Mystery High: Bully Alert

By Aaron Torrence

My name is Jason. And I’m just your average high schooler. But I have a friend named Carter, who has his own brand of uniqueness. He has an overactive imagination that lets him come up with answers to seemingly impossible problems.

So when a fellow student of ours is attacked and no one knows the bully responsible, I convince Carter to use his talents to try and find the culprit. We’ll follow clues and interrogate a wide array of colorful suspects in our high school to find this mystery bully, all while dealing with the typical high school drama.

Will Carter be able to solve the case? Or will this all end in embarrassment? For Carter’s sake, I hope it’s the former.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638442257

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Homework Paper

Iwas very, very afraid. It was the day we got our chemistry homework returned to us. And I hated chemistry. At lunch, I talked to a few friends of mine about it, including Carter. However, he did not seem much help.

You worry too much about the little stuff, he said. Do not worry. Even if you do fail, I am sure some good will come out of it.

Easy for you to say, Mr. I-turn-in-my-assignment-two-days-early-and-still-get-a-good-grade! I replied. How do you know what failure looks like!

Hey! I fail at things! Carter said. Just not at the same things you fail at.

Yeah, well I’m failing at something pretty big here. I reminded him. If I fail this class, I might not get into a good college. If I do not get into a good college, I might not get a good education. If I do not get a good education, I might not get a good job and live the American dream. I just do not know what good failure can bring!

Well neither do I, Jason, my friend! he replied, overly cheerful. But I guess we will find out eventually.

We decided to drop the doom and gloom of chemistry for more lighthearted subjects to discuss. When I actually went to my chemistry class, I almost wet my pants. Mr. Wall, our teacher, was handing us back our papers.

Now Mr. Wall was an old-timer in his mid-sixties and prefers the old way of doing things. He’s not too fond of today’s education system, but he makes a living off of it. In addition to giving us just a letter grade, Mr. Wall also wrote down various comments about how we did. These comments ranged from very well thought out to utterly horrendous. Trust me, you did not want to be on the receiving end of that latter comment.

Now where was I? Oh yes. Well, my paper finally arrived at my desk. I knew I was one of the worst in my class. I also knew I had accidentally forgotten about my assignment because of a crime-show marathon on TV. I even knew I had finished writing the paper one minute before the bus came on the day it was due. But in spite of all that, I hoped I would at least get a D. Unfortunately, hoping didn’t help.

With my eyes closed, I reluctantly flipped over my paper and started to peel my eyes open. When my eyes were fully open, I noticed the paper was upside down… I turned it right side up and started the whole ritual over again, shutting my eyes.

This time, when my eyes opened, I slammed my head on my desk! For on that paper, in red ink so you could clearly see it, was the letter F and this message, I think a little detention after school today to study will do you well. Be at the detention room no later than 3:10 p.m. Do not be absent.

I told very few of my friends that I had to stay an hour after school to study chemistry. Carter was one of those that I made sure didn’t get the message. He already had a low opinion of my academic skills; I did not need to hear more sarcastic comments and helpful advice coming from him.

As the school bell rang and everyone else was making their way to the bus, I pushed through the crowd to get to the detention room, trying to stay as hidden as possible from Carter. Now I have been in detention before, and it is not fun. Sitting there with my book, reviewing the past chapter in my textbook with my brain lagging three pages behind is not something I want to do immediately after school. The constant noise of people laughing and going home during those first few minutes only made things worse.

My hour was finally up, and I left like that room wasn’t even there. In my haste, I accidentally ran into the janitor. Sorry about that, I said.

Eh, don’t worry, the janitor, whose nametag said Derek Fris, replied.

I was going to just move on, but a piece of paper that he was sweeping up caught my eye. Excuse me, but what’s this? I said, picking it up.

Honestly, I don’t know, Mr. Fris said. It was in the hallway, so I swept it up.

It turned out to be a math sheet, but the strange thing about it was that it turned out to be a first-grade math sheet filled with both right and wrong answers. Other interesting things to note was a lot of erased work and a few small water droplets. It also annoyingly did not have a name. What is a first-grade math paper doing here? I asked.

I don’t know, Mr. Fris said.

If it’s okay, I’d be willing to take it to the lost and found for you. I offered. I have no idea if the owner is going to get it back or not, but at least they’ll have a better chance.

Fair enough, Mr. Fris said. Goodbye, kid.

Unfortunately, as I found out, the lost and found was no longer open for the day. After letting out a groan or two, I just started to head out with the intention of taking the math sheet there the next day. After a day like that, I decided to go to the town’s coffee shop before I went home.

On my way there, I called my mom, told her what I was doing and approximately when I would be home. When I got to the coffee shop, I was not surprised to see Carter there with a soda in one hand and a book in the other. Carter and I usually hang out here to get away and relax, and believe me, there was no better place in town for that.

Ah! Good evening, Jason, my friend, he said as he was aware of my presence.

Hey, Carter, I replied. Mind if I join you?

No problem, Carter said, then noticing my backpack. Did you seriously bring your books here? Either you have a test coming up, or you just got out of detention.

Well what could I say? He caught me red-handed. I admit. That chemistry paper put me in detention.

Okay, I admit you did a little worse than I thought, Carter admitted.

Yeah, not exactly your some-good-will-come-out-of-it type of event, huh? I shot back.

At this point, Carter noticed the math sheet that I was still holding in my hand. What is that? he asked.

This? I said. It appears to be a first-grade math sheet that the janitor found. I was bringing it to the lost and found, but it’s closed right now. So I’m stuck with it until tomorrow. As you can see, whoever did it forgot their name, so we know nothing about the owner.

I expected something like, You’re probably right. But what came out instead was beyond my wildest imagination.

Well maybe, Jason, my friend. However, he said with a grin, "I would like to imagine that the writer would be a boy. Asian. With English as a second language. Probably one of our classmates’ younger brothers. He might have had a cold at the