The English Teacher ➳ Emison

Chapter 24 | The Plan

The suburban street was peaceful and undisturbed when a Chevy pickup truck rolled to a stop at its curb. It was a sunny day out, and the tall trees on either side of the road bloomed under the hot rays. The birds were chirping a melodic tune and an elderly woman in a tracksuit unsuspectingly speed-walked by the car as its engine was shut down.

The three people inside the truck sat in silence for several long moments, looking at the house up ahead, which had a mailbox labeled 'McCullers' positioned on the edge of its front lawn.

Caleb, who sat between Toby and Emily, opened his laptop and made sure all of his tabs were up and ready to go. When he got his new network mapping software last month, he frankly wasn't sure how much use he would have for it, but now, it was perfect for this very situation.

He turned to the apprehensive girl next to him, and she met his eyes hesitantly. Emily was visibly under a lot of anxiety, so he found himself speaking in a calming voice, "Okay, Em. Remember – go in, find the wireless router, reboot it, and then my software can access all of the devices connected to the network. That means any computer or phone in the house, just like we talked about."

Emily nodded, though she wished it was as easy as walking in and out. She was about to enter Paige's house for the first time since last year, fake an interaction with the girl in order to make her way to the router, and then put her complete trust in Caleb to delete every evidence that Paige ever had on her and Alison.

Speaking of her girlfriend, she didn't know this was happening. Emily hadn't told her yet, and just by doing this, she was finding out how much she hated keeping things from her.

This was crucial though, and could save a lot of heartache. If this plan failed, it would be no harm, no foul as far as Alison's high-strung levels of worrying went. Emily didn't want her to be disappointed if something went wrong. None of this was a game, it was their lives and Alison was rightfully concerned. They've had a rough few weeks. That was why Emily preferred to come to her with good news once this all ended.

"It'll be quick," Toby guaranteed, lifting his hands from the wheel and grabbing the to-go coffee in his cup holder. "Just sit with her a little bit to not look suspicious, make an excuse to leave the room, and then go to the TV room on the second floor. That's where the router is, right?"

"Yeah, from what I remember," Emily verified, picturing the layout of Paige's house in her head. The TV room had Paige's dad's computer, so the router was supposed to be right beside it.

She looked at the two of them as she felt the nerves filling her up. "This is going to work, right?" she asked tentatively. "I mean, nothing's going to go wrong with the software?"

"You can call me a lot of things, Em, but don't call me an amateur," Caleb said with a proud little smile. "This will work," he established, "and when we're done with this, she won't have anything on you anymore."

Emily gave them a grateful look, "I can't thank you guys enough for doing this."

"No worries," Caleb answered, adding teasingly, "if anything, it's practice for my job next year."

"Too bad you can't put this on your resume, dude," Toby joked lightly.

Emily examined the house once more, willing her heart to calm down. Glancing down at Caleb's screen, she saw that it was five minutes to 4 PM. It was time for her to go.

"Oh, and Em," Caleb reminded, "I'll be able to see from here once you've rebooted the router, so we'll text you once I've cleared everything. That's when you'll know you can leave."

"Okay," Emily filed the information in her brain, asking fearfully, "and what if she has more copies of these pictures?"

"That won't be an issue," he promised confidently. "My software plants a script in C++ that runs in the background of the home wireless network. Face recognition is one of the features built into the code. It will detect every picture with either of your faces and delete it on the spot. This is foolproof."