The Road Not Taken

VII

"We never checked the security tape!" Ronnie bursted through Alex's dorm room, staring straight at Jade and Alex. They were in the middle of watching The Breakfast Club on Alex's laptop, laying on his bed together.

"Ronnie, what?" Jade shot up.

"Of course why did we not check the tape?" Ronnie facepalmed.

"Ronnie, there isn't any security tape. The school doesn't have any video cameras." Adrian said, standing next to her. He followed her when she got up and ran out of the garden, going straight to the dorm.

"Yes, there is! I saw one on the way to class earlier!" Ronnie stated.

"No, there's not. It was in the contract." Jade rolled her eyes.

"Guys I think I know what I saw."

"Okay, well if Ronnie said there was one, maybe there actually was." Adrian replied.

"Ronnie, if you think there is one, why don't you show us?" Jade stood up.

Ronnie rolled her eyes. "Fine." She lead them all the way to where she had seen it earlier. She stopped, looking up to find the blinking red light, but no luck.

"So?" Alex asked.

"It- it was here earlier. I promise!" Ronnie searched around.

"Let's go." Jade said, taking Alex's hand, walking away.

"Maybe it was just a reflection?" Adrian shrugged.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Ronnie's face dropped.

"I'm just saying maybe you thought you saw-"

"No!" She shouted. "I know what I saw!" Ronnie rushed away. She felt hopeless.

Ronnie ran to a door, trying to open it. It was locked, so she took her bobby pin and unlocked it, quickly squeezing into the room, and shutting the door behind her. There was no light in the room, so she couldn't see a single thing. She ran into a round glass thing, with a string attached to it. She pulled onto it, which cause the room to fill up with a single light. She looked around her, walking over to a switch, and flipped it on. Everything around her lit up. SHe examined it, realizing the things around her were computers. They all turned on, and flashed between different tapes of parts of the school.

"The security tapes." She muttered. "They're real." She walked over to on computer, which looked like the main one, and clicked around on it. She clicked back to the day, and the time of Eddie's death, trying to find the right tape. She shook her. The hall where it happened. The tape was missing.

She looked around the room, checking different computers. There were tapes for everything thing, everything except for Eddie. She searched around the room, looking through files and papers. There was no record of it. She stopped when she heard the door open.

"Ronnie are you okay?" Theo walked towards her, swallowing her in a hug.

Ronnie closed her eyes, keeping the tears from escaping. "It's hopeless. We are never going to find out who did this."

Theo nodded. "Yes we are. We will find whoever did this to him. I promise."

"Where did Ronnie go?" Jade asked as Adrian entered Alex's dorm.

"I don't know. She ran off. I saw Theo go after her though." He looked down.

"Buddy, when are you going to tell her?" Alex sat up.

Adrian shook his head. "I can't. She's with Theo. I can't tell her now."

"Did you go along with your plan?" Jade asked.

"I did. I took her to my secret spot, and....." He trailed off. "I think we almost kissed."

"That's good!" Alex patted him on the back.

"But... we didn't." Adrian looked down. "She's with Theo, and she's happy. I should be happy for her."

Ronnie arrived in the dining hall, hand in hand with her boyfriend. She looked at him, and saw herself holding hands with Adrian. She closed her eyes, and reopened them. It was just Theo. She shook away the image and kept walking. She looked around and saw Carmilla seated alone. She quickly shuffled over to her.

"Carm -"

"What." Carmilla said sharply.

Ronnie backed away an inch. "I needed to talk to you about Eddie -"

"Look, let's just forget about it, okay? I will figure it out myself." Carmilla turned her head.

"But I want to help." Ronnie sat down next to her.

Carmilla chuckled. "So now you have time for me?"

"Carm I was just busy -"

"I said don't call me that slut!" Carmilla shot up out of her seat, and the room silenced. "You bitch! This is why you have no friends!" Ronnie screeched. Carmilla, face turning red, took her milk, and poured it onto Ronnie. The room silenced, and people started to chuckle at the wet girl with the shocked face. Ronnie stood up slowly, turning around, and faced Carmilla. She chuckled, and took the ketchup bottle on the table. She opened the cap, still chuckling. Her gaze shot straight to Carmilla, squeezing the bottle all over the girl covered in black attire.

Carmilla gasped. "Are you kidding?! Screw you, you ugly whore!" That's when a kid across the room screamed "FOOD FIGHT!" The dining hall broke out in a riot, fries and chicken flying everywhere. Carmilla pulled Ronnie's hair, and Ronnie kicked her in the shins. Adrian ran up to Theo and punched him in the face. Alex tried pulling Jade off of a girl that had given her a dirty look the other day. Kids were screaming, and food was splattering all over the walls. Alex shook his head and yelled "This is enough!" as he ran over to the fire alarm and pulled it down.

Ronnie looked to the seats next to her, filled with Carmilla, Jade, and Adrian. They were sent to the headmaster's office, right after the fire alarm was pulled. After about an hour of each one of them being pulled into his office to talk, it was finally over. On the way out of the office, Jade pulled Ronnie aside.

"Look what I snatched." She said in a checky tone. Ronnie examined what seemed to be a flashdrive.

Ronnie gasped. "Is that Eddie's tape?"

Jade nodded. "I think so. I snooped around when he was in the hall talking to you and Carmilla. I found it in a secret compartment drawer in his desk."

"Adrian, you want to watch it with us?" Ronnie walked over to him.

"No." He said sharply. "I can't do this anymore. I can't have you doing this to me. Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" He walked away.

"What's up with him?" Ronnie asked.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Ronnie you are so stupid sometimes. Let's just go watch the tape."

They arrived in Ronnie's dorm not too shortly after. They plopped down on her bed, pulling her computer out, and inserting the flash drive. A black box popped up on the corner of the screen, with a play button in the middle. Ronnie held her breath when she pressed play.

The door was open, and showed a boy, Eddie, with another man. They couldn't make out who it was because of the black and white colouring of the video. They saw them fighting. Ronnie had never see Eddie so upset. Ronnie and Jade had both noticed a necklace with a cherry on it around the man's neck. The man pulled out a gun. Eddie tried to back away. It was too late. Eddie was on the ground, bleeding out. The man walked away, hiding behind a hood.

Ronnie's eyes filled with tears as she shut the computer. "Oh my god."