Like Fire

By J.M. Earl

Cody Timesly is what some may consider to be a major nerd. Throughout his high school career, he has only ever dated one girl, he has never participated in social events, and all of his accomplishments have been academics-oriented. He also relies extensively on logic and facts to do everything from helping him make decisions to bringing him joy. Every year of his schooling has been pretty much a repeat of the year before...But then he meets Lizzie Hail during his senior year.
Lizzie is a goth girl, who happens to be new to Cody's high school, and his attraction to her is automatic. However, Lizzie is also in possession of some dark secrets, which come back to haunt her when some odd things begin to happen at Wayson High School directly after she shows up... and Cody is the only one willing to help her get to the bottom of the situation.
Will Lizzie and Cody figure out what is truly going on at Wayson High School? And will senior year finally be the year where Cody finds school to be as enjoyable as people say it should be?

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.M. Earl
• Release date: Jul 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370431816

J.M. Earl

I live with my family in a small town in Ohio. I have a love for animals, as can probably be figured out by looking at my profile picture. I have a lot of hobbies, including creating several forms of art, playing guitar, listening to music, and doing basic clothes design. I also enjoy both reading books and writing creatively. Over the summer, I volunteer at my local nature park, and at my local public library. During this time, I am also an assistant coach to a t-ball team in the local Jr. Softball League. I find outdoor activities such as swimming, hiking, and going on nature walks to be a great way of clearing my mind.

Book preview

Like Fire

By J.M. Earl

Smashwords Edition, Copyright 2017

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1- Elizabeth Hail

Chapter 2- Abandoned Factories and Dark Poetry

Chapter 3- Escape from the Jocks

Chapter 4- The Secret Circle

Chapter 5- Running Away

Chapter 6- Before Break

Chapter 7- Lizzie's Apartment

Chapter 8- Jake's Theory

Chapter 9- Answers and Questions

Chapter 10- Research…with Disturbing Conclusions

Chapter 11-The Confrontation

Chapter 12- Death Notes

Chapter 13-Explanations

Chapter 14- Suspects

Chapter 15- Disruption at the Winter Fling

Chapter 16- Clues and Leads

Chapter 17- The Results

Chapter 18- Back to Normalcy

Chapter 19- Skipping Town

Chapter 20- One Day

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my favorite TV shows and books for giving me various inspirations for my own stories. I would also like to thank my public library and all those that work there; there is no way that I would have ever developed a love for story writing, had I not first been given a place to help nurture my love for story-reading.

Chapter 1-Elizabeth Hail

Cody Timesly was a senior at Wayson High School. He was a member of the National Honors Society, and a leader on the Mathletes team. During his high school career, Cody hadn't had the typical best years of your life experience that's so common for people his age. He hadn't gone to any parties after dances or on the weekends, he had only dated one girl, and he hadn't been able to explore outside of the city that he grew up in (not that it was boring in any way). Senior year was going to be different, though; he was sure of it. And that prediction turned out to be right.

It was a week into his senior year, and Cody was walking to his Calculus I class, his best friend, Jake, accompanying him. They were rushing to get to class, unlike all the other seniors who had already fallen into graduation mode, and were no longer concerned with making it on time. They rounded the first corner to the class on the huge campus, pushing past people as quickly as possible to avoid being late…And that was when Cody saw her walking down the senior hall.

He noticed her, with her fishnet leggings, her combat boots, her dark makeup. She was slender, tall, and had hair that was dyed as black as a midnight sky with no stars, cascading past her shoulders. And something about her was so entrancing. Cody was almost pulled to her, like the way the sand gets pulled into the tide. In his mind she looked terrifying and mysterious, yet beautiful. Even her protective stance and body language was somehow mesmerizing.

Who is she? I have attended here my whole life, and have never seen her before… I find myself quite distracted by her for some unknown reason, Cody asked Jake, perplexed at how attracted he was to her.

Jake looked to the sea of people trying to figure out which girl Cody could possibly be talking about. He caught sight of a cute blond cheerleader in the direction of Cody's gaze, and thought it might be her. Taylor? She's been at this school the whole time; she was in our third, fourth, and fifth grade class. She also sits next to you in calculus.

No, not her, Cody stopped as he spoke, fearful that if he kept walking he might lose track of the mysterious, black-clothed person of interest. He pointed. Her.

Jake looked where Cody was pointing, and was shocked to see who it was. Oh, no, no! Not her!

Cody turned, slightly irked and slightly confused. Why?

Jake took Cody aside. Don't let her catch you staring. Forget her, man.

Cody fought Jake's pull, but had to move to avoid blocking hallway traffic. She has an odd magnetism to her, and I would like to find out why. Are you afraid that she wouldn't talk to me?

Jake let his voice fall to a whisper. Don't you know who that girl is?

No; I would remember her if I had saw her before. I have never seen her.

Jake continued whispering, hurrying Cody to first period. That's Lizzie Hail, and you haven't seen her, because she hasn't been here since sixth grade.

Well, she's here now, and I am quite interested in meeting her, Cody protested.

No, you aren't, Jake argued back with more defiance.

You don't understand. I know this is my first time seeing her, but I am simply dying to get to know her; as I said, she has an odd magnetism.

You'll be dead for real, if you go with that plan.

What's that suppose to mean? Are you afraid that her boyfriend might get jealous? I just want to figure out why she has such a pull; I am not interested in pursuing her romantically. Cody pulled away from Jake, as they dodged people while rounding the door into their classroom.

No, Jake turned and looked at Cody with a straightforward expression. But she shot her uncle when she was twelve.

Cody let a laugh escape his mouth as he and Jake sat down next to each other in the very front of the class. The front row was the best place to pick up on what was being taught, which would be helpful both for the homework and for later Mathlete competitions. The teacher, Mr. Brown, wasn't there yet… and most of the students weren't, either.

Jake looked at Cody, eyes wide with disbelief, and mouth falling open. Dude, I'm not joking.

Cody cleared his throat, adjusted his round-framed glasses, and tried to stifle his laughs, but another one managed to slip out. You can't be serious. Did you see her? Her stature is very small, and she does not have visible muscle. Logically speaking, assuming her physique has been the same for most of her life, someone of her size and muscle mass could never shoot a grown man at the age of twelve.

Jake's serious expression didn't change. Don't be fooled. That girl is a pure psychopath. Don't tell me that you never heard your grandparents talking about the news headlines when you started middle school. Our first year, the newspaper was covered with stories about an unidentified juvenile that shot Jimmy Hail. They took forever to decide whether to try her as an adult or a juvenile. The defense was that she was young and didn't know what she was doing, but it apparently didn't follow all the way through, because Elizabeth Hail wasn't seen again for another six years.

A memory prickled in the back of Cody's mind; he did remember that case. Cody had lived with his grandparents for most of his life, due to his parents dying in a car accident when he was five. He may have been young when the incident with Jimmy Hail had happened, but he remembered stumbling upon his grandparents whispering about a girl needing psychiatric help, and about moving away from the town that they were in to keep Cody safe; they told Cody to go to his room and do Sudoku (one of his favorite pastimes)once they realized he was listening, but he had already heard what they were saying, and had already gotten upset about it. Cody had had a fairly decent idea of what needing psychiatric help meant at the time (for a twelve year old, he had been fairly advanced), and he had been plenty old enough to know what moving away from that city would mean; it would mean leaving his friends, his house, and his school. He had been very distraught at the thought of that possible lifestyle change, and when his grandparents told him that he should go to his room, he did; he ran upstairs to it, slammed the door, and wouldn't let anyone in for hours. He also didn't speak to his grandparents for at least two days afterwards. It also had seemed odd to him that, in a city where drive-by shootings and gang turf wars took place now and then, that one particular case would somehow make people want to move away; it was still weird to him.

As the realization of what Jake was saying set in, Cody's laughter abruptly stopped. There was no way that the girl Cody had felt so magnetized towards was the one that had shot and killed Jimmy Hail. Not only was she ridiculously tiny and fragile-looking, but apparently, according to Jake, Jimmy was Elizabeth's uncle; it wouldn't make sense for her to kill someone she was related to at such a young age: an age when people were still showing kindness and respect to those in authority. Cody shook his head to try and shake the information off. It seemed absolutely ridiculous to him that Jake would even come up with something like that; he was suppose to be intelligent. No. I remember that case, but it can't be her.

Why are you so quick to defend her? You have never even seen her before today, asked Jake, bewildered. Listen, do you remember Lexi Hail? You should, because she's the only girl you've ever dated, and that was freshmen year.

Cody lowered his voice, and looked down uncomfortably for a short second at the mention of Lexi's name. Yes… Are her and Elizabeth related?

Lexi was…had been…one of the rare people that everyone liked. She could get crazy at a party, but she was also nice to everyone, and made excellent grades. She had steered clear of most of the girl drama that went on, and been the team captain for the girls' softball and bowling teams since eighth grade. There really wasn't anyone that disliked her, and they had no reason to. She had even been kind enough to give Cody a chance at dating her, which was something that most girls would have never allowed (being the leader of the Mathletes team did hold quite some disadvantages). Lexi had died of an overdose on sleeping pills a month and a half before her junior year- Cody and Jake's senior year- had started.

Jake leaned in slightly closer to Cody, and lowered his voice as more students walked into the class. Related? Elizabeth was Lexi's sister.

Cody looked up. What? That can't be right. I know that the Mathletes team doesn't get to talk to but a small number of people here at school, mostly because they think we're inferior for some reason, but no one ever mentioned Lexi having a sister. Not even Lexi did.

The other students were now filing in in groups, and their talking was becoming loud enough to the point where it was hard to hear Jake speaking in his hush-hush tone; Jake was already leaning towards Cody, and nearly falling out of his seat by doing so, so Cody leaned in closer as well. If our classmates didn't know better, they would probably think that Jake and I were about to engage in a kiss, Cody observed. If Rory or any of the other athletes were in this class right now, and they saw this situation, they would be having an absolute field day at our expense. Cody glanced around to see if Rory and the jocks were there; thankfully, they weren't, as were a lot of the students still. The teacher was still missing in action, too, and it looked like class would be starting late; the bell had to be about to ring. None of the few people that were in the classroom or coming in seemed to notice the awkward closeness of Cody and Jake.

Jake spoke slightly louder, but still not enough to make it easy to hear him. "No one knew that Lexi and Elizabeth were sisters, because Lexi never told anyone. Lexi thought that Elizabeth would just be locked away until graduation, and no one would remember her ever being around, just like you didn't. She thought that she could better keep her good reputation if people just didn't know that she was related to Elizabeth in the first place. Not to mention that Elizabeth hated Lexi. Lexi was the favorite in the family, Elizabeth was the black sheep, even in junior high."

Cody compared Elizabeth to Lexi in his mind; if they were sisters, it would make sense that Lexi was the favorite. She was involved in everything all the time and was unspeakably social, and Elizabeth, evidently, was not, if Cody didn't remember her being around in middle school. Lexi also wore bright colors all the time, and a lot of school gear. Elizabeth, on the other hand, from what Cody could see on that day, probably wore dark clothing and heavy makeup constantly; she was obviously goth, and that may have seemed not feminine enough for her family.

A handful more of students came drudgingly into the calculus room, and Jake continued speaking. Elizabeth was obviously jealous of Lexi. I know you don’t remember Elizabeth being around, and a lot of people probably don't, but I remember her. I also remember that when we were in elementary school, Elizabeth was always doing mean things to Lexi, and being really possessive over her. She wanted what Lexi had. Then, junior high came around and Elizabeth ended up going away, so it wasn't happening anymore. Elizabeth ended up being released from prison before school even started this year.

I don’t see what this has to do with anything, Cody confessed, adjusting his glasses as a form of confused fidgeting. I don't know how we went from me defending Elizabeth without knowing her to talking about how Elizabeth treated Lexi eight years ago, he thought, trying to fit pieces together.

It has a lot to do with it. Don't you see? Elizabeth didn't just kill her uncle, Jimmy, she killed Lexi, too. The police might've said it was an overdose, but Elizabeth probably just made it look like one.

Cody let the pieces of the full conversation about Elizabeth set up in his mind… And he leaned away from Jake, and scoffed at how ludicrous the whole thing was. Jake leaned back, too, seemingly surprised that Cody didn't agree with the stupid ideas that he had. "Jake, you're suppose to be of higher intelligence; you're a Mathlete. Are you even hearing yourself? You are trying to tell me that Elizabeth not only killed her uncle, but she was also a sister to Lexi, who just so happened to never mention her, and that Elizabeth somehow