Raven's POV
After making sure the door to Sparrow's tree house was latched, Raven turned to face the group that had gathered here.
All of the Rebel students were there, along with some "aspiring Rebels": Dexter, Darling, Maddie, Rosabella and even Ashlynn.
Right after the incident at the Commoner's Common Room, Raven sent out a mass hext message to the Rebels telling thy that they needed to meet somewhere without any mirrors SAT. Sparrow volunteered his tree house and Hunter asked to bring Ashlynn along since 1) she could give insight to Apple's thought process, and 2) she was basically a Rebel herself at this point.
Raven takes a deep breath, "I am sure you are all wondering why you are all here: I know by this point, everyone has noticed that Apple White has been very... uhhh.."
"Overbearing?" Ramona offered with a raised eyebrow.
"Controlling." Cerise deadpanned.
"Really weird towards you, the other Rebels and any Royal who might even be thinking thoughts of switching sides?" Rosabella pointed out.
"Obsessed with the Royal philosophy to the point where even her closest friends are starting to worry for her mental health and stability?" Ashlynn volunteered.
"Ah, so I am not the only one who has noticed," Raven thought, feeling a little bit better that she is not the only one who has noticed Apple's escalating behavior.
"Y-Yes," Raven continued, a bit more confident now that she knows she is not imagining things, "Apple's behavior has been very concerning lately. But, recently - or, well, I kind of knew about this, but forgot about it is the stress of - well uh.." Raven took a deep breath. Everyone was looking at her. Waiting. "They needed to know. This wasn't right." She looked at her oldest friends faces, their expressions ranging from worried to encouraging. To the "aspiring Rebels", looking for guidance. To Dexter's gentle smile and reassuring eyes. Raven finally found the words.
"Apple White has access to the school's security mirrors and has been using them to spy on me, and probably others. I - I am not sure who else she could be watching, but she definitely has been watching me."
Everybody's faces went white as snow, even the "aspiring Rebels" who knew this was coming.
"What.." Cedar asked, her wooden face creaking loudly as her expression goes from encouraging to absolutely horrified.
"Raven," Cerise chimed in gently, "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
She knew this question was coming, but it still felt like someone was pulling the one loose string that threatened to completely unravel her like poorly made dress or scarf.
"I... I wasn't sure anyone would believe me.. At least, no one that could do something.." Raven felt shame burn through her like hot embers as she admitted this. "I didn't even think Giles could do anything since most of the teachers and staff are Royal-aligned and I was sure that Milton would have found some loophole to exploit and because Apple's family and story is so influential I didn't think anyone would take me seriously and I didn't want to worry anyone else and -"
Raven was cut off by Cerise hug-tackling her from the front while Ramona hugged her from behind. Cedar, Hunter, Ginger, Melody and Sparrow quickly joined them and Raven felt her heartbeat and breath finally slow down. She didn't even realize how fast she was breathing or talking.
The group hug soon broke up, but it was just what Raven needed to ground herself. "Thanks guys," she told her friends, before turning to the "aspiring Rebels", "Sorry about that."
"A bird does not need to retrieve its fallen feathers," Maddie chirped out with a smile.
"What?" Raven asked, a smile slowly creeping up onto her face.
"Its Riddlish," Darling supplied, "she basically said 'you have nothing to apologize for', which she is correct." The others nod at this, but Raven notices both Dexter and Ashlynn have serious expressions on their faces.
Hunter noticed this too, "Ash? Dex? You guys okay?"
Dexter bits his lip and runs a hand through his cocoa-brown hair, "I feel like this could have been avoided if I raise the alarm on Apple being given access sooner," he admitted.
Hunter blinks in surprise and Sparrow narrows his eyes at the prince, "You knew about Apple being given access to the security system first?" The guitarist asks with an edge to his voice.
Dexter flinches and does not meet anyone's eyes, "I was there when Humphrey logged Apple in. I went to tell Raven immediately after, but I was not sure anyone but her would believe me since... well.." He pauses, looks up for the briefest of moments and meets Raven's eyes, before looking back down and continuing, "No one really pays me much mind. I'm the second son, and I'm not particularly skilled at much - at least compared to Daring - and it's like Raven said, Apple's family is so influential that they would probably just give her a slap on the wrist if that - or they would flat out not believe me and say I'm making it up and just punish me."
Raven was shocked to hear this! She could not believe that anyone would not believe Dexter! Then again, he was right about Apple's position within the social hierarchy...
"The important thing is," Rosabella jumps in, "That we need to alert the staff - and especially Giles Grimm about this. There is no reason for a student to be given access to the school security system - regardless of their or their family's position."
Everyone agrees with this. Rosabella then continues, looking at Dexter with eyes bright with focus, "Dexter, did Apple say that she had both Headmasters' permission, or did she just say 'Headmaster Grimm' without any distinction?"
"Does that even matter?" Ramona growled, "She still somehow got access! Besides, it is clear that it was only Milton Grimm giving her access because there is no way in hex that Giles gave her permission!"
"It does," Rosabella said firmly as she made jotted down notes on a piece of parchment, "As you just said, there is no way that Headmaster Giles Grimm willingly gave her access, so this means that she either lied about having full permission or she and Prince Humphrey Dumpty were mislead that they had the backing of both Headmasters."
Dexter got a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to think back, "I think... I don't think Apple said specifically that both Headmasters gave her permission. But I do distinctively remember Humphrey assuming that she had permission from both."
Rosabella's eye light up when she heard this, "Do you have any idea why Humphrey thought that?"
"Because she had a permission slip stating that she did," Dexter said.
This gave Raven pause. "Wait, so there is a piece of paper that says that Apple had permission from both Headmasters."
Realization dawned in Dexter's eyes, "...Yes."
The tree house fell silent.
"We need to get that permission slip," Darling said.
"How?" Ginger asked, her hands gripping the front of her sweatshirt like she was kneading dough, "Would Humphrey be willing to just hand it over? Isn't he a Royal?"
"Leave that to me," Dexter said, his voice sounding the most steady since this whole ordeal came to light.
"You sure?" Raven asked. She did not want to put Dexter in a rough position.
Dexter locked eyes with her and nodded, "Humphrey and I are friends and I am sure that I can either convince him to let me 'borrow' the form, or just outright steal it from him if I have too. Hopefully it will not come to that, but I can do if it does."
Raven nodded at him, giving him a grateful smile, "Thank you, Dexter."
"In the meantime," Rosabella was furiously flipping through note and scribbling stuff down on notebook parchment, "We need to come up with a plan of attack. We need to find a way to present this to Headmaster Giles Grimm and other teachers - not just Rebels ones - to tell them what Apple has been doing."
"Do you think she will be punished for this?" Ashlynn asked. She did not look or sound particularly worried or upset by the possibility.
"That might depend on what evidence we can find against her," Rosabella informed her.
"She should be punished!" Sparrow shouted, "She shouldn't get off with just a slap on the wrist just because she is a Royal! If any of us did something like that, we would be kicked out of school faster than blowing down a house of straw!"
Everyone nodded, murmuring in agreement - even Darling and Ashlynn.
Dexter must have noticed Raven's look of surprise, because he went over to her and said, "Apple may be driven, but she does not always think her plans through. I think this has been coming to her for a long time now. At least we have a plan."
Raven nodded, but did not feel much triumph. She could not help but wonder what else could happen?