After Izzy left Beautiful Heart’s office it wasn’t hard to find Sunny, since it turned out Sunny was dragging her feet in the hall waiting for Izzy to catch up.
“There you are,” Sunny said as Izzy ran up next to her. Then she noticed the card in Izzy’s hand. “So, Beautiful Heart gave you a pass too, uh?”
“Yep” Izzy said. She looked down at the card in her hand. “So where should I put this?”
“My advice,” Sunny said, pulling her own card out of her pocket. “Is to keep it on your person. Bag theft is surprisingly common in this school. In fact, last year they even ran a poll. On average, fifty bags are stolen every week.”
Izzy was suddenly wondering if they should have brought their bags with them. “Did you ever get your bag stolen?” she asked.
Sunny laughed bitterly. “Oh, in my first year I was every bag thief’s favourite target. Then they got bored of me.”
Izzy nodded, then took a deep breath. Sunny glanced at her out of the corner of her eye.
“You don’t have to answer, but why does everyone hate you?” Izzy asked.
Sunny didn’t answer for a few seconds, and Izzy was starting to worry that she had offended Sunny when Sunny suddenly burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry,” Sunny said as she tried to get herself under control. “That just came out of nowhere.”
Truthfully Sunny had never been asked that question. For years her social circle had consisted of only three people, all of whom already knew why she was hated. And even around town everyone knew why, so being asked a question everyone seemed to know the answer to caught Sunny off guard. That, combined with Izzy’s bluntness in approaching the topic, and Sunny couldn’t help but laugh. But if Izzy didn’t know the reason, or even who Sunny was, then that could only mean…
“You’re not from Maretime Bay, are you?” Sunny asked, regaining her normal tone as the two reached the top of the back staircase.
Izzy shook her head. “No. Bridlewood. Is that a problem?”
“It would be to some people in town, but not to me” Sunny answered.
“Why would people have a problem with where I’m from?” Izzy asked as she started to walk down the stairs.
“It has to do with the reason I’m hated,” Sunny said as she started to follow Izzy down the stairs, only to stop and cry out in pain as her hand went to her hip. Izzy stopped and turned around, looking at her friend concerned.
“I’m fine, really,” Sunny said, trying to reassure Izzy. “Like I said, I’ve dealt with worse. I just gonna take it slow.”
Sunny started slowly down the stairs, coming to a stop as she reached Izzy.
“See,” Sunny said smiling at Izzy. “I can handle this.”
Izzy looked up at the taller girl. Part of her didn’t quite believe Sunny, but the girl did seem to know how to handle herself while injured. So she decided to get back on topic.
“So why does everyone hate you?” Izzy asked as she continued walking down the stairs, slower this time. “And why would the reason make everyone hate that I’m from Bridlewood.”
“It’s a bit of a long story,” Sunny said as she started following Izzy down the stairs. “And I don’t know all the details.”
“Tell me what you do know” Izzy responded.
Sunny sighed. It felt weird, telling this story to someone. “I guess it all starts back when Maretime Bay was being built years ago. Back then there were four friends: my father, Hitch’s father, Sprout’s mother and Beautiful Heart.”
Sunny looked sideways at Izzy, who nodded to show that she was following the story.
Feeling slightly more comfortable, Sunny continued her tale. “The four were close friends growing up, but in their mid teens Sprout’s mother changed. She started becoming… a tyrant, for lack of a better word. Hitch’s father and Beautiful Heart eventually severed ties with her. She and my dad maintained contact, but their relationship became strained, and they were rarely civil with each other.”
Izzy glanced over at Sunny. “I think they may have rubbed off on you and Sprout a little” she said.
“Oh they definitely did,” Sunny admitted, before continuing her story. “By the time they reached their early twenties my dad was an archaeologist and an investigative journalist on the side. Hitch’s dad became the town sheriff. Beautiful Heart was entering the world of teaching. And Sprout’s mom became founder and CEO of Canterlogic.”
“Canterlogic?” Izzy asked as the two girls reached the bottom of the stairs. She had never heard the name before.
“It’s a local company,” Sunny explained. “When you were coming into town did you see a massive factory on a hill overlooking the town?”
Izzy nodded. She had been wondering what that factory was when she arrived at Maretime Bay.
“That’s Canterlogic,” Sunny said. “They build most of the tech in Maretime Bay, from the street lights to the TVs. If it runs on electricity in Maretime Bay, chances are it’s made by Canterlogic. They also own the local news agent and control the local electricity.”
“It sounds like Canterlogic controls everything in Maretime Bay” Izzy commented.
“They do,” Sunny confirmed. “One day Hitch’s dad discovered an illegal crime ring operating in Maretime Bay, Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights and asked my dad to help look into it. He uncovered that Sprout’s mom was involving Canterlogic in some ‘unethical business’. My dad exposed her, but she had the resources of Canterlogic behind her. By the time the investigation was over she not only didn’t have a scratch on her reputation but she had also turned everyone against my dad.”
The two reached the bottom of the stairs and walked out the double doors. Izzy was thinking over what she had just been told.
“How?” she asked. “How did… er, you never mentioned any names.”
Sunny face palmed as she realised her mistake. On the few occasions she had ranted about the situation to Hitch or Beautiful Heart she hadn’t had to use names because they both knew who she was talking about.
“Sorry Izzy. Force of habit” Sunny explained. “My dad’s name was Argyle and Sprout’s mother’s name is Phyllis.”
Izzy nodded. “So how did Phyllis get everyone to hate Argyle?”
Sunny sighed. “Through subtle brainwashing tactics. She still does it to this day, even though my dad has been gone ten years.”
Izzy looked at Sunny as the latter stared off into the distance, her arms folded.
“So now Phyllis gets everyone to hate you?” Izzy asked. “Why?”
“Because I stood by my dad. Still do” Sunny explained. “Phyllis also encourages distrust towards residents of Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights, apparently because her ‘business partners’ abandoned her after my dad exposed her. That was her petty way of getting revenge.”
Sunny started walking around the side of the school building. Izzy followed her.
“You said you didn’t know all the details,” the blue haired girl pointed out. “Yet you seem to know the whole story.”
“Not quite,” Sunny responded. “I don’t know exactly what unethical business my dad discovered Phyllis was taking part in. Beautiful Heart and Hitch’s dad both know, but neither of them will tell me.”
Well that explains why Beautiful Heart reacted the way she did, Izzy thought as the two arrived at the back of the school. In front of them was an oval shaped soccer pitch with a running track going around it.
“The pitch and the track should be self evident,” Sunny explained, switching back to tour guide mode. “And over there,” Sunny pointed to a building that was separate from the main school building. “Is the gym building. It’s relatively new, only opened two years ago after being under construction for eight years. And on the hill behind it is a basketball court.”
Izzy nodded, then spotted someone at the opposite end of the grounds to them.
“Who’s that?” she asked, pointing.
Sunny glanced over to where Izzy was pointing.
“Don’t know” she answered. “None of the teachers are that short, so it must be a student. But you and I are the only ones with passes to leave class.”
Recalling what Beautiful Heart said when explaining the passes, Izzy shook her head.
“Actually there is a third student with one. Zipp Storm. Does the name ring a bell?”
Sunny thought about it for a second. The name did sound familiar.
“Zipp Storm? Oh, I remember now. She’s the only student smarter than me.” Then something clicked in Sunny’s mind. “Wait, she’s the girl from Zephyr Heights I mentioned earlier.”
Well that answers my question about where Zipp is from, Izzy thought. Then something occurred to her.
“If she’s from Zephyr Heights then she won’t have been exposed to Phyllis’ brainwashing” Izzy pointed out.
Sunny could see where Izzy was going with this.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she’s gonna want to be friends with us” she said.
“Come on, Sunny,” Izzy pleaded. “Beautiful Heart said Zipp was the only person besides us in the whole school who had her head on straight.”
Sunny looked over at Izzy to see that her friend was giving her puppy eyes. She smiled slightly.
“Alright then,” she relented, nodding her head in the direction Zipp was going. “Come on. It looks like she’s heading to the basketball court.”
Sunny and Izzy found Zipp on the basketball court shooting hoops. The Zephyr Heights girl had seemingly gelled up hot pink hair aqua and pink streaks, turquoise blue eyes and white skin. She was wearing a white hoodie and dark blue ripped jeans. She was slightly shorter than Sunny, though still taller than Izzy. Her nails were painted with silver nail polish. sky blue, Izzy thought as the two walked over.
“Hey” Sunny called over.
Zipp looked over and saw the two, catching the ball she was playing with.
“Hey,” she said, walking over to them. “Sunny Starscout and Izzy Moonbow, right?”
“Yeah,” Sunny responded. “And you must be Zipp Storm.”
“That’s me,” Zipp said. “Hey, are you two alright? The new teacher was pretty rough.”
Sunny and Izzy were surprised.
“You were in our geography class?” Sunny asked.
Zipp nodded.
“I was sitting at the back of the room with my sister” she explained.
“I’m fine, he only knocked me over,” Izzy answered. “It’s Sunny I’m worried about.”
“I told you I was fine” Sunny countered.
Zipp laughed.
“So, what are you doing here anyway?” she asked.
“We came to talk to you” Sunny admitted.
“Looking for another friend?” Zipp guessed.
“That obvious, huh?” Sunny asked.
“It’s kinda common knowledge that you don’t really have friends, Sunny,” Zipp said apologetically. “And Izzy is new here…”
“So is it a yes or a no?” Izzy chimed in.
Zipp smiled at her.
“I think I can handle friends so long as they aren’t meathead idiots. And you two clearly aren’t, so…”
Sunny and Zipp were momentarily deafened as Izzy squealed with delight before wrapping her arms around the two’s necks and pulling them to her sides.
“This is so great,” she said happily. “Now we can all be best friends, and then we can spend every moment of everyday together for the rest of our lives.”
Zipp laughed nervously.
“Hehe. What?”
Sunny simply smiled at Izzy’s antics.