LIFE WITHIN THE HALLS

Sandra

Friday, 13th February, 10: 20 a.m.

Breakfast snacks were the only way for Victoria and me to unwind from the stress that was going on. It was manageable for me, but it wasn't for Victoria. She couldn't even finish her yogurt with granola. She had been staring blankly into the bowl, taking sporadic bites every two minutes.

"Can I ask you something?" Victoria said as we moved out of the cafeteria, ambling down the corridor. First break had ended twenty minutes prior.

"Sure, anything," I replied, taking the last sip of the Coca-Cola I'd had earlier with chocolate cookies, and securing the lid on the bottle.

"Um... I don't know if I should apologize to Jayden for shouting at him yesterday," she said, intertwining her fingers. "I feel bad for what I did but I'm not used to apologizing to people."

"If you truly feel bad, then apologize," I said. "Give it a try."

Victoria let out a deep sigh without saying anything more about it, then quickly changed the subject. "Are you coming to tomorrow's party?"

My lips pursed. "You're hosting a party tomorrow?"

"Not me," she replied. "It's the Valentine's Day night party right here on campus."

"Really?" I finally tightened the lid of the bottle and turned to her. "But weren't nighttime parties cancelled?"

"Yes, but..." She pointed to my left, where a red-designed poster hung on the wall. "The School Magazine Society worked for two semesters to get permission for it."

"Oh," I scowled, feeling my mood sour. Hannah's death was still fresh in my mind; how she fell from the assembly hall gallery to the floor. Yet, the others seemed to get over it too quickly to have a night party days after. A creepy haven of selfish people.

The Coca-Cola bottle in my hand dropped, and Victoria pinched me, jolting me out of my moody reverie.

"What are you thinking about?" she muttered. "He's coming."

"Who's coming?" I replied in the same tone and turned away from her, facing Jayden, approaching us with Gideon behind him. They both seemed eager to share something. Before Jayden's words could escape his lips as he got closer to us, Victoria blurted, "I'm sorry."

Jayden raised his left eyebrow. "Are you talking to me?" he asked.

"Yes," Victoria stuttered. "I'm not going to repeat myself, so please listen for once. I'm sorry for shouting at you yesterday."

Jayden let out a short, loud giggle that echoed through the corridor. "You're apologizing to me and showing me attitude at the same time. You're just something else, Victoria, and I love that about you. I just love you..."

There was a pause for a moment. Jayden's eyes and fidgeting hands proved he really meant his last words, but he wasn't supposed to let it out, especially since we all thought he was so angry with her.

"Love, as in, you know—not the way you think," he tried to explain himself.

"Anyway," Gideon came through for him, "we came to tell you two what we found about AnonymousX."

"What did you find?" Victoria eagerly asked, clearly just to cut the crappy mood Jayden was in.

"It turns out AnonymousX is one of the female resident students," Gideon replied, his voice grave. "And, if I'm not mistaken, this girl behind the 'AnonymousX' account is the same person who rented the car for Matthew Clark's escape."

"This means AnonymousX is responsible for Hannah's death and everything bad going on?" I asked, incredulous.

"Exactly," Jayden replied.

Could a girl be capable of such acts? It was difficult for me to fathom, but in a way, it made sense. Only a girl would kidnap Daniel and treat him with unexpected kindness, feeding him without harm. No guy would do that.

"Who do you three suspect?" I probed. "Anyone? Maybe?"

As they shared their guesses of people I didn't know, a feeling of being watched tingled over me. I glanced over my shoulder, and a cold dread seeped up my spine. It was as though someone's eyes were drilling into the back of my head.

I leaned closer to the three, my voice almost imperceptible. "Did you guys feel that?"

Gideon's brow creased as he scanned the quiet hall before replying, "Feel what?"

I quickly ushered them all into the prefects' room, closing the door with a click.

"Someone's spying on us!"

Jayden's phone beeped that instant, breaking the tense silence in the room. He unlocked his phone, and his face turned pale as he read whatever was on his screen. "It's AnonymousX's message," he said, showing us the screen.

The message read: "You and your little investigation group should back off trying to find my identity, or else you and Ella's video goes viral. I'm watching YOU FOUR!"

My eyes went across the room, and with a swift motion, I moved to pull the curtains down, sealing off the inside.

"I was right," I said, my voice low. "Someone's spying on us."

"What do we do now?" Jayden asked in the same tone, looking increasingly worried.

"I think it's time you tell us what you and Ella did two years ago," Gideon said, locking eyes with Jayden. "What's in that video?"

Jayden ran his hands over his dreadlocks repeatedly and sat down on the tiled floor, his hands on his coiled knees. "You want to know what Ella and I did?" He paused, then continued, "We... we kissed and touched ourselves intimately."

"Intimately? Gross!" I groaned. I had expected Jayden's confession to be bad, but nothing had prepared me for this.

"Were you out of your mind, Jayden?" Gideon blasted him. "Do you know how big an issue this is?"

"I know. I know I shouldn't have done it," he said in desperation. "I was drunk."

"Cut the crap, Jayden," Gideon retorted. "You knew very well that alcoholic drinks aren't for minors, but you still went for it."

Victoria cleared her throat and finally spoke after being quiet for a while. "There's no need to pass judgemental comments," she said surprisingly, and then turned to Jayden to ask, "where did you and Ella do that... gross thing. Where and when?"

Jayden slowly got up from the floor, his expression somber. "It was in the male washroom, on the last day of freshman year."

"There are CCTV cameras outside the washroom, so why don't we review the footage to see who entered the washroom at the time you and Ella were doing your..." she rolled her eyes, "gross thing? That would even make it easier for us to know who AnonymousX is."

Victoria's idea was a good one. We all agreed to do it even though AnonymousX warned us not to. Many lives were at stake, so quitting wasn't an option for us.

The four of us cautiously left for the control room. To avoid  looking suspicious, Gideon suggested we go in pairs. He and Victoria led, and he told Jayden and me to follow minutes later, keeping distance.

As Jayden and I lingered in front of the prefects' room, doing nothing in particular, Henry approached us. His hands were pocketed in his pants just like how Jayden often did.

"You haven't been streaming live lately, what's up?" Henry asked Jayden. "And why are you with her?" He nodded toward me.

"I'm not with her," Jayden replied. "You know Principal Wilson stuck me with her. I have no option."

"Well, it doesn't look like that to me," Henry said, sounding suspicious. "Anyway, just dropping by to remind you about your 12:30 p.m. interview today. Don't flake out."

"I won't forget it, my manager," Jayden said playfully, and they both laughed it off.

"See ya, dude, I have class," Henry said, patting his shoulder. "See you too, wild girl." He winked at me before walking away.

Wild girl? That was some silly nickname to give me.

Jayden shook his head and dismissed Henry's comment. "It's all jokes," he said, leading the way to the control room.

I quickened my pace to catch up with him. "I know, but why did he use the word 'wild'?" I asked.

He ignored the question with a nod and continued. Maybe it wasn't the best time to ask, considering he had a lot weighing on his mind, but surely later on.

We got to the control room, lined with computers displaying footage from various campus areas. Gideon monitored hallways leading to the washrooms, while Victoria searched boxes of old footage, probably from two years ago.

"They're not here," Victoria lamented, coming up empty-handed. "Footage from the last two years isn't here."

"It's been deleted from the computer too," Gideon informed us gravely. "Deleted 30 minutes ago."

"30 minutes ago? Wait." Jayden checked his phone. "That's exactly when AnonymousX texted me to warn us."

An alarming realization dawned on me. "AnonymousX seems a step ahead, so don't you guys think she'll do something drastic if she gets to know we're still trying to find her identity?"