Zenon's Game Chapter 124

We were huddled around Zenon's phone. Bryce, Axel, Zenon, Heidi and myself. Each ring sent us into a deeper silence.

The tension was building. Riiiing.

"Don't go to voicemail..." Axel muttered.

"Ssh!" Bryce hushed us.

We all leaned in. There was a moment's silence as we waited. The phone was either going to voicemail or someone was picking it up.

"Yo, yo, YOOOOOO!"

Art's loud voice blared out through the speakerphone. It momentarily shocked us.

"How's it going boss?" Art yelled out into the deafening silence.

We all looked at Zenon. Boss?!

Zenon ignored our looks and brought the phone closer, "You ok, Art?"

Sounds like he is.

"Nah, I'm not! I know I p*ssed you off at the mall and I want to apologize. I'm glad you saw my texts and called me back, man-"

"But you're ok?" Zenon confirmed for the second time. He clearly hadn't paid attention to any of Art's texts. "No one has come up to you or taken anything from you?"

"Why? Is someone setting me set up?"

"Just check your basketball kit and call me back." Zenon hung up, having no patience for this guy. He looked at us, "So he's fine."

A collective sigh escaped our lips.

Bryce commented, "Anyone else forget how annoying that kid is?"

"At least he's alive."

Bryce shrugged, "Meh."

There was some commotion as everyone collected themselves. The stress of the last few minutes had been too intense. Art's alive and he's well. That was priority #1 (except on Bryce's list).

I tapped my fingers against my chin and thought out loud, "I hate to bring this up but if that isn't Art's blood, then whose is it?"

Silence.

We were back to square one.

"Maybe it's not blood," Heidi pointed out, "Has anyone checked? It could be ketchup."

"You can't pay me to check that," Axel said, backing the h*e*l*l away from my bloody bedroom door.

We were about to start pointing fingers at each other, when the sound of the front door slamming shut made us silent. Someone was inside the house.

And we were all up here, so who was down there?

Maybe Axel had left the door open and a very strong wind slammed it shut. Or maybe it was the culprit back for more...

"What's the point of birthing children when they won't help with the groceries!" my mother's voice screeched through the house.

I exhaled a sigh of relief and walked to the banisters, not realizing that everyone followed. My mother was lugging two plastic bags from the door to the kitchen. She was in her suit after a long day at work.

When she saw the three boys with us upstairs, her expression turned to shock.

"Three handsome devils," she admired, "If only my daughter told me she was having guests over, I would've dressed up a bit more. How embarrassing."

Zenon responded first, walking down the stairs to greet her, "Hey Mrs Turner."

"Pst! Zenon, what are you doing?" I hissed.

We had a murder mystery to solve up here!

"I'm being polite to your mum," he hissed back.

Ah yes, boyfriend priorities. Bryce and Axel hopped to it and followed suit, though Bryce was a little wary to approach my mum. He wasn't used to her yet.

"We'll help you with your groceries," Zenon offered, taking the heavy bags out of her hands.

Bottles clanked against each other and Axel peered into the bags. There was a lot of alcohol.

"Throwing a party, Mrs R?!" he asked.

I think she called it 'groceries'.

"I'm replenishing the pantry," she answered, ignoring the faces Heidi and I pulled. "By the way, there's a very old lady standing outside the house. I don't know if she needs some help or if she's-"

"Gloria!" Axel almost slapped himself for forgetting. "I have to go!"

"But we have a..." I didn't want to say the words in front of my mum.

"A what?" my mum zoned in on us suspiciously.

The boys immediately grabbed her bags and used them as an excuse to flee. They escaped to the kitchen.

"Cheese!" I heard Axel exclaim as he saw a block of cheddar between the prosecco and the rosé.

"Candace Turner, answer me now. What do you have and what are you hiding from me?" my mum gripped my wrist, showing me that she was not going to let this – or me – go until she got answers.

"Is someone sick? Have you committed a crime? Are you pregnant? Did you get an ab-"

"OK, this is escalating!" I gasped, "Mum, please don't freak out but there is a bloody basketball jersey hanging on my doorknob."

"So you're having s*e*x?"

"What?! No! Why would you say that?!"

"In my day, a sock on the door meant people were, you know, getting frisky."

I may have just died of embarrassment. I know the boys were listening in on this.

"And you thought a bloody jersey is how we say it now?!" I exclaimed.

She answered simply, "Kids these days. A lot of you are twisted."

Glad to see how much faith some adults have in our generation.

"Mum," Heidi intervened, calming things down since she was the favored child, "I think you should come see this."

Nooooooooo!

Heidi led our mum up the staircase. She set her handbag and keys on the kitchen table and followed Heidi upstairs. The boys had all stayed quieter than a mouse...

But they heard mum's reaction loud and clear:

"What is this perverted atrocity?! Goodness gracious!"

"That's a posh reaction," Axel commented on his way to the front door, "Hey Gloria, would you mind coming inside? Looks like we're staying and we'll need another adult in this situation."

My hands were in my hair, aghast by what was happening. Zenon wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, comfortingly.

We both watched Gloria enter the house, confused and asking Axel if he was alright.