Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

33. Disappeared

A/N: Trigger warning for sexual assault. Nothing too serious, but still technically qualifies.

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After classes, Wilhelm walked Simon down to the bus stop and pulled him into a hug just as he was about to get on the bus.

"I'll talk to Felice and see what we can figure out tonight, ok?"

Simon nodded and Wilhelm leaned in to kiss Simon quickly before he stepped back then turned away and waved as he climbed into the bus.

Wilhelm waved back then noticed several wide-eyed and open-mouthed faces watching him from inside the bus as the doors closed. He felt worried for a moment as he watched Simon move to the back past the gawking passengers as the bus pulled away.

He turned to head back up the hill and thought to himself what else he could possibly do in the meantime to make August's life miserable if nothing else worked out for them.

He imagined a very public confrontation with August in front of their classmates then fantasized about kicking him in the face while he was flat on the ground.

He snapped out of his daydream suddenly when he noticed Felice and the other girls sitting outside at the picnic table. He hurried up to them and greeted everyone.

"Hej, Felice, can we talk for a minute?"

"Um, yeah, you want to go to the café?"

He agreed and they said goodbye to Stella, Fredrika, Madison and Sara.

Wilhelm made sure no one was near enough to overhear them as they went and explained that the Court had taken a hard drive from the library. Felice looked at him, puzzled.

"I...I know that. How are you just finding this out?"

Then it was Wilhelm's turn to be puzzled. "What? How did you know?"

"We...saw them take it out of the library last term. I assumed your mother told you about it."

"No...My dad mentioned it to me today for the first time."

"I assumed there was no other evidence from it since you never said anything. I thought they just found the pixels in the end too."

"It sounds like there was definitely more evidence on the hard drive. I figured out which computer it was, and it's actually just across the hall from your locker."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded and watched his expression.

"I even thought that if it had been a normal day, you might have caught him at it." Wilhelm scoffed at himself.

She smirked at him, suddenly deep in thought. They sat down at a table in the nearly empty café.

Wilhelm left her for a moment to go get coffee for the two of them. She thought about Lucia night while he was ordering.

Wilhelm came back quickly and set one of the cups down gently in front of Felice.

"So I don't know what exactly was on it but I need to find out if it even still exists."

"Hmm..." Felice agreed then hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Do you know exactly what time the video was uploaded?"

"No. But it must have been just before or during the performance because August was there once it finished, and I got a message about it after we sang."

"I think...someone could have seen him."

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Simon stared out the window with his earbuds in trying to tune out the passengers who were gossiping about him.