When Brilliant Turns Bloody | The Secrets of The Academy

V

Alessya's POV

Out of nowhere, a sleek, black car shot down the road, heading straight for Alessya. She stood paralyzed, awaiting her untimely death, but a hand yanked her by the back of her backpack out of the way just in time. Although she could swear the road had been clear, the whizzing of the car as it narrowly missed hitting Alessya made it obvious they hadn't been as careful as they thought.

"Oh my god, Alessya!" Allison cried. "Are you okay?"

Alessya took a shaky breath. Her shoe had fallen off as she had been pulled back, and it now lay flattened in tatters on the road where she had been standing only a few seconds ago. A lump formed in her throat. It could've been her lying broken on the pavement in place of her shoe. She shivered, shaking her head slowly.

"You—" Cat gasped, —almost—" she struggled with her words, "—died!"

And with that, tears of shock and relief spilled.

"Be more careful!" Allison reprimanded, obviously more freaked than mad.

Alessya stumbled onto the grass where they had retreated to. "I think that was on purpose, guys," she blubbered.

"What?" Alister blanched.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I ignored this at first but..."

"It's not a figure of speech"

The text had been sent just before they had crossed the road, right after Alessya had tried to calm the group down.

"They're...watching us," Anders said, paling as the realization overcame him. His head whipped from side to side, ridiculously resembling a confused fish. Alessya would've laughed if she wasn't so upset.

"Whoever sent that text almost killed me!" she exclaimed. "What are we going to do?"

Allison grabbed Alessya and Anders by the wrists, dragging them into a huddle with the rest of the group. "C'mon let's go somewhere where it might be harder for them to listen to us."

They sprinted across the street, being extra sure no cars were going to appear and run them over. Allison led them to Starbucks, and they sat themselves down at a table under a table umbrella. Normally, Alessya would make a joke, claiming Starbucks appealed to her quarter white girl.

"But there are tons of people here!" Siddhart hissed through clenched teeth.

He was right, La Centerra was filled with teenagers and adults alike that Thursday.

"The more chit chat there is, the harder it is for the mystery messenger to listen in on what we're saying," Allison explained.

Alessya nodded, but it was half-hearted. Her gray eyes were cloudy and unfocused. She was still in shock. It's not everyday you're almost turned into roadkill by a stalker who threatens to murder you and your friends if you don't spill your biggest secret.

Cat caught Alessya's distressed look the way all best friends should. "How about we get something to drink?"

"Here," Douglas offered, "I'll go get us something." He looked in desperate need of a distraction as well. Something must've been bothering him, Alessya could tell from the nervous way he was rubbing his wrist like he always did when he was upset. 

The group tossed their cash onto the table; Douglas collected the money and went inside to buy some coffee.

"So should we turn ourselves in?" Alister whispered, leaning his bushy head of dark hair towards the center of the table.

Everyone else leaned forward as well until they were all almost nose to nose.

"I say no," Cat said.

"No," Anders agreed.

"There's too much to lose," Allison remarked carefully. "If we turn ourselves in, we lose our spots, our awards, our opportunities, and no one will ever trust us again. It's not like we cheated on a quiz or something, this is the Final Exam we're talking about."

Cat, Anders, and Nolan nodded in agreement.

"If we get in trouble for this, I'll probably get the worst punishment because I'm the one who found it on accident. No one would ever ask me to do their computer technology if they suspected I'd steal their information," Nolan added.

Nolan was a self-proclaimed computer expert, and although they all knew how great he was with technology, it had become a habit for them to roll their eyes when he made a comment to keep his ego from growing to the moon. Today, however, Alessya felt like her entire life clock had been unwound. Everyday habits and phrases just died at her throat.

"I don't want to die," Alessya squeaked almost too softly to be heard.

"Yeah guys, we have too much to lose if we don't say anything. We could lose our lives," Siddhart said exasperatedly. "Alessya almost died."

Nevertheless, Cat, Anders, Allison, and Nolan stood their ground. They looked to Alister, who hadn't voiced an opinion yet.

"I say no. Allison is right. We can't take this Exam again, even if we don't get expelled. Besides, I've heard some awful things about what happens to those who cheat," Alister said finally.

"Five to two. No matter what Douglas says, we win. We can't tell anyone about the incident," Cat concluded.

"Wait," Allison said nervously, "where is Douglas?"

A sinking feeling made Alessya sick to the stomach. She stood up with wobbling knees and glanced into the store. A horrible conclusion came to her, hitting her like a punch to the gut.

"He's gone. They got him."