Betrayed in Blood

Chapter Two

"Has anyone seen my phone?" Amanda Banks asked, sweeping through her and her friends' things in search of it.

"Where did you last see it?" Tiffany Stewart inquired, brushing her light blonde hair from her face.

Amanda huffed, giving up on her search, before answering, "Before I got in the room it was in my hand. Then, I remember setting it down on my backpack before I went to talk to Kayli."

"Ask Kayli," Tiffany suggested.

"She left. She only came for a moment to let everyone know she has work tonight and she can't miss this shift or she'll be in trouble with her boss."

"I mean, I heard some guys were gonna take something of hers as a joke," Camilla Green mumbled to Tiffany.

As Camilla hoped, Tiffany caught on and announced, "That's right, Amanda! Joe and Chris have been pranking you lately. This is probably one of their new pranks! After all, they came in around when you did and left not long after."

Camilla stifled a smirk. The plan was going exactly as she hoped. Of course, she had developed multiple back-up plans in case the first didn't go as it was supposed to. She thought of as many possible flaws in the plan and went over what she would do if they occurred. There was little room for error.

"You're right!" Amanda exclaimed. "Where would they have hidden it though?"

"Anywhere, honestly," Melissa piped in, sounding exasperated. "They might have put it in the men's restroom to keep you away from it."

"Hah, as if that'll keep me out," Amanda responded with a chuckle. "I'm going to go look."

She grabbed her backpack and walked from the drama room. Just as Camilla hoped, no one particularly cared to follow her. She wasn't hated by everyone there, but she certainly wasn't the most loved person in drama. She was nowhere near as popular as Camilla.

Camilla didn't have much time to waste since Amanda would only stay where Camilla needed her to be for a little while. Though it could be suspicious to be gone around the same time as Amanda, the murderer was prepared for almost any accusations that could have followed. Camilla swiped her phone out of her pocket and opened her messages with an unsaved number, changing the contact name to read "Mom" and putting a picture of her mother as the contact picture.

Camilla texted the number, "Alright babe amanda should be close to the lobby bathrooms now and I already changed your contact, so call me in a minute then send the text and I'll delete this message."

After the text was sent, she set her phone on her bookbag on the other side of the room, making sure it was on vibrate. She would want it to be hard to hear over the conversations going on in the room, but she hoped someone else would notice so she could get her phone seconds after she missed the call.

As planned, her phone began to buzz from across the room, but even Camilla could hardly pinpoint the source. In addition, her phone was turned to where the screen was facing the ground, so the chance that someone would realize it was her phone before she missed the call was slim. The people near her phone began hearing the sound after three rings, but the ringing stopped before they could find it.

Camilla, pretending she'd heard the commotion, came to check her phone. "Oh, it was my mom," Camilla told them, barely glancing up before opening her new messages from her "Mom."

"Hey, honey! I'm not sure if you're gonna hang out for long after school, but please be back by 4 at the latest. I don't want to leave your dad alone for long!"

Camilla faked a frustrated sigh and turned to her nearby peers. "Looks like my mom forgot I have drama again," Camilla informed them, sounding exasperated. "Let Mrs. Melton know why I have to leave in case I don't get to tell her in a second."

Camilla started packing all of her possessions. Once she was done, she saw that Mrs. Melton, the musical director, was not busy apart from talking to Mrs. Ottwein. She approached the two performing arts teachers.

Mrs. Melton acknowledged her first, saying, "Whatcha need, Camilla?"

Camilla smiled softly. "Well, my mom forgot I have drama. She's worried to leave my dad alone after the other day." She nodded, aware of the situation. Camilla's dad had a severe asthma attack about a week prior to that day, and Camilla had to leave class that same day to check upon him. Camilla's mom also had memory loss, so it wasn't the first time one of her daughter's extracurricular activities was forgotten about. Most of the time, she would put it in her calendar so she wouldn't forget. However, she would sometimes get distracted before she would put it in her calendar and not get the reminder. From Mrs. Melton's perspective, Camilla's mom only forgot her daughter had drama that day because she was more concerned about her husband's health.

"This rehearsal isn't exactly crucial," Mrs. Melton responded. "All we are doing is talking about the rules of the drama program, a basic rundown of the musical, and the lead roles. Your absence is excused." Camilla nodded. "However," she continued, "if this was a more vital rehearsal, you would be asked to let your mom know you have to stay."

"Of course," Camilla replied with a small smile. "I understand. Have a good day, Mrs. Melton!" She waved goodbye to her many friends in the room and headed out.

First, she began walking in the direction of the auditorium. Amanda was definitely somewhere on that side of the building. She checked the dressing rooms first, but they were locked, so there was doubtfully any way her target was in there. Next, she moved onto the stage where all she saw were a few barren props and lots of tools the crew used to make props. Camilla passed this area, figuring Amanda had most likely been through there already. She double-checked that the dressing room was locked through the second door that connected to the stage after that, and when she saw that it was, she moved on.

Then, she checked that the seats in the audience were unoccupied, and she could clearly see that they were. As she passed the stairwell to the catwalk, she found that the door was unlocked. She made a mental note not to check there until she checked the lobby.

Finally, she opened the door to the lobby which was just past the seats in the audience. To her left, where the concession stand was, she saw nobody. To her right, where the bathrooms were, she saw nobody. However, she could clearly hear the stall doors in the girl's bathroom opening and closing vigorously.

Slowly and cautiously, Camilla crept into the girl's bathroom. In the reflection of the mirrors, she could see Amanda swinging open a stall door. As she was scanning the stall, Camilla called, "Amanda?"

Amanda's pixie-cut, brown hair whipped around to face Camilla. "Oh, it's you," she commented, immediately returning back to her searching.

"Want me to help you look?" Camilla asked.

"If you don't mind."

"Well, my mom forgot about my rehearsal today, so I was about to leave, but I can help for a little while." Camilla made sure that every time before she killed someone, she told them where she was "about to go" in case she didn't get the chance to make the kill.

"Oh yeah, she has memory loss, right?"

Camilla nodded, slowly stalking behind Amanda, who didn't seem to notice. It wasn't until Camilla's shadow enveloped Amanda that she looked back up at her, and at this point, her fate was decided.