For Good

Chapter 25 - Truth

Skie's head was still spinning as she hurried out of the office. She still believed that Nikki hadn't taken the tablet, but she had no idea how to prove who had. 

I need to talk to Nikki again. To tell her what happened, see if she has any ideas.

Skie entered the cafeteria and waved down Hannah and Madi, who were nearby. "Have you guys seen Nicolette?"

Hannah nodded. "We were keeping an eye on her while we walked. She just went out the back door."

Skie sighed. "I need to go catch her."

Danielle joined the group. "Skie, what did Headmistress say?"

"They found the tablet in Nikki's dorm."

Danielle's eyes widened.

"She didn't do it, and I have no idea how to prove it." Skie kicked the ground in frustration.

"We'll figure it out, I promise." Dani gave Skie's hand a squeeze.

"If she went out the back, she probably went back towards the dorms." Madi pointed out.

Skie nodded. "Right. I'm going to her dorm."

"Do you want me to come?" Danielle offered.

Skie considered. "Sure."

"Good luck." Hannah smiled as Dani and Skie hurried off down the hall toward the dormitories.

As the two girls neared Nikki's dorm, Skie began to walk more slowly, so that her footsteps were nearly silent, and motioned for Danielle to do the same. Nikki's door was unlocked, and slightly open, and Skie was about to knock when she heard a voice from inside. 

"...left it here."

"What did you do?" That was Nikki.

"I put the tablet on your desk. Unfortunately for you, it seems like someone must have found it and turned it in."

Skie narrowed her eyes. The voice sounded familiar, though she couldn't place it.

"I'll tell Skie that it was you."

The other voice snorted. "Your precious head girl won't believe you, especially once I talk to her first. All the evidence lines up. Really, you'll be lucky if you're just expelled for this."

"You're wrong." Despite her words, Skie could hear some fear in Nikki's voice.

"Didn't you hear what happened to the head girl when she stole things? It'll happen to you too."

Skie's eyes widened as she finally recognized the voice.

Megan.

Skie glanced over at Danielle and was surprised to see the girl on her phone, though Danielle looked over at her for a second with a serious expression.

"You won't get away with this."

"Nicolette, who's going to believe you over me?"

Skie had heard enough. She stepped into the room. "How about me?"

Megan turned bright red and jumped away from Nikki. "What?"

"Save it. I heard the whole thing." Skie crossed her arms, looking at Megan as sternly as she could manage.

To her surprise, Megan seemed to relax. "No one will believe you."

"Excuse me?" Skie raised an eyebrow.

"I heard what happened with you. The only way to make Headmistress think it wasn't Nicolette would be to take the blame yourself." Megan spoke confidently, though she took a step back when Skie took a few steps forward.

"Ms. Wells, I literally just heard you say you put the tablet on the desk. You were the one to take it, am I wrong?"

Megan shrugged. "So?"

"So you're stupid and you're getting yourself caught." Nikki muttered.

"Shut up, Nicolette." Megan snapped.

Nikki sneered. "Make me."

"Enough." Skie spoke firmly, and was gratified to see that Nikki actually backed down at her words. "Ms. Wells, whatever you may believe, I am Head Girl and I have a confession from you. Why don't you come with me to the office?"

"You can't prove it."

"I can."

The three girls turned to look at Danielle who was standing in the corner of the room, holding her phone with a smile. "Voice memos are a beautiful thing."

~~~~~~~~~~

"So what's going to happen to her?" Nikki asked as she and Skie exited the Headmistress' office. Megan was still sitting there as the Headmistress called her parents, and Dani had left after providing her evidence. The Headmistress had apologized to Nikki for suggesting it was her, and had told Skie she was proud of her, which made the Head Girl blush.

Skie smiled grimly. "I can't say, student privacy. But you know what happened to me, which should give you a good idea. That is, if they don't expel her for trying to frame you besides stealing."

Nikki nodded."I can't believe she thought she'd get away with that."

Skie rolled her eyes. "She certainly seemed a lot more concerned about getting you into trouble than she did thinking through her plan."

Nikki shrugged. "I don't blame her for thinking that people wouldn't believe me."

Skie stopped walking and put a hand on Nikki's shoulder. "I would have. I would have fought to keep you out of trouble."

Nikki smiled and ducked her head. "You're a really good Head Girl."

Skie was taken aback for a moment, and on instinct, almost began to protest. However, she stopped herself as she thought back over the past couple of days. Was she really a good head girl? 

Somehow, without her realizing it, she'd stopped feeling like she was copying Hazel and Lil. And now, walking down the hall, a hand on the shoulder of the girl who had made her feel so out of her depth just a few months ago, she knew that there had to be just a little truth in that statement. 

"Thank you." Skie spoke sincerely. "You're a really good kid."

Nikki looked at the ground. "Uh uh."

Skie smirked. "Uh huh."

Nikki finally looked up. "Thanks Skie."

Skie walked Nikki the rest of the way back to her dorm in a comfortable silence, and then turned to head back to the office, to see if the Headmistress had taken care of the Megan situation. However, as she neared the office, she saw Raven walking towards her, looking grim.

"Ray?"

Raven sighed. "Mom just called. We have to go home tonight. Dad got a letter from the school."

The warm feeling Skie had had drained away. "Was it...."

"Just... be ready."

AN: Yes, I know Megan's plan was really really stupid. She's like, 11. She's no genius. But hey, all the easier for Skie and Danielle to save Nikki, right?

Anyway, thank you all for reading! Next up, you thought this was the climax? Nope, this is an Aki book where the climax apparently has to do with family drama (at least based on this book and the last one lmao).