Chapter Text
“Joel Heyman, I’m arresting you for the murder of your student, Ray Narvaez Jr on the 9th of October 2015.”
A silence.
Then nothing.
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10.32 am- outside Joel Heyman’s classroom, Friday 9th October 2015.
“Christ alive!”
“Shit, sorry dude.”
Gavin desperately dried off his soaked camera against the fabric of his navy sweater, not caring about the dark stain the spilled coffee was creating. Awkwardly watching him while he muttered quiet curses, Ray made an attempt to shuffle away, not really one for confrontation, but Gavin was having none of it.
“I swear to God Ray, if you’ve broken this camera- I only have today to get pictures of the Romeo and Juliet rehearsals for my article, the paper is published on Monday!” The Brit seethed, testing the camera that hung securely from a strap around his neck. He tried snapping a picture of Ray, leaving him bleary-eyed from the flash.
“Jesus. Can’t you just postpone it? I doubt anyone would notice,” Ray mumbled.
“Excuse me? What exactly do you mean by that?” By now, the school reporter’s raised voice and infuriated tone had attracted some attention.
“I just…I mean, I hate to break it to you man, but nobody really reads the school newspaper?”
This earned a small round of laughter from the little crowd they had created, and Ray couldn’t help but be made a little pompous by it.
Gavin was speechless for a moment. He only stared with his mouth agape and Ray willed him to say something before the guilt kicked in, and he would have to force himself to apologise.
“Well I knew you wouldn’t be reading them. The writing is a little too advanced for your tastes.” Gavin spat.
“Right, the ‘advanced’ writing, that’s why I don’t read it.”
“Why are you being such a prick? I work myself to death over my articles, how dare you say nobody bloody reads them, I- “
But they were interrupted before threats could by made. Joel Heyman, both of the students’ drama teacher, sent them on their separate ways with an hour’s detention each for the disruption. Gavin was fuming, but Ray left with a smile on his face.
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12.59 pm- behind the bleachers, Friday 9th October 2015.
“Hey Geoff.” Ray said, placing himself down on the grass beside Geoff Ramsey.
“Back again?” was the monotone response, followed by Geoff taking a long drag on what Ray knew was not just a cigarette. Geoff puffed smoke up into the air without a care in the world, offering the blunt to Ray which he politely declined.
“Yeah. I was hardly planning on track running.”
Geoff coughed out a laugh. “Shockingly, me neither.”
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3.30 pm- detention, Joel Heyman’s classroom, Friday 9th October 2015.
“Hey Romeo,” Michael Jones spoke with a toothy grin, his feet propped up on the table in front of him. “Didn’t expect to see you here. What’re you in for?”
Ray watched from the back of the classroom as Ryan Haywood, theatre fanatic; young male model; star of the school production of Romeo and Juliet and general, all-round popular guy, entered the detention, almost as unwilling to be here as Michael was. Michael certainly hadn’t been wrong though. Detention was the last place anyone would expect to catch Ryan.
“Skipped a class. I had lines to rehearse for somebody’s production,” Ryan muttered, rolling his eyes and taking a seat a few desks across from Michael.
“Not an excuse.” Joel told him, barely looking up from the book he was reading, but it made Ray chuckle.
“Is there a rehearsal on Monday?” Gavin chimed in, finally glancing up from where he had been fiddling with his phone under the desk. “I really need to get more photos for the paper- “
“God forbid, you don’t get them.”
“Shut up, Michael.”
“Yes, Gavin.” Ryan diffused the situation with a warm smile. “There are rehearsals on Monday, and you’re more than welcome to come along and take your photos.”
“I hadn’t realised you were the director, Haywood.” Joel hummed, flicking to the next page of his book without so much as a glance in their direction.
“Yeah, well-“
“Hey, uh, could you guys keep it down just a little?” Jack sighed from his seat near Ray at the back. “I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Holy shit, Jack?” Michael laughed, spinning around in his seat to face him. “What the fuck are you doing in detention?”
“Language, Jones.” A tired comment from Joel which was was largely ignored.
“I’m not in detention.” Jack frowned. “I’m doing some extra-credit work, and you’re all making it pretty difficult.”
When Geoff entered the room, the six of them fell silent. The lack of chatter was the first thing to make Joel look up ever since they had arrived.
“Oh, Ramsey, nice of you to join us.” Joel greeted with a sigh, returning to his book and leaving the boys to stare at each other in thought.
The uncomfortable quiet lasted for a while, as Geoff took his seat, and a couple of minutes after that too, before Ray’s timid voice shattered it.
“This is weird right? … You’re all thinking it too, aren’t you? All of us, together. Kind of a strange coincidence isn’t it?” He seemed to grow more confident the more he spoke. “We probably haven’t all been this close since- “
“Since Michael first put on a varsity jacket.” Geoff grinned, bringing a round of honest laughter from the group and a frightful glare from Michael.
“Just because you all got butt-hurt when I started to fucking do something with my life; not just fucking around with you guys.” He argued.
“Was that ‘something’ being a class A prick?” Gavin shot him a grin, which Michael successfully deflected with an unchanging scowl. “Well anyway, I did something with my life too. Reporting should take me a damn sight further than any of you will get.”
“Have fun reporting on my Academy Award, Free.” Ryan, the self proclaimed star, interrupted, earning a chuckle from Joel, who everyone had more or less forgotten about until now.
Jack seemed to have been pulled from his work, distracted by the conversation among old friends. “I imagine I’ll be defending Geoff in court one day.”
“Nah man,” Geoff shook his head with a small grin. “I’ll have you know I have a very promising future. I’ll be a published poet before you know it.”
“A mess of words written while you’re drunk or high doesn’t exactly count as poetic talent, Geoff.” Ryan protested light-heartedly.
“C’mon man, drunk or high? What do you take me for? Drunk and high.”
“Fair point.”
“Well at least you’re doing something.” Michael shrugged, sparing a very purposeful glance at Ray, as if suddenly the entire conversation had turned sour.
There was a period of dull silence while each and every one of the boys considered the implications of what Michael had said. The silence lingered when they realised it was true. At the start of high school, it was just given knowledge that the six of them wouldn’t remain the close-knit group they had once been; their personalities and interests were far too conflicting. Since their natural split though, everyone had seemingly found themselves. Gavin’s skills in journalism were thriving just as much as Ryan’s acting; Michael was not yet the quarterback but he was well on his way; Jack’s grades were near perfect in his pursuit of a place in law school, and even Geoff was finding something to occupy him in the time he should have been spending in class.
As far as anyone knew, Ray had done nothing.
“What…What have you been doing, Ray?” Gavin asked, mostly innocently, but his words cut the silence in the room with a sharp knife and they hit hard.
“Well, I mean, we all know what’s been doing you.” Michael pestered him with a shark-like grin and an obvious look thrown Joel’s way. Geoff’s following laughter was loud, obnoxious and, to the other boys, extremely contagious. “Isn’t that right, Mr Heyman?”
Apparently, Joel had decided not to dignify that with a response. Ray took a different route.
“Oh, fuck off Michael. Just because you’re some kind of jock now, doesn’t mean you have to play the part and be a fucking asshole.”
At this, Michael stood abruptly from his chair, practically snarling at Ray in a very ‘high school bully’ like manner. Gavin gave one, loud ‘ha’.
“Sit down, you knob. What are you gonna do, hit him?”
“Fuck this.” Michael grumbled, retrieving his bag and slinging it over his shoulder begrudgingly; Joel only made a half-hearted attempt at stopping him before he made it to the door. “You coming, Geoff?”
“Nah, figured I’d hang out here,” Geoff replied, voice dripping with sarcasm as he followed Michael out.
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3.50pm- security footage, school gate, Friday 9th October 2015.
Michael Jones and Geoff Ramsey exit the school together.
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4.00pm- security footage, school gate, Friday 9th October 2015.
Gavin Free and Ryan Haywood exit the school together. Gavin takes a phone call lasting approximately two minutes before the pair vacate the premises.
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4.05pm- security footage, school gate, Friday 9th October 2015.
Jack Pattillo exits the school alone. He can be seen getting into a blue sedan.
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4.07pm- Joel Heyman’s classroom, Friday 9th October 2015.
“We all live pretty close to each other, so we were friends before high school,” Ray sighed, climbing up to perch upon Joel’s desk, leaving with literally no choice other than to pay attention to him. “Now they’re all a bunch of assholes and they act like they don’t even know me. Except maybe Geoff.”
“And what about Jack?” Joel hummed, leaning back in his chair. Though he wasn’t particularly interested in Ray’s high school dramas, and found them to be somewhat juvenile, Joel would always listen.
“Jack…” Ray sighed, taking hold of Joel’s hand and twisting the fake and pointless wedding ring that he wore around his finger. “I just kind of expected him to stop the others being pricks; at least to stop them being like that to me. He was always the one who kept us together but he just…he just watches. He doesn’t do anything.”
“I’m sorry Ray, but it didn’t seem to me like Geoff was coming to your rescue from Michael just then either.”
“Michael and Geoff have been sucking each other’s dicks since before I can even remember. I don’t expect that from him,” Ray sighed, but he silenced Joel next time he tried to contribute to the conversation with a rushed and purposeful kiss. As Ray had known he would, Joel pulled away instantly.
“Not in the classroom.” He glared, but Ray knew he wasn’t really angry. “Tonight at 9. Meet me at the regular spot?”
“Course.” Ray grinned. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
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4.20pm, security footage, school gate, Friday 9th October 2015.
Ray Narvaez Jr exits the school alone.
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4.30pm, security footage, behind local convenience store, Friday 9th October 2015.
Michael Jones and Geoff Ramsey are seen smoking behind the premises of the local convenience store. They leave together at approximately 5.00pm.
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Approximately 4.45pm on Friday 9th October 2015, according to witness statement, Jeremy Dooley. Statement taken Thursday 15th October 2015.
“I saw Ryan and Gavin passing my house while I was taking out the trash. They, uh, they told me they were just coming back from detention, I think. I’m not really sure what we talked about, but I guess they left at around 5? ...No, they didn’t mention Ray…. No, I’m not sure where they went after that.”
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Approximately 7.15pm on Friday 9th October 2015, according to witness statement, Trevor Collins. Statement taken Thursday 15th October 2015.
“I have no idea what was going on, I just saw them all running. Ray…Ray was at the front. Michael was really going after him. They were all shouting, all six of them, I couldn’t really make out what they were saying…Can I please see Gavin now? Please?”
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7.56pm, security footage, gas station, Friday 9th October 2015.
Jack Pattillo enters the gas station without a car. He fills up a water bottle with gasoline, pays and leaves.
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Approximately 9.15pm on Friday 9th October 2015, according to witness statement, Trevor Collins. Statement taken Thursday 15th October 2015.
“Gavin was really late. He was supposed to be coming over at 7.30, but he didn’t get there until…I don’t know, somewhere around 9.15. He turned up and took his shoes off, said they were wet… No, he didn’t say where he was. Wanted me to help him fix his camera, he said Michael got it wet or something…. I never asked why he was late, he was really mad about his camera, so I- I just didn’t think it was important.”
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Monday 12th October 2015, riverbank in the woods.
A body is pulled from the river by police. There is fatal damage to the skull and there has been an obvious attempt to burn the remains.
Body identified as that of missing teenager, Ray Narvaez Jr.