July 3, 2018 · Words: 3,774
When Vance first heard the news that Chase Albridge had died, he immediately put down his notebook where he had been recording orders for his rice balls and jumped onto his phone where notifications flooded his lock screen.
Hope ur doing alright buddy.
You hanging in there Vance?
You two were close right? I just wanna make sure you’re okay.
Vance hastily opened his phone and went to verify that it was all true. When he saw the post on Chase’s page made by Mrs. Albridge he knew at that point he couldn’t deny it.
Vance sank into his chair, letting his hand fall into his lap. Something told him to start crying, but instead he felt, well, nothing. It was as if there was a block in his brain that prevented him from really believing that the news was true.
When was the last time he had seen Chase?
Just the Friday before spring break he had seen Chase parading through the school with his girlfriend under one arm and his stupid smile that charmed all the parents and teachers. Apparently later that day he had broken up with his girlfriend for an obscure reason. Whatever it was, news travelled fast at Bridge Wood High.
Of course, the last time he had actually talked to Chase was a few years back—if you counted shouting at each other as talking. That was the day Chase ceased to be Vance’s best friend. But none of that mattered now.
Now Chase was dead.
Vance rubbed his eyes and let out a long breath. What had happened to Chase?
Jisoo had just stepped out of the shower when her cell phone rang in her room. Half startled by the sound, she quickly wrapped her towel around herself and scurried over to her room, leaving of trail of water puddles from her hair.
Gena was calling. Jisoo tapped the answer button.
“Gena?”
“Hey hon did you find out yet?”
“Find out what?”
“About Chase.”
“What about Chase?”
“He passed away.”
Jisoo felt her heart stop. “Wait what?”
“His mother just posted on his page. Sorry Jisoo.”
For a moment Jisoo entertained the idea that Gena was pranking her. Holding her phone against her ear with her shoulder, she ran to her laptop and pulled up the post. Underneath was a photo of Chase from his last track meet, holding up a second-place medal next to his face.
“You still there Jisoo?” Gena said through the phone.
Jisoo felt herself starting to breath faster and shake. This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t real.
“Jisoo?”
Jisoo felt her voice quavering. “Um…can I call you back in a bit Gena?”
“Of course, I’ll be right here.”
Jisoo hung up and felt tears welling up in her eyes. Hastily she wiped them away and stared at the photo of Chase in his mother’s post. Guilt suddenly pooled inside her. She had just seen him a few days ago. Their encounter had not been a pleasant one though. What was the last thing that she told him?
“I don’t want to see you again.”
Then she had walked away without looking back.
Now she stared at the photo on Facebook, confused. What had happened to Chase?
It was overcast when Vance pulled his used maroon Honda Civic into the Bridge Wood student parking lot the next morning. He yawned as he waited for a few students to cross the road and then proceeded to his spot. As he pulled in he noticed was the small pile of flowers and picture frames in Chase’s parking spot.
Vance’s spot was sandwiched between Chase’s and the curb. Normally the squeeze was tight since Chase drove a giant red pick-up truck and parked like a blind man. Vance of course had to deal with it and find a way to squeeze in since the last guy who grazed Chase’s truck ended up with a black-eye. Of course, the school never punished Chase because they couldn’t prove it, but he undeniably did it.
Just as he got out of the car, grabbing his backpack and bag full of rice ball orders, another small car pulled up on the other side of Chase’s spot. He had never noticed it much before since Chase’s truck blocked everything like a wall, but he recognized the driver as Gena Baek, one of the students in his Macro-Econ class.
She was tall with shoulder length, highlighted hair and when she stepped out of the car, Vance felt himself shrink a little. She carried the appearance of a Korean singer, which she might as well have been since she could sing like one, and Vance felt slightly awkward standing near her. He was the fat kid that sold rice balls at school. She was the girl who famously rejected Grant Davis, Bridge Wood’s football captain, in front of the entire school.
As she got out, Vance instinctively looked the other way.
“Thanks for the ride, Gena, “another voice said sweetly.
Vance turned his head just enough to see Jisoo, Gena’s best friend and Chase Albridge’s ex-girlfriend, also step out of the car. She was half a head shorter than Gena but just as pretty. She was on the school’s dance team and rumor had it that Chase had gone to all of her performances just to see her before finally asking her out. She also had a food blog with a few thousand followers. Vance followed it once in hopes that she would notice and perhaps promote his rice balls, but it never happened. Alas a person like Vance would never be noticed by someone like Gena or Jisoo.
“I might be a little late back here after school because I have to talk with my counselor,” Gena said, grabbing her purse.
“No worries,” Jisoo replied. “I’ll just wait here.”
Jisoo turned her head towards Chase’s spot and stared at the small pile of flowers. She looked sad, though she kept composed. Vance felt compelled to say something nice.
Sorry for your loss. Nah too cheesy.
Hey I heard about Chase. He was a good guy. Dammit that was worse.
Hey if you ever need someone to talk to, you can always give me a call. Vance internally barfed. That made it sound like he was close with her, which he wasn’t.
At that moment the five-minute bell rang. Jisoo broke off her gaze and turned to Gena, who returned a sympathetic frown. They turned away and began to walk to class.
“Hey Jisoo!”
Vance heard his shout escape from his lips before he could stop himself.
Gena and Jisoo paused and turned to look at him.
Vance wanted to shoot himself. But they were both looking at him with curious expressions. He had to say something.
“Want a rice ball?” Vance reached into his bag and held up two saran-wrapped rice balls. “Free of charge.”
Jisoo gave a small smile but shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
With that the two turned away and began walking to class.
Vance let the rice balls drop back into his bag, trying to not outwardly cringe. He had a lot of cringey moments, like that time when he first started his rice ball business and spilled an entire bag of rice balls in front of several teachers walking to the teacher’s lounge at lunch, but this somehow felt worse.
He glanced down at his watch and realized that he had two more minutes to get to class. Slinging his bag of rice balls onto his shoulder, he locked his car and headed off.
As he passed through the main quad, which was beside the main office, he noticed a police car pull up to the front of the school. Two officers stepped out.
Half panicked by the sight of the police and the thought of being late to class, Vance hurried his steps. He wondered how much worse his day could get.
Hopefully not much at all.
Principal Krabs was just getting off a phone call from Helen Albridge, Chase Albridge’s mother, when the police officers knocked on his door.
”Thank you so much for the call Mrs. Albridge,” he said, hearing her sniffle over the phone. “I’ll give you a call back when more matters have been settled.”
“Yes thank you too. I’ll be waiting for your call.”
He hung up and beckoned the officers in. He got up and shook hands with the two of them. One was a tall Asian man with thick eyebrows who introduced himself as Officer Lu and the other was shorter woman with a face that read “don’t mess with me” who introduced herself as Officer Bennet.
“I’m assuming Mrs. Albridge has filled you in,” Officer Bennet said, hooking her fingers into her belt.
“Yes and I wanted to let you know that all of our administration here will do our best to assist in the investigation,” Principal Krabs responded. “We haven’t made an official announcement to the school yet on the wishes from Mrs. Albridge.”
Officer Lu let out a bitter chuckle. “Kids are smart though. I’m sure by the end of today most of ‘em will figure out what has happened.”
“That’s true,” he said reaching for the notepad he had been writing on during his phone conversation with Mrs. Albridge. “Please. Have a seat.”
Officer Lu and Bennet sat down and he handed them the notepad. “This is a list of Chase’s classes and teachers along with some of his friends over the past few years. This might be a good start.”
Officer Lu flipped through the tablet. “Yeah this is a start.”
Officer Bennet peered over and then without looking up said, “What a way to start the week.”
Principal Krabs gave a grim smile. “Tell me about it. We actually just got back from spring break.”
“These things don’t give a damn about breaks,” Officer Lu stated plainly, handing the notepad to Officer Bennet. “Mind if we keep this list to hand over to the detectives back at the precinct?”
Principal Krabs nodded. “Of course.”
Officer Bennet scanned the list of names. “Huh. A girlfriend. She could help out.”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Principal Krabs corrected. “They broke up the day we got out onto break.”
Officer Bennet looked up and raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “You must be close with your students to know that sort of information.”
Krabs shook his head. “I try to, but no. They had a big fight in the parking lot that campus security had to intercept.”
“Fist fight?”
“No, but there was a crowd that started blocking the road so we had to break it up so students could get home.”
Officer Lu leaned forward in interest. “A fight with a girlfriend. That could be important.”
“Important?” Krabs asked, not following their reasoning.
Officer Bennet nodded. “Fight with girlfriend. Break up. Dead boyfriend. There’s definitely something there.”
Officer Lu leaned over to read the list. “So…who exactly is this girlfriend?”
Jisoo sat down in her seat at the back of the class in second period AP Biology and immediately felt several pairs of eyes turn her way. The room got eerily quiet and a few people leaned over to their partners, whispering sentences while keeping Jisoo in the corners of their eyes. Jisoo disliked the attention.
Keeping her head down, she pulled out her notebook and began working on the warm-up question that Ms. Sun projected onto the board. People were probably expecting her to cry or ask to be excused from the room but having a meltdown in front of her class felt somewhat worse than what she was already feeling.
A few people had already approached her that morning and asked how she was doing.
“I’m okay,” she had told them. It was strange. When someone close died, suddenly the definition of okay became I am alive and breathing. The person who wasn’t okay was Chase. That’s what being not okay was. It was being dead.
She had called Mrs. Albridge herself and asked what had happened to Chase, but she only managed to reach her answering machine. Chase’s older brother was out of the country and she had no way of reaching him. She was in the dark just like everyone else.
Her phone lit up on her desk and she could see that someone had texted her. Seeing that Ms. Sun was pre-occupied checking emails on her computer, Jisoo took the liberty to scoot her phone behind her pencil pouch and unlock it.
You doing alright? Wanna meet at lunch and talk?
It was from Grant Davis, Chase’s best friend who also happened to be one of the people Jisoo hated the most. He was charming and was the captain of the football team, but Jisoo knew him well enough to know that there was more to him than that.
Sorry. Got plans already. She responded before promptly shutting off her phone and dropping it into her backpack.
Her hand instinctively reached up to where the necklace that Chase had given her hung. On the chain hung a small silver ring with three small engraved hearts that Chase had given her on her birthday. He had a matching ring that he wore as well, but he often kept it in his pocket to avoid being made fun of by his friends.
She sat up as Ms. Sun took to the front of the classroom. Her usual black hair was now laced with blonde highlights and there seemed to be a vigor in her face. Ms. Sun was one of the youngest teachers in the school (Jisoo guessed around thirty) and after being recently wed, she approached everything with an eager energy that would drain any normal human being. Today was no exception.
“Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone rested well over the break. I know I did. My husband and I went to the spa and it was amazing. Now I understand that things happened recently that might be tough for a few of you,” her eyes passed over Jisoo, “but I am here to talk to if you need it. All of the counselors are open as well, but seeing that I see you guys more, I can be a resource. But regardless, we still need to keep driving forward because we got our AP exam coming up in a few months!”
She clicked forward in her slideshow which was decked out with random biology memes until she got to their assignment slide.
“Alright now I need you guys to pull out your lab notebooks and grab a Chromebook. We’ll be doing a minilab on genetic inheritance as an intro into our unit.”
A low groan emitted across the tables and people began shuffling around their bags. The thought of another webquest made the day seem just a little bleaker. Jisoo reached into her bag and realized her notebook wasn’t there. Quietly standing up, she made her way to the front of the classroom to Ms. Sun’s desk.
“My notebook is in my locker. May I go grab it real quick?”
Ms. Sun smiled. “Yes go ahead!”
Quickly whirling around, Jisoo headed for the door and refused to meet the eyes that stared at her as she shuffled out of the room.
It only took her a minute to get to the GJ lockers which were just around the corner from the science building. Aside from a few straggler students who were ditching class, the school seemed deserted. When she got to her locker, she stood in front for a moment recalling her combo before it came back to her.
04-21-00
She clicked her lock open and swung up the door with a loud creak. A small piece of paper immediately tumbled out onto the floor. She bent down and picked it up.
Jisoo, I know you don’t want to see me ever again. But please know that I still love you. By the time you find this note, I will have exposed them so I can tell you everything.
I love you.
The skinny angled handwriting was Chase’s, without a doubt. Jisoo’s hand flew to her mouth and she felt herself choke back a sob. She reread the last line, remembering the time when he first said that to her.
Feeling her heart beginning to pound, she flipped over the paper to see if there was more. But there wasn’t. It was just Chase’s handwriting in the sparkly blue ink that she recognized as ink from the pen she had given him as a gift.
She reread the entire note, suddenly wishing Chase were there so she could hug him and tell him how sorry she was. But he wasn’t. All that remained of him was the few things he had left behind along with memories they shared together.
By the time you find this note, I will have exposed them so I can tell you everything.
Expose who? What was he going to tell her? Is that why he had come back on Wednesday even though she had made it clear never to come near her?
One of campus security guards drove by in their cart, startling Jisoo. Hastily wiping her eyes, she folded the note and shoved it in her back pocket. She didn’t want to go back to class looking like she had been crying. Straightening up, she grabbed her notebook and closed her locker before heading back to class.
When she got back there was a student handing Ms. Sun a call-slip in front of the class. Ms. Sun brought the note close to her face and squinted to read the name.
“Jisoo.” She looked up and saw Jisoo standing in the doorway. She waved the call-slip in the air. “At-once.”
Jisoo made her way to the front and grabbed the note. She was to report to the front office immediately. She said thanks to Ms. Sun and shuffled to the back of the classroom quietly to grab her bag before heading out.
Jisoo was immediately directed to the conference room by the lady at the front desk when she arrived. It was a small plain room with a long rectangular table at which sat Grant Davis on the left and Vance Ho on the right. She sat down on the opposite side as Grant and placed an empty space between her and Vance.
Vance shyly looked at her and raised a hand to say hi. He was wearing a Star Wars shirt with storm troopers and gym shorts. Grant, who leaned back comfortably in his swivel chair with his arm rested on the table, raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment. He was in his letterman jacket covered in his many patches he had won from both football and track and field over the last four years. His hair was shaved on the sides and long at the top, gelled so that it defied gravity.
She herself was just wearing a big moss green hoodie and black skinny jeans. It was her comfy clothes.
The three all looked up as Principal Krabs strolled into the room followed by two police officers.
“Morning you three,” Krabs greeted them warmly. “I’m sure you’re all familiar with what happened to Chase Albridge already as you were close to him. This is Officer Lu and Bennet,” the two nodded, “and they’re here to ask a few questions about Chase.”
Officer Lu, the taller one, nodded and grabbed a seat on the same side as Grant, pulling out a notepad from his pocket. Officer Bennet, the short one, remained standing at the end of the table with her arms crossed as if keeping guard.
Krabs smiled awkwardly. “I’ll leave you to it.” He quickly left, closing the door behind him.
The room was silent for a moment with Vance staring into his lap, Grant eyeing the Officers suspiciously, and Jisoo quiet in her seat.
Officer Lu cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, “Well I’m Officer Lu and this is my partner Officer Bennet. You three, I’ve been told, were close friends with Chase.”
Jisoo and Vance both nodded. Jisoo felt like a tear was ripping across her chest and she held her breath in an effort to remain composed.
Grant raised an eyebrow and turned to Vance. “Weren’t you friends with Chase, like, five years ago?”
Vance, looking solemn, shook his head. “Three years ago. We were close freshman year but both ended up finding new friend groups.”
Officer Lu nodded and jotted it down in his notepad. He looked directly at Grant, who puffed out his chest as if to show dominance. “You’re the new friend he found?”
Grant flashed a smile. “Of course. Chase and I were in football together and got close after we spent some time together when we got injured sophomore year.” His smiled suddenly faded and the reality that Chase was gone seemed to hit him. His face looked grave. “We…”
His words trailed off and a vein bulged in his forehead as he clenched his jaw, steeling up his face.
Officer Lu saw what was happening and quickly said soothingly, “You two were close I see.” He turned to face Jisoo, who was staring down into her lap, her face crestfallen. “You were his girlfriend, correct.”
Suddenly realizing she was being addressed, Jisoo glanced up and gave a small nod, biting her lip. Her face twisted as a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away with her sleeve and took a shaky breath.
Officer Lu turned to Officer Bennet, who gave a sympathetic sigh and motioned for him to continue. He looked hesitantly down at his notebook and then tucked it away. He never understood how people in TV shows did this so easily. “Well if you guys are ready for it, I’d like to ask a few questions regarding Chase and what he had been doing recently.”
The three were all silent and Grant scoffed, returning to his smug demeanor. “Questions? Did the Albridges send you?”
Officer Lu frowned and squared up his shoulders. “It’s procedure. If we are to find who shot Chase Albridge, we need to properly investigate.”
“Wait, shot?” Jisoo heard the words escape from her mouth before she could stop herself. Grant’s eyes suddenly went wide. Beside her Vance abruptly sat up in his seat.
Officer Bennet took a step forward and raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Did no one tell you guys yet?”
“Chase was shot?” Jisoo felt a pit open in her stomach. Chase was shot? That meant…
“Yes, Chase was shot,” Officer Lu confirmed. “Last night under the freeway bridge, Chase Albridge was murdered.”
© Jody Lin 2021