For Good

Chapter 22 - Alibi

Being Head Girl came with some advantages.

Although Skie had been hoping to catch Nikki for the past couple days, she hadn't gone too in depth with her search. A quick inquiry to the secretary got her Nikki's class schedule, so when Nikki exited her classroom right before morning break, Skie was right outside and gently pulled her over to talk to her.

"Nikki, I need to talk to you about something."

Nikki looked nervous. "I didn't do anything."

"I don't think you did." Skie quickly clarified, and Nikki relaxed. Skie led her down the hall to the discipline room and motioned for her to sit before glancing into the cupboard where the tablet was supposed to be. Sure enough, it was gone.

"What is it?" Nikki asked quietly after a minute.

Skie sighed deeply and sat down on the couch, facing the younger girl. "You know the tablet that the student files are kept on?"

Nikki nodded.

"It was stolen."

Nikki's eyebrows shot up. "Who did it?"

Skie shook her head slowly. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

"It wasn't me, I-"

"I know." Skie held up a hand to stop the girl. "I'm not accusing you but..." What Hazel had said floated back through her mind. "I haven't seen you in a few days. I wanted to check in with you, see if you'd heard anything."

Nikki looked down. "I was staying away from you."

Skie's heart dropped. "Why? Was it something I did? Was what happened on Wednesday unfair?"

"Uh uh." Nikki kept her eyes on the ground.

"Then why were you avoiding me?"

Nikki shrugged.

"Did something happen?"

Nikki shook her head.

"Then what-"

"I messed up."

Skie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

Nikki looked up finally, and Skie could see unshed tears in the girl's eyes. "I was trying to be good, but I messed up and fought with Megan. I thought you'd be mad at me."

"Nikki..." Skie felt her heart grow a little lighter at the younger girl's confession and moved forward, gently pulling Nicolette into a hug. "I'm not mad at you. I mean, you made a bad decision, but I get it, I really do."

"You do?" Nikki sniffled a little into Skie's shoulder.

"Trust me, when I was a first year I got into much worse fights than that." Skie laughed ruefully as she thought of the several times she and Madi had gone at each other. Thinking of Madi brought Skie back to the present, and she gently let go of Nikki before speaking again.

"Anyway, about the current issue, have you heard anything about the tablet at all?" Skie asked, watching Nikki's face closely to see if she could tell if the girl was telling the truth.

Nikki shook her head. Skie couldn't tell anything from her expression, regardless of what Hazel had tried to teach her about deception. She decided Nikki was probably telling the truth, and sighed as she realized even though she'd been right, she was no closer to finding out who had taken the tablet.

The younger girl watched Skie for a few moments before speaking softly. "Do they think it's you?"

"What?" Skie blinked a few times.