They go by many names. The cream of the crop. The best of the best. The top of all classes. The special section.
The Power 35.
All of them almost seem perfect. With their flawless faces and grades, people won't hesitate the ground they walk on. We...
Everything happened so fast. One minute, I was about to get chewed on by high class geniuses and the next thing I know, everyone was running out of the meeting room after they heard what those two girls who were banging at the door said.
Khloe Montefalcon and Rosetta Lissandra. Two, petite, quiet girls. A brunette and blond. I never paid much attention to them. Usually, I found the two alone together in the library section or near the water fountain in class garden.
Khloe, as I've heard was the daughter of one of the owners of a famous social service network in Asia and Europe. And Rosetta was an Italian heiress (along with her twin, Isabella) of her family's successful modelling company. They were the typical Everleigh Institute material.
Naturally, it was Veronica who opened the door that revealed the panting girls. "Woah, what's going on Kleo?" She said and let them in. While Khloe was trying to catch her breath, Rosetta blurted out quickly, "Thecctvrecordingisout!" which confused a lot of students.
"What? Slow down Rosie-"
"The CCTV recording is out! It was released in the student council room a few minutes ago! I think someone sent it under a pseudonym but I never really had time to read the note attached! Just- Hurry!" Rosetta had this bewildered expression on her face that I couldn't figure out.
Immediately, the students went haywire. They were desperate to get their hands on the footage. And so, almost everyone exited the room, leaving me, Mariya, Veronica, Alexander, Eliza, Andrew, Luscious (aka Lush, stupid name I know), Isabella, Carlos, Khloe and Rosetta in it. Khloe released a huge sigh and stretched her back.
"Great. Only the people that matter are here. Those idiots forgot I had the key to the student council room. We only have a few minutes before they realize and come back here so make it quick." She said and gave Lush a red flash drive which he instantly inserted into a nearby computer... What.
The others in the room started talking to one another but I held up my hands. "What... the hell is going on? Weren't you going to accuse me or something?" I put my hands down after Khloe have me a look that said, "Are you stupid?" Veronica laughed.
Geez, how much joy is in this person? If I had even an ounce of her positivity, I would be Gandhi.
Mariya walked to me and gave me an apologetic smile, "Sorry for making you worry, Lianne. None of us in this room believe you killed Xio. We discussed this yesterday and this was the easiest way to talk to you without causing suspicion." The rest nodded and shrugged. "... I still don't get it. You guys really don't accuse me of her death? But... why? How-"
"I saw you dirty-dancing with Juliet. You couldn't have killed Xio. The timelines don't match. Her autopsy showed she was dead one hour before you went out of the auditorium." Alexander answered. He still had a cold face on. Carlos turned to me surprisingly. I felt my cheeks heat up.
"We were not dirty-dancing! And his name is Julian... Whatever! Anyways, yeah, I wasn't the one who shot Xio... Still... Why didn't you just tell the other students that?" I asked.
Eliza De Luca snorted. "Are you really this dumb or are you just pretending to be one? Of course, we don't want them here. Xio's killer could be among those sociopathic fu-"
"What Eliza meant to say was we," Mariya cuts in and looks at me like she was pleading for me not to piss off Eliza, "think that the one who shot Xio is a student from our class. And if we told the rest that we suspected someone from Power 35, they would lose their nuts.
"Sorry you had to be used, Lianne. It's the only way we can continue this investigation. We must make the others assume you're the killer so the real one will think he-"
"She."
All of us turned to Luscious who was bent over the computer. "Lianne's murderer is a she. Look. It's caught on camera." We went to him.
The camera caught a woman with a black mask and her hair in a ponytail coming out of the bathroom stalls while Xio was fixing her hair in the mirror. They had a short conversation before Xio attempted to leave. The woman then aggressively blocks Xio's way and they fought for a while.
Poor Xio couldn't dodge the woman's kicks and punches. She ended up hitting her head and kneeling near a toilet. That was when the woman brought out her black Glock 42 and shot Xio in the middle of her forehead. At this, I heard Mariya release a gasp of pain from behind me. Alexander's mouth was shut tight, his eyes glued to the monitor.
For a short while, the woman just stood there, Xio's blood pouring from the back and front of her head. Then, she laughed. Or what I assumed was laughing. We couldn't really hear what the woman was saying but she doubled over and her whole body vibrated into some sick, maniacal laughter.
After that she stepped out of the stall before Xio's blood hit her shoes. She then went into one of the stalls and didn't come out. A few minutes later, I arrived into the bathroom and we all know what happened next.
The video ended. The room was so quiet. I felt like throwing up all over again. The killer didn't even look back after shooting Xio... It was like she planned it all along.
"Rosetta. Khloe." Veronica said. The two girls looked at her. "Where did you get this?"
"As I said, it was in the student council room. And there was a... Oh right!" Rosetta took something from the pocket of her jeans. It was a piece of crumpled paper. She gave it to Veronica. I strained my neck to see what was written.
When I read it, I felt sick again.
One down, thirty-four more to go.
Lianne Angelito Hacinto is innocent.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"...Were there any other clues left behind when you found this?" Carlos asked Rosetta who just shook her head in reply.
"It must be from the killer." Andrew stated, staring hard at the paper.
"But why? Why would she try to prove Lianne's innocent? It'll be easier for her to blame it all on the new kid." Lush said and frowned.
"Maybe she wants to mess with our minds?" Mariya suggested.
"That could be a possibility." Khloe said, pushing up the frame of her glasses.
"Well if that's the case..." We all turned to Veronica, who had the worst expression I had ever seen on a college girl's face. With wide eyes and a smile so wide, it was hard not to imagine Veronica Suave as a killer herself.
