Tuesday - 9/10
SALEM JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
ARI: What’s your idea?
The bell rang, signaling that the passing period had begun, and there were five minutes to get to the next class.
LIV: Come on, I’ll explain on the way.
Ari and Liv picked up and threw away their trash, then began walking to the gymnasium.
LIV: Okay, so last year, my Mom got super into genealogy. That’s how I found out that my Grandma doesn’t like to talk about her family, my Mom asked her, but aside from my Dad and Aunt, my Grandma won’t talk about her family. Anyway, my Mom got this D.N.A. testing kit, Ewe D.N.A., and had all of us do it. I was more interested in finding out what country my ancestors were from, but there must be some way to connect with people who are relatives. I know there’s a website where my Mom got the results. If I can find the website, I might be able to look to see if I have any relatives who I share D.N.A. with who have the last name Merritt. And if I do, that’ll prove that I’m right, that my Grandma is Esther Merritt!
ARI: Wow! That is a really cool idea, actually!
LIV: Yeah! Now I just need to figure out the password for the website. It’s password protected so not just anybody can get on there and find out who you are and stuff, you have to have registered to the website.
ARI: Got it. Well, I really hope you can get on! This is so exciting!
SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Philip had walked away from Melanie’s bedside for a moment and found a room that was empty. He paced the room, dialing a number.
PHILIP: It’s me. I have an update. I know now who’s responsible for Melanie’s kidnap. I want you to find Bart Beiderbecke and bring him to me. We’ll deal with him together.
Philip hung up and turned to see Nicholas walking in.
NICHOLAS: She’s awake.
PHILIP: She is. I assume you’ve been in to see her?
NICHOLAS: Just came from there. It’s good to see her, but she still has a long road to recovery.
PHILIP: That she does.
NICHOLAS: I take it that that phone call was “business”, and not the Titan kind?
PHILIP: Very observant of you. Since you refuse to swallow your pride and ask Vivian to use Ivan-
NICHOLAS: As I have already explained, it is a lot more complicated than that!
PHILIP: I don’t particularly care. Anyway, since you refuse to do that, I’ve had one of my own people find the person who kidnapped Melanie.
NICHOLAS: We know who it is?
PHILIP: We do indeed. When Melanie woke up, she remembered being taken by Bart Beiderbecke.
Nicholas blinked.
NICHOLAS: Sorry, am I supposed to know who that is?
Philip sighed heavily.
PHILIP: Bart is a spineless worm of a man who works for the DiMeras, officially as their head of security. Unofficially, though, he is their muscle. Not the brightest bulb, but he’s effective when given clear instruction. He’s been André DiMera’s right hand man for decades, and apparently used to work for Stefano.
NICHOLAS: So it was André that had her kidnapped.
PHILIP: Yep. Although Melanie doesn’t remember exactly what happened, it’s not hard to guess based on what we know. I had E.J. taken out of the country and made it look like he broke the conditions of his bail. In return, André had Melanie kidnapped and made it look like she was dead.
Nicholas nodded.
NICHOLAS: Here’s the one thing that doesn’t make sense, why was Melanie found in Stephanie Johnson’s closet?
PHILIP: Mel and Steph have never gotten along. Even so, that’s the bit that I can’t quite figure out. Stephanie and Melanie may not like each other, but nobody would seriously believe that she’d try to kill Melanie. The thing I’ve come to learn, though, when it comes to André DiMera is that his plans are often convoluted, and really only make sense to his twisted mind.
NICHOLAS: I see.
SALEM HIGH SCHOOL
Sydney, Silver, Tate and Holly sat in Mr. Woods’ class. As well as being the principal, Mr. Woods still taught senior level biology. As it was the first day of school, Mr. Woods was going over the syllabus.
WOODS: Now we come to my favorite part of the year, the senior class project. Now, I cannot stress the importance of this project; it is worth thirty percent of your final grade. For this project, you will be split into groups. The group size should be at least two, but no more than five so that everyone can plausibly have a chance to do some of the work. On the final page of your syllabus, you will find a list of topics. The final project will be a presentation based on one of these topics. By the end of this month, I will be asking each student to name the people in their group, so start thinking about who you’d like to work with.
Sydney and Silver looked at each other and winked.
