Impostor Syndrome

Chapter 1

"So..." Arlo looked at the group with accusatory eyes. The group shuffled uncomfortably, no one saying a word. "Who killed Elaine?"

Elaine sat next to him with an utterly disillusioned, dead expression. No one saw who killed her or anyone around the place she was found, until four people at once stumbled upon her. They weren't even sure who reported her body first in the unfolding chaos. This left them without a suspect.

Evie was the one to break the silence first.

"It was me, I did it."

"No, you didn't," came Arlo's swift answer. Then his eyes roam the room, searching for a new, more likely perpetrator.

"John?"

"What? Why me?" John shouted, angered by the allegation.

Everyone, except Seraphina, watched him now with a newfound suspicion.

"The hell, guys!"

The trio all of a sudden avoided meeting his eyes, nervously laughing under his gaze, while Arlo looked him up and down with an arched eyebrow.

"We know you're the kind of person to sneak around and attack people."

"Isn't that the whole point of the game?!"

"So, it was you," Arlo said with a grin.

"No, it wasn't!"

"I hate to agree with Arlo, but..." Claire said, not hiding her suspicion the slightest.

John rolled his eyes. "Oh, the backstabbing expert has spoken."

She snorted. "Should I remind you who backstabbed who?"

"Come at me, if you dare!" He exclaimed, but then narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "You can call the whole school if that helps."

"Can we not go there?" Adrion tried to get between them with raised hands to dissipate the argument.

She deadpanned. "Of course, your surefire answer is violence. And we're supposed to believe you didn't kill Elaine? You don't even like her!"

"Who even likes Elaine?"

"Rude much," the aforementioned girl mumbled but was promptly ignored.

"How does that even matter in this game anyway?!"

Arlo was massaging the bridge of his nose. "Seraphina, could you calm him down before he goes on another rampage?"

Seraphina, lying on top of John, completely unbothered by the argument, only spared him a glance. "Oh, now you want me to do the work after you purposefully antagonized him?"

"I mean," Claire started. "You're his girlfriend, so it's kind of your job?"

Seraphina, freezing up for a second, flushed at this. "For the umpteenth time, we're not dating!"

There was a collective, indignant sigh.

Arlo grunted. "Yeah, very believable."

"You're literally cuddling with him right now as he plays with your hair or strokes your back, so everyone would-" Blyke started explaining before his brain could think better.

He was shut up by the two god-tier death stares he received.

"Could you stop constantly making the same assumption?" John asked, obviously annoyed, but he made no attempt to free himself from under Seraphina.

"You don't leave much up to assuming..." Isen mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."