Another tragedy struck as the people of Weston Way Academy discover the disappearance of Kiara Dario, the student council's vice president.
It was a cold, early morning. Kiara's parents grew suspicious, after not hearing from or even seeing their daughter come home last night. The school brought in some officials to interrogate everyone. It started with the student council, who was very scared and confused because Kiara disappeared right after last week when the school shooting occurred.
"Good morning, Principal Weston. Detective Toreliza, at your service."
A new face came and was welcomed into the campus. He was tall and attractive, his hair was swept back, he also wore a beige suit with a black tie. It was like he came out of a mystery-crime thriller TV show. He'd quirk his eyebrow and plant a serious grin on his face. Side note, he also looked awfully young to be a detective. Detective John Lloyd Toreliza was hired to interrogate because he was a young CSI graduate who wanted to prove himself.
Each person was interrogated individually to see if they have a motive to eliminate Kiara. He interviewed Denise, the head of the council. He asked her a few questions.
"How do you know Kiara Dario?"
"Well, I am the president of our student council. Kiara's the vice."
"Do you hold any type of grudge against her? Any history?"
"Sh— She's... we're kind of rivals, I guess," She notices Toreliza rub a hand on his chin, "But I'm not crazy enough to do something bad to her!"
"Where were you last night, around 6 PM? I was informed that Ms. Dario usually leaves school at that time."
"Yes, uh, we— we're usually the last students to leave school because of students council duties. I was at the office, organizing a presentation for our mental health care project. But she left earlier than me. I stayed for a while then eventually left too..."
"We questioned your parents too and they said you weren't home early that night and you came in a little later than usual. Guards said you left a few minutes after Kiara. Shouldn't you have been home by then?"
Her feet tapped vigorously and made echoed sounds. She wasn't usually this frantic and fidgety, but he doesn't know that. She was glad to be answering to a stranger who doesn't know her personally or any of her agendas.
"I—I'm sorry, you didn't let me finish. Eventually, I left too and met with my friends outside of the campus."
"May I know the names of these friends? Do they go to this school?"
"Yes. Yzabel Divinagracia, Miho Hoshino, and Jao Canlas. We all went on a night drive to unwind. I never meant to break past my curfew."
"Were the other council members suspects? Are any of them suspects?"
Denise was frustrated that he'd ask her that question. She considered framing one of her fellow council kids, but she realized that would be cruel. Who was she to believe that after burying Kiara alive?
The bell had rung, signaling the end of the first period, and students had flooded the halls. Denise approached the three people who were just as terrified as she was.
"What did he ask you? Specifically?" Yzabel started as they huddle by their lockers.
"Okay, I told him that we went out for a night drive last night. I-I didn't know what to say... The detective was so pushy and had a ton of questions." Denise replied. "You didn't say anything else suspicious? We can't underestimate this guy despite his age. What's gonna happen if he gets to the bottom of it?" Miho asked in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, I promise I didn't say anything that'll cost us. I think. I hope."
"They usually close cases like this when it goes on for a long time. I think we're safe." The purple-haired boy who clutched on his blazer chimed in.
"Let me give you a little background about Kiara's family," The three leaned in, "In this town, they're like the Carringtons from Dynasty, except more dangerous. Her parents have wealthy and powerful connections, so if this gets out, we won't just go to prison." Denise finished.
She swore she heard a couple of gulps from the three because they felt even more scared. "If she's so powerful, why couldn't she get a free parking spot?" Jao laughed.
"It's her way of protest, she used to babble about it all the time when— Stop changing the subject! I may have accidentally-slash-intentionally given the detective all your names so expect that you'll be called later for interrogation..."
"You insane?"
"I needed an excuse! Can we all agree to use the same alibi?"
All nodded and agreed with Denise's scheme attempting to avoid becoming a suspect. "Alright, disperse."
"By the way," Yzabel spoke with a condescending tone, "Don't talk to us like we're in the fucking military, Pres. It's annoying how you think you're always above us."
"But I am the president. Now go to class or I'll write you up a tardy slip." She spoke colder than the ice queen Yzabel herself.
Miho entered Biology Class as soon as their little meeting had finished. Whispers, rumors, and false accusations filled the entire classroom. She felt a knot turn in her stomach as soon as she spot a familiar face in the distance. Gwen Apuli, the mean girl who was a powerful force in the school. One of Miho's worst nightmares as soon as she moved to this school.
"Hey," a small voice said. Miho looked down and saw a terrified-looking girl with long dark hair, sitting at a desk next to her. Her name was Klaire. She was a quiet girl, it wasn't a bad thing, but this girl was clearly terrified of something.
"Hey," Miho said back. ''What's wrong?", she thought. Why is she looking at me like that?
"Kiara," Klaire said, in a tone, Miho knew too well. It was a tone of fear.
She continued on her day by ignoring the girl, but then another was on her nerves. Gwen was constantly glancing at her as if she was a criminal, which was true. Miho sat down, opened her textbook, and began to skim through the pages.
"New girl." She hears a voice peep in front of her. Looking up, the mean girl stood high and mighty with a hand on her waist. "Hey, could you get out of my way? You're bugging me," Miho said. She then looked back down to her work, trying to get the information straight in her mind. She looked up again. Gwen was staring at her, with frustrated brows plastered on her face. "What?" she asked, trying not to sound worried.
"Do you think it was," she said. She paused for a moment, the words hanging in the air. "Denise?."
"Huh?" Miho asked.
"Was it Denise who made Kiara disappear? Did Anon tell her to kidnap her or something?"
She slams her book closed with a rush of anxiety.
"Mind your own business, Gwen."
"How could I when I could also be a victim? If you're forgetting, we're all victims to that asshole, Anonymous."
Miho stared back into her book and didn't say anything more. Even though all that was on her mind was their crime and the fact that Gwen can be really scary and might expose her if she knew. The girl was heartless after all.
"Are you still not gonna tell me?" Gwen asks
"Tell you what?"
"Are you hiding something? I know it's none of my business...but it kind of is and..." She stops with her sentence being cut by Miss Sanchez greeting the class.
The mean girl glares at the quiet Klaire next to Miho and nearly snarled at her. It made the girl shiver and immediately carried her stuff to Gwen's original desk.
"It's not Denise." She spoke.
However, even if she didn't say who it was exactly, would that be enough to keep them safe? She was the one who Denise had trusted the most after the past few days they've all been victimized by the mysterious messenger. She was the one Yzabel actually cared about for the first time. If she couldn't prove to these people that she was trustworthy enough, it was going to be like middle school all over again.
Interrogations still went on until lunchtime. The four sat around, feeling a nauseating nostalgia from yesterday when they sat on this exact table and planned a terrible crime. A crime they eventually went through with and now they're having second thoughts. The detective would appear and interrogate them and ask for their alibis. It was all the same.
"We waited for our 'friend', Denise, outside of the school and then went for a night drive."
Miho couldn't keep her mind from the conversation they had earlier. The mean girl was onto her. She looked behind and saw their table, wondering if the rest of her crew had also thought the same as Gwen.
The four perked up when they heard footsteps rushing toward them, but they all knew it wasn't the detective. "Jao," a sweet and familiar voice said.
"Oh," is all Jao said in a sweet tone. "Gwen," he said casually.
"It felt as if only yesterday you came here and started to scream at us. I'm glad you've cooled down a little bit." Yzabel joined their sweet and casual little chat.
"I'm onto you, Pigtails. I'm going to win this stupid game." She scans the table with her evil eyes, "And you too, President."
"What's going on with you?" Jao asks in a voice with a sense of humor in it.
"There's only one way for that bastard to leave us alone," was her reply in a cold and menacing tone.
She carries on with her threat when Detective Toreliza spoke, "Miss Gwen Apuli, right?"
"Who are you supposed to be, Sherlock?" Gwen mumbled. "I need you to come with me for interrogation regarding Kiara Dario's missing case."
She lowered her head and went on with him. The girls erupted in whispers and Miho's ears began to ring.
It was almost the end of the day when Toreliza finally got something out of his long day of investigating. He managed to squeeze out something big. They were finally able to track down her phone.
"Kiara went to the lake. The place her car went the night before is the same place she went missing." Toreliza said, resting his back against his spinning chair.
There were no signs of any other fingerprints other than Kiara's.
"Was it a suicide?" One of his fellow officials in his firm, Taneo, questioned. "That's what I thought as well."
"Case closed, then!"
"But her body wasn't in the car. Tomorrow, we're going to conduct a search for her body all across the forest and the lake."
Yzabel, Miho, Jao, and Denise grouped again by the lockers when Denise was stuffing her books. The immense stress she felt throughout the day caused her to almost destroy her book as she aggressively pushed them all into her tiny locker. One by one, they all came back with bags of their own, but Denise's was still left for her.
"Denise..."
The new girl was hesitant to break the news, "I- uh... They're gonna..."
The president turned her head and slammed her locker door shut, "Spit it out." Even if she didn't scream, it was obvious in her stern tone that she felt raging anticipation.
"The police are conducting a search all over the lake and the forest starting tomorrow."
Denise nodded, "Okay. H-how long does a search usually take? Considering the size of the forest I'm sure... weeks! Here's what we're gonna do; in about a few weeks we can commit another crime to overlap the search and that way their attention would be divided, then we can also start all other sorts of crimes-"
"Hey, Denise, Denise! Stop it!"
"Don't. Don't tell me what to do! I know I'm really bossy and shit but I just want us to get out of this situation, okay? O-okay? And the fact that Anon hasn't been messaging us all day could be a sign that they're finally leaving us alone!" Denise took a deep breath. Miho stepped in for comfort, "Other than deal with Anon, I think you should deal with yourself. I think we all should," She lowers her head and whispers, "We've all killed a person, guys."
A sentimental period took over for a while and soon they had left and said their goodbyes to each other. They've only been together for days, and each felt like they had the duty to protect one another. Like real friends would.
Or not.
"I didn't wanna do this but I'm just trying to save my own life. I wanted to cover for her because I felt guilty, but I won't anymore." Jao stood, looking around for anyone who might hear.
"Just tell me!"
"Denise killed Kiara," He made a brief pause, "All by herself because she didn't want anyone else knowing. But then she just broke down and told us."
"Who knew the President could be that dumb?" Gwen chuckles over the phone, "Anyway, I gotta go."
"Not even a 'thank you'?"
"You're welcome. Now, I really gotta go."
The line ended and Jao was about to tuck his phone back into his pocket when he received a long-anticipated message.
"How does it feel to be on top? How does it feel to squirm a little on purpose and Denise ultimately loses balance and falls?
How does it feel to betray?
Was this your motive all along? I thought you had a change of heart? Humans are selfish, and you are no exception. Was it because you probably wanted to avoid my deranged repercussions or was it all on principle?
In either case, it's all for your own selfish gain, and I respect you for ripping up a white, clean paper called trust into a million pieces and accomplishing your set goal.
You, Jao Canlas, are a winner."