Chapter 1 || Courtyard Banter

The courtyard at Rathbone Academy buzzed with the usual chaos of a school morning. Clusters of students leaned against benches, traded homework answers, or gossiped about everything from teachers’ quirks to the latest cafeteria disaster. At their favourite bench near the old oak tree, the Slay Squad, Emily, Ruth, Anna, and Tallulah were in their element. Tallulah, as usual, was holding court. With her drama script clutched in one hand and a smoothie in the other, she struck a pose as though the courtyard itself were her stage. “Ladies, prepare yourselves. For soon the world will witness my performance in The Ghost in the Attic. Front row seats, please, roses at the ready, red ones, preferably thornless.” Anna snorted. “Knowing you, you’d trip over the roses, then call it ‘method acting.’” Ruth smirked behind her notebook. “Or claim it was a new kind of interpretive dance.” Emily, lounging back with her detective hat tilted over her eyes, a joke gift she actually wore more often than not, added dryly, “She nearly took out the entire prop table at auditions. If that’s not haunting enough, I don’t know what is.” Tallulah gasped, scandalised, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. “Betrayed by my closest companions! Honestly, you should be worshipping my bravery. Do you know how much pressure there is in playing the lead ghost?” “Not as much pressure as being in the audience,” Emily said, without missing a beat. The others laughed, and Tallulah gave an exaggerated pout before collapsing onto the bench beside them. Despite her theatrics, her eyes gleamed with excitement. “Seriously, though. Weird things have been happening at rehearsals already. Lights flickering for no reason, props not where they should be.. and yesterday, Mr. Davis swore he heard whispering backstage when no one was there.” That got their attention. Ruth paused mid-sip of her smoothie. “Whispering? Like.. actual voices?” Tallulah nodded solemnly. “Spooky, right? Even I got chills. And you know I adore anything creepy.” Anna raised an eyebrow. “Spooky or sabotage? Because around here, either one’s possible.” Emily sat up a little straighter, her grin sharpening. “Either way, it sounds like our kind of case. A phantom haunting the drama club? Perfect.” Ruth jotted something in her notebook, her detective instincts already stirring. “Then it’s settled. If there really is a phantom, or just someone messing around, we’ll find out who’s behind it.” Tallulah clasped her hands together, delighted. “The Slay Squad’s greatest mystery yet! My stardom and a haunting, what could be more dramatic?” Emily rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile. “You had me at ‘haunting.’” The courtyard bell rang, cutting through their laughter. Students began drifting toward class, but the girls lingered a moment longer. The ordinary chatter of the school swirled around them, but in the back of their minds, the seed of a mystery had been planted. And if there was one thing the Slay Squad never ignored, it was a mystery.