Chapter 6: The Warning
Launce stood up to open the door but when he did, he was greeted by the cold air. No one was there. He was about to close the door but he happened to see a piece of paper left on the ground. He looked around, trying to find any sign of human but there's no one. He just shrugged his shoulders and picked it up before closing the door back.
"Oh? You're awake? Morning." He greeted Nhissie when he saw her making some coffee.
"You didn't sleep?" She asked and handed him a cup.
"Nuh, what about you?" Launce asked back.
"I did get a little nap. I have to wake up early since I have school to attend." The though made Nhissie chuckle. She took a sip of her coffee when she caught a glimpse on the piece of paper Launce was holding. "What's that?"
"Oh, this?" Launce shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. Someone left it at the front door."
"Let's see." Nhissie walked towards her partner. "STOP! LEAVE!" They read.
"What is this? What does that mean?" Launce asked furrowing his brows while Nhissie rushed to the door to look outside but of course, she didn't see anyone. "A warning?"
"You didn't see who sent it?" She asked.
Launce shook his head. "Nope but maybe the CCTV did." He smiled and went to check on the monitor.
The CCTV did, as expected, get something in particular. The video began at 5:30 in the morning, when the outside was dark and the only source of light was the few street lights near the house and the flickering lightbulb on Nhissie's front door. The surrounding area was deafeningly quiet for about fifteen minutes as they anxiously observed until the CCTV captured movement at exactly five-forty. A figure began to approach the front door. It was impossible to tell who he was because he was dressed in a black hoodie, a black ballcap, and a black mask. He didn't ring the doorbell right away; instead, he began pacing back and forth, constantly checking behind him.
"Who could this be? What's he doing?" Launce asked as he stare at the screen.
"I don't know but whoever this is, he's running away from someone, I think." Nhissie mumbled.
After repeating the same action for about five minues, the person finally dropped the paper and rang the doorbell before he flew on the other direction. The CCTV even caught Launce opening the door and checking until he picked up the paper.
"We need to find out who that person is." Nhissie took a deep breath.
"But how? We can't see his face." Launce looked at her.
"I don't know. Let's talk about it later, I still have to prepare to go to school." Nhissie smiled and patted his shoulder.
After a while, Launce left to go to the office while Nhissie prepared to go to school for her undercover investigation. However, the thought of the mysterious sender never left her mind as she drove to Reid Monte High School. On the other hand, the class was filled with chatters and teasing again as students begun to arrive one by one.
"Hey, Aly, what do you say about a one-on-one match later?" Gero wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder.
Aly quickly removed it crossed her arms. "You lost to me last time, what chance are you gonna win today?" She teased.
"I'm subbing for him." Rome, the class celebrity interrupted.
Aly smirked. "Do you have time, though?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, Rome. We all know today's your first anniversary with Lia." Aly purposely made her voice loud making everyone laugh.
"I can let my baby play for a while. Emi, Marga Thea and I had something to do this afternoon." Lia walked in, her arm gracefully hanging on the side, holding her bag. "Rome can sneak to my room tonight and I'll grant him his reward." She said as she winked at the guy. Rome grinned widely as if he already could foresee the scene in his mind.
"Ew, can you guys get a room? Respect to the singles here." Redge teased as he sucked on his lollipop, as expected from the class clown, he made everyone laugh.
Nhissie observed as they all talk. They seemed really normal and nothing is odd. They're just bunch of high school students who's making the best of their lives but why does she feel like they're just pretending. She also couldn't understand herself. Could Launce be right? Was she just overthinking it? Was her judgement wrong?
"Knock! Knock!" Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock. A student from the other class was standing at the door. "Daive and JeMair, Miss Jinx wants to see you." She said referring to the research teacher.
The two boys stood up and went with the student. Everyone went silent as they pass a look at each other. Nhissie furrowed her brows as it's the first time she saw them act like this. They seemed worried.
"Do you think she saw us last night?" Criss whispered to Fina.
Fina bit her lips from nervousness. "I hope not. You know how she acts when she's angry."
"That's impossible, we left as soon as we saw her coming." Gero assured.
"Why? What did you guys do?" Renz interjected in the conversation.
"W-Well..." Landerh stammered. "We just went to check."
"Check what, Landerh?" The whole class fell silent when JeMair's voice echoed from the door.
Landerh lowered his head as JeMair walked towards him. "We..."
"Do you know what you did?" JeMair grabbed his collar but the latter didn't even fight back.
"JeMair, that's enough. They must have done it out of curiousity." Daive calmed him down.
JeMair galred at Landerh before letting him go and going back to his sit. Nhissie was so confused. The reason this wasn't even mentioned but why does she think it has to do something with Gela and the crime scene. The class begun but everyone is still silent. They're not as active as before because of the tension. Even Mister Joles who often throws jokes finished the class in a more serious way.
"Just when I was convincing myself that I'm mistaken, my guts about this class were woken again." She clenched her jaws.
When lunch break came, everyone went out but Nhissie decided to stay behind. It's not like she could find something inside the classroom but she still wanted to try. Once she'd made sure that no one was around, she begun rummaging and checking the drawers. Aside from tons of activity papers, there's nothing out of ordinary...as expected. She checked the lockers but mostly act locked and she doesn't have time to open them manually. She looked at everyone's belongings but she didn't find anything. their bags mostly contained make up and girl's stuff while the boys as expected has clothes to change. She sighed in disappointment.
"You know what you are doing's not right, transferee." She almost had a heart attacked when she heard someone spoke from the door.
When she looked back, it was JeMair. "I'm not...It's not what you think." She tried reasoning.
JeMair sighed and slowly walked towards her with his usual serious expression. "You shouldn't be doing that." She prepared for whatever's about to happen. "Here."
Nhissie's face was filled with confusion when JeMair handed her a lunchbox when she was expecting something violent was coming to her. She stared at it then back at JeMair's still serious face.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her eyebrows almost becoming one.
"If you don't have money to buy lunch, I'll buy it for you every day. Just don't steal from our classmates...no, don't steal from anyone." He said, Nhissie jaw dropped.
Did he really think she was trying to steal from them? "It's not what you think-"
"Just take it. I will buy you one again tomorrow. So, stop what you're doing, it won't bring you any good." After saying that, he placed the lunch box down the table and turned his back against her.
Nhissie could only sigh but she's also relieved. At least he didn't suspect her of anything aside from having no money and stealing. That's better than finding out what her real purpose is.