The League > jariana (COMPLETED)

twenty-five

He pulled out an iPhone. The iPhone. "Someone was kind enough to polish off their prints and return this to my mailbox this morning." He held it out at arm's length in front of him. "Did you know the police were able to pick up a voice when the 911 call was made from Lowell's Cemetery on the night of the prom?" His eyes shot to my face. "I think that voice was yours."

I swallowed hard, my mind shutting down. I couldn't think of a response. What should I do? What should I say?

"Why do you think it was me?" I asked after a moment.

"Because I saw you talking to Justin Bieber. He seemed angry—maybe because he believed he had a traitor in his midst."

My hands, folded in my lap, were slick with sweat. I thought of Justin's rule: No talking in school. He'd broken his own edict on Monday when he'd tried to convince me that I'd misinterpreted everything that had happened.

"He's a dangerous young man, Ariana. I've been on his trail for years now because, frankly, I don't want him at Kennedy High."

He wasn't the only one. I also wanted Justin to go away, to someplace where he couldn't hurt anyone else. "He'll be gone soon," I said. "It's almost graduation."

"We both know he was behind my abduction, not to mention other unresolved incidents that have occurred at this school." Mr. Reid leaned forward, hands steepled in front of him. "I don't believe Justin and his girlfriend could cover them all."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" The denial flew out of my mouth with a force and passion that caught me off guard. I repeated it, softer, allowing the truth of it to sink in.

"The 911 call picked up more than one voice, but the clarity was poor," he said.

If the reception had been so lousy, then he couldn't really know it was me, I reasoned. All he had was a glimpse of Justin and me talking in the hall. But somehow that knowledge, though good for my situation, did nothing for my confidence.

My eyes landed on a file on Mr. Reid's desk, at least an inch thick. Justin's name was written in tight script on the upper right-hand side. Mr. Reid caught me looking. He pulled it across the desk, positioning it in front of him. "Who else was there?" he demanded.

Justin's warning at the cemetery replayed in my head: If you tell anyone, we'll all get in trouble.

I won't tell, I'd responded. I could never ruin Richie, Zoe, and Nora's future.

It was the truth. As much as I wanted to stop Justin, I couldn't pull everyone else down. Kidnapping was a felony: the difference between jail time and living our lives as normal human beings. Zoe, the poster girl for hard knocks, didn't deserve a kick to the curb from me. Then there was Richie, whose first act of courage was to ignore his best friend's murderous demands. He needed a life, not a punishment. And Nora? I didn't feel jealous if she was with Justin now. I was scared for her. I didn't want to make her life any worse than it already was.

Mr. Reid paced in front of the window, occasionally peering out at the empty running track. Then he twisted around and clamped his hands on the back of his leather chair. "Give me a list of names, and I'll do everything in my power to lighten the consequences for you. You can trust me on this."

Don't you trust me, Ari? Justin had said.

The word crawled up my back like a cockroach. "Trust has to be earned," I said weakly.

"All I have to offer you is my word." Mr. Reid circled his chair and sat down. He waited for me to speak.

I took a slow, deep breath. "Back in January, Justin invited a group of us to join this club. He told us it was for friendship, and we believed him. He led us everywhere, like ... like the Pied Piper." Dad used to read me the creepy fairy tale when I was little. It was actually one of the few books he could tolerate reading more than once. "The kids in that story were beyond stupid, following a stranger for no apparent reason. I mean, the Pied Piper just had a magic pipe. But they went with him, anyway. Never to be seen again."

Mr. Reid was silent. He leaned back in his chair, thinking. "I understand, Ariana. I truly do. Justin Bieber is a sociopath. Do you understand what that means?"

I shook my head.

"It means he lacks a conscience. He only cares about two things: winning and manipulating people to get what he wants."

Oh God. My hands trembled in my lap. I shoved them under me to stop them from shaking. How could such a simple definition fit a person who'd seemed so complex?

"Ariana, tell me what happened, or I'm afraid there could be serious consequences for you."

Justin's words ran through my head: Until you know otherwise, treat threats like bluffs.

I wanted to lie, to deny every last bit of it. After all, if Mr. Reid had the evidence he needed, he wouldn't have dragged me into his office for an interrogation. But lying was what Justin would do, and I couldn't let myself think like him. Not now. Not ever.

I blinked to clear my vision. Tears spilled down the side of my nose. "I'm sorry about what happened to you, Mr. Reid."

He tapped his fingers on the file, giving away his impatience. "Do you know about Justin's past? Do you have any idea what he's done at this school? Once he gets out of here, he'll move on with his life, full speed ahead. He'll keep on hurting people."

"What did he do at Kennedy?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"The list is too long to review, but I'll give you one example," he said. "A teacher was working late when a male in a black ski mask chased her through the school. As I'm sure you can imagine, she was terrified."

"What happened to her?" I whispered.

"He shoved her down some steps and she broke her wrist. The perpetrator stole something from her, but the police don't believe that robbery was the motivation. They think he wanted to terrorize her." He picked up a pen, twirling it through his fingers like a baton. "We kept it quiet to give her time to recover from the trauma, but she'd just lost a loved one, and I'm afraid it was too much for her. She made the unfortunate, but understandable, decision to leave teaching. And now one of our PE teachers has also given notice, in part because of what happened to Fran."

Fran ... Fran Johnson? No, not my orchestra teacher ...

"Why would someone want to hurt a music teacher?" I asked, hoping he'd tell me that I'd made a mistake.

"Music wasn't the issue. She was a volunteer counselor who tried to address Justin's truancy problems."

I glanced down at my fingernails. I'd peeled almost all the polish off. "So you think he did it?"

Please, no. Don't let it be true.

"I know he did." The spinning pen tripped over a finger and skidded across the desk. "However, I can't prove it. My opinion of Mr. Bieber was hardly the evidence we needed in order to proceed. He's slippery, and that's the only reason he's still here." He walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Ariana, can you see why I need you and your friends' help?"

I prayed he'd understand what I was about to say as I raised my eyes to his. "I didn't know about your abduction before it happened. None of my friends did, either. You have no idea how much I want to tell you everything, but I can't ... I won't."

A loud sound made us jump at the same time. I knew right away what it was, the same shrill call I'd heard the night we'd invaded the PE office. Mr. Reid's face changed from sympathetic to furious. He waited through five blasts of the fire alarm before he spoke again. "I think you and I know this is a false alarm. Probably set off by a student at this school, if I had to venture. Someone who wants you out of this office, perhaps, before his cover can be blown." Mr. Reid ran his hands down his suit, ironing out wrinkles that didn't exist. "Think on what we've discussed here, Ariana. In the meantime, I have to investigate that alarm, since it's my job to keep the students at Kennedy safe."

He straightened his red-and-white tie and hurried out the door.

A/N:

I'm back :)

talkin' about a plot twist lol???

ahh only 3 chapters left! :(((((

love y'all

hope you enjoyed <3