The Ranking System (BoyxBoy)✔

⚜Chapter 31: The Deal

A/N: January 11 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY LOVES ITS THE FIRST UPDATE OF THE YEAR ❣

Exciting news, The Ranking System will SOON BE PUBLISHED AS A PAPERBACK. Most likely end of January/early February. Make sure to follow me on Wattpad and Instagram so you don't miss out on the release date ;)

Q/A: Do you guys have any new year resolutions??

This is the last chapter of book 1! Book 1, 2, and 3 are completed on my Patreon and are available as paperbacks :) link to all of them is in my Wattpad bio!

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"No, you didn't."

"I was the one who stabbed him with the chair leg," I blurted frantically, staring at my hands and feeling disgusted by them. These were the hands of a murderer. 

"Axis," Adam said, snapping me out of my trance. "Nobody knows who killed him yet. When they found him, he didn't have a dog tag."

"Somebody must have stolen it after I killed him." My stomach twisted at my own words. I felt nauseous.

"Or someone else killed him after your fight, stole his dog tag, and framed you instead." 

"Or maybe they stole it after I killed him," I repeated mindlessly.

"Axis," he tried to reason with me but I wouldn't listen. My hand flew through my hair as panicking thoughts raced through my mind.

"Nylon is dead. He's dead because of me. I killed him, I'm responsible for-"

Adam took my face in his hands and my mouth snapped shut when his firm gaze held mine. 

"You didn't do it." The conviction in his grounded tone silenced my doubts.

My voice came out a whisper. "How do you know?"

"The police interrogated some students, but that's all they did. They left it off as a cold case."

"Already?"

"Scheduling investigations costs extra money. Who's going to pay for a bunch of outcasts?" Adam asked bleakly. "You'd be surprised by the number of unsolved murder cases in this school. Someone could write an entire thriller on it. It's not the first time a student in this school died, and it surely won't be the last."

I frowned. 

"The security tapes of that day have gone missing. But what's strange is that the only footage that went missing was the one in building A, where Nylon's body was found. It seems too suspicious to be a mere coincidence."

"Don't tell me-"

He nodded. 

"Someone stole them," Adam said. "Whoever killed him got rid of the evidence before the police could find them. You're being used as a scapegoat."

I felt a strange sense of relief. 

"I'm being framed?" My shoulders sagged when I let out a quiet sigh. Maybe I didn't kill Nylon after all. "So I'm not a murderer?"

"The footage is gone, and Nylon's dog tag is missing," Adam pointed out gently. 

"But then, who killed him?"

"Lots of people wanted him dead. Not everyone in this school is as human as you."

"But everyone thinks it's me."