Uncovered

Chapter 9: The Plan

BEN

I'm going crazy. That's the only reasonable explanation. Mal left me with no explanation. Audrey was the one who posted the stupid pictures, and she got hacked. I'm going crazy, because there's no way all this is actually happening. I find myself in front of Audrey with the sudden need to growl and yell at her, but I restrain myself.

"Packing?" I ask when I notice the boxes in her room, "I thought you weren't leaving until the end of the year?"

"I have a lot of stuff" she shrugs, "Most of this stuff usually stays here during the summer, but since I'm not coming back and we only have a couple of months of school left..." she doesn't finish, but I know what she means. "So what are you doing here?"

"I just need to know Audrey" I lean against the door. "Why'd you do it?"

"I already told you" she goes back to packing stuff into boxes, "I wanted them to go back to the Isle"

"I don't buy it" I shake my head and walk into her room. "Everyone knows you and Jay get along pretty well" I raise an eyebrow, "so why'd you actually do it?"

She stares at the ground for a second and sighs. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone" I nod and she stops packing to explain, "I saw Mal climbing out your window when I was sneaking out of Jay's room. It was the night Carlos went on the field trip to History Island, so Jay had the room to himself. I took a picture of her climbing out the window. It was one picture, and I thought about posting it, but I didn't." I am officially confused. "But for some reason I found myself outside of your room every morning taking pictures of her climbing out the window, and by lunch I didn't even remember taking them. I still don't remember most of the times. One morning I was in my room and I opened my computer to like 200 notifications. They were all comments on my newest post, but I didn't know what post they were all commenting on. When I opened it I saw the picture of you two through your window. The next day I couldn't log into the blog at all".

"How can you not remember doing all that?" This makes no sense to me.

"Sometimes I remember being outside your dorm" she continues packing, "but never taking the pictures, just seeing them on my computer later in the day".

"And you didn't tell Fairy Godmother about this?" I'm shocked, but then again she could be lying.

"I told my parents" she shakes her head, "that's why I'm homeschooling next year and not transferring to a new school. They think I'm going crazy or something". She takes in a deep breath, "and I'm actually starting to believe I really am going crazy". She turn around, but I know she's crying. "You should go" in an instant the tears stop and her confidence is back, or at least it seems like it. "I have a lot of stuff to do".

"You're not crazy Audrey" I say as I leave her room.

"You're sweet" she smiles, "but sometime you just can't see what's right in front of you. Bye Ben"

She closes the door and her last words stick in my mind.

EVIE

"Okay" I say standing around the table in the boys room with Carlos and Jay. "So we got this?"

"Yep" Jay responds immediately but Carlos just stares at the table.

"Carlos?" I ask and he snaps out of it.

"Yeah, sorry" he shakes his head, "I just realized last time we were standing around this table like this was when Mal told is the plan to steal the wand". There's a long silence and we're all thinking the same thing. How did we go from rotten to the core to what we are today?

"Yeah" I shake the thought off, "but this time we're not resting until we find this perv".

"Right" the boys say in unison and we head to our classes.

When the lunch bell rings we all get into place. Mal usually comes to lunch a few minutes after the bell rings since Fairy Godmother's office is a little far; however, Ben has been eating in his room since Mal broke up with him, but Jay says he eats with the tourney team every Thursday. It's Thursday, and it's time to put our plan to work.

I'm eating lunch like I would everyday. Carlos slides next to me and opens his laptop.

"Everything ready?" I ask as he types away.

"Yes" his eyes are glued to the screen, "I have cameras setup all around the cafeteria, and the three exits which are the main door, the door to the picnic tables, and through the kitchen". He hits one last key and a set of cameras lineup throughout the screen. "The exits have built in motion sensor" he explains pointing at a blinking red light on the screen, "see there? People are going to the tables outside, so the light is blinking. When Mal gets here there won't be this many people so well be able to see it clearly. "

He's right. When Mal gets here most people have already eaten and left. The cafeteria line is on a platform and the tables are a few steps below. I look at Ben who's sitting right by the platform, his arm no longer in a sling, and then I look at Jay who's standing on the platform and it's on.

When Mal walks right above Ben, Jay jumps into action.

"Charming go long" he throws a the tourney ball and Chad moves backwards knocking Mal off the platform. Just as we planned Ben catches her bridal style with ease. They look right into each other's eyes in sync. "Gotcha" Ben says softly.

My phone buzzes immediately. A picture of Mal falling, a picture of Ben catching her, and a picture of them staring at each other. This perv is quick.

"The pictures came from there" I point at the hall that leads to the kitchen, and almost instantly the camera on the kitchen exit starts blinking. All we see is a head with long hair and a headband flying off the head. It's a girl.

"Let's go" Carlos says and we start running to the kitchen. Jay catches up with us as we run past him.

I bust the door open and there it is. Absolutely nothing. A lonely alley with a dumpster. I can't believe we didn't see who it was. I walk forwards a little and that's when I notice it. I kneel down and pick up a thin metal headband with a beautiful jeweled pattern on the left side. At least we know it's a girl.

"What are you guys doing?" I hear Mal's pissed off voice. I stand up and hide the headband behind my back. Mal's standing by the exit with Ben right behind her.

"Nothing" Carlos responds with no further explanation.

"Oh really?" She crosses her arms, "because from what I can tell, you're all trying to get us back together". I'd rather her be mad at me for the wrong thing than risk her finding out. She'll probably freak out and her powers will go crazy, so for now this has to remain a secret. "You know what" she scoffs, "ever since this whole 'I choose good' thing everyone's been treating me like I'm weak"

"No one thinks your weak Mal" Ben puts his hand on her shoulder but shrugs it off and continues.

"Yes you do" she rants, "you all act like I'm going to break at any second, and I'm not. I can take care of myself thank you very much".

She walks past Ben and back into the building. Ben goes after her, and Carlos takes a step to follow her as well but I grab his arm.

"Don't" he looks at me annoyed, "I know you want to go comfort her, but you have to let her go for now". I let go of his arm when I know he won't just run off after Mal.

"So we got nothing out of this?" Jay asks disappointed.

"Not exactly" I reveal the headband from behind my back, "we have this, and it's going to tell us who the hell is posting on this blog".

MAL

I run down the out of the kitchen and down the hall. I can't believe my own friends would do this to me. Of all the people that could hurt me it had to be my friends. I run into the girls bathroom. I can't cry. I'm strong, I am not weak, and I can take care of myself. I splash water in my face and when I look up I flinch. I can see Lonnie through the mirror. She stands behind me just staring. Her face is vacant and her stare is empty. I turn around and stand right in front of her. What is happening? She's completely still, and no matter what I do she doesn't even flinch. Her eyes suddenly glimmer a bright emerald green. It's so fast it's barely visible, but it's there. I take a step back and get the hell out of there. As I'm walking out of the bathroom I feel a hand wrap around my arm. I let out a scream before hard smack in the head knocks me out and I fade into darkness.