Lovers: XOXO [the guidebook]

❤️/East: Violet x James vs. a Sex Dungeon (Pt. 2/3)

Under the dark cloak of night, Violet and James broke into Mr. Ballister's office, their uniforms crisp and their schoolbags heavy with textbooks of varying subjects. They crept into the darkened office, a suspiciously large study replete with a large oak desk, rich red carpeting, and matching red curtains drawn over a wide set of windows behind the desk. On the walls adjacent to the desk were an amalgamation of bronze plaques and framed diplomas on one wall and a tall book case on the other. While the office was extravagant for a mere high school teacher in the Humanities department, the office was not an anomaly for their school's pompous rich school standards.

"Are you sure your excuse worked before?" Violet whispered to James as they switched their flashlights on in the darkened room.

James nodded, his eyes and flashlight zeroing on the desk. "Don't worry about that. As long as we look the part it'll work."

As much as they loved to be the good students like they always have never been, their attire and their school materials were nothing more than props for their alibi; if caught, they'd make the simple excuse of having mistakenly taken Mr. Ballister's office for the nurse's office located a few doors down.

"Our excuse is weak though," Violet argued as she trailed behind James. "What if someone used it on Ballister already?"

"Just say we were out of our minds studying for finals. It's right about the season to."

"Don't remind me."

Taking out their gloves, James and Violet began looking through Mr. Ballister's office. They started on the desk, sifting through papers left on the desk and unlocking drawers with a special set of keys James personally procured from the Dean--the same set of keys that allowed them entry into the office. After having found nothing but administrative stuff and unmarked test papers, James turned his attention to the garbage can while Violet looked to the grand bookcase.

"Ovid's Complete Works, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Violet said, reading off the titles of the books, "The Hunger Games? How to Train Your Dragon? What, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That's my favourite book of the series."

Violet looked over her shoulder and found James standing behind her, his eyes looking at the same large swathes of books nestled in the shelves above her. His pocket flashlight had been turned off and tucked away somewhere, leaving only Violet's flashlight as the couple's sole source of illumination.

"Couldn't find anything?" Violet said, turning her attention back to the books. She felt James' hands clamp over her shoulders and heard a tired sigh leave his lips.

"Nothing."

"Do you think Mathers was lying?" At this point, Violet was fingering the backs of the books in front of her, the light from her flashlight guiding the way.

"I grilled him thoroughly about his claims and it seems to be legitimate. He even produced the packet in question when I asked for it."

"Do you think Mathers or another student has a grudge against Ballister? An attempt to defame his character perhaps?"

Another sigh escaped from James once more. "From what I know, Ballister is a well-liked teacher. A school favourite second only to Mr. Reinhart," James started. "I've never had him as a teacher but I heard he..." James continued to ramble on about the teacher, much of which Violet tuned out after a certain point as she was far more interested in the books sitting on the shelves of the bookcase than which university Mr. Ballister did his Masters in Contemporary Dance.

As James was running off his mouth off the old teacher's Ph.D. thesis on the complex mating rituals of paraphyletic sea slugs, Violet's attention was ensnared by the bright red spine of one book she'd not noticed before. It was lodged in the middle of a shelf a head higher than her.