Play the Game Boy (BWWM)

chapter 9

Faith

Going to work was tiresome, but for some reason, this morning felt heavier to bear than usual.

As I was about to enter the building, somebody held the door open for me. I turned around to thank them and noticed that it was Brendan. He was wearing his business suit today and I couldn't help but wonder why —we hadn't scheduled an early meeting about finding out who this town's Gossip Girl was. He was holding six steaming cups of coffee inside of a paper plate as he followed me in.

"One of those is for me?" I asked jokingly.

"You wish," he replied. "My dad's having a meeting with all the senior partners about the gossip site. He wants me to be their caterer for the morning apparently. Oh and your wish will be granted, the FBI will be involved."

My eyes widened.

"Really? That quick?"

"When rich white folks get crossed justice comes with no delay, believe me," he said as we walked through the associates' space.

Amen to that. It was an unfair world we were living in after all.

"So what do we do? We retire from our plan to unmask this cyberbully?" I asked as we went up the escalators.

He clicked his fingers towards me.

"Exactly," he said as we parted ways.

That seemed about right to me, the situation was finally being taken care of. Now, all I could do was rest my faith into the investigators leading this search for the owner of the gossip site.

I sat down at my desk when Sebastian, the other intern, approached, a bouquet of roses in his hands. I looked at him with a confused expression.

"If you're asking me to take your killer shift on Sunday so you can go on a date with one of your little boyfriends, the answer is no," I said tentatively, but he simply shook his head comically.

"Good one," he let out sarcastically. "These are for you but they are not from me. Somebody put them on my desk on accident this morning."

He handed me the flowers before twirling back dramatically to his desk. I chuckled silently at this sight.

Who would even send me flowers at the firm?

Brendan had already apologized at the party, it wasn't really in his character to emit a second apology for the same bad deed.

I picked up the small card onto which my name was written. I twisted it around and discovered a short message addressed to me. It wasn't really a message, but more of a list.

Jess Piers, Felicia Malberg, Edwin Stevens, Rob Melançon, Melanie Covert, Samara Jensen, Antoine McMirtle, Chad Evans, Brendan Wenthward, Meghan de Manico, Nadine Berloui.

Tell the police and your friends are next.

My eyes widened in shock.

I recognized the first few names as being those of the kids whose lives were being ruined by their parents' corrupted ways. Some of the remaining names were fuzzy to me, but most I recognized for they were those of my friends.

Even the new girl's name, Chad's girlfriend, was mentioned.

And Brendan was on the list too.

I needed to tell him, but I couldn't exactly burst into his father's highly important meeting. We couldn't risk being overheard anymore.

I pulled out my cellphone and simply typed in 'Bathroom now. Hurry.' as a text to Brendan, hoping he'd do as the message said. I slid the card into my blouse and rushed to the elevators, trying to keep as much of my composure as I could.

I never texted Brendan, so hopefully the fact I was sending him a text message alone would alarm him enough.

I stepped out on the floor the senior partners' sumptuous meeting room was located and marched towards the bathroom. Brendan met me halfway.

"Faith, what's wrong?" he whispered as I pulled him into a bathroom stall.

I unbuttoned my blouse and quickly pulled out the card before he'd get the wrong idea. He almost looked relieved as I handed him the piece of paper, but the serenity soon vacated his face when confusion swooped in.

"When did you get this?"

"This morning, they were on Sebastian's desk, attached to flowers," I explained in a hushed whisper.

"Flowers?" Brendan asked, perplexed.

"The flowers were probably just a cover up," I rapidly said. "But your name is on that list, along with Meghan's and Nadine's and Chad's and his girlfriend's. The girl just got in town and she's already on the hitlist."

Brendan looked astonished for a moment before he found something to say.

"We've got to tell my dad," he let out categorically.

"And what is he going to do?" I asked, stunned.

"I don't know, but this is his firm, he'll protect it at all costs. He'll figure out what to do," was Brendan's direct response. "Besides, whether we tell someone or not, they're going to expose us regardless."

I sighed, seeing his point. This was beyond us.

"Well, you can't really tell him right now in the middle of his meeting," I said lowly when silence settled between us.

"No, you're right, I can't," he conceded. "We need to figure out a way to tell him without implicating you."

I furrowed my brows.

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me. If my father sees you're related to the person running the gossip site, he'll never let you work here for the internship and..."

"I can kiss that ten grand goodbye," I completed.

Brendan sighed.

"Maybe you were right earlier then," he said, reluctantly. "Maybe we shouldn't put our quest to rest."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I mean that you and I, we're going to find out who Gossip Girl is."

I gulped down my saliva with difficulty.

I don't think Brendan and I were ready for what was in store for us...