Story Contest #2

[Made2LuvU]

First off, congrats to the Story Contest #1 winners,

[glow=red,2,300]T!mxthy and Lizzie B.[/glow]

who tied with 2 votes each!

Now, time for the second story contest.

The rules for this one are:

1) It has to be an original story.
2) It has to be a mystery.

That's all we ask, and if those two rules aren't followed, your story will be disqualified.

The deadline for the contest is:

[glow=red,2,300]Monday, August 14!!!!!!![/glow]

Have your original mystery story in by then, and the voting will begin!

Happy writing!

[Made2LuvU]

Well...this is the first chapter of my entry...and like Tim's on the last one, I may not be able to get it all done before the deadline, but you'll get the drift from the first few chapters...soo...

[glow=red,2,300]The Mystery of the Cursed Gem

Chapter One[/glow]

Sixteen year old Haley Turner grinned as she looked at the bulletin board. For her science project on precious gems, she had gotten her best friend, Kori Williams, who also was a straight A student, for a partner.

Haley was bright, but hated school. When she got Kori as a partner, she knew that she was in for an A.

At that moment, Kori made her way to Haley’s side. “Hey, Haley,” she said happily. “Are we partners?”

“Sure are.” Haley was a tall, thin teenager with dark brown hair, tan skin, and black eyes.

Kori was shorter, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She asked Haley, “Do you need a ride home after school? I can drive you if you want.”

“Sure. My car’s still in the garage. It won’t run, which totally stinks. I’m so depressed. I’ve been walking around school going ‘Beep, beep. Vroom, vroom. Toot, toot.’” She laughed. “By the way, has Lori got any new cases?” Lori was Kori’s eighteen year old sister, who was an amateur detective. Haley was extremely interested in her cases, and often dreamed of becoming a detective someday. Little did she know, that day was soon coming.

Kori answered as the girls drove off in her light silver Mustang. “I dunno. You know I don’t usually get involved with my family’s adventures. I think they’re too dangerous.” Kori not only had an amateur detective for a sister, but her mother was a professional detective, and her father was the Chief of Police. Secretly, Kori wished that she could be brave like the rest of her family, and often felt like she had to live up to the rest of her family, but said she was too chicken.

Haley broke the silence that had formed between the two. “Ya know, it would be so cool to solve a mystery like Lori, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, um, right,” said Kori hesitantly. She hastily changed the subject. “We have to get started on that science project ASAP. Why don’t we start tomorrow?”

Unlike her best friend, Kori loved school, and usually had to push Haley to do her homework.


Haley sighed. “I guess we could. Or, ya know, I think they’re opening that new shoe store at the mall tomorrow. We could go to the ribbon cutting thingy. Besides, who wants to work on a Saturday?”

“Orlando Mason does.”

“What?”

“I heard him talking to Devon White, his science partner, and he said he was going to the library tomorrow, and that’s exactly where we are going first.”

Orlando Mason was Haley’s crush. He had curly black hair, dark brown eyes, and light skin. He was six feet tall, and got all A’s and B’s, especially in science, his favorite subject. He sat two rows down from Haley, who could barely take her eyes off of him long enough to take notes. Like she’d want to take notes, anyway.

“Well, that changes things,” Haley said. “I’ll go to your ‘library’ tomorrow. But if I found out that you’ve lied to me…”

“I’m telling the truth,” Kori insisted. “Unless of course they change their plans.”

Haley eyed her friend doubtfully. “Uh – huh,” she said.

“Anyway,” Kori said as she pulled into Haley’s driveway, “I’ll pick you up at 1:30 tomorrow evening. Don’t bail on me, please. It’s really important that we find the right gem to do our project about. After all, it’s 75% of your grade.”

Haley smirked and said mockingly, “Oh, however shall I live?”

She did, however, go to the library with her best friend. When they arrived, the librarian asked them what they were looking for. Before Kori could say anything, Haley said, “A tall, handsome young man with black hair and brown eyes-”

She stopped short as Orlando and Devon walked through the door. The librarian, whose nameplate said “Mary Cummings” grinned. “Have you found what you’re looking for?” she asked playfully as she caught sight of the two boys.

“I believe so. Thanks. I now know I can always count on you when I need something.”

Kori rolled her eyes and quickly said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Cummings. Haley here only came for an obvious reason-” she glanced at Orlando and his friend Devon, who were sitting at a nearby table, “-but I actually came to study.”

“Ah,” said Ms. Cummings. “Well, what do you need a book on?”

“We are doing a school project on precious gems,” said Kori. “We are allowed to pick the stone we want, so we were wanting to find one to study.”

At that moment, Orlando and Devon stood up and walked up to the desk. “Hey, we have that same project!” said Orlando jokingly. He grinned at the girls. “Maybe we can team up and look together. Mr. Anderson said nothing about two groups choosing the same gem.”

Kori frowned. “Yeah, but it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? I mean-”

Haley quickly interrupted. “Sure, we’d love to.”

“But-” Kori argued.

“Look,” said Orlando patiently, “if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll call Mr. A. and see if he’ll let us team up.” He grinned. “I’ll just tell him that Haley needs extra help.”

Haley laughed. “That part is totally true,” she agreed. Secretly, she was ecstatic that her crush actually wanted to work with her and Kori. “I wonder if it’s because he likes me,” Haley wondered, but then decided not to hope too much.

Orlando walked up to Ms. Cummings’ desk, and asked if he could use a phone. She directed him to a small back room, where she said there was a pay phone that worked without money being inserted.

Orlando laughed when he heard this. “Convenient,” he said, then winked at Haley. At least, Haley thought he did. She almost laughed out of joy at the prospect.

When he came back to the main desk, many more people had arrived. Haley smiled shyly as he took a seat beside her at a large round table. “Well,” he said, “he fell for the whole, ‘Haley needs extra help’ thing.” He saw the look on Haley’s face, who was obviously embarrassed, and said quickly, “Just kidding. I just told him that we really wanted to work with you girls. He said he wouldn’t normally allow it, but he would make an exception since Kori and I are his top science students. He also said that we could do our presentation together.”

Devon grinned. “All right!” he exclaimed. “Now I’m bound to get an A+ for sure!”

Later on, back at Haley’s house, the girls discussed their day. “I can’t believe what happened today,” Haley commented dreamily.

“What do you mean?” said Kori. “We didn’t get anything done.”

“What are you talking about?” asked an awed Haley. “I got a date with Orlando!”

“For goodness sake, Haley, we’re all working on this project together. That is not a date!”

“I knew that, Kori. I’m not stupid. Orlando is just so dreamy. I’m not as dumb as you may think.”

“Oh, really?” replied Kori absent mindedly.

“What? That was mean!”

“I’m sorry, Haley. I didn’t mean to say that. I was just thinking about the project.”

Grinning, Haley said, “You are such a dork!”

“I know,” said Kori teasingly, pretending like she was in a trance. Then she said seriously, “We really do need to find out which jewel we’re doing.” At that moment, the phone rang. Haley picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Um, Haley? This is Orlando.” Haley grinned.

“Yeah?”

“Devon and I have been talking to Devon’s grandpa, who is an expert geologist. I think we may have something interesting. It’s called the Zooboo Emerald.”

Haley laughed. “What kind of name is that?”

Orlando said, “A cursed one.”

“What?”

Orlando laughed. Let me read you the notes that Mr. White gave me. Oh, and could you put me on speaker? I’d like Kori to hear this, too.” Quickly Orlando was put onto the speaker phone. “Alright, here we go. ‘‘The Zooboo Emerald is a large stone the size of a football. It was found in South Africa in the early 1800s, but the exact location is unknown. Since the time it was found, museums have paid a lot of money for this incredible gem. But recently, museums have been paying large amounts of money to get rid of this gem. They believe it is cursed.

“‘Many people have said that the stone glows eerily at night, and a deep voice warns them to get rid of the gem, or else they will be cursed forever. It is now at the National Museum of Virginia.’”

“Hey, that’s right across the street from school!” Haley commented excitedly.

“That’s right,” Orlando said. “So if you girls want to, we can stop by the museum Monday after school and get to work.”

“Hold up!” exclaimed Kori. “Who said that we’re going to do this emerald? I don’t believe in curses and junk, but I still don’t want to be near any spooky stone!”

Haley turned to Kori. “Stop being ridiculous. It sounds neat. I think Orlando and Devon have found the perfect one. It’s unique, it’s supposedly cursed, it’s-”

“-bound to get us an A+ on the project,” Orlando quickly cut in.

“Well, when you put it that way,” Kori said hesitantly. “Okay, I’m in.”

The teenagers planned to go straight to the museum from school. They were going to begin the project then. Little did they know, they were also on the verge of beginning a very exciting mystery.

The woman at the front desk at the museum was very pleasant, middle aged, and perhaps a bit odd. Her name was Ms. Looney. She smiled at the foursome as they entered the museum. “Hello, kids! How are you? I’m Ms. Looney, at your service! Can I help you four?”

Orlando grinned. “Sure. I’m Orlando Mason, and these are my friends Haley Turner, Devon White, and Kori Bennett.”

“It’s nice to meet ya all!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too, Ma’am,” said Kori, smiling. “We were wondering if we could take a look at the Zooboo Emerald, for a school project.”

Ms. Looney stopped smiling. She said, “Oh, yeah, I guess, but can’t y’all come back in the morning? It’s not safe today. You may not know, but the emerald’s cursed.”

“We know,” Devon said.

“But don’t believe in it.” Haley quickly interjected.

“Fine,” said Ms. Looney softly. “It’s across the hall and to your left. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when it happens.” Suddenly she smiled. “Off with you now, kiddos. I’ve got more people to talk to than you four kooky kids.”

“She sure acted strange,” commented Haley, frowning.

“She’s not the only one,” added Devon.

“What do you mean?” Kori asked.

“I got to thinking earlier, and well, Mr. A. sure was being nice when he let us all work together. I mean, he’s never treated Kori and Orlando differently just because they’re top students before.”

The others admitted that the same thought had crossed their mind, but they were afraid of being a “wet blanket”. They stopped pondering over the adults’ strange behavior when they caught sight of the magnificent emerald, glinting in the sunlight.

Orlando whistled. “That’s incredible!”

Everyone else agreed. “So, what now?” Haley said.

“We should find someone to tell us about the emerald,” said Kori in a dignified way. Then she added, “Oh, and did you bring your digital cameral, Haley? We should take some pictures of the gem. That would make our project way better.”

“Got it right here,” was Haley’s reply. She took out the camera. Just as she was about to snap a picture of the gorgeous emerald, the lights shut off and the museum went black.

People screamed, and the group could hear a small child whimpering. “What’s going on?” someone said frantically.

Several museum guards rushed into the room carrying flashlights. The small, dim lights cast spooky shadows on the walls.

Orlando ran up to one guard. “What’s up?” he asked quickly.

“Most likely power failure. Someone’s probably workin’ on the wires out yonder,” the guard said, then hurried off. Another guard added that they were going outside to check it out. Orlando gave his friends the news. At that moment the foursome saw a tall man with a long pointy nose slip through the crowd. He edged closer to the Zooboo Emerald case, and a moment later, there was the sound of shattering glass and an earsplitting wail as an alarm went off.

“That’s no power failure!” said Devon. “This is a robbery!”

Without giving it a second thought, Orlando rushed forward and tried to tackle the intruder. There was a thud, the sound of something heavy hitting the stone floor, and footsteps hurrying away. The lights came back on. Haley, Devon, and Kori looked down. Next to the busted glass case, Orlando lay unconscious. He had tried to protect the gem. Unfortunately, he had failed.

******

Well, there was chapter one. Hopefully more'll come soon! Happy voting, lol!

[Lizzie B]

Uhhh...what?