Play the Game Boy (BWWM)

chapter 10

Faith

Brendan's bedroom was just as I imagined it would be.

It wasn't the first time I had been in here, but the last time I stepped into his room dated back to at least five years ago. Back then, different rock bands' posters were strung along the blue walls and his collection of figurines was proudly displayed on one of the library's white shelves.

Now, chemistry books replaced the figurines and the walls of his rooms were completely bare and painted grey. The whole scenery appeared more mature, but much more impersonal. Almost boring.

Brendan threw his MATT&NAT briefcase onto his bed before letting himself drop next to it. I stood awkwardly by the door before he motioned for me to approach.

"Don't act all shy now Faith," he murmured. "You've been here before."

"Yeah, when we were twelve."

"Eleven actually, but whatever," he complied as I made my way over to his desk, dropping my purse next to his lamp. Textbooks and notebooks left untouched from the previous semester still decorated the desk, as if he hadn't been bothered to sort them somewhere else ever since summer break rolled in.

I picked up a pen and a piece of paper, starting to jot down clues we had gathered in the car ride to his place.

"Do you really think Sebastian could be at the root of this?" I ask after writing his name down.

Brendan shrugged.

"I mean, he's the only other intern and he's the one who coincidentally gave you the flowers with the note. I don't see why not," he let out.

I sighed.

I couldn't really imagine Sebastian going through such lengths simply to pass along a message. Besides, the boy was crazy loaded as well, I was surprised his name wasn't on the list as well.

But apart from Sebastian and some other young employees at the firm, we couldn't really add much more names to our list. The suspect pool was thin, and the motives we could come up with were too farfetched.

I stopped to think about a detail that was unhinging me when I felt Brendan's oceanic stare dig holes in my face.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, breaking my chain of thoughts.

It was my turn to shrug.

"There's probably a good reason behind the cyberbully's choice of victims," I said. "You, along with the rest, were not chosen randomly. You've all got a common enemy. We're not looking for a stranger here. You all know the person behind it, and they know you."

Brendan nodded, seeing my point.

"Chad's girlfriend was on the list and she's new in town. She must not know a lot of people here," he concluded.

"Which rules out a lot of suspects," I understood. "We need to have a chat with her to find out how much she knows about the people here."

Brendan laughed and I raised an eyebrow.

"We?" he chuckled out and I grabbed a pillow and threw it at his stupid face. He skillfully caught it and threw it right back. "Faith, talking to Samara is totally on you."