Declan chuckled. “Oh yeah? Who is she detecting?”

  Faye smirked running her tongue over her teeth which just so happened to include two very sharp fangs. “Us.”

  “Us?”

  “Yes Declan, us. This little notebook has a very detailed report of some strange happenings that we may or may not have been involved in.”

  “Oh yeah, like what?”

  “Some harmless pranks.”

  Declan frowned. “Let me see that?”

  Faye shook her head. “It wouldn’t be any good for a pea brain like you.”

  “Hey!”

  Faye shot him a humored look before meeting Setsuna’s gaze. “You have a lot of interesting thoughts, kid.”

  Setsuna blushed. “Can I just please have my book back.”

  Faye tilted her head as if in thought. “Okay.” She held out the blue item, but Setsuna hesitated.

  “Come on; my arm is getting tired.”

  Setsuna walked across the room and reached for it only to have it held above her head. She frowned, while Faye chuckled. “One condition.”

  “Yes?”

  “You join our club.”

  Setsuna frowned. “I didn’t think you were part of a club?”

  Faye nodded. “Yes, I read your notes about our backgrounds. That is one thing we managed to keep secret from you, but I dare say it’s a bit scary how observant you are.”

  “What is the name of your club?”

  Faye rolled her eyes as Declan jumped down from the desk he had been sitting on. He laughed while giving a low bow. “Allow me to formally invite you to the Perfect Crime Club.”

  “The Perfect Crime Club?”

  “A mouthful, I know,” the girl sighed. “But he won at rock, paper, scissors, so he got to choose it.”

  Setsuna frowned. “What do you do in this club, exactly?”

  Declan grinned. “We commit perfect crimes.”

  “What is a perfect crime?”

  Faye smiled. “Well, we have yet to do one.”

  “What?” Declan frowned. “What are you talking about, Dom? We’ve done two already.”

  Faye waved the notebook in her hand again. “The kid has already solved both of those and deduced quite accurately and indisputably that we were the culprits. The only thing she needs is evidence, but we’ve managed to destroy or get rid of all of that, though it was a close call with the sprinkler incident. In order for it to be a perfect crime, there can be not witnesses or at least no one that is able to trace the crime back to us. This book is the proof that we weren’t as sneaky as we thought we were.”

  Declan pierced Setsuna with a hard look. “I see why you invited her. Well, I approve of you as our third member.”

  “Um, thank you, but I don’t want to be part of your club.”

  Declan frowned. “What? Why not? It’s tons of fun.”

  “Why would I want to commit crimes? It’s wrong.”

  Faye smirked. “Aren’t you going to ask why we are committing crimes? You have some interesting thoughts in here on it.”

  Setsuna blushed but nodded.

  Declan’s deep voice drew her attention. “My dad is a police detective. Most of the men in my family have taken that career. It’s kind of just what we do. A rite of passage as well as a way of life. When you grow up with that kind of role model, you can’t help but want to follow in their footsteps. Anyway, Faye and I are set on becoming police officers too. To do so, we came up with the idea to become criminals.”

  Setsuna shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  Faye continued. “What is the best way to understand the mind of a criminal?”

  “Are you saying that you are committing crimes to better understand the thought process of a criminal?”

  Faye smirked. “I told you the kid was smart.”

  Declan grinned. “Genius, isn’t it? It was my idea.”

  “What happens if you get caught?”

  Faye and Declan shared a look before Declan responded. “We would just say that it was a senior prank. As long as we don’t hurt anyone or do anything too dangerous, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Anyway, they can’t connect us to the other pranks, and if they try to, we could just say that we were copycats. Just living up our youth!” He chuckled.

  Setsuna nodded. “I still won’t join.”

  “If it’s because you can’t stay after school, just tell your aunt that you joined a study group. She’ll be fine with that,” Faye said.

  Setsuna frowned. “What if I don’t want to join?”

  “Then I’ll tell Declan everything that you wrote in here about him.”

  Setsuna blushed.

  “What did she write about me?”

  Faye smirked and paused for dramatic effect before flipping the book open to a dog-eared page. She met Setsuna’s gaze before looking down. “Declan, age eighteen. He is a large boy with arms the size of my thighs. Sam often comments on how she wished her thighs could be wrapped around him. Sam seems to take an unnatural interest of Declan. She might be of stalker potential. Or, just delusional. According to school gossip and appearances, Declan and Faye are dating. This seems a bit odd to me, as Declan and Faye although close, hardly ever kiss, though they do hug a lot. Maybe Declan is lacking in some ways--”

  “Stop! I’ll join. Just stop!” Setsuna yelled out reaching forward nearly tackling Faye into the desk behind her.

  “What do you mean I’m lacking? Dom, tell her that I’m not lacking. More like I’m packing! Right?” he asked.

  Faye wrapped her arm around Setsuna’s waist to steady them as she let the girl take the notebook back, but instead of releasing her hold she tightened it, pulling the girl closer to her. The smell of sunshine surrounded Setsuna filling her with a sense of warmth. “Hmm. Maybe you are lacking in some ways? I’ve never looked below the belt, so I wouldn’t know.”

  “Dom! I’m telling you that I’m packing!”

  “Packing hot air is more like it.” She chuckled.

  Setsuna’s face was cherry red as she was held tightly by Faye who didn’t seem to be letting go anytime soon. She didn’t completely understand the conversation the two were having. What did it mean to pack? Was he packing a bag? What did that have to do with anything? It also didn’t help that her heart wouldn’t stop pounding in her chest and her blood was beginning to bubble up within her veins. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to get another nose bleed. She needed to stay calm. If only Faye weren't so warm.

  “Um…”

  Faye looked down meeting the flushed face of the girl within her arms. She couldn’t help the smirk that spread across her lips. “What’s up, kid?”

  “Could you, um, possibly let go?”

  Faye frowned, and for a moment her hold tightened, before releasing Setsuna and stepping back. “Just didn’t want you to fall.”

  Setsuna nodded while clutching the notebook to her chest. “Thank you.”

  “Dom!”

  “Oh, Declan give it a rest. You can be as big as you want in your mind!” Faye suddenly snapped at the boy making him stop his complaining.

  “You’re so mean!” He sulked.

  “Be a man!” she called back as she leaned against the desk.

  Declan huffed before jumping back up on the other desk. Faye turned back to Setsuna. “We meet here after school every day for about an hour just like a normal club. No one really knows that we use this room, no other clubs want it because apparently, a student died here or something, and it’s haunted. But whatever, it’s free for us to use.”

  “What exactly do you do here?”

  Declan answered. “We plan, strategize, and analyze the crimes we want to commit or solve.”

  “But I don’t want to commit crimes.”

  Faye spoke before Declan could. “Then you will help us plan better ones. We can act them out, but if something goes wrong and we get caught, then you will have failed at your job.”

  Setsuna frowned. “What happens if I fail?”

  Faye gave a mysterious smile as she absently waved her hand. “‘I’ll have to come up with some form of punishment.”

  Setsuna thought this over for a moment before nodding. “Okay. I’ll become part of your club.”

  Faye smiled and held out her hand. Setsuna took it. “Welcome to the club, kid.”

  * * *

  The following day Setsuna made her way to the classroom not knowing what exactly to expect. When she entered all she found was Faye sitting at a desk that had been moved along with three other desks to form a kind of square table. Faye was currently reading a rather larger textbook. Setsuna glanced at the title as she took a seat. She read out loud. “Criminal Psychology. Why People Kill People.”

  Faye smirked. “Interested?”

  She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m happy sticking with my deductive reasoning books.”

  “You know that not all crimes follow the set rules of logic, right?”

  “Of course, but I don’t plan on becoming a police officer. I just do them for fun.”

  “Pity. You have the mind for it. I wouldn’t mind having you as a partner,” Faye said before going back to her book.

  Setsuna frowned, as she pulled out her homework and cleared a space among Faye’s homework that was spread out across the four desks, then set about completing the work due the next day. They sat in relative silence for the next ten minutes before Setsuna looked up at the clock and turned to Faye. “Declan is late--”

  The classroom door flew open and in walked Declan. “You guys won’t believe what I got!”

  “If it’s another baseball card I don’t want to see it,” Faye called out as she read through her criminal psychology textbook.

  “No, it’s a million times better.” Declan pulled out the note and slapped it on the desk, along with a large folder bursting with papers, in the middle of all of Setsuna and Faye’s homework.

  “And this is?” Faye asked as she glanced down at the photocopied paper.

  “Our next big case,” he stated proudly.

  “What do you mean by big case?” Setsuna asked as she picked up one of the pieces of paper that had escaped the folder when he dropped it and read it aloud.

  “To Whom It May Concern,

  My name? Well, I like to be called Patient X for various reasons, most of all because I am more than a person; I am an idea. I am a revolutionary idea. I stand for many things, but to obtain any of them, I must first change the world. I am the first domino. When I fall, I will shake the world. No one will remember my name, but they will remember what I stand for. They will remember Patient X as the idea that began it all.

  Today, I released a new drug that will begin my revolution. I affectionately refer to it as red haze. It is a drug that will make me a martyr. Two months from now there will be blood spilled, there will be panic, and there will be chaos. Some will try to cover it up, but they will fail. One cannot stop change. Some would call me crazy, but others will rejoice in my coming. I am the beginning and the end of civilization.

  Sincerely,

  Patient X”

  “What is this, Declan?” Faye asked.

  “It’s a note that I copied from my dad's police case file.”

  “You know that is illegal right?” Faye stated matter-of-factly as she read over the note again before looking back up at him. “Do you have any more?”

  Declan grinned and pushed the manila folder over towards her. “Plenty!”

  “How did you get all of this?” Faye asked.

  “My old man fell asleep, and I was bored, so I copied his whole case file while he was in a stupor and had it all back on his desk before he woke up for work the next day.”

  Setsuna replayed what he said over in her mind and realized that she was missing something. Why would a detective fall asleep with an important case file out in the open? What kind of stupor would prevent him from waking up when his son stole it? Drunken stupor? Yes, maybe that’s what he meant or maybe a sleeping pill stupor?

  “What are we supposed to do with this exactly?” she asked.

  Faye and Declan shared a look before meeting her gaze. “We’re going to solve it, of course!”

  Setsuna’s jaw dropped open. “What?”

  “Why are you acting so surprised?” Declan asked as he plopped down in the seat next to her.

  “But, we can’t!”

  “Why not?” He looked up.

  “Because it’s a police case!”

  “So?” Faye said as she pulled out several of the pages.

  “So? The police are going to solve it. How can we solve it?”

  “We’ll just have to solve it before them, then,” Declan stated.

  “But…” She trailed off realizing that neither of them were listening to her anymore. They were crazy! Then it struck her.

  “You’ve done this before,” she stated.

  Declan looked up with a grin on his face before turning to Faye. “I like her. She catches on quick.”

 

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