Chapter 3: You Just Couldn't Resist

      Faye, Marco, and Trina, Faye's mom, were all situated on the couch. Faye had arrived 30 minutos nakaraan to find her mom and Marco making out in the kitchen. They didn't even acknowledged that Faye had strolled in until she said, "Hey, I'm home!" When they finally noticed her, Trina sinabi for her to sit on the couch. They had something big to tell her. 
      Faye sat in between Trina and Marco. "Okay, here goes. Marco is your father." Trina sinabi as she shifted uncomfortably. She was a petite woman and didn't take up much puwang but Faye felt suffocated already. 
      "I figured that out," replied Faye. She was trying to erase the traumatic scene of her mom and dad halik on the kusina counter. It was going to be hard to live down. Maybe it was a bad idea to come home. "What I want to know is why he left you to raise Selena, Nico, and me."
      "It's complicated," retorted Marco. Just then aloud beep came from Faye's phone. It was a text from Simone.

SIMMIE: Ok, my dad=bad guy. Your dad=spy 4 my dad. U do da math. Where R U?

      Faye stared up at her father. A mixture of confusion and suspicion was all over her face. "Who was that?" Marco asked innocently. Faye didn't feel comfortable with him so close. Soon she started feeling dizzy. About 5 minutos of that, she muttered something about sickness and ran to her bed. She dozed off soon after.
      Late in the morning, Faye's phone was vibrating violently. When it clashed to the floor, Faye awoke immediately and grabbed her phone. She had various texts from Lauren, Simone, and Sidney. They each were wondering where she was. Lauren was conversing about how they were going to the pelikula at 1:30pm and was wondering if she was going. Faye glanced at her alarm clock. It read 12:50. She had 40 minutos to get there. She got dressed, brushed her teeth, had a bagel, and sped out the door and into a new Sudan.
      Simone explained what she found out from examining her dad's yearbook the susunod morning. There was so much information from just his yearbook. It was shocking. She told the girls how their fathers were apart of this group called The Business Club but below the picture was the initials D.B.E. She tried looking them up online but it was blocked. She has no clue what the they stood for but it sounded secretive. Her father wrote a lot of comments in his yearbook. She showed them the X's that her father had written over many of the faces. Then a lot of other stuff also. The comment that she admired the most was the one talking about how a party started at Glynn Academy. Glynn Academy was very strict about keeping the place clean and making sure no one is allowed on the premises after school hours. They had even banned prom. If the students wanted a prom they would have to have it somewhere else. Maybe this party is to blame for them not having a prom at school. There were some pictures taped to the yearbook in the back where the autographs were suppose to be. There were about ten of them. Each one captured a different shot.
      "Look there's Faye's mom!" Sidney pointed at a picture of a younger version of Faye's mom. It was amazing how mucho uy were similar. We all knew she got her good looks from her mom but this confirmed it. Her mom still had those dark brown eyes and long black hair. She must have dyed her hair red last month. "God, she looks so young! What happened?"
      "What do you think D.B.E stands for? Do you think it is something illegal?" Simone stared at each of them like they knew the answers.
      "Who knows," nagkomento Lauren. "Dumb Boys Eternal?"
      "Dads Bring Easter," retorted Simone as she stared at the pictures.
      "Daring Bad Eggs," sinabi Sidney.
      "Dead Boys Eat," replied Simone. Everyone laughed over the ludicrous ideas. Their dads weren't apart of anything illegal. They were pretty sure they would know about it except for Simone. She still had her doubts. She began questioning everything. Simone's dad still doesn't like it when she comes within a mile of the attic stairs. How was she to know anything about her father and his days at Glynn Academy. He could have done some illegal things. It wasn't odd. Most teenagers do stupid things when they were in high school. Why couldn't her dad just tell her instead of having her wonder though his personal items.
      "What I don't get is why my dad lied. He always told me that he went to Brunswick High for most of his life. Why would he lie about something like that?" questioned Lauren. She was genuinely baffled. She wouldn't allow herself to think that her dad might have done something illegal. It would ruin the perfect image of her father.
      "I have an amazing idea!" Sidney sinabi as she leaped from her purple beanie bag. She grabbed her Windows laptop off the shelf and rested it on her lap when she was seated. "Lets look these people up and get all of our sagot answered." It sounded like a good idea. Sometimes it is just best if people don't find out certain things. Everyone dragged their beanie bag closer to Sidney. "Give me the first person, Simone."
      Simone flipped the page and pointed at a girl with sapphire blue eyes and a pleasant smile. She looked plain but beautiful at the same time. "Hellen Maunders." Sidney did some typing on her computer. She came up with a Facebook page and clicked the link.
      When the bista sa tagiliran picture came up, it looked exactly like her high school picture. The same short hair with bangs, same sapphire eyes, and same pleasant but naughty smile. The only difference were the laugh lines. "She has barely aged!" sinabi Simone as she stared in disbelief at the bista sa tagiliran picture.
      "Leave her a message," sinabi Lauren. 
      "Okay!" Sidney sent the girl a picture of Simone's father and some questions. She was posing as a friend of Simone's dad. "Done."
      They had to wait for Hellen to reply. They knew she was on since she recently posted a picture of her dog, Mason, in a tux. Apparently, Mason was taking a certain poodle on a date. Her mga kaibigan nagkomento n it saying how adorable he looked. The girls would disagree with those statements. Simone sinabi that Hellen must be really lame now because all she does is set up dates for her dog. Finally, the girls went to sleep.

About an oras later, there was a beep from Sidney's computer. Lauren was the only one who heard it. The others were taking a nap. She set up and yawned. It was exactly what she expected. They received a message from Hellen.

HELLEN: I remember Jason Rivers. God! That man was malicious! Everyone either hated him or trusted him. I personally hated him. Don't tell him I sinabi that, he'll KILL ME. If you're his friend why are you asking me all these things? Are you a spy? You are just like Marco. Oops, sinabi too much.

      After pagbaba the message, Lauren woke the others. They each thought the same thing, whoa. Hellen was utterly frightened of Mr. Rivers. He wasn't that terrifying to Lauren but then again, Lauren has never been on his bad side. She couldn't see what Hellen was feeling right now or even comprehend it. Simone was the most shocked about the newly found information. She could not accept her father as a killer. He was and always will be the lovable teddy madala she came to know. He may be difficult sometimes but he couldn't be a killer. 
      "Let's try another one," suggested Simone. "How about Madison Faulkner?" Sidney googled the name and again she received a Facebook page. She asked the same tanong she asked Hellen. About ten minutos later, they obtained a reply.

MADISON: I already gave Jason his money years ago. Why do you keep looking for me?! I will see you in court if you want madami money! I'll do it! I'm not as spineless as I was in high school.

      Everyone was speechless but inside were a million of tanong unanswered. Hellen and Madison were both frightened of Simone's father but why? He wasn't an evil man. He was a simple father who enjoyed spending time with his wife and kids. Sure Simone could be hard to handle but he never got tumawid with her. Mr. Rivers was nothing like those women sinabi he was and Simone was going to prove it one way or another.
      "How could you be so stupid!" yelled Sidney's dad. He was the type to get in a raging fit from time to time. Lauren always thought he had some type of anger disorder. Sidney did loved him but she was still horrified of him. "All I sinabi was for you to pick up some pagkain and you come back here with this?!" There was a loud thud and then some moaning. Unfortunately, everyone was use to that sound.
      This happens a lot in the Stone household. Mr. Stone would argue with his frail wife and she would not do anything about it. Mrs. Stone would take the beating and apologize even if she did nothing wrong. Mrs. Stone loved him too much to turn him in. Others would say she was too scared of him to turn him in. Sidney and her grandmother had to deal with screams of pain and the cries of anger. They couldn't ulat him, they were to scared of him also. Simone, however, hated it when she had to here it. "I have an idea," sinabi Simone. They all gathered in a huddle. She told the entire plan she had just thought up during the noise.
      About an oras later, after Mr. Stone was done shrieking, Simone, Lauren, and Sidney were sneaking into Mr. Stone's bathroom. "Okay, Sid, where is your dad's medicine cabinet?" Sidney ushered them over to a small cabinet filled with different medicine bottles. She got the one all the way in the corner. 
      Simone lifted a tiny box filled with pills. She dumped Mr. Stone's medicine and replaced it with the tiny pills in the box. "There, he should be sick when he takes the medicine."
      "What the heck are those?" asked Lauren
      "Laxatives." Simone smiled with pride. She was going to give this man the biggest stomach ache he'll ever have. "The best part is that this is only phase one of my plan. Phase two will happen when we and your gran go to that movie that just came out. She sinabi she was going to take us today."
      "I don't know, Simone. It always backfires. Let's just forget it," sinabi Sidney.
      "They say revenge is a dish best serve cold." Lauren rubbed her bony fingers together in an evil way. "It is okay Sid. This plan will work. If it doesn't, we'll blame it on Faye."