Anonymous

Part V - When Vengeance Strikes

"Journal?" Edmund looked blankly.
"Yeah, journal. Also called as a diary - as in a place where you write down the events of your day along with your various emotions."
"Seriously? I thought only lonely, old-fashioned victims-of-bullying girls did that." Edmund laughed, and then serioused down when he realised that perhaps Nessa was no different from a lonely victim of bullying. "Okay, I'm sorry. So, Titania has taken your journal?"
"I believe so. It's . . .just not in my room anymore, and even though, till yet, Titania has done nothing, I have a huge suspicion she has taken it and will be using it in the future for my destruction." Nessa tried to draw much as pity towards her as was possible.
Edmund remained silent for some time, and then said "You know, this girl drama is crazy sometimes. I thought that only happened in movies."
"You think a lot of things are fictional, but they happen on a daily basis right under your nose." Vanessa snapped.
"Trust me, the last thing I want to do is get involved in any of this mess."
"Well, if you're sick of it, then why do you tag along with such a mean, slutty girlfriend?" Nessa challenged. "You chose this life; deal with it. And by that, I mean I need the keys to Titania's room."
Edmund gawked - actually gawked, with his jaw hanging out - and Nessa faced it with equal menace, until he finally lifted his shoulders in disbelief and said "What? How do you expect me to get you her bedroom keys?"
"That's up to you, stud." Nessa shrugged.
"Well, I'm not doing such a thing! Do you possibly expect me to seduce her for a night together and then ask her for the bedroom keys so I could sneak in?"
"I'd love to see you try that, but for my work, I merely need you to steal the keys and hand them over to me."
Edmund Caliber made a face, and Nessa pulled out a hard glare, as if to tell him that he's got no other option on that.
"You know she's being a devil. You know that whatever she's doing is wrong, and that she needs to be stopped." Nessa tried as an ultimate convincing statement.
Edmund rolled his eyes. "You girls make such a big fuss out of such small things - okay, yeah, I get it; it's not a small thing, and I'll try to get you your keys by the evening." He added, when he realised that for Nessa, it was no small thing.
"Thank you so much." Vanessa smiled.
"Honestly, you're such an angel when it comes to getting stuff done."
"An angel's body with a devil's heart."
Somewhere in the distance someone might've cleared her throat, but Nessa and Edmund only realised that too late - when practically half of the class had their heads turned to their direction.
"If you are done with that extremely important discussion of yours, may I proceed ahead in teaching the rest of the class?" The physics teacher glared at them.
"Of course." Edmund muttered, embarrassed, and stared down at his books.
Though, Nessa just had to ruin the moment by adding in "I'm glad you understood the importance of our discussion. You may continue, ma'am."

Vanessa had almost forgotten about Bibliophile and his strange texts on Facebook, until he messaged again during lunch in the cafeteria.
Well, I didn't think you'd take this much of time to read and get the inner meaning of the poem. To benefit you, I made sure the poem was very short and quite simple indeed.
Vanessa took a deep breath after remembering the scary poem of yesterday, and then texted:
Okay, I get what u wanted to convey - that the inner meaning of poetry can be understood if we've been through the emotion before .

Do you? I wouldn't be very happy if you're simply lying to me on the matter.

I'm not. Lying, that is.

Very well, then. I never managed to ask you about any of your interests in particular.

I . . .like to play sports.

An interesting hobby - quite similar to poetry, where again you take out what lies inside you through actions and movement.
Nessa, who had never thought of it in that way (because all she thought while playing was that she had to kick the darned ball so that the goalie wouldn't be able to catch it), now began to think of it the way Bibliophile had theorised. Maybe she did take out some of her temper and emotions through her play.
That is an interesting similarity you've found between poetry and games.

So you say. Similarly, if you've noticed both poetry and games can be quite tricky; hidden messages, secrets and goals lie amidst them. And each one requires a strategy - a real open mind - to be actually figured out.
Nessa was actually starting to think - really philosophically - around this anonymous man, and about his words. Apparently unlike Nessa, he didn't just type things without thought; his words were like poetry - ones that expressed what he felt inside, containing hidden messages and requiring wisdom of a depth to be actually figured out.
It was then that Edmund Caliber appeared, and Vanessa quickly slipped her cellphone into her pocket.
"Here, I've got what you needed." Like some badass spy, he handed over the keys behind his back.
"How did you manage?" Nessa questioned.
"The duplicate keys are in her locker, and I have access to her locker." Edmund answered as if it should've been obvious.
"And what a big issue you were making about it." Nessa joked.
"Look who's talking. Well, I've taken enough of a risk already, so make sure you get your journal back at the least."
Nessa grinned, and then Edmund walked away with the briefest moments of surprise; Vanessa Orville grinned - smiled! Did she even do that?

Nessa took a long time dressing up like some professional Mafia (somehow, that was essential to her), and was considering carrying a plastic water pistol with her for a more dramatic effect, but then decided against it.
Water pistols would be difficult to find in this wretched Victorian campus.
Creeping barefoot in the corridors, wearing black from head-to-toe, Nessa found her way to Titania Cross's room. Very slowly, she slid the key into the keyhole and winced at the minute creek as the door opened.
Titania, like all sophisticated girls of the school, had a room to herself. Since there wasn't enough light, Nessa couldn't make out, but her room was probably all pink with some huge wardrobe, reeking of girlish cologne; however the main focus was the huge, overstuffed princess bed in the centre.
Very slowly Nessa crept over to the bed and crouched onto the floor, out of Titania Cross's view. And then she dug out her plain plastic scissors and snapped.

Vanessa had the evil smile on her face as she walked over to the cafeteria the next morning for breakfast. Well, very soon she was going to get killed (she could practically hear Titania Cross screaming from her bedroom), but for now, it was okay to enjoy her victory.
She returned Edmund the keys with another sly-sweet thank you, and then ate Greek yoghurt and bagels in the cafeteria.
The morning seemed almost eerily silent - as if everyone knew the great disaster that had taken place. Titania wasn't seen anywhere today, and Nessa didn't need to question the reason for her absence. It was in the end of maths class that Edmund Caliber angrily approached Vanessa.
"You did that! You cut off Titania's hair!" He accused, sounding like some really pissed off child.
"Of course." Nessa replied with a smirk. "I didn't think she'd show you though; I was considering Titania Joanne Lisbeth Cross had standards, and that meant that she had to look pitch perfect all the time - even in front of her boyfriend."
"She didn't. Her friends told me about it.You said you'd only steal back your journal, and I helped you because I agreed with you on the matter that your journal was personal and not for Titania's hands!"
"Well, I don't maintain a journal." Nessa snapped.
Edmund stared at her with some really hurt eyes. "I told you to stay away from her; it was for your own benefit, and yet you didn't listen. Well, I'd just like to remind you that by this, you did nothing but endanger yourself all the more."
"As if I needed reminding." Nessa muttered sulkily, as Edmund turned his back to her and walked out of the cafeteria.