9, 24/7 Pizzeria

"It's Dr. Leon! What the hell are we gonna do?", Ryder shrieks 

I think fast and quickly grab the folder from Ryder's hand and slap her. Dr Leaon walks in almost immediately and turns on the lights 

Ryder holds onto her soar cheek and shouts in pain and the two of us frighteningly stare at Dr. Leon, awaiting a reaction.

"Woah! What the hell is going on here?", he asks and rushes to check on Ryder. Giving me enough to me to hide the folder in my coat.

"Uh, we were fighting”, I say calmly 

"Kelsie Burklin? is that you? With Ryder Flinch?", he exclaims, " oh my gosh, What are you two doing in my office?!"

"Sorry. I just, got really mad", I lie

“Well about what?”. He turns in the lights in the office. “Violence is never the answer

“Yes. You’re right”, I say. “I totally see where I was in the wrong there.”

“Are you okay Ryder?”, he asks her 

“Oh, just peachy”, she spits, staring at me angrily

“Would you like me to intervene?”, Dr. Leon asks us

"No", we both say

"Alright. Well, please excuse me while I pick up some papers. And next time, don't fight in someone’s office alright? Just, watch Oprah or something”

"Thanks for the insightful life lesson Dr. Leon”, I say on behalf of us both

Ryder and I walk out of the room.

"You just slapped me", Ryder flicks me

"Ouch! I had to think of a distraction”

"So, the first thing that popped into your mind was assaulting me?”

"Good, so you understand”

We both laugh.

"We should go and look at the folder at—", before I could finish my sentence, Sophia walked up to us

"Girls! There you are! I was afraid you had gotten lost in this huge fortress I have the privilege of calling my home", Sophia smiles, leading us back to the rest of the girls 

"Finally!", one of the girls said

"Took you long enough, we're you taking a dump or something?", another said

"So what took you guys so long?", another girl added

"Uh, Ryder got her period", I lied. Again

Ryder's stare poked through my skin

"Sorry", I mouthed to her

"Do you want to drink some tea or something?", Sophia asks

"...thanks but, I think I should just head home now seeing as how, you know, my vagina’s bleeding. As Kelsie said", Ryder says. Trying her best to keep her composure.

"Oh okay. Well, Goodbye then”, Sophia says nonchalantly

"Uhm, I should probably go with her", I say to Sophia and the rest of the girls, “Gotta make sure she has...uh...enough tampons”

"Okay, well, don't forget to come for try outs tomorrow", Sophia insists

"Yeah, of course", I smile nervously, “thanks again Sophia. Uh, bye guys”

Ryder and I run back out to the car, with the folder still in hand. She smacks me at the back of the head for making her look so disorganized and I apologize. Trip drives us to the pizzeria immediately we get into the car and when we get there, we decide to stay for a while.

We walk into the pizzeria and sit at the empty corner booth. Not long after we order, Ryder, Trip and I were feasting away at our deep dish Creamy cheese pizza.

"So, are you gonna open it?", Trip asks after taking a bite out of his slice of pizza.

The yellow folder was laying on the table right before our eyes. All we could do was stare. Reality had just set in for me. What if I don’t like what I see in that folder? What if I’m not ready to know the truth? What if I can’t handle it?

Well, I guess it’s too late to have regrets now.

"Ryder, you should do it.”, I speak up. “I'm too....nervous. I'm not sure I'll like what we find out, you know"

Ryder nods and puts down her slice of pizza. She opens up the folder and it’s was seemingly full of things you'd regularly find in a folder. There was papers and receipts and cheques. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Is that?", Trip asks as I pick up one of the photos and analyze it. 

"Kylie's corpse", I say, fighting back the tears. Trip rubs my back in a comforting way and I set the photo back down.

"This is kind of weird", Ryder says and Trip and I switch our focus from the photo of my dead sisters body to the papers that Ryder was holding.

"What is that?", I ask

"Look, It's a cheque. Well, two Cheque's actually and one has an insane amount of money on it"

"What's weird about that?", Trip asks 

"Well, the first cheque was for $2000, which is pretty standard payment for an autopsy report so, I'm guessing that was just a regular payment to Dr. Leon but, the second one is for $8000", Ryder explains 

"Well is that payment from the same person?", I ask

"Yeah. Both cheque's are signed by...”

A pause. “By Rosetta Parks”

"My mom", I comment, "Why would she pay him twice for one autopsy report?"

"And why the drastic difference in pricing?", Trip asks

"Do you think she had something to do with the fake autopsy?”  Ryder asks me, “do you think she knows?”

"I have no idea....but I do know there's no way I can ask her myself"

"Well we sure as hell can't ask Dr. Leon", Ryder says

"What about your dad Kels?", Trip asks me, "I mean, if your mom has anything to do with Kylie's death, your dad would know, right?"

He had a point but, there's no way in hell I was going to sit down and have a full conversation with Kevin Burklin. I'd rather be murdered.

"No way I'm talking to him", I say

"Maybe Miss Nadia? I mean, she's your family's therapist", Ryder suggests

"She wouldn't tell me. She barely tells me what she talked about with Kylie even now"

"...but", I say, "if at all my crappy father knows anything, chances are that most likely so does his equally crappy husband stealing wife"

"You think Ciara would tell you if she knew anything?", Ryder asks me

"I know she would"