Prescott High

∞ 06

"I won't give up

Even though it hurts so much

Every night I'm losing you in a thousand faces

Now it feels we're as close as strangers."

- 5SOS, Close As Strangers.

Prescott Jr. Downey wasn't always a part of Prescott High, though this might come off as a surprising fact. Before him, the school didn't manage to gain such a reputation. Before Prescott came in, our school went with the name Delrad High, named after our present principal for establishing the school. Principal Delrad then decided to rename the school after Prescott as a sign of pride; recognition of what he'd done so that in the history of Prescott High, he will never be forgotten.

♂♀

Greg and I used to be closer than I liked to admit now. We shared our jokes, secrets, thoughts. But now when I looked at him, it felt no different than looking at a complete stranger whom I've come to know only days ago.

Time had a way of deteriorating the relationships between mankind. The longer the silence is sealed, the harder it is to reconnect. After a while, it will almost feel like there was no bond at all.

No matter how many things about Greg Stone changed, I hoped that this one thing didn't.

I stayed a little while longer after school that day, checked if the coast was clear, then I walked over to Greg's locker. Heart beating unsteadily inside my chest, I entered the locker combination that he had since a long time ago.

Click. It worked.

The locker was messy, as expected. Greg wasn't a tidy person, to say the least. Among the chucked books, crumpled papers and junks, I spotted a piece of carefully folded yellow paper.

A smile involuntarily touched my lips. His old habit stayed, after all.

When Greg, Lucas and I first came into Prescott High, we looked out for each other all the time. Greg would put down all the warnings, hints he'd gotten in a yellow paper, Lucas in blue one and me in a red one.

Since sharing hints was officially banned in Prescott High, as was helping other newbies, that was the way we used to communicate instead. Each day during break time, we would go to each others' lockers and look out for the specific piece of paper.

But this time, Greg Stone definitely did not leave me the hint on purpose. In fact, over his dead body would he reveal anything about the challenge.

As quickly as I could, I scanned the contents of the paper.

Round III. It was very well-scheduled, with time for each venue; the things they were going to do for the challenge. As long as Sky could avoid being in that particular place in that time frame, he was safe. I made a mental note of the time and the venue.

Hearing laughter and footsteps round the corner of the hallway, I folded the yellow paper carefully and put it back into the locker where I first found it.

And then, pulling the hood of my sweater over my head, I walked away like nothing happened at all.

♂♀

"Paige!" a voice called out when I walked out of the school gate with the boy who saved me.

I turned around and saw Greg, his eyes widened in disbelief and he was running over to me.

"Oh my God, Paige!" Greg exclaimed again, pulling me into an airtight hug. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I said. "But you're choking me."