Trapped

Chapter 4

"Janet?" I said in disbelief.
"That's my name, I'm surprised you remember."
"How could I forget?" I asked solemnly. Janet had been my best friend from kindergarten to grade 5, but she had never treated me like a friend; she bullied me and made my life miserable, but in grade 5 we- thankfully- grew apart. I never thought I'd run into her again, especially under such circumstances.
"I know I treated you poorly, but you never needed to go to these lengths." She spoke as if I was supposed to know what she was talking about.
"What lengths? You're the one sending me creepy notes."
"Oh my god are you still pretending to be oblivious?!"
"I'm not pretending! I really don't know what's going on." Janet let out a loud sigh.
"Fine, then I'll tell you what you did; you started spreading rumours about me, even going as far as to tell my teacher I cheated on a test." She explained.
"I never did anything like that, I don't even know what class you're in."
"Ugh, you are driving me crazy!" She yelled. 
"Same to you!" I yelled in response. 
"Listen, maybe we should both calm down and just talk." Janet suggested calmly.
"Huh, fine." I sat on the grass and Janet sat across for me.
"So, how's life?"
"Pretty standard, at least it was before you starting sending me notes." I couldn't not think about the notes I'd been receiving, I needed to know more.
"This whole getting along thing is not gonna work." Janet said, surrendering. "I'll just explain very simply, what I think you did to me." I was all ears for what she had to say. "Some rumours about me started spreading around my class, then they got out to the whole school."
"What kind of rumours?" I questioned. 
"Rumours about how I spread rumours, and about how I stole Lacey's boyfriend."
"Oh, I heard something about Lacey having problems with Daniel."
"Yeah, that's what you did."
"But-" I started before Janet interrupted me.
"You didn't let me finish, some pictures leaked to Instagram from an anonymous account, they were pictures of me cheating on a test; a test I got a perfect score on by studying, not cheating."
"I believe you about that, I really do, because I didn't leak those photos and I didn't spread those rumours. Why would you even think that I did this?"
"You have all the motive to do it, because of how I treated you."
"You really think I'd want to bring that kind of pain on anyone after I'd already experienced it?"
"When it's for revenge, sure."
"Well then you need to learn a thing or two about me, because I'm not interested in spreading rumours." I said firmly.
"Oh how I'd like to believe you." She crossed her arms.
"Well you should start believing me, otherwise you'll never find out who's really doing this to you."
"Hmm, you know what? If you're so heart set on proving you're not the one who's doing this to me, than help me find out who is." I was surprised by her demands, and I had very little interest in getting myself involved with this... or maybe I was a little curious.
"Alright, I'll help you find the real culprit." I said, shaking her hand to make the deal official.
"We'll talk more tomorrow." With that, she left.

In seconds Gerald came running up to me, hungry for info. "Who was that?" He questioned.
"You know that old friend of mine I told you about? Janet?"
"The one that bullied you?"
"Yeah, that one."
"I remember you telling me about her, that's who your stalker is?!" He said with sudden realization.
"Yup, she thinks I'm getting revenge on her for what she did to me by spreading all kinds of stupid rumours."
"But you're not, right?" Gerald seemed suddenly doubtful of my innocence.
"No! Of course not, I don't even know what class she's in this year."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"She forced me into this deal where I'm supposed to help her catch the real person who's spreading the rumours."
"Well, well then, looks like it's a good thing that you have me on your side."
"When did I say I needed your help?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Fine, do you need my help?"
"Yes." I wasn't going to pretend like I didn't needs Gerald's expertise in the world of sleuthing, because I really did.
The next day at lunch Gerald and I headed to the library to discuss investigation plans. "I'm thinking we start by interrogating Janet's classmates, someone's bound to be a squealer." He said.
"Or... we could start by asking Janet if she knows anyone else who would have motive to do this to her."
"Oh... well, if you put it that way..."
"Haha, so we should be outside right now."
"Yup."
"But we're in the library."
"Uh huh." His tone gets more exasperated by the answer.
"So what do we do now?"
"Browse, I guess?" He suggested, but more questioned.
"Eh, better than nothing."

Gerald settled on some graphic novel while I decided to look through some old years books. I grab a book from 2003, the oldest year I can find. Class 804 from that year had a page full of people's nicknames, Divna 'DD' Stojanovic, Andrea "Red" Amadori, Ashley "Ash" Anderson; ooh, Ash is nice. I started to wonder where she is now, probably doing something killer.

Once the lunch period was up I headed back to my locker with Gerald when Janet stopped me in the hallway. "Hey, I think you should do some digging on Levi Taylor, he's a guy in my class that I have some suspicions about." I opened my mouth to respond when Gerald cut me off.
"I've got it in the vault, J."
"Don't call me J." She snapped.
"Oh, I've got it in the vault, Janet."
"And don't call it a vault."
"It is in my brain, Janet." She nodded approvingly at his obedience and then walked off.
"Gerald, don't give into her." I said to him once she was out of earshot. 
"Do you really want to piss her off right now?"
"No, but you're not me."
"I am your one and only partner though."
"I don't know, there's always Grace and Alice."
"Come on, even as a joke you don't want Mutt and Jeff there working for you."
"Hey... That's true though." I admitted.
For once Gerald came over to my house after school so we could do some investigating on the guy Janet told us about, Levi Taylor. "Janet said that he's in her class, but I don't actually know what class she's in this year." I told him as he waited next to the phone.
"She's in 805." I looked at him with a questioning glare. "It's really not that hard to figure out what class someone is in."
"Fair enough, do you have a contact from that class?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I have a contact from that class." He picked up the phone and dialled a number. "It's Trevor Simpson, you remember him, right? From the skype call?"
"Yeah, I remember him. He was helpful." Gerald put the call on speaker.
"Hey Gerald, what's up?" Trevor greeted.
"Trey, Violet and I have some questions for you about this guy in your class."
"Is it Johnny Walters again, because I've already told you all I know about him."
"No, his name is Levi Taylor."
"Levi? He's one of Johnny's cronies."
"Would you say he's capable of spreading rumours about Janet?"
"Capable and willing. Wait, who's Janet?" 
"She's in your class, Trey."
"It is interesting that you didn't mention her." I remarked, finally joining the conversation. "Are you trying to hide something, 'Trey'." I said his nickname in such a way so he could hear the air quotes I was making.
"Nah, I just don't know most of the girls in my class." He assured.
"Yet somehow you do know Jaclyn Ramlal and Jessica Husher." I challenged.
"They're friends with some of my friends, Rhys Dioli, Jax Klien, Lilou Kealoha and so on."
"What do you think, Vi?" Gerald inquired and I thought on it for a moment.
"Yeah, we'll take it, for now. Let's get back to Levi Taylor."
"Sure, Levi could of pulled off something like what you described, I think it's at least worth talking to him." 
"All right, thanks Trey." Gerald said, preparing to hang up the phone.
"No problem. I'm still your best source, right?"
"Right." Once he put the phone down Gerald chuckled. "I say that to everyone, but Trevor probably is my best source."
"Did you hear what he said?" I asked, getting to the point.
"About how Levi Taylor is worth talking to? I sure did."
"No, about Johnny Walters being in his class. I never even thought about that."
"What are you talking about?"
"Johnny is still a suspect Gerald, but not as my stalker, as Janet's bully."
"So what you're saying is that we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
"Exactly."