When Brilliant Turns Bloody | The Secrets of The Academy

VIII

Alister's POV

Alister had gotten to their meeting spot first. Ever since the "incident", they had started meeting under the gargantuan tree hidden behind the storage units at the back of the school. At first it had been to discuss what they would say if they were confronted, or how to get rid of all the evidence, but after a while, they just started meeting there whenever they wanted to talk away from people. These discussions were normally anything from worrying about tests to giving advice about who each other were interested in. Alister leaned against the tree trunk casually and waited. A strange, eerie tranquility had overcome him, but he had a feeling it was like the calm before a storm. Something wasn't right.

He had to admit he still had his doubts about the text messages. They were all smart enough to know how to send anonymous messages and timed texts. Someone could've easily sent the text so that it would send right as Siddhart and Anders were coming out of tennis practice. What if it was all just a prank? Maybe someone was just trying to scare them. Or maybe Douglas had finally felt the guilt of the cheating thing and he was actually the one behind this.

"So what do you think about all this?" Allison asked as if reading his mind, walking swiftly over to him. She had a white flower pinned in her hair today. It was the exact shade of the tiny blossoms that floated to the ground like snow from the tree.

Alister cleared his throat and told her what he thought.

"Yeah, I'm worried sick, and I feel extremely bad about this, but what if this was all caused by him? I mean, I guess I'd be relieved because that would mean he's okay, but...that would really suck," Allison stressed.

"That would also mean he orchestrated the thing with the car almost hitting Alessya," Alister put out worriedly.

"Well, we don't know for sure," Allison interjected quickly. "Maybe that was just some sick coincidence and we all just think that it was someone out to hurt us because we had been scared by the texts."

"That could be a possibility," Alister mumbled, "but why would he do this? What does he have to gain? He's been talking non-stop about the scholarship he might get, why would he want to ruin that?"

Then, Siddhart came running over, wheeling his bike. "What have I missed?"

Alister and Allison quickly related their conversation.

"Maybe he did this because he wanted us out of the competition for the scholarship," Siddhart added timidly. His eyes looked especially huge and nervous behind his thick spectacles.

Allison and Alister looked at him in shock. Although they weren't sure about their theories, they hadn't quite expected Siddhart of all people to denounce their friend like that. He was the innocent, naive one after all. "I guess everyone has a side that no one knows about," Alister muttered under his breath.

Allison on the other hand, sprung to Douglas's defense, "If he really did do all this, there is no way that would be the reason," she snapped. "Douglas is a great f-friend, he wouldn't stoop that low just for a scholarship."

A silence fell over the group as the hypocrisy of her words settled.

"We stooped pretty low when we cheated on an exam people would kill over for a status increase," Alister said quietly.

"I guess now people really will kill over it," Allison said solemnly.

"If he has no reason to be the mysterious messenger, then is he..." Siddhart trailed off.

A lump formed in Alister's throat. As much as he and Douglas argued and pestered each other, Alister would easily say without hesitation that Douglas was his best friend. The thought that Douglas could be dead wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"There's still the chance that this is someone's cruel prank and they only fake kidnapped him," Alicea's optimism came out fake and half-hearted.

"So we're hoping he was 'fake kidnapped' by a cruel pranker over being killed over cheating on a test? This situation just keeps getting worse doesn't it?" a new voice pitched in negatively.

The three teenagers under the tree looked over as Cat joined them under the shade. They all nodded gloomily at her remark. Cat threw her backpack down and flopped on the soft grass with a light "thump". Alister slowly kneeled to join her on the ground, as did Allison, but Siddhart remained standing.

"What should we do?" they all seemed to ask with the anxious stares in their eyes.

"If we jump to conclusions and confess, Douglas might end up being okay and we'd all be expelled or worse and all of our achievements would be discredited," Cat stated ambiguously.

"But if he really is in trouble, then confessing would be the only thing that could possibly save him," Allison countered.

Suddenly, Nolan came running over to them frantically. "Guys- there's- oh my god-" his voice caught, and he gasped for breath. "It's- It's– Anders–"

A/N:  took me a while to edit that...sorry for any typos or awkward phrases I had to finish it up quickly

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