Authors’ Note: The bus ride home is long, boring and a huge waste of time. . . unless you’re with your favourite writer buddies! The whole seventh grade year was spent fervently planning and writing a mystery novel by three tween girls. Presenting ‘The Silver Trio’ by Mahak Agarwal, Tanisha Kumar and Shriya Sinha; a fiction short story that was scheduled to be published in 2020 but, due to COVID-19, our dreams were shattered.

What’s the upside, you ask?

Now you guys get to read it! Please comment and share if you like it, and look out for new chapters every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Happy reading!

~ Mahak, Tanisha and Shriya

Chapter 1: CINNAMON

I, Cinnamon Brown, rushed out of the class immediately after the lunch bell rang. My brownish-blonde curls bounced on my shoulders as I walked towards the library. Jogging into our school’s enormous library, I darted towards the third row of books, determined to borrow the second book of my favourite series, ‘The Tremendous Three’ before anyone else could.

I had waited for months for it to release, but the author had obnoxiously waited till yesterday to publish the book. When I finally laid my hands on that glorious book, I plopped down on a bean bag and began reading.

Suddenly, I spotted two figures lurking around the corner. Little did I know that they would soon become my best friends…

I recognised one girl instantly. It was Nutmeg, wearing her usual blue jeans and black leather jacket. Her flaming red hair matched her expression as she glared at the shelves of books.

What is she doing in the library? I thought, secretly watching her, my face hidden behind the book. As Nutmeg’s bright green eyes met my blue ones, I pretended to be reading. She caught sight of my book, and horrifyingly started to approach me.

Watching Nutmeg walking towards me was like watching a bull charge. Not afraid to admit it, I was scared of her then. She was the school’s daredevil and was famous for her painful kicks. If anyone dared to say ill about her, they would be sent to the hospital after Nutmeg finished torturing them. She often made fun of me too, as I was not the bravest of people.

Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes. As Nutmeg reached me, I yelped and cowered under the book. But instead of yelling at me, she quietly sat down on the opposite bean bag and asked, “Where did you get that book?”

I had not expected that. At all.

Still in shock, I shyly led her to the third row, where she picked up another copy of my book and tucked it inside her backpack. Once she finished zipping it up so that no one could see the book, Nutmeg glared at me.

“This never happened,” she said firmly.

For once, I forgot my fear and giggled. Nutmeg’s face twisted and then she laughed along with me. “Good thing we’re alone here,” she said.

Suddenly, I remembered the other figure I had seen. I peered at her, but couldn’t see her face as it was covered by a dark pink shawl. But I managed to catch a glimpse of the oversized magenta sunglasses she wore, making her stand out.

Jolting me back to reality, Nutmeg whispered, “Have you noticed Clove following us? She thinks she disguised herself by wearing that baby pink trench coat but nooooooooo. Only Clove can hide herself by putting on flashy clothes. She actually thinks no one recognises her!” She chuckled and pointed towards Clove, who was hiding in the corner of the room.

“Wait, that’s CLOVE?” I blurted loudly. Clove was the last person, aside from Nutmeg, I expected to see in the library. She was the the most popular girl in the whole grade, probably the whole school even, and the biggest fashionista I’ve ever seen. Clove normally despised books of any kind and hated coming to the library unless she was dragged there by a teacher. She was known to be a snob, but I had seen her good side sometimes, too. After all, everyone has a good side.

Ok, Nutmeg is yelling at me to make this entry short and Clove is itching to start writing her own entry. I’ll let her explain the rest of the story, which will surely be more interesting than mine.