The High 5

Chapter 18: 2 Confessions, A Stranger, and The Truth

"Hey, you alright?" Colette asked Aivie.

The two walked the near empty halls side by side. Aivie was texting the rest of the Five regarding the rest of their plan, while Colette crumpled the latex gloves and fiddled with them in her hands.

"Obviously. Why wouldn't I?" Aivie's gaze didn't leave her phone as she said it.

Colette couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not, so she ignored it. "Listen, when you and Kite were talking back there, I kinda heard some of it."

"How much?"

Colette finally tossed the gloves away into a recycle bin. "Enough."

Aivie finally stopped texting and stuffed her phone into her back pocket. "Then just let that be the end of it."

Colette ignored that as well. "He said he couldn't explain yet. If the time comes when he can explain, will you let him?" She knew she probably shouldn't have asked such a thing, but she found herself suddenly curious as to where the Five's relationship with Kite stood.

Aivie immediately stopped walking, and turned to Colette with cold eyes. It was look Colette had never seen before, and she slightly winced back as he eyes made contact with hers.

"No, and I hope the rest of you guys don't either." Aivie turned away and continued down the hall, and it took Colette a moment to recover before she could catch up to her.

A minute later, the Five reunited by Sun's locker.

"So, you really did it?" Sun asked the girls as soon as they were close enough.

"We did," Colette quickly answered, anxiously looking between the boys and Aivie.

"So it's time?" Rion asked.

"It is," Aivie said.

Mace was now wearing a dark green short-sleeved dress shirt, dark blue jeans, and a neat pair of light green sneakers. "Alright Five, let's go to the Principal's office."

                                                                                               ******

Moreover was perched at his desk munching away at takeout pot roast, when there was a knock on his office door. With a disappointed sigh, he set his meal aside and told whoever was at the door to come in.

Mace entered wearing an uneasy look. "Hey Principal M. I have...some things to tell you." He glanced cautiously between the office door, and Moreover.

"Oh, alright. Shut the door then, and have a seat."

Mace kicked the door closed with his heel, then pulled out the chair and smoothly slid into it. "Ok, ok...Uh, on Tuesday, my friends and I -- you know Sun Daye, Aivie Mercer, Rion Chandler and Colette Jaimes?"

Moreover nodded. He was indeed familiar with the High Five, who were rarely ever seen not together.

"Yea, well, we went to the computer lab on the first floor, and that's when we saw Cassandra sitting in there all alone."

Moreover straightened in his seat, becoming more attentive of the story.

"She looked kinda upset, so we asked her what was wrong...and she tells us that she wrote that article about the drugs going around school. She just went on explaining on how she saw Kite, Bel and Hozei in like several potential situations involving V-Dust. She told us that hadn't been 'using' anything for weeks, and with the way she was talking, we believed her. It was a matter of time before she got caught, and she knew it, but she seemed all sober and ready for anything. She really looked fine when we left her, but then later that day she...Look, Cassandra isn't really close with anyone at this school, including us but whenever we ran into her in the halls , she'd always say hi and we'd say hi back. It wasn't a lot but it was something, and it was too much when we saw her on the ground and unconscious that day."