SHATTERED [NOAH FOSTER]

10. Coppers

10. Coppers 

Alyssa had just gotten out of her Physics class as she walked down the hallway, exiting through the door and into the courtyard, looking for Noah and Audrey. 

After that night with Noah, he stayed over for over an hour, doing nothing but cuddling and a few kisses in between. Alyssa didn't know what to symbolize this connection as, but she didn't want it to be anything but just the two of them. 

As she spotted the two best friends walking alongside each other, Alyssa sprinted to Noah's side and grabbed onto his arm, signalling that she was now on his side. 

"Hey." greeted Noah, leaning down towards her face and placing a sweet kiss onto her lips, shocking Audrey at the sudden sign of affection. As they pulled away, Alyssa's lips slowly formed into a smile, responding with a 'hey' as well. 

"Well then, I guess my talk helped you out there, didn't it, Alyssa?" teased Audrey, earning a shove from the girl herself.

"Anyways, what were you guys talking about?" She asked, Noah proceeding to wrap an arm around her waist as they continued walking.

"The situation with Mr.Branson or whatever his real name is." answered Audrey.

"Okay, he's definitely hiding something." started Noah. "I did some digging into "Mr.Seth Branson." You know what I found?" 

"That he doesn't exist?" questioned Alyssa, looking up at him.

"No. Come on. Uh, it's 2015." responded Noah, making Alyssa pout as he placed a kiss onto her forehead. "Anyways, I found four guys, none of whom are  our Mr.Branson." 

"That's damning, how?" said Audrey, as we all stopped walking, eyes pointing in the direction of the named teacher who had been having a conversation with a student. 

"This Mr.Branson didn't exist until he moved to Lakewood. You don't change your name unless you've got a secret." continued Noah.

"Like trolling teens through their webcams to find a victim." added Alyssa, wrapping her arms around Noah's waist as she started to shiver at the strong breeze passing by. He noticed this and pulled her closer towards him, still concentrated in the conversation they were currently having.

"Cop turn themselves inside out searching for logical suspects, but we could just be looking at your garden-variety psychopath." spoke Noah.

"Branson as Manson? I don't buy it." said Alyssa, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at the possibility. 

"Yeah, well, neither did the victims of the BTK killer till they were staring down the business end of a boning knife." 

"I thought he was your favorite teacher." stated Audrey, arms crossed against her chest and staring at Noah for an answer.

"He is. Which is why the possibility is so alarming." 

"Maybe he was being manipulated by another psychopath." thought Audrey, as the three continued walking forward. "Nina."

"Nina discovered his secret and blackmailed him into planting the malware." added Noah onto the theory they were forming.

"Then anyone she trolled could have motive."  continued Alyssa, unwrapping her arm from Noah's waist. "The guys she slept with. The guys she didn't."

"The girls who envied her, and the ones who despised her." said Noah, stopping it there on the never-ending list of possible suspects for the killer.

"That's a long-ass list." spoke Audrey, the group of three stopping to stand in front of the center courtyard.

"So, pretty much everybody's a suspect. Including us."