Brandon? Why is he here?
"Listen, bro," Evan starts speaking, his voice laced with contempt. "No offence, but this is kind of a matter you have no relation with and I really don't see why you should be here."
I quickly wipe my the tears off my face with the short polyester sleeves and look away. He should not see me crying. I look ugly when I cry.
I hear Brandon stepping inside the room. "No offence bro, but I'm kind of the ruler here. I'm the student president, and I lead you all. So, I have a relation with whatever event that happens to my followers."
Brandon asks the students to stop surrounding me and stands in front of the table. Beside me. He studies the photos for a while and frowns. "Sir, how could you say that the cup Jennifer's holding is Aiden's?"
"How could you not say that the cup is his?" Bennett argues. Brandon smiles and nods. "Valid point."
He turns and looks at me. I try not to tremble under his strong gaze and look away. "Are you sure, Miss Jennifer, that you didn't play any part in the drugging of Aiden?"
I try to regain my composure and answer in my usual haughty tone. But my voice comes out as if I'm trying very hard to hold back my tears. "No, I did not."
"Look at me when you're answering, Miss Jennifer."
I flinch at his hard tone. Try to be a little sympathetic, Brandon. I've already suffered much. "No, I did not play any part in the drugging of Aiden."
He keeps looking at me, probably trying to decipher the emotions in my eyes. I stare at him too; I'm not looking away until he does. His eyes are not deep blue, I notice. They're dark grey with flecks of blue in them. Didn't see such kind of eyes before. Kind of, hypnotising, if you look into them for too long.
He breaks eye contact, looking towards the doorway and calls the other guy inside. This guy is slightly shorter than Brandon, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a Rolex watch. "Sir, this is Julian. His mother is in the police, the commissioner."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Bennett says dismissively and glares at him. "Are you trying to threaten me, Mr. Lancaster?"
Brandon laughs and shakes his head. If I wouldn't have been trapped in such a goddamn situation, I would've swooned at Brandon's clear laughter. But not now.
"Sir, what I'm merely saying is, you still don't have enough evidence against Jennifer to prove her guilty. These photographs won't work if a lawsuit is filed against you. So, why don't we take the fingerprints off the Benzodiazepine jar and get them identified? In that way, you'd have a much stronger evidence against her."
Finger-print identification! Why hadn't I thought of that?
Bennett clears his throat. "Uh, look here. This finger-printing has gone too far, you see? Why make a mountain out of a molehill?"
"Fingerprinting isn't necessary!" Anita cuts in. I hear a bit of urgency in her voice, that bitch, that lying backstabber, that Judas.
I cannot believe she would do such a thing to me. After all that I did for her? I picked her up from the rejects, befriended her and made her into the most sought-after hot sub-queen. And this is what she does to me? "We already know who the culprit is. Why go to so much trouble just for the sake of-"
Brandon coughs and looks at Anita steely. "I did not ask you to speak, Miss Gupta. Only speak when you're spoken to."
"Hey! Watch that tone when you're speaking to her!" Isaac growls. Brandon ignores him and turns to Bennett. "I want to have a word with Jennifer in private. May I, sir?"
In private? Holy. Shit.
Bennett reluctantly gives him the permission and Brandon motions me to follow him, which I do, until we're out of the room.
"How sure are you that Anita is the one who drugged Aiden?" Brandon asks, taking out his phone.
How the hell does he know that?
"Cent percent." I reply confidently.
He looks at me and snaps, "You better be. I don't want to be embarrassed in front of everyone at the police station."
Wait what? "We're actually going to the police station?"
"Obviously."
"I thought... that was a threat."
Brandon smirks. This boy smirks too? He looks so-
Focus, Jen.
Still smirking, Brandon mouths, "I can guarantee you that Anita is overhearing this."
"From this distance?" I whisper almost inaudibly, not believing.
Brandon nods. "There are many things you don't know about her yet." He whispers and enters the room, leaving me dumbfounded. What is he, the FBI?
I enter the room too, feeling several pairs of eyes boring holes into my back. I stand where I was standing earlier and hear Brandon speak.
"-don't worry, they won't charge us anything." Brandon says, as Bennett shakes his head, too tired to argue. "Julian's mom would be more than happy to help us, wouldn't she, Julian?"
"Of course." Julian chirps.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of arguing, Bennett agrees, sighing. Brandon turns to our group and smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry, but you all have to accompany us to the police station, to match your fingerprint with the one on the jar. It would take just about twenty minutes, tops."
I see the guys refusing, muttering about being so tired after such a long day. The girls whine about wanting to go home and rest. Come on, you guys. Don't you wanna know who's the real culprit of your gang leader, Aiden?
"Okay fine then. The guys won't have to go. It'll be just the girls." Julian offers.
"We don't want to go and you can't force us." Anita says.
"I wouldn't mind going there," Stephanie says suddenly, after such a long silence. "I still think.. that Jennifer isn't guilty."
I look at her and smile gratefully. It feels blessed to have one supporter, amidst so many haters. She doesn't return my smile and looks away.
"Look," Brandon says. "Guilty or not, if Jennifer's fingerprint matches, she would be even going to jail for a short while. Don't you think she deserves it?"
Wow.
Lana nods, glaring fiercely at me. The guys start to nod too.
"Wait," Anita interrupts. "Going to jail? That's too much, isn't it?"
"No it isn't," Isaac barks. "You maybe her best friend, An, but she deserves this."
"But that's too much!" Anita exclaims. "She should be given a much lesser punishment, like getting rusticated.
"No, Anita," Nathan shakes his head. "Aiden is like our brother. And to think that someone will escape almost killing him is nonsense."
Brandon look at me and mouths, See what's happening?
I nod and look at Anita. Brandon is a fucking genius.
"Why are you so defensive of a culprit?" Stephanie asks, exasperated.
"She's my friend," Anita says, her voice trembling. "I care for her."
"Oh goddammit." Evan mutters. "Such emotional crap."
"We're going to the police station now." Isaac says and looks at Brandon. "She's too emotional. Just ignore her."
Brandon nods and digs into his pockets. "Then shall we go?"
"No!" Anita says, whimpering. "I don't want to go to jail!"
Finally.
Anita flops on the floor and starts crying. She curls herself into a tight ball and sobs. "I don't wanna go to jail! I was just jealous of Jennifer's popularity and her 'Queen' title. I thought, a little infamy will set her back, or like, get her rusticated or something, so that I could be in the spotlight. I didn't know that it would nearly kill Aiden. I'm so sorry, I didn't want this to go so far."
Everyone in the room is stunned into silence. And they should be. Anita didn't just try to harm the gang leader, she backstabbed his girl too. Which is the worst thing one could ever do, being a member of the gang.
Anita then tells the entire story of me being set up in a perfect fool-proof plan- from the beginning to the end. Isaac storms out of the room, fuming. Evan and Nathan follow.
Wearily, Bennett says, "Place a call to the Guptas', Henderson. I feel like I'm in some TV drama."
I close my eyes and smile in relief. I'm glad it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. All because of Brandon. I turn to thank him, but I find empty air. Brandon's gone.