Every Witch Way: The Rueda Twins

Chapter 3

Gigi turned and walked away from the Sharks like a kid walking from Disneyworld.

She knew they had the answers to what happened that morning. She could tell they were lying. It was so obvious.

But if they wanted her gone, then whatever. She'd find it on her own.

So she got a hall pass from the English teacher, Mrs. Vivaldi, and took matters into her own hands. And that meant sneaking into the recording room to find the security camera footage of what went down.

Gigi owed it to her loyal Miss Informationers to get the real scoop in what really happened.

The halls were deserted, but Gigi still walked with care through the Iridium High. Mr. Alonso was her friend's dad, but it seemed like even Emma wasn't safe from her father's new rules.

Gigi wondered what it was like. Not to just have a dad as a principal, but to just have a father period.

Her mom hadn't told the twins much about their father at all, but Gigi and Diego could fill in the blanks. He and their mother met when they were young, he walked out when he found out their mother was pregnant because he didn't want to commitment, and then never had any contact with her at all.

Of course, when the twins were small they made up stories about their father. That he was an astronaut in outer space, floating around in his rocket ship. Gigi remembered waving at the stars to her father, who she was convinced was up there.

She tried to clear the thoughts out of her head. It made her sad. Her mom was the most deserving person in the world. She worked hard, was super nice to everyone, and while she hardly got a break- she never complained. Mrs. Rueda needed a husband. Even though Diego and Gigi brought up dating all the time, their mother would say: "They only people who I need in my life are the two of you, that's all I could ask for."

Gigi finally slowed to a stop in front of the janitor's closet. The first step in getting the footage. Her knuckle rapped on the wooden door and she waited for Mr. Walters, the custodian, to answer the door.

"Why hello, Gigi!" He greeted with a smile, "How are you?"

"Already knee-deep in a ground-breaking story!" Gigi said, "Can you get me into the security camera office?"

"Of course, follow me." Mr. Walters complied as he lead Gigi to the recording room.

Mr. Walters was a family friend of the Ruedas and whenever Gigi needed some footage for Miss Information, Mr. Walters was always happy to help.

"So how's the blog going?" The janitor asked, just to make small talk, Gigi was sure.

"Great." She said honestly, "People even outside of Florida are getting alerts now."

"That's good to hear." They had just reached the room now, and Mr. Walters took out his keys. When the door was unlocked Gigi thanked and said goodbye him and stepped inside.

The space was even smaller than the janitor's closet easily. Just enough room for Gigi to slide into the chair in front of a computer.

It was just like in the movies.

The computer screen was separated into different sections, each one showing exactly what was happening in each location at the very second.

Gigi took control of the keyboard and used the mouse to click on the section streaming what was happening in the auditorium. At the moment it showed empty rows of dark seats and a vast stage, only holding a podium. That was where Mr. Alonso had been talking only a half an hour earlier.

"Alright Iridium High," Gigi smiled as she typed in the time of the rain incident, "You can't hide from Miss Information."

With that she pressed enter.

She sat back in her seat and watched the past events reel by.

Gigi didn't even skip past Mr. Alonso's boring speech about being proactive during the school year- she didn't want to miss anything.

There were actually about three different views. One of them just showed the seats of the auditorium. Another showed the backstage wings. The third view was the one that Gigi was watching. Its camera was bolted up at the wall behind the stage. It showed the backs of the presenters and the top of the stage ceilings. If there was a leaky pipe, this camera could find it.

Gigi paid more attention as she saw the Sharks's backs as they faced the audience. She knew at any moment now the action would start happening. She kept her eyes trained to the pipes at the ceiling, waiting for the sign.

Suddenly the water rushed down onto the stage in the footage.

Gigi gasped. The pipes hadn't shown any sign of bursting. It seemed that the water wasn't even coming from the pipes. The droplets just formed out of thin air and plummeted to the ground.

She looked even closer. The Sharks were panicking and Andi and Daniel were looking at Diego like he was going to explode.

Then they regrouped. Diego slid behind the remaining Sharks. Andi and Daniel formed some sort of human wall around him, shielding him from the audience, but not the security camera. Gigi could see exactly what her brother was doing.

But she didn't believe her eyes when she did.

Diego breathed in and let out a sort of white fog from his mouth. He made some sort of wacky gesture with his hands too.

And the. Rain. Just. Stopped.

What the heck? She thought.

She wanted to watch it again, but before she could rewind the bell rang. It was time for her next class. She needed to get going.

So she turned off the computer and walked out of the recording room, sort of in a daze from what she had just seen.

What was going on?