Trapped

Chapter 5

The next day, it was time for another lunch time meeting. Today we were meeting with Levi Taylor and on Monday we would be meeting with Johnny Walters.

Levi sauntered up to our regular interrogation tree as if he was ready to counter any accusations we might throw at him. "Let me just start by saying, whatever you think I did, I didn't really do." He said with a shady tone. "Unless we're taking about those toothpaste filled Oreos someone brought to our class party, than that was definitely me."
"While that does sound incredibly evil, we're actually here to ask about Janet." I told him.
"Janet who?" He asked.
"Janet Jackson."
"Are we talking like Janet Jackson as in Michael Jackson's sister, or Janet Jackson as in the girl in my class?"
"I'll let you figure that one out." I remarked sarcastically.
"Well I gotta tell ya, I never did anything to Janet; to Marcus, to Aziz, to Bali, to Ada and to basically everyone else, yes, but to her, no."
"Why not her then?" Gerald questioned.
"There's not really anything to personally make fun of her about, she's a good student though doesn't get straight A's or anything, she's quiet but not mute, confident but not cocky, she's damn near perfectly average; not enough of a smartypants teacher's pet to make fun of that, but not enough of a flawed human being to make fun of that. She's just... Average."
"Do you know anyone who might take her for more than average?" I inquired.
"No, but I do know some people that might have other motives to make fun of her."
"Like who?"
"Why should I help you? What's in it for me?"
"How about we don't report for the whole toothpaste Oreo cookie thing." Gerald offered.
"Huh... Johnny Walters will pick on basically anyone just because he wants to, you might even want to talk to some of her friends, the people that know her best right?" I looked to Gerald and we both nodded.
"That makes sense." I said approvingly. "Thanks for the info."
"Thanks for not selling me out."

Once Levi was out of sight, Gerald laid down our new plan. "So, on Monday we're already scheduled to talk to Johnny, but we could make some arrangements to meet up with Janet's friends on Tuesday."
"Do you even know who her friends are?"
"No, but she does."
"Right, right."

It didn't take us long to find Janet, she was just walking around with her little group, probably gossiping despite the irony of that. "Janet, we need to talk to you about some things." I said. She told her group of friends to wait a second and then followed us to a more private area.
"What have you found?" She asked excitedly.
"Levi Taylor is looking pretty innocent, but Johnny Walters sure isn't." Gerald explained.
"That doesn't surprise me."
"We're meeting with Johnny tomorrow but we also want to talk to some of your friends."
"My friends? Why them?"
"It's easy for someone your close with to backstab you without you even realizing it." I put in, flashing her a knowing glare and she seemed to understand.
"Ok, I can tell them you want to meet with them, I just need times and places and stuff like that."
"Tuesday at recess, under the same old tree." Gerald said.
"Sounds good, who would you like to talk to."
"I think we could get s little bit from everyone, so we should talk to everyone."
"Well my close friends are Phoebe Castell, Maja Engberg, Vironika Filipov and Olivia Blake."
"Yeah, we'd like to hear from all of them."
"I'll give them the details and they'll see you then."
"Thanks Janet." I said, appreciating her cooperation.
"Same to you, Blue." I was surprised by her response, pleasantly surprised.

Over the weekend, Grace, Alice, Gerald and I all meet up at Gerald's house to discuss the evolution of the mystery. "So your stalker was your old friend Janet and now your helping her find her own stalker?" Alice asked, trying to get the story straight.
"No, Janet was my stalker but now I'm helping her found out who's been spreading rumours about her." I corrected.
"Have narrowed your search down to any specific suspects?" Graced inquired.
"Yeah, there's Johnny Walters again, Olivia Blake, Maja Engberg, Phoebe Castell and Vironika Filipov." Gerald listed.
"It's probably Vironika Filipov." Alice declared.
"What makes you say that?" I questioned.
"She's the hot and cold kind of friend, today she loves you and hugs you tomorrow she hates you and insults you; I learned that the hard way in the 4th grade."
"Then it looks like Johnny Walters and Vironika Filipov are our top suspects." Gerald decided.