"If only you could see what's in my mind
Then maybe you'll know why I'm never fine
Can someone be proud of who I am and what I've become."
~ If Only by Caroline Dare
And so, the ROP's first extended meeting was held with Daniel being chiefly in charge.
Emma's job was to hack into the school wifi system and find out what happened to Adalynn's laptop. Jackie's job was to keep tabs on the school cameras in the basement. Daniel, who was the closest to Judy out of them all, was to shadow his mother and find out as many details as he could. Alex and Adalynn were to investigate Eric. Hayley and Leo were to keep a close eye on Jason and find out as much information as they could about Marcus. They had already linked up Marcus, Judy and Jason ... now they just had to find where Ryan and Eric fit into the puzzle. They already knew that Judy was a co-worker of Ryan's and that Marcus knew Ryan from when she was a teenager at the Academy and obviously, if Eric was Mr Woods' best friend, he'd know Ryan ... but what about Jason? What was his deal? Was he just being payed to play along with everything or was he just a pawn, being Judy's eyes and ears?
That's what the ROP had to find out.
Their second job was to discover what happened to Brooke. As they looked through the thick volume that Daniel had produced from the library, Hayley chanced upon the chapter, 'The Process of Dehypnotision'. However, when she turned to the page number in the book, she was horrified to see that the entire chapter had been ripped out.
"No doubt Marcus has it with him ... unless he's destroyed it," Daniel said glumly.
"Can't we just look it up?" Jackie asked.
"No. They could've bugged our computer systems, especially if they've got their hands on Adi's laptop," Emma disagreed as she shook her head. "It's too risky. We need to find that missing chapter manually and we need to find it soon. But NO going on the web to search for it, got it?"
"Whose 'they'?" Adalynn demanded desperately. "Who the hell are we up against?"
"I dunno, but it's getting pretty frickin' serious," Daniel grumbled.
As they dispersed and prepared to gather info for the next meeting on the morrow, Adalynn hurried to catch up with Hayley.
"Hey," she called out as she fell into step beside her.
"Hey," Hayley replied.
"W-why are you helping us? You - you're not mad at me?"
Hayley swallowed before replying, "At first I was ... but - but then I realised that you and Jackie were very brave to keep looking into this. You're trying to help me and my family! I didn't see it like that up until now but I just wanted to thank you and say that I'm sorry for being such a jerk."
Adalynn mouth curved into a wide smile. "You're welcome, Hayley. Anytime."
Hayley shook her head and chuckled. "It's about time to figure out what really happened to that Athena spacecraft and - and to Mum. I refuse to rest until it's sorted out. Now, I in turn, have been meaning to ask you a question. I - I hope you won't be annoyed at me."
"What is it?" Adalynn frowned.
Hayley stopped and turned to look at her. "It's about Ethan."
Adalynn drew back. "I - I really don't wanna talk about him."
"Look, I know you don't, but Daniel was talking to me earlier and he's convinced that things are not what they seem! Ethan's hiding something - something big - that's for sure, but you shouldn't entertain the thought that he's working for Judy for even one second! It's not possible. He - he's not like that. He's too nice."
"Hayley, you don't know that."
"Geez, fine, I know, okay? I - I just think you should give him another chance."
"Another chance to do what?"
"To be your friend, Ad. I think he likes you, but you won't let him near you."
"Oh my god, Hayley, that's NOT true! He hates me! And besides, he's the one whose been avoiding me!"
Hayley sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "I give up. Poor bloke. He's so good-looking too."
Adalynn playfully hit her in the shoulder. "Whatever."
However, as the days dragged on and on and the ROP found nothing new, their hopes at finding out what happened, to both Ryan and to Brooke, began to fade.
Then, Adalynn was struck with an idea. It was a stupid one, but one worth trying out. What if Marcus had left the 'dehypnotision' chapter in his office before he left? After class, she secured Daniel's key. It was the captain's key and could unlock any door in the entire school. Daniel had forgotten to return it to Louis once he'd stepped down from being captain. Since the Eagle's election for a new captain was still ongoing, the ROP would be safe with the key for a while.
Daniel, Hayley and Adalynn used the key to get into Marcus' old office. It was completely cleaned out and in the process of being redecorated for the new grounds' keeper. However, there was a filing cabinet still stacked with papers and books on the far wall. Marcus obviously hadn't had the room or the time to take any of the stuff with him. Adalynn and Daniel went through everything in the cabinet while Hayley stayed on look-out.
Ten minutes later and they still hadn't found anything. Daniel was beginning to get discouraged. "This is useless!" he exclaimed, throwing down a stack of papers and hitting his forehead in frustration.
"Oi, be quiet!" Hayley hissed from the doorway.
"It's okay, Daniel, we'll find it," Adalynn assured him as she tugged open the last remaining cabinet drawer that they hadn't searched through.
"If it isn't in there ..." Daniel sighed and ran his fingers nervously through his hair.
Adalynn shook her head and held a finger to her lips as she riffled through the things that were stuffed inside. Suddenly, her eyes widened in triumph. Gathering a bunch of yellowed torn pages, she held them up in the air and gave an excited whoop. "I found it! It's the missing chapter!"
"Yes!" Daniel snatched the papers off her and glanced hurriedly through them. Then, he rolled his eyes. "Marcus is so dumb. Why would he leave it in here?"
Adalynn shrugged. "Who knows? C'mon, let's get out of here before someone finds us."
The trio returned to the biology lab later that afternoon with the missing chapter. They carefully read through it.
"The subject test is to be calm and have familiar objects around them," Hayley read through it out-loud. "What does Brooke like? Daniel?"
Daniel's brow puckered in thought. "Oh, I know. Oreo. It's her favourite teddy bear."
"Brooke has a teddy bear?" Adalynn choked down a laugh.
"Yeah. It's in Louis' office. I'll stop by later and get it."
"Anything else?" Hayley prompted him.
"She likes massages."
"Whoa, okay, WAY too much information," Jackie cut in.
"Look, it says here that we also need a hypnotic spiral," Hayley continued.
"Really?" Daniel asked incredulously, his eyebrows raised. "I thought that stuff was only used in old sci-fi movies. Where are we gonna find one?"
"I know," Emma spoke up. "Me."
Everyone turned to look at her in disbelief. "You?"
"Yeah, I can make one. Jackie and I can do it down in the basement so no one will hear us."
"Okay," Hayley returned with a shrug. "Fine. But you better make it quick."
Emma nodded. "I'll start now. It won't take long. C'mon Jackie."
As Emma and Jackie hurried out of the room, Adalynn turned to Daniel, "Okay, you get Oreo and whatever else you can think of that Brooke's fond of and I'll help you set up the biology lab for her. When Emma and Jackie finish making the spiral, then we can call Brooke in and began the process."
Daniel gulped. "Are - are we sure this is gonna work?"
"I'm positive," Adalynn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Let's go."
The ROP quickly dispersed, agreeing to meet back in the lab in an hour. As Adalynn walked down the hallway, Daniel by her side, they were hailed by Jackie's panicked voice, "Guys! Wait up! It's urgent."
They both turned around. "W-what is it, Jackie?" Adalynn asked as the blonde rushed up to them.
Jackie stumbled to a breathless stop, holding her side. "I - I have a stitch, geez ..." she wheezed.
"Calm down, alright?" Daniel grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. "What's wrong?"
"It's - it's Emma," Jackie said, tears trembling in her eyes. "Jason caught her taking some items from the storage cupboard. He - he said he's gonna expel her!"
~~~~
Gif: Emma! I love her hair, don't you?
A/N: OHH NOO!! Without Emma, can the ROP make the hypnotic spiral that they need to dehypnotise Brooke? Will they find a connection between Ryan and Jason? Will Brooke ever be the same girl again? And what Emma? Why would Jason expel her just for finding her in the storage cupboard? And why would Marcus be so careless as to leave the missing chapter behind? Please comment your opinions below, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks so much for reading. Have a great day! xx