"I put the Newspaper Committee on temporary hold for now."

Georgia hoisted herself up on to the heater against the wall, swinging her legs over the vent. After following Gerogia around the school for a bit, we came upon a secluded space on the bottom floor, large enough to fit the two of us, with enough space remaining to fit another person. But judging by the way Georgia brought me here without hesitation, I had the impression that maybe Jason was the third person we were missing.

"But what does that have to do with Wren?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. I leaned into a tall rectangular indentation where I'd assume lockers were supposed to be placed, taking note of a camera hanging just outside of where we were talking. Georgia's gaze seemed to follow mine as she flicked her eyes to the side, taking note of the camera. Not too long after she let out a scoff.

"The cameras in this school don't work anymore." She stated, turning her head to face me. As her eyes met mine once again I couldn't help but expect an icy glare of some sort, but that didn't happen. Instead, she shoot her gaze towards the floor, clenching her fists. "Don't you think that the school wouldn't of had given up on Wren's locker if those cameras still worked?"

The tension in my shoulders fell as I shifted more comfortably in my spot. Although that piece of information didn't seem to ease the tension in the air.

"Can you just . . . tell me what you wanted to say about Wren now?" I puffed, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "What does shutting down the Newspaper Committee have to do with Wren at all?"

Georgia let out a sigh in response.

"I'm not shutting anything down," she corrected, letting her gaze wander amiss before meeting mine once more. "I'm putting in on hold."

"And . . .?"

Georgia opened her mouth to speak but quickly snapped it shut, turning to the brown leather satchel bag propped up beside her instead. For a couple moments she dug through the bag, leaving me hanging in an awkward silence cut off by a few miscellaneous rustles. Finally, she pulled out a crumpled booklet of papers, tossing it in my direction. I caught it in between my hands, almost gaping as flattened out the pages.

THE NEWLY NAMED NOW HAS AN UN-NAMED ENEMY

FIGHTING LOVE WITH HATE; VANDALISM OF THE BURNETTE LOCKER

WHEN ALL GOES SOUTH WILL OUR BIRD BE ABLE TO FLY? VANDALISM CASE ROCKS STUDENT BODY

The booklet of papers consisted of several articles and reports, all detailing and romanticizing the graffiti over Wren's locker.

After flipping through the entire booklet, I lifted my head, only to see that Georgia had been watching me, awaiting a reaction. Instead of giving one to her, I nodded my head at her expectantly, beckoning her to give me an explanation.

"Well," she started, "you obviously remember the dead bird right?"

Slightly annoyed by her starting question I nodded my head.

"The dead bird brought us the most sales, ever, and since then, the committee has been wanting to write more and more articles about her. And after that whole 'vandalism' incident, that's all they've wanted to write about."

She paused for emphasis, looking towards me as I gave her the nod to go on.

"Being the head of this entire Newspaper Committee, I'm the one who has the power to overlook all articles coming in, and I don't want a million articles about Wren's locker."

I couldn't help but raise another eyebrow at her in suspicion, handing back the booklet of papers in my hands.

"And why do you care about Wren so much? I thought you only liked her for the sales?"

Georgia opened her mouth to retaliate, snapping it shut before letting out a long sigh of defeat. For a few moments we were wrapped in a bubble of silence, Georgia's gaze glued to the floor as I watched her, expectant for an answer.

"Wren was my friend" Georgia finally declared, lifting her gaze. "I've known her since kindergarten. Our parents knew each other and we were close that way. She's not a bad person and she meant . . . a lot . . . to me, and sometimes, you just can't help but care about certain people."

Georgia seemed to be taken aback by her sudden declaration, tapping her jet black nails nervously against the metal top of the heater she was sitting on. I couldn't help but share her emotions of shock.

"So you knew her name this entire time?"

"Yeah, we called her 'Eden', not Wren."

"Did anyone else know her?"

"Jason, Tyler, and Angelese," Gerogia listed without hesitation, still tapping nervously against the heater.

After a moment of silence I spoke up again, not even bothering to withdraw from the annoyance bubbling beneath my skin.

"So you're saying that despite the fact that you've known Wren for years, you still went on to treat her like absolute shit the moment you saw her at this school? What happened to 'caring' about her?" I snapped, my words reflecting the sense of rage threatening to come out.

Gerogia flinched at my words, showing some sign of fear. Just as quickly as I had blurted out those words I retreated back to my senses, the fizzing anger boiling inside of me cooling into a state of shame as I dipped my head in embarrassment.

"S-sorry," I muttered, shutting my eyes for a second, "I didn't mea-"

"That's fine," Georgia murmured, cutting me short. As we locked gazes I noticed the hint of tears swirling around her pale blue eyes. "You're right."

Although she did deserve what was coming for her, another pang of guilt struck me in the chest, the stern look over my face softening.

"You might not understand, but at this school I have a reputation to uphold. I have a sense of authority in this school and for once I don't have anybody to tell me what to do or what to say. I could tell people to do things or say things myself, and people would actually listen to me. The student body listens to me." Tears streamed down her face, her voice shaky and lips quivering as she spoke.

"I'm known as this cold, secretive, dominant figure at this school. I'm the girl that keeps a tight knit friend group and who basically runs a whole Newspaper Committee that's known to make people's lives miserable. You think Eden would want to associate with me? The founder of "shadows"?

I opened my mouth to respond but thought better of it, letting her vent out her feelings instead.

"And I know it was the wrong choice to push her away like that but I couldn't help it okay? I fucking pushed aside our friendship to feed my ego. Even I wouldn't want to be friends with myself. I mean, look at me. I'm a fucking mess."

She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater, sniffing in the process.

"And if you're gonna tell me how shitty of a person I am, now's the time to do it."

I paused for a couple seconds, trying my best to choose my words carefully this time.

"Shitty people would never be able to acknowledge that they're shitty," I remarked, meeting the gaze of Georgia's puffy red eyes. A short absence of speech followed, Georgia's uncontrollable sniffles the only thing keeping the silence away.

"I made people's lives miserable with that goddamned newspaper and yet I still used it as a mechanism to find out more about Eden's disappearance. Eden doesn't deserve the things she went through. And I was too caught up in my ego that I was never there to support her through it."

Although I couldn't tell if she was referring to Wren's home life or not I preferred not to dwell on it.

"You're right, she doesn't," I started, agreeing with her statement, "And although I can't exactly defend you on your actions in the past, the past is the past. You've already admitted to your mistakes, so it's really up to you to decide where you want to go from here."

Georgia looked up at me with her red, tear-stricken eyes, as if processing my words.

Finally, she took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"I have a feeling the bell for lunch is gonna ring soon," I announced, straightening up from the wall. "I'm gonna get going now."

As I turned my back towards her, Georgia suddenly spoke up once more.

"Vince?" she called out, causing me to halt in my tracks. "Whatever you do, don't let Eden find out about her locker. Please."

I turned to face her one last time, dipping my chin to deliver a quick nod.

My footsteps seemed to echo as I began making my way down the hall, Georgia's muffled sobs growing quieter with each step.