Narration Room: August 2011

Handful of Sand Chapter 36 Page 3

After the latest incident, the police tightened the security around Sandy. That meant that she would be dropped off and picked up directly in front of school.

No buts!

And that meant...

Keith burst into class 9-B during the morning break and went straight to Sandy, pencil and notepad ready. "Ms Gould, why do you have the police dropping you off in front of school?"

"No reason," Sandy told him.

In reality, Sandy wanted to tell the truth. Of course she would like the school to know that she was some unknown heiress to a vast estate. She would be famous and everyone would like her.

But she had not received her money yet. And Selina had advised her not to tell anything, not yet. There were still people out to get her and she should not make it easy for them to find her.

So she firmly told Keith at lunch time, "I'm not telling."

Yeah, Keith the 'reporter-in-training' had bugged her again at lunch time. And once more after school, just as she was stepping into her ride home.

And on Wednesday, the next morning, when she was stepping out of the patrol car. By the morning break, Sandy was already tired of Keith's persistence.

"Look, I'm a witness to a crime. The cops are keeping me safe until the trial," Sandy told him. Of course it was a complete lie.

"Really?" Keith was already scribbling in his always-present notepad. "What were you a witness to?"

And of course, one lie would lead to another lie. "I... saw someone shoplift in Ms Megamall..."

"Okay, but why would the police need to protect you if you're a witness to such a small crime?"

And another. "It was a mob boss who did it! I'm to be protected from assassins sent by him!"

"Why would a mob boss be shoplifting in the first place?"

And yet another. "He needed to buy a gift for his daughter and he didn't bring his wallet that day!"

And his daughter had a serious temper-tantrum-throwing tendency. And she had been the cause of the fire the previous month when a house had burned down all because she could not get the latest Kuchiclan doll. And Kuchiclan dolls were manufactured by Flaxian space aliens from Alpha Centauri looking to get their hands on the local currency. And the Flaxians needed money to buy the latest music CDs from Earth. And the Flaxians needed the music CDs because it was the only cure for a deadly disease in their homeworld called boredomanitis.

By the time the interview was over, the lies were the length of a hardback novel and the morning break was over. Sandy felt more exhausted than before the break.

***

Handful of Sand Chapter 36 Page 2

Sandy followed after Ariel.

According to the arrangement, she would meet with the police patrol car a distance down the street. Thus far, her caution had not attracted the attention of Keith the reporter-wannabe. He had not noticed that the patrol car parked opposite the school would tail Sandy right up to the pickup point.

That afternoon, however, Sandy had attracted the attention of some other people.

Outside the school, after Ariel had left in her mum's car, Sandy walked along the sidewalk. She glanced back once to see that the patrol car was making a U-turn. Yeah, it would follow her soon.

Then there was a screech of tires. Sandy turned around to see that an old green sedan had stopped on the sidewalk right in front of her, blocking her way. A big man sprang out of the back seat, grabbed Sandy with her schoolbag and pulled her into the car. It was all over so quick that the brown-haired girl barely had a chance to gasp.

"Got the girl, let's go," the big man said to the driver.

The car jumped back onto the street. Students on the sidewalk dodged out of its way to avoid a painful visit to the hospital. Immediately, there was the sound of police sirens.

"The cops!" the big man exclaimed, "How'd they get here so quick!?"

Uh, duh! They were just further along the street!

The car drove at a dangerous speed through the suburb. It was garbage collection day for that particular area. More than a few of the garbage bins left at the side of the street were knocked over by the car in its haste to flee from the police. Fortunately, the refuse had already been collected or there would be an even bigger mess to clean.

The driver cursed. "The cops in this town act real fast!"

"Where'd they come from!?" the big man holding Sandy asked.

Could it be that these two buffoons actually had not noticed the patrol car? How much more incompetent could they get?

The green sedan squeezed in between two other vehicles in traffic and sideswiped another car that had been traveling in the opposite direction. The police was still relentlessly chasing them.

"No time to get her to sign the paper. I say we just kill her!" the big man suggested.

Sandy's eyes widened in alarm.

"You kill her, we'll hang! I say we get rid of her and try again later!" the driver said back.

Actually, those two should just give up. Clearly they were much too incompetent for a life of crime.

The car swerved into another road.

"Okay, we get rid of her." The big man opened the door on Sandy's side, clearly intending to throw her from a speeding vehicle.

The car suddenly turned, throwing Sandy against the man and causing the door to slam shut again. Throwing her out would not be so simple, it appeared.

The big man reached for the door again. That time, the door collided with the back of a pickup that their car was overtaking, knocking it close again.

The car turned at the next junction into another street. In the opposite direction, two police patrol cars approached with lights flashing and sirens blaring, each car occupying one of the two available lanes. The driver spun the car to a halt. He tried to turn back the way they had come but their pursuer blocked the way.

The driver drove the car off the road and onto the sidewalk. The patrol car that had been behind them followed and rammed the kidnappers' car into the wooden fence between two houses. It was good that there were no pedestrians on the sidewalk at that time.

Officers emerged from their vehicles and proceeded to apprehend the would-be kidnappers.

Sandy survived with a few bumps and bruises from being thrown about within a fast-moving vehicle. Let that be a lesson to everyone to always wear seat belts when riding a car.

***

Handful of Sand Chapter 36 Page 1

It was the Monday morning break.

Sandy desperately needed to talk to someone.

In the previous week, suspiciously on the day right after Sandy's interview with the cops, Connie had disappeared. There had been no sign of her at all in school. There had been rumors about the reason. Some say that she had transfered. A few claimed that she had been suspended.

Sandy hoped it had not been because of what she had told the cops. She did not want to be blamed for whatever had happened to Connie. That was why she wished she could talk to someone that morning. She wanted to reassure herself, perhaps find some false hope, that Connie's absence had been a coincidence and not because of something horrible, with Sandy as its cause.

She did not want to talk to Ariel, who was busy going through the handout of the last lesson. Darla was occupied with her own friends. And the boys were poor listeners.

At that moment, Esper and Selina returned to class with the latest edition of the Fernham Post. Perfect! People to talk to and maybe a story on what had happened to Connie.

The girls met at Ariel's desk and quickly scanned the paper.

"There's nothing about Connie in here," Sandy said after they had flipped the last page.

"It can't be," Ariel said, "That Keith had been pestering everyone about Connie last week. He would've written something."

"Could it be some form of censorship?" Esper suggested.

Ariel looked up at her curly-haired friend. "And who would do such a thing?"

Esper shrugged.

Sigh. It appeared that Sandy would not get any information out of the school paper. She would not be able to find out more about what had happened to Connie or whether it had been related to the photos of Annie.

The only obvious source of information left was Annie. And Annie was not someone Sandy would want to speak to. Not after the incident when the little girl had not paid her. Not after Sandy had helped circulate copies of a certain photo.

Thankfully, Annie had ignored her whenever they had bumped into each other in the school corridors. But Sandy had not dared to start a conversation with the little girl for fear of how ugly it could end up.

Sandy would just have to live with that mystery of life.

***

It was after school and Sandy rushing to the bicycle shed for her ride home.

A second later, she was out again, without the bicycle, and with panic mode on. Sandy glanced aimlessly about the school. When she spotted Ariel stepping out of the school block, she hurried over.

"Ariel, my bicycle's missing!" Sandy wailed to the blond.

The other girl simply regarded her classmate through narrowed bespectacled eyes. "You haven't been riding a bicycle to school for two weeks now."

"Oh yeah," Sandy realized. She had been going to school with the cops each day.

The police had been taking steps to keep her safe. To the detectives investigating the case, despite the trustee's claim that Sandy was not a benefactor, it was clear that someone out there believed that she was. Until the police found and arrested whomever was after Sandy, she was still in danger.

"It's just like you to have forgotten," Ariel commented frostily as she continued her walk towards the school gate.

Handful of Sand Chapter 35 Page 3

"Ms Gould, Ms Baker may have committed a terrible crime. If you're involved, you're in serious trouble," the detective told her.

"I didn't do anything!" Sandy said hurriedly, "Connie asked me to help her but I didn't want to. I said 'no'! I didn't help her!"

Detective Larioza glanced at her partner, who blinked his eyes. Then she turned back to Sandy. "Did she say what she planned to do?"

"She..." Sandy hesitated. Did she dare break her promise to Connie?

"Ms Gould, if you do not have anything to do with what Ms Baker did, now's your chance to prove it," Detective Larioza urged her.

Sandy silently apologized to her queen. "Connie planned to strip Annie naked, take photos of her and spread them all over the Internet."

Mrs Johnson covered her mouth with a hand.

"How did she plan to do it?" the detective asked.

"I don't know. She never told me."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Sandy looked down. "I promised Connie I would keep it a secret," she replied.

"You should've told someone," Detective Larioza said, "Ms Baker clearly planned to hurt Ms Billings."

Sandy looked up. "But she wasn't hurting anyone."

"Physical harm may have been involved in the process of getting the photos. And having her shameful photos on the Internet hurts a girl socially and emotionally," the detective told the teenager, "You should've told your guardian or your guidance counselor."

The detective paused to allow Sandy to process her words. Then she glanced at each of the other two adults. "Do you wish to add anything?"

Detective Gomez shook his head.

"No," Mrs Johnson replied.

Detective Larioza turned back to Sandy. "Thank you, Ms Gould. You may go."

Mrs Johnson rose up from her desk. "I'll see her out," she offered. She opened the door for Sandy and followed the teenager out.

Sandy was relieved that she had not been questioned about the spread of the photos. She had thought that she had been summoned for that reason and had been worried. Well, it was over.

"Ms Gould," Mrs Johnson called her once they were alone in the corridor outside the office waiting area.

Sandy turned around. "Yes, Mrs Johnson?".

"Ms Gould, it's not nice of you to spread obscene pictures of Ms Billings around the school," the guidance counselor chided softly.

Sandy bit back a gasp. So they did know! She turned her head aside.

"The police aren't interested in that at the moment, but please don't do such deeds again," Mrs Johnson advised, "Ms Billings is going through a lot of pain because of what you did."

"Yes, Mrs Johnson," Sandy promised quietly.

"You may return to class," the guidance counselor excused her.

***

Handful of Sand Chapter 35 Page 2

Two days later, it was Wednesday.

Sandy had forgotten all about Monday, when she had been in the middle of a scene brought about by the discovery of her picture of Annie.

That was until she had been summoned to her guidance counselor's office. During class. Via the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker that was part of the public address (PA) system that announced everything everywhere in the school. And yes, all messages delivered via the PA system were school-wide - no isolated announcements possible.

So the whole school knew that Sandy had been summoned. Was she being called because of the picture? Fortunately and unfortunately, the PA system did not say.

Sandy made her way to her guidance counselor's office.

The guidance counselors, the school administration and the school leaders all had offices that shared a common waiting area. Sandy passed that waiting area and knocked on the door of Mrs Johnson, her guidance counselor. When she was called from within, she entered.

Mrs Johnson was not alone. There was a weary-looking middle-aged woman and a short stocky man there whom Sandy did not recognize.

The guidance counselor invited the student to sit. Then she introduced the woman as Detective Larioza and the man as Detective Gomez.

They were cops! Were they there to take Sandy away? Sandy had distributed those pictures of Annie. Were the cops there to arrest her because of that?

Detective Larioza pulled up a chair close to Sandy's. She had black hair with strands of white mixed in. "Do you know Connie Baker?" she asked the teenager.

"Yes," Sandy replied. Oh god, oh god, oh god, it was about Annie's photos!

"What is your relationship with her?" the detective asked.

"We're friends," Sandy answered simply.

"What do you know about the relationship between Connie Baker and Annie Billings?"

"They're friends."

Detective Larioza paused to jot something on her notepad. The other detective was writing on a notepad of his own.

"Have you heard about the nude photos of a small black-haired girl on the Internet?" Detective Larioza asked.

"Yes."

It really was about the photos! Well, Sandy assumed that the photos on the Internet that the woman referred to was the same as the picture of Annie that she had before. She had not dared to visit the website address that Connie had given her since the computer at home was in the common area.

"Do you know the girl in the photos?"

"Yes. Annie."

The detective wrote some more. "What do you think of the photos?"

"Nothing," Sandy replied noncommittally.

Detective Larioza looked at Sandy closely. "Do you know how the photos got on the Internet?"

"No," Sandy replied without turning away. It was half-true. She did not know how Connie had obtained it.

Detective Larioza glanced at her notes. "We think Connie Baker posted the photos on the Internet. But she could not have taken the photos on her own. Someone helped her."

"I didn't have anything to do with it!" Sandy blurted.

Detective Larioza looked back at her. "What makes you say that?"

"I..." Oops.

Handful of Sand Chapter 35 Page 1

It was the Monday of a brand new week... of school.

Sandy stepped into the warmth of the school building, to the brand new start of a sleepily boring day, filled with classes and lectures and homework and... ugh, she wished she did not have all those responsibilities. When she received her inheritance, she would laze around all day, all year long.

There was not any special task she had to accomplish that day. She had already distributed all but her personal copy of Annie's humiliating picture. She had already spread the gossip among the 9-A girls, telling them where they could find more of the little girl's pictures. Thus, she had completed the task that Connie had set her to do.

All she had left to do was to collect her pay... her pay? Oh, no! She had not asked Connie for pay! Argh, how could she have been so careless!? She had been doing voluntary work for the glamor queen!

Argh, argh, argh! Frustration, annoyance, regret! Oh, her lost money, beautiful money that would never know her, that would never feel her soft touch!

As Sandy was hopping about, mad at her carelessness, danger stalked up to her.

"Young lady, I'm here to conduct a spot check," a short teacher with combed black hair announced. It was Mr Fowler.

"Oh, okay." Sandy handed over her schoolbag for inspection. She then went back to the process of eating her heart out. Maybe it would taste good fried with salt.

Sandy was interrupted again when Mr Fowler called her rather angrily, "What's this!?" He was holding up Sandy's personal picture of Annie.

"What? Er, that's..." Sandy stumbled.

"Obscene material are prohibited within school grounds, you hear?" Mr Fowler told her, loud enough for the other students in the corridor, "Now what's your name and class?"

Having the unwanted attention of all the other students, Sandy wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But she had no such luck escaping the vigilant teacher. Besides, if she did that, she would never get her money. Her inheritance, that is - she had already lost her chance to ask Connie for pay.

It was fortunate that Annie was nowhere in sight to add to her misery.

Ariel saw her though. The blond gave her a dark glare that seemed to emanate a shrinking ray that reduced Sandy into a tiny speck. Sandy felt that deprecating glare all through the morning classes and into the morning break.

Esper and Selina returned to the class with the week's issue of the Fernham Post. Hoping for a distraction to take her mind off her humiliation, Sandy followed them to Ariel's desk, where Esper spread out the paper.

The story on page two, one about Annie Billings, caught their attention. It appeared that the little girl in 9-C had consumed alcohol. According to the report, she went out for a night of drinking in the city during the spring break. She had passed out in the streets, where she had been found by the police.

"Wow, I can't believe Annie did that," Ariel commented.

"She's our age, right? That's so young to be a drunkard," Esper said.

"The story just doesn't seem right, though," Selina mused, "It shouldn't be that easy for a fourteen-year-old to get her hands on alcohol."

"But it's in the paper," Sandy argued, "So it must be true, right?"

Selina glanced at Sandy. "Don't believe everything you read in the papers," she advised.

The girls studied the article again. "I wonder if alcohol's good?" Sandy pondered.

"What do you mean?" Ariel asked, "Of course there's nothing good about it. They keep it from underage children for a reason."

"But there has to be something good about it," Sandy argued, "or Annie would've stopped long before she ended up like that." She gestured at the article on the desk.

Ariel raised a finger and opened her mouth but paused before she said anything. Then she slumped in her chair. "I can't believe I lost an argument to Sandy."

Esper chuckled while Selina hid her smile with her left hand.

***

Monday, August 29, 2011

Handful of Sand Chapter 34 Page 4

Later, very much later, Sandy arrived at Connie's table with a tray of food - spaghetti for the redhead, curry rice for herself, and jelly for both of them. Sandy saw that Connie had busied herself talking with a couple of boys.

When Connie saw that Sandy had returned, she dismissed the boys. "Oh, my friend's here," she told them, "Sorry, but she's going to need that seat."

The boys were disappointed to be sent away but who would argue against the glamor queen.

Connie accepted the spaghetti and one of the bowls of jelly from Sandy. "So what clubs have you visited?"

Sandy sat down with her food. "I've seen the Sewing Club."

"The Sewing Club - their clothes are too garish for me," Connie said, "Have you seen the Dance Club?"

"No, what's it like?"

"They look like a fun club. Their dances were wonderful and their costumes were colorful."

"Are you thinking of joining?"

Connie shook her head. "No. Looks like a lot of work, what with the practices and the costume-making. Maybe the Drama Club, though." She leaned closer for a whisper. "Get a start on becoming an actress one day."

The girls continued talking about the school's clubs as they ate. Once lunch was over, Connie bought them each a can of soda from the vending machine. When they were done with drinks, Connie invited Sandy for a walk. It was a clear, windless day. It was cold, though, so the girls each had a jacket on.

As they walked along the school wall, Connie glanced about. They were alone, sort of. The closest people were a couple of students a stone's throw away.

Connie leaned close to the brown-haired teenager. "Sandy, I wanted to give you this." She held out a folded piece of paper. "To show you what you've missed."

Sandy opened the paper. She saw that it was a colorless picture of a girl seemingly asleep on the ground. The girl had long black hair. She had no clothes on.

Then Sandy looked up in amazement at Connie. "You did it?"

Connie smiled and nodded.

Sandy stared at the image in her hand. So that was the picture of the girl who had not paid her. She felt some small satisfaction.

"Now, part two begins," Connie added.

"What are you going to do?" Sandy asked.

"Oh, you want a piece of the action now?"

"Well..."

"Okay, I'll let you in, only if you ask."

Sandy brushed her forefinger with her thumb.

"Look, this is to punish Annie for not paying you that time," Connie pointed out.

Sandy looked up at Connie. "Okay, I want in. What do you want me to do?"

Connie took out a few more folded pieces of paper from her handbag and handed them to Sandy. "Here. Pass these around. Distribute them among your friends. Let everyone see Annie humiliated."

Sandy accepted the papers. "Okay."

"If you need more, there's a website where you can get them." Connie jotted down an address on a small notebook and tore off the page for Sandy.

Sandy took the page and hid them with the other pieces of paper in her heavy schoolbag. "Okay."

"One more thing," Connie added, "Don't tell anyone where you got those from. Don't mention me. Understand?"

"Okay," Sandy agreed.

Connie smirked and walked away after that.

Sandy took out one of the pieces of paper with Annie's image on it. She stared at the picture. Yeah, that was for not paying her, Sandy told herself. Annie should be punished for not paying her.

She did not realize that she had not asked for monetary compensation from Connie.

***

Handful of Sand Chapter 34 Page 3

During the next couple of hours, Sandy visited other clubs and societies. She was just randomly visiting clubs without any set order, passing a few corridors more than once. As Sandy was starting down a set of stairs, she heard a voice.

"Psst! Girl!" the low raspy voice had called.

Sandy looked around but could not find the source of the voice. There was no one there and she saw nothing of interest, save the red box containing the fire hose.

"Yes, you! The girl with the short brown hair," the voice said again.

Sandy looked quizzically at the red box. A talking box?

"Yes?" Sandy called out. She felt weird talking with a red box.

"How would you like to join the Secret Society?" the voice asked.

"Oh, are you recruiting for your club?"

"Yes! Join us and we shall rule the school from the shadows!"

"I don't know, sounds like a lot of work."

"We offer power, riches, gold!"

The voice had her on 'riches'. 'Gold' had only made the bait sweeter. "Really?"

"Yes, all that and more! You can get a handsome boyfriend, the respect of peers!"

"So how do I join!?"

The answer she got was silence.

Connie appeared beside Sandy. "Who were you talking to?"

Sandy flinched in surprise at her majesty's sudden appearance. "Oh, er, no one," she fumbled.

The redhead looked at her, then glanced around. She finally looked back at Sandy. "Want to grab some lunch?"

"Okay!" Sandy accepted excitedly. She forgot all about the Secret Society.

"The Baking Club and the Culinary Society took over the cafeteria," Connie mentioned as they started down the stairs, "Let's see if their food is any good."

"Well..." Sandy uttered.

"Oh, come on, it's my treat today."

Sandy immediately brightened. "Thanks!" She totally forgot about the lunch Momma Lois had packed for her that day.

There were many students and a few of the teachers in the cafeteria that noon. It looked like the two societies were doing great business. Man, Sandy wished she could cook like Lisa or even Celeste could. She would then be able to make money selling food.

Connie looked at the queues with dismay. "It's going to be a long wait."

"Yes," Sandy agreed.

Connie then turned to Sandy with her charming smile at half-power. "What do you say you buy something for both of us? I'll find some place for us to seat." When Sandy hesitated, Connie pulled out her purse from her red handbag. "I'll pay, remember?"

"Okay," Sandy agreed.

Connie looked at the menu for the Culinary Society. "Get me some of their meatball spaghetti and a cup of jelly." She took a few notes from her purse and handed it to Sandy. "There should be enough left for you to buy something for yourself."

"Okay!" Sandy agreed. She then left to join the queue.

"Sandy!" Connie called before the girl went far.

The brown-haired teenager turned back.

Connie pointed at a line of customers separate from the one Sandy had been heading to. "The other queue!"

Sandy looked up the queue that she had been about to join. She had been about to queue for the Baking Club! That would have gotten the glamor queen upset if she had to wait longer for her food. Sandy hurried to the end of the correct queue.

Handful of Sand Chapter 34 Page 2

Two classrooms down, a stocky boy grabbed Sandy by the forearm and asked loudly, "Would you like to join the Bird-Watchers Club?"

"No," Sandy replied.

"I won't let go until you do!"

"No." Sandy had been through worse kidnappings than that, kidnappings where her own personal safety was in peril. Those kidnappers had failed to get her to do what they had wanted. Certainly that tubby small-time would-be kidnapper would not be successful.

They stared at each other for a minute. Then the boy asked again, "Would you like to join the Bird-Watchers Club?"

"No," Sandy replied as firmly as before.

The exchange happened another minute later. And the minute after that. Each time, the boy's demand grew weaker and weaker. Sandy, however, refused to yield.

Finally the boy gave up and released Sandy. Instead, he looked for an easier prey. He went for a small black-haired girl.

Annie!

Sandy hurried away. She was not sure she wanted to meet the little girl. She was not sure how she should act, especially since she had known of Connie's plan. Did Connie carry out her plan? Or maybe nothing had happened. Maybe the girl she saw at the hospital had been someone else.

A girl's scream stopped Sandy before she went far. She turned around to see Annie beating the stocky boy on his arm and shoulder with her white handbag. After several heated words, Annie stormed in Sandy's direction.

Sandy left before the little girl caught up with her.

The next club that Sandy visited was the Entrepreneurs Club. It was not really the decoration that caught her eye. It was the name of the club, a name filled with the promise of money.

The more Sandy examined the exhibits and listened to explanations, the more interested she was in the club. She heard of how club members had turned ideas into businesses. One girl had started a small business making handphone covers and continued to do so after she had left high school. A junior had organized a food delivery service for his suburb. Another junior had made some money collecting discarded material for recycling.

The club's motto, "Turning Ideas into Profit" was very appealing to Sandy and she was soon looking for someone to ask about membership. She wished she had joined the club the previous semester. She could have made a lot of money since that time.

Sandy stepped up to a brown-haired boy standing next to a desk with papers on it. He looked familiar. Maybe she had seen him around school before. "Hey, are you the person to see to join the club?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm Julian. I'm in the club committee," the boy introduced himself.

"Oh, good." Sandy smiled. "I'd like to join."

The boy returned the smile and picked up a membership form from the desk. He stopped before handing the form over. "Wait, aren't you Sandra Gould?" he asked.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Sandra, you've been expelled from the club for non-attendance," Julian told her.

Sandy was confused. "Non-attendance of what?"

"Club meetings," Julian explained, "You haven't attended any of our meetings."

"But when have I ever joined?"

"Last semester, during Societies Week..." When he saw that Sandy was still baffled, he added, "when we had notice boards out, trying to recruit people... do you remember?"

"Oh!" Sandy suddenly recognized the boy. He had been the one who had paid her to join his club. "So, can I join again?"

"Sorry, you've been blacklisted."

Sandy's eyes went wide. "What? Why?"

"Because you've shown irresponsibility by not attending club meetings. Sorry," Julian apologized again.

And there went her opportunity to make money. As she left the classroom, Sandy consoled herself with the fact that she was going to inherit a lot of money, probably thousands, no millions, of times more than what she could make in that club.

***