{ S E V E N } : G L I T T E R.
Allen Pierce couldn't wait for chapel service to be over.
The increasing guilt he felt kept building with each second every passing day. He should have checked on Aubrey before he returned to his room that day. But working with Head Mistress May had a way of draining a person's life.
Maybe just maybe the story would have been different if he was there with her that night.
Aubrey made it clear countless times that she could handle herself and it wasn't like anyone could actually try to cross her. She would mess them up too fast, too easily.
Until the vending machine incident struck.
His eyes stung where he sat on the front pews of the chapel.
The sermon was unusually longer today and it unnerved him, he wanted to loosen his sunday wear tie to be able to breath in some air but he was Head Prefect and that would be completely unacceptable. He felt stuffed and drained as he kept wiggling on the wooden chapel pew.
Bubble's sunday wear was a compulsory black and white outfit. Students were allowed to style and accessorize as they pleased though so long as their apparel comprised of the two colors.
He had spoken with Mrs Potter, the school's cook, during evening prep yesterday about the vending machine incident and he found out some terrifying news.
Mrs Potter had confirmed that the vending machine was put off quite early that night of the incident and that there was only one person who knew how to put it on and turn it off successfully in all of Bubble Academy and it was the school's gardener; Parker Monroe.
Obviously Parker wasn't the only one who knew how to handle that purple vending machine and he had left Bubble Academy pretty early that tragic evening with his daughter because he had to visit his pregnant sister in town. It couldn't be him.
However Mrs Potter had handed him her keys to the old shed last night so he could examine the machine for himself. Maybe just maybe, he'd be able to pick up one or two clues.
"May we stand as we share the grace in fellowship?" The priest called out from the pulpit.
Sighing, Allen stood up like everyone else but he was too carried away staring at the paintings on the large windows, mostly importantly at the man on the cross.
"Help me, Jesus. Maybe Aubrey took her Head Prefect position too far but she doesn't deserve to be stuck in an ICU." He muttered under his breath as he closed his eyes and silently prayed for Aubrey's recovery.
The service came to an official end and students filled out in their large number in a hurry to resume their daily activities. Head Prefect Allen on the other hand had an investigation to carry out but he needed back up.
The midday sun glowed yellow and bright in the clear blue sky. Allen felt like he had offended the sun because why the hell was it concentrating on turning him to some burnt offering.
His dark eyes scanned the crowd for someone with dark curls but a well oiled brunette mass occupied his vision.
"Heard anything about Aubrey yet?"
"Since when do you care, Livia?" Allen questioned, perplexed by her sudden concern.
"Since when I was handed her position and my life was automatically endangered. Aubrey and I never got along but I still don't understand how someone would do that to her especially because of a color." Livia muttered.
Allen gulped, "Just be careful and don't lurk around in the dark alone."
He tapped her shoulders and escaped from the conversation the second he spotted Grey and Jazz walking side by side. Jogging towards them, he smiled big for the first time in the last forty eight hours.
