laverly high (septiplier fluff)

[12] Secrets and Lies [Part 1]

Without a second thought Bethany ran up to Lilly took take a closer look at the badge. From where Sean was standing he could see that it was golden coloured and had the school's logo printed on the front in fabric. It also had the word 'merit' printed in capital letters below the logo. Mr. Charrette had mentioned at the beginning of the day that the badge would be obvious when it was found, so at least he hadn't lied about that.

"Jeez..." Bethany whispered, fixating her gaze on the badge as Lilly held it up for her. She went on to ask, "But how did you find it? Surely it didn't just appear out of no where?"

"Well," Lilly began. "Rosanna and I decided to go have another look at the drama room when we finished dinner because Rose' wanted me to act out one of the roles I had played in my old school's musical for her." She sounded amused when she spoke.

"But it was only until I started rummaging through the costume cupboard for a good outfit that I found the badge. It was pinned to this floral dress that looked a lot like my cap." She pointed to the floral pattern on her cap. She still hadn't taken off her hat all day, even though they'd been indoors for a while now.

People began to quietly chatter about what they'd just heard. Sean didn't say anything. He simply exchanged glances with Mark and Ethan.

That was when an expected visitor stepped into the hall, just behind Rosanna, Lilly and Bethany.

Sean swallowed nervously.

"Well well, Lilly," Mr. Charrette cooed, stepping around the small group of girls so he could face Lilly. "You have my congratulations. Your.. 'intuition' has served you well."

Sean was confused when he said this. Hadn't Lilly just said that she'd found the badge by coincidence? She never said anything about purposely looking for it.

But when he glanced over to her he noticed that Lilly was now looking uncomfortable, and not just because of how intimidatingly close Mr. Charrette was to her. He furrowed his eyebrows. Had Lilly been lying to them? Maybe she had been looking at the badge after all. Only Rosanna and Mr. Char-I-spy-on-everyone-and-everything-rette knew the real story at the moment.

It wasn't like she was the first person to lie anyway. Mark and Jack still had their own secret hidden.

"Um, thanks," Lilly mumbled awkwardly.

"Now, you are probably wondering where you are going to go after this." He breathed lightly. "You see, we have a sister school where you will be able to continue your studies at. They have a free space for you to claim. People who have been successfully able to leave Laverly High always go there."

Lilly looked utterly unconvinced. "Oh, a sister school, huh? Aren't you just going to trap my ass there too anyway?"

Mr. Charrette looked a little taken aback by her sudden burst of attitude but he still answered her with the same tone. "No, of course not," He said with a familiar sickly smile. "And I can assure you that I am not lying. I have been brutally honest with all of you so far, haven't I?" He glanced around expectantly at the other students but no one gave him an answer.

"So..." Lilly began again. "Does that mean I'll be leaving, like, now?"
Mr. Charrette nodded. "Yes, as soon as possible. Please say your farewells. I will help you pack your bags once you are done."

Lilly stared at the headmaster for a few moments longer before drifting her gaze over to Rosanna. Poor Rosanna looked almost on the verge of tears, which was odd, because the two of them had only known eachother for a day. She was probably just overwhelmed.

Lilly then stepped forwards and enveloped Rosanna in a tight hug, whispering about how she was going to miss her the most.

Once she was done she then said her goodbyes to everyone else in the hall. They all waved back to her. Sean murmured a quiet goodbye which he doubted she'd heard. Mr. Charrette then placed a hand on Lilly's back and began to guide her out of the hall, leaving everyone else staring after them until they disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

People began to chatter again once they'd vanished completely.

Sean's Irish luck had not served him well like Lilly's intuition had. Mr. Charrette had appeared again, which was the one thing he had not wanted to happen. He always seemed to appear when everyone was in the same place too, he realised. But what he was really frustrated about was the fact that he still didn't know why they were all trapped here. Was this meant to be some sort of test? He was beyond pissed about it.

Plus, the headmaster could've at least offered to fix Sean's door while he'd stuck around.

"Hey Mark, you ok?" He heard Ethan ask nearby.
Sean twisted himself around to where Mark was standing. His heart dropped when he that he was stiff and his facial expression was absolutely mortified - again. Ethan was staring at him with a deep concern in his eyes.
"Mark?" Sean chimed in, grabbing his shoulder and giving it a brief shake.

At first there was no response, but eventually he jolted out of his trance and stared at Sean and Ethan. Ethan heaved a loud sigh of relief.
"I'm fine, I swear." Mark mumbled softly, almost impatiently.
"Thank God, you had me worried for a second there!" Ethan laughed.

Sean, on the other hand, was not at all relieved. This whole 'stiffening' up thing had happened quite a few times today. Whenever Mr. Charrette showed up Mark just went dead still. He'd even cried at lunch! Into his shoulder, too - Sean hadn't forgotten about that.

It was understandable for Mark to be scared of Mr. Charrette, because in reality, everyone was terrified of the headmaster. But to be at this level of fright was just... Well, it was different. And he wanted to know why.

Sean slowly squeezed his fist to contain his frustration. Damn, he was really worried about Mark.

The hall's chatter had slowly begun to become louder and louder as time passed. He guessed that everyone was were discussing theories about what had just happened.

"Wait! I got it!"

A call from the other end of their table suddenly echoed through the dining hall, stopping Sean's thoughts in their tracks. Everyone went silent and looked to the person who had called out, which happened to be Robert.

Robert looked a little embarrassed to have attracted so much attention but he quickly asserted himself and began to explain. "Well, uh, Emma and I were just talking about what Mr. Charrette had said at the start of the day. He said that training our 'abilities' was going to help us find the badges, didn't he? That was why we had that talk about what our abilities were, curtesy of Ethan." He nodded towards Ethan and Ethan replied with a smile.

Everyone in the hall was intrigued, Sean included.

"...Anyway, so we know that Lilly's ability was acting, and we know that she found her badge in the drama room. There's a direct link between the two. Her badge was even pinned to a dress that looked like her cap. That can only mean that our badges will be in the rooms that are particular to our special ability."

Holy shit, Robert was right. There was a direct link between the two... Did that mean that his badge was going to be in the music room since his ability was drumming? Emma and Robert's badges were probably in there too.

"But howcome Lilly found her badge so fast, then?" Ethan asked."Judging by Mr. Charrette's level of insanity, I don't think he expected anyone to find a badge on the first damn day. I was expecting at least a week to pass before anyone found one."

Robert tapped his chin in thought. His eyes then lit up as a thought struck him. "Let's not forget that Lilly did mention that she had good intuition - Or, at least, people had said she did. Even Mr. Charrette said it. She probably pieced the facts together way before we did, hence why she found it so fast."

Ethan nodded slowly, satisfied with the answer. What Robert had said made perfect sense; He probably should've expected her to find it first himself.