There was a body hanging on the chalk board in class 404. Not the kind of sight you want to see on a Tuesday morning but that didn't stop the curious eyes crowding the classroom and hallway just to have a peek. While the faint hearted rushed out of the crowd to the bathroom to hurl their breakfast and probably the previous night's dinner, others were silently crying holding onto their friends for support, the more popularity craving teens had their phones out, taking all the pictures they could before the police arrived to kick them out, each wanting their picture to be trending in that morning twitter hushtag #deadblonde or the more nasty hushtag being #halfnakedclaudiafounddead.

Mr. Frederick ignored all that was happening around him, the murmurs, the rude comments that went in the lines of 'she deserved it' to the other heartless one of 'Finally Max is single' as he stared wide eyed at the life taken too young. From beside him he could hear the old secretary, Mrs. Bakers saying a prayer as she tried to get Mr. Frederick to join her but he quickly ignored her wondering if anyone realised that the bell rang ten minutes earlier. Not like he cared about anyone skipping their lessons since the whole school will have to be sent home eventually but he just wanted all of them to leave. Atleast she deserved some dignity even in her death.

Someone from the crowd gave a light scream breaking his gaze as he turned to see another commotion in the crowd and the school nurse, Joseline rushing towards a girl who seemed to have fainted. He scowled, this wasn't the kind of thing teenagers were supposed to see and even he, in his thirty years of living had never seen such a horrifying scene except in the movies.

'We have to get the kids out of here. This is too traumatic for their young minds.' Mr. Iriov, the school counselor hushly said coming to stand next to him in a state of panic.

He looked pale and Mr. Frederick wondered if it was just an excuse so he could also leave. He nodded absentmindedly  just as loud sirens could be heard from a distance, he sighed, atleast someone had the mind to call the police in all the morning chaos.

His eyes went back to the half-naked body of Claudia Wanders, her body slashed numerous times and the bruised face with open eyes that seemed to be staring at him. He swallowed a lump of guilt.

'Mr. Frederick.' The hesitant voice of Mrs. Bakers called tugging his hand cautiously.

'Hmm?' He turned to old woman surprised to see that the crowd of students had already been dispersed, how long had he been staring at those dead green eyes?

'The police are here.' She gently said pointing behind him where he noticed three men in uniform enter followed by one plain clothed officer who stood a distance away observing the body and a woman in a lab coat came straight to the body placing her case on the edge of the teacher's desk where the blood hadn't reached.

One of the police men approached them and started talking to Mrs. Bakers, he didn't pay attention as his eyes went back to Claudi's body. What was he going to tell her parents? Would he be a suspect if they found out he saw her last night? He cursed internally, turning back to the officer who was jolting furiously on his note book, he needed to get out of there as he suddenly regretted sticking around until the police arrived.

'You must be Mr. Frederick.' The officer asked turning his attention to the pale looking man with his shaky hands secured in his pockets.

'Yes.' He whispered before clearing his voice and straightening his shoulders. This was his school and he needed to take control of the situation and his emotions. 'I'm Mr. Frederick, this is my class.' He said in a much clearer voice.

The officer nodded before approaching the body. Mr. Frederick turned away not able to look at the girl once more. 'Is she a student of this school?'

Mr. Frederick nodded. 'Yes. Senior year, her name is - was Claudia Wanders.' The officer wrote down the information.

'And who found the body?' The officer asked without turning to Mr. Frederick as he continued to observe the body together with one plain clothed officer who was still silently studying the body and the woman in a white lab coat was writing on her notepad. He sighed. This was really going to bring chaos with the school's  parents and board members, not to mention he had to clear his name before he got to the list of suspects. He could risk losing his job if the truth got out.

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'I - I mean we found her body.' A shaky voice said from the open door and Mr. Frederick turned to the three girls who stood by the door way, their eyes were already puffy from crying but that didn't seem to affect their perfectly done make-up. It was Diana, Summer and a new addition to the girl trio, Melissa.

'And who are you three?' The officer asked finally leaving the body to approach the three girls whose eyes were glued to the body.

'We were her friends.' The first one said, pushing her blonde hair to the back, Summer snorted but didn't say a word when Diana glared at her. Mr. Frederick raised an eyebrow at the lying girl, just the previous week Diana Burkes had complained once again about Claudia and they had ended up having an 'almost' fight which landed both in detention. 

'I see.' The officer nodded before jolting down on his notebook. 'And who was the last to see her?' All the girls shrugged.

'Maybe you should ask her boyfriend.' Melissa suggested before Diana scoffed.

'He is not her boyfriend.' She snapped at Melissa who flinched darting her eyes to the dirty floor. 'But you should really ask Max - Max Holland. We left them together yesterday.' Diana said before turning to leave, the two girls following obediently. Mr. Frederick felt the officer give him a questionable look which he ignored, just like Diana he had never been in favor of the new found relationship between Claudia and Max.

'I will go and find Max.' He announced to the officer rushing off before the officer had a reply.

'Officer Ruffers, any important clues on who was last seen with her?' Ruffers turned to detective Silver and noticed the young body was already being carefully pulled down by two other officer. He had never seen anyone sliced so many times on their body. Someone must have really had a bitter grudge with the young girl.

'Not really but they are bringing the boyfriend now. He was the last to be seen with her yesterday.' Officer Ruffers replied just as a muscular young man, probably a jock with messy blond hair appeared on the door way.

'Are you Max?' Officer Ruffers asked, noting how nervous the young boy was as he shifted his eyes from the body being put in a body bag to the officer who was tapping his notebook patiently.

Max sniffled before nodding. 'I-I swear I didn't do it!' He shrieked taking a step back.

'No one said you did son.' Officer Ruffers replied softly. 'We just need to know what happened yesterday.'

Max shook his head. 'I don't know. I don't remember. I swear.' Officer Ruffers raised an eyebrow turning to detective Silver who was silently watching the young man.

'I think it's better you question him somewhere else.' Detective Silver finally said after seeing how shaken the boy was but who would blame him, his girlfriend just got brutally murdered and with the scars on her body it was obvious she had been sexually abused first. Could the boyfriend have done that? He looked horrified but he could just be putting on an act, the boyfriends were always the first suspects.

He turned to Doctor Rheina who was busy on her notepad. 'Anything that could be of help?' He asked. Doctor Rheina pushed her glasses up before shaking her head.

'It's obvious she was sexually abused before being tied to the board. And I'm guessing that's where the person began to slice her body with all the blood on the board and floor. There is no sign of struggle so I can only assume she must have been drugged.'

'Those date rape drug?' Detective Silver quirked an eyebrow.

'Maybe, not until I take a look at her in my lab but one thing I did notice is that some of those scars were more than a day old and others a week.' Doctor Rheina replied closing her notepad.

'Abusive parent?' Detective Silver asked turning to the body in the bag.

'Maybe. I'm estimating her death to be around ten to eleven hours ago.' She said thoughtfully.

'What was she doing here that late at night? School must have been closed by then.' Detective Silver's eyes widened.

Doctor Rheina shrugged. 'It's sad this had to happen. Someone must have wanted to embarrass her if they left her like this, someone who wanted to humiliate her.'

Detective Silver nodded, he had also been thinking the same thing. 'I need to question all her classmates, get to know who held a grudge and maybe that will point us to the right direction. Someone in this class must know something.'

'I will also send her torn clothes to the lab.' Doctor Rheina sighed before following the officers who were wheeling the body out of the classroom. Detective Silver remained, scanning the classroom one more time and hoping to find a clue even though most of the evidence must have been tampered with if half the school had already been in there.

There was blood on the desk and a large pool on the floor and strangely on one of the desk in the front row. No other desk seemed touched by the blood but there were also many shoe prints on the floor scattered everywhere, he groaned, this is why he hated dealing with such cases, finding a clue in the classroom was not going to be easy so that left doctor Rheina to find something.

He was just about to leave the room when a scrawny kid with big rimmed glasses that covered half his face appeared at the doorway,  his eyes cautiously checking behind him before turning to detective Silver and nervously answering the million dollar question that had been playing on everyone's mind.

'I think I know who killed Claudia.'

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Next chapter : Envy