Oakstone Academy did not have a new principal yet.
They had not managed to find someone to replace Mr. McCartney, especially as news traveled through the school community about him and Reese. Most teachers wanted to stay away from Oakstone rather than flocking towards the school. Mrs. Gouges was the current acting principal. She welcomed the two couples back on campus when they arrived. Her smile was too tight. This time, Magenta's mother was there too to drop Magenta off.
"Magenta, Blue, Shelby, Jasper, and your lovely parents. Welcome back. We at Oakstone want to assure you that we are completely committed to your safety and protection."
Mrs. Gouges said there were new measures in effect, such as security cameras and reinforced guards around campus. She walked them through the new measures to make sure they were aware. They were doing it for the press and reputation as well, because wherever they went the school secretariat and one other person followed with a notepad and camera.
They kept snapping and writing down things and talking in what they thought were whispers but everyone could hear them.
"Acting principal welcomes students back on campus with a walk-through of the campus amendments. Four students were previously involved in the case with Reese McCartney. Seemingly calm, happy to be back."
"Well, I'll let you settle back into your dorms. Please be reminded we have tryouts for the Winter sports day tonight. Blue, I imagine you'd like to join." Mrs. Gouges tipped her hand towards Blue.
Blue nodded and he volunteered his girlfriend too.
"Magenta will join too," he said.
Magenta said, "Huh, I will?"
Shelby nodded and she said, "Yes. Magenta will be joining."
She elbowed Jasper who agreed, clearing his throat.
As Mrs. Gouges left to go do her other regular duties, Magenta bopped her friends on the head.
"Hey! Why am I the recruit?" Magenta said.
"Because you're good at running," Blue said.
"Running away from Blue," Shelby added.
There was a cloud in the sky bent into a smiley face shape, and the sun shone down, the light rays pushing against the quartet's shadows.
"I guess we've got to see that in action to know," Jasper said.
"Race you to the dorms!" Magenta hooted, tagging Blue with one hand before she sprinted off.
Blue said, "Cheeky!" and then he dashed after her, his feet gaining speed.
Shelby and Jasper strolled casually behind, watching their best friends enjoy themselves on a sunny November afternoon.
The tryouts were quite intense. All those trained muscular people were there from Oakstone. There were 100m, 200m, 500m, 1000m sprints, and other athletics sports such as shot put, discus, high jump, javelin, and long jump.
Each sport was a specialty in itself. Magenta's favorites were the 200m sprint and shot put. A shot put was a heavy metal ball, thrown as far as possible within the boundary lines. Magenta usually didn't do tryouts, but Blue encouraging her gave her a newfound sense of bravery.
She waited for her turn, standing on the side. A senior student came up to make small talk.
"Hi, Magenta. It's me, Tabitha from the class above. I just want to thank you for what you did about Reese. I'm not on his list. But he was mean to me last year when we were doing a project together. He made me do everything on my own, and blackmailed me into not telling anyone." Tabitha looked close to tears as she recounted the past.
Magenta said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Tabitha. Just know that I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to. And I'm glad that you are safe now."
Tabitha nodded and she asked, "I heard you had to go off campus for a month or so?"
"Yeah, I did go home with my friends who were directly involved. it was to protect us while we waited for the case results."
"That's crazy...so what happened if you don't mind me asking?" Tabitha shuffled her weight from one foot to the other.
Magenta opened her mouth and shared with Tabitha the events that transpired in the past months. It felt like a long time ago and yet just like yesterday. Magenta realized in the process that there were lots of things she hadn't processed fully yet.
Suddenly, one of those metal balls whizzed close to where Magenta stood. She backed away, looking around for signs of who threw the shot and put the ball at her. She couldn't see anyone, but the coach looked towards the bushes near the field.
"Hey! Who did that?" The coach demanded the person in the bushes to confess.
He darted to the bushes to check. And while the coach in charge was gone, chaos ensued.
Two girls started pulling each other's hair, fighting about their two-timing boyfriend.
"Jeffrey is mine!"
"No, he's mine!"
"You're so ugly why would he like you!"
"No, that's you!"
Someone throwing their shot hit Tabitha who collected a ball from the end of the throwing range. Tabitha's forehead bruised and bled and she wailed in pain. Magenta gasped, her hands outstretched as she was supposed to be next in line. Another staff member heard all the noise and came running. They had to call an ambulance to get the poor girl to the hospital, and yet another staff member came to separate the two catfighting girls.
Tabitha sprawled on the stretcher, her eyes fluttering open before closing. Magenta covered her mouth, horrified. She had just been talking to Tabitha. This place was not as safe as advertised by the acting principal and the rest of the staff on campus.
The sky, which had been sunny, morphed into a cloudy and gray color. Rain thundered down over all the field, soaking everybody's skin. For a moment Magenta reveled in the rain, loving the feel of it on her skin. But then the rain turned into hard chunks.
"It's a hailstorm! Run!" Blue grabbed her hand and they went back to the dorm buildings. Everyone practicing stopped, and the whole field became like a messy stampede. People were scrambling over each other to leave the field. Large chunks fell over the ground, some chips of ice hitting people's shoulders.
Some dorm rooms were flooding, and Magenta's room was one of them.
"Ah!" Magenta tried to get her things out of the room. It was like that spoken game, "if your house was on fire what three items would you take with you?"
Magenta could only bring her bag, containing her school books and money. Above Magenta's head, one of the tube lights flickered on and off, and that worried her immensely. As if confirming her worries, one of the hinges holding the light in place cracked as the water kept flooding in through the ceiling, and now the light hung right above Magenta's head.
Magenta ran out the door, shouting for everyone to get out. The emergency alarm rang, and over the PA speakers, Mrs. Gouges could be heard directing everyone to follow fire alarm procedures.
"Please stay calm. Follow your classmates and dorm parents to the sanctuary hall and then find your homeroom teacher."
Blue pressed his hoodie onto Magenta's hands as they passed each other. He hugged her briefly, and when they separated, he touched her lips softly.
"Mag, your lips are blue," Blue said, worried she might catch cold or worse hypothermia. He helped her wear his hoodie, hugging her close.
"Yeah-I-feel-cold," Magenta's teeth chattered.
The staff provided as many towels and blankets to the students in the hall as they huddled close for body warmth. Then they told all the students to stand by class so they could count off and make sure everyone was present. As the teachers were ticking everyone off, Jasper ran in front of them.
"Guys, Shelby's not here!" Jasper panicked.
Magenta couldn't stop shivering. She was in no condition to go look for Shelby, but she tried to stand up anyways.
"We-need-to-look-for-her!" Magenta drew slow breaths as she tried to speak clearly.
"No," Blue interrupted.
"Jasper can go, he'll tell one of the teachers. We'll find Shelby okay? But you can't go outside like this now," Blue said. Magenta lay against Blue, unable to argue anymore, accepting and trusting that Jasper would find Shelby.
--
"I knew it." Shelby passed by the bushes on her way to get a snack from downtown and saw the twins causing havoc. The girl looked behind, sensing Shelby. Then the twins ran off. Shelby chased after them before the coach could appear and find anyone to berate.
They ran down the driveway through the forest-like area with a precise speed, as if they knew exactly where to go. They were fast, but Shelby was fast too. She managed to catch up with the twins. She saw them squeeze past a tweezed opening in the wired fence between campus and the surrounding garden. Thankfully Shelby's flexible body helped her get past the little opening too.
Then the hail started, and Shelby couldn't see where the twins went. Covering her head, Shelby pondered whether she should go back to campus to make sure everyone else was okay. But she decided this needed to end.
How could she be so stupid to forget that these twins had been involved too? That when everything happened with Reese, there had been people who carried her and Magenta off? There must have been someone else working with Reese...but who?
Shelby shuddered to think that this narrative was still unraveling. She wanted all of this to end so she could enjoy the rest of junior year. But no, fate had other plans. The twins baited Shelby into following them into town. Shelby got into a taxi and directed the driver to go where the twins ran. Shelby tried to find clues with her eyes as the taxi passed by a bunch of places in town. But it was a wild goose chase.
Shelby couldn't see where the twins ran off to, and now the hail was pouring down over the town. The hail got so bad that they had to stop for a good twenty minutes. Finally, she told the taxi to go back up to campus.
But when she arrived back on campus, there was no sign of anyone on campus. Shelby assumed there would have been some kind of emergency, so she decided to find her way to the sanctuary hall. She paid the driver and got out of the taxi.
Just then, another black taxi with windows blurred came up the driveway, passing Shelby.
The window rolled down, and Spider Wells grinned at her from inside the taxi before the window rolled up again.
Shelby shrieked, rubbing her eyes.
Had she imagined it?
Spider Wells? Back in town?
Wasn't he at a correctional institution? What was going on?
Shelby reached the sanctuary hall to see everyone on campus within the hall. Jasper collided with her, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe.
"Hey, what's going on?" Shelby asked.
"Where did you go? I was worried sick looking for you...Magenta is over there with Blue freezing her butt off," Jasper said.
Shelby apologized, "I'm sorry Jas. But you'll never believe what just happened..."
Magenta croaked, pointing as she saw her best friend. Blue carried Magenta bridal style to where Shelby was. Blue set Magenta on her feet, so she could stand properly, but she still leaned into Blue to depend on his strength.
"Where-" Magenta tried to ask but failed, coughing.
"Don't try to talk too much," Blue told her off, handing her water to drink.
Just then the doors to the sanctuary hall opened with a bang. A policeman entered, leading someone else into the hall. Another policeman walked behind, sandwiching the person in between them.
Magenta could have fainted when she saw who the person was.
Spider Wells stood there, handcuffed but smiling innocence written on his face.
"Hello everyone." Spider said.