Life Within The Halls

Chapter 14: "Guilty or Not?"

LIFE WITHIN THE HALLS

Victoria

Thursday, 12th February, 1:12 p.m.

Jayden, Sandra, Gideon, and Daniel faced Ms. Murphy's lecture for being in the Ship House, but I was exempt. Ms. Murphy suspected that the others had influenced me to join them or that I had a legitimate reason for being there. She saw me as a saint, someone unlikely to trespass.

"And why are you wearing the school's male sweatshirt?" Ms. Murphy yelled, holding up the sweatshirt over Sandra's uniform. It likely belonged to Jayden.

Jayden quickly came to her rescue. "It's mine, Ms. Murphy. Sandra's not feeling well, that's why I gave it to her."

"No big deal!" She said. "I will let this one slide, but not you four being here at this time."

If Ms. Murphy continued with her scolding, the next consequence for the four would be detention. I felt compelled to intervene to help them; after all, we were in it together.

"Ms. Murphy," I stammered. "I'm with them."

"What? What did you say?" she asked, her brows wrinkling.

"I'm... I'm with them," I reiterated. "The five of us came here together."

"Why? Care to explain?"

"Well, you see..." I hesitated, trying to come up with an explanation.

Ms. Murphy giggled unexpectedly. I looked at the others, confused. Had I unintentionally said something amusing?

"Oh, my dear," she said, pushing her blonde hair back. "You must have come with them to make arrangements for the school's 30th anniversary. When you realized the main door was locked, you chose the backdoor. Isn't that right?"

I was taken aback by her interpretation but relieved at the same time. It was a great excuse I hadn't even considered.

"Yes, yes, that's it," I nodded eagerly.

Ms. Murphy adjusted her bag on her forearm. "Next time, just let me know, and I'll give you the keys to the main door."

"Sure, I will," I replied.

Ms. Murphy led the way out, and we all followed her, maintaining a distance between us so we could talk.

"I didn't know there were such strict teachers at elite schools," Sandra remarked in a hushed tone.

"She's actually the most feared teacher in the school," I whispered back. "If you manage not to get in trouble with her, consider yourself lucky."

As we headed back to the school building, we hurried over and saw two police cars parked in the lot. Students on the upper floors looked out the windows, curious about why the police were there.

Mr. Bennett was brought out, handcuffed, with two police officers following him.

"I'm innocent, please," Mr. Bennett pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I didn't do anything."

"Please remain silent," one of the officers ordered him. "Whatever you do or say will be used against you in the Court of law."

I felt a pang of sympathy for Mr. Bennett. I had been against Gideon calling for his arrest, but I was powerless to stop it.

"Guys, I think Mr. Bennett is being wrongfully accused," I voiced my concern.

Gideon cleared his throat, signaling me in a manner I couldn't quite grasp.

"Bro, you take the lead, and I'll follow," he told Daniel, who promptly complied.

Once Daniel moved away, Gideon turned to me with a plea. "Please, let's not make Daniel feel like someone else is after him, besides Mr. Bennett. He's already under enough stress."

"Okay, but what if the true culprit is out there and Mr. Bennett isn't guilty?" I challenged.

"You trust Mr. Bennett that much?" Gideon retorted. "Fine, I'll prove it to you tomorrow. Whether he's guilty or not."

"How are you gonna do that?"

"Just wait and see," he replied before walking away.

Sandra took off Jayden's sweatshirt and handed it to him. Then, she rubbed my arm, saying, "I'm going to grab a bottle of water," before turning away as well.

I stood beside Jayden as the police cars disappeared down the road, their sirens gradually fading away.

Jayden's phone beeped, and he visibly flinched as if the notification sound were an electric shock.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He remained silent, blowing air through his lips in frustration.

"Jayden!" I shook him to get his attention.

He grabbed my arm, pulling me aside. "Someone's threatening me," he confessed.

"Threatening you?" My eyes widened in alarm.

"Yeah, there's this Instagram account with the name, AnonymousX, who claims to have a video of... El and me," he admitted, his voice filled with worry.

As Jayden confided in me, a thought crossed my mind: Was he opening up to me? Me, of all people?

"Wait, why are you telling me?" I asked, pointing at myself. "Why not your friend Henry, or Ella herself?"

He ran his hand through his hair, visibly distressed. "I don't even know why I'm telling you. I just need to get it off my chest. I can't take it anymore," he said, his voice tinged with tears.

"Calm down," I placed a comforting hand on his. "What video are you and El being threatened with? What did you two do?"

He withdrew my hand. "This. This is why I can't tell anyone about my problem. Their first question will be 'what video?' And I can't tell. I just can't," he said, looking more distressed than I had ever seen him before.

"Okay, fine, don't tell me," I relented. "But why don't we try something else? Let's get someone who's good at hacking to hack the user's account so we can find out who's behind it."

"This means we're telling someone else?" Jayden questioned.

"Not just anyone else, it's Gideon," I replied.

"Gideon is a hacker?" He chuckled slightly. "Is that supposed to make me laugh?"

I didn't believe it either when I found out Gideon was into IT.

"Gideon has an interest in IT. I found out about it when I was in the records room last night," I explained. "In Gideon's file, under the section where you indicate your interests, it said 'Interest in technology' before it was crossed out."

Gideon must have informed the administrator about his interest in IT, but his parents possibly had it changed.

"Right! So that explains how he managed to hack the CCTV cameras last night within a short period..." Jayden snapped his fingers, connecting the dots.

"Yeah," I agreed as we started walking.

The closing bell rang, and students began pouring out of the school building.

"We'll have to continue this tomorrow," Jayden said, glancing around cautiously. "Please don't tell Gideon or Sandra about it yet."

"Sure!"

Just then, a voice interrupted us from up front, halting us in our tracks. "Dude!" It was Jayden's friend, Henry, waving at him in the school's basketball kit. He gave me a strange look, probably shocked to see me with Jayden and not arguing.

"See you later!" Jayden winked at me. "And one more thing... Thank you for listening," he whispered before heading over to Henry.

Jayden's words about being threatened lingered in my mind. Who could be the one behind the 'AnonymousX' account?