Confidential Scheme 1

Chloe's POV "We arrived, Ma'am." A little confused, I stare blankly outside of the car's window to see what is he talking about. And we are really in here. "Ma'am? Is there a problem? If you want, then we could just-" I cut him shortly. "No, I just feel a little bit dizzy, but I'm okay." "Are you sure? We could just tell h-" "Look, I am really fine, you may go and kindly tell him that I don't need a ride for tomorrow," I said reassuringly to convince him. He was about to say something but he decided not to. They didn't have to pay someone to guard me like a baby whose ignorant about the things in the world. I am not a child anymore. I can handle all of this by myself. Disregarding my thoughts, I walk with a bunch of students wearing the same uniform as mine. I can tell in their faces that they're as unenthusiastic as me. I didn't know that there's actually a lot of students go in here. This university seems chary to me. By chary, what I mean is when it comes to competitions, sports and other activities, I've never heard this university being included at all. It may sound weird but it's a fact. Nevertheless, it still managed to be one of the most popular university here in the Philippines. The demand is too high that I didn't think about the school's student population at all. I headed to the comfort room just to stare at my reflection on the mirror. Ugh! I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated not because of how I look like but because of what's happening right now. Didn't even have enough time to recover yet and process everything that happened last school year and now here I am, about to do another challenges. Walking towards the gymnasium isn't that hard but it seemed not easy for me today. They will be announcing something, probably about the guidelines and/or the rules and regulations in the university. That's what schools here in my country usually do. They will pull off a meeting regarding the protocols but in the end, it's just useless. You can literally count those who obey the rules. At last, I arrived. I found a seat on the middle-top left corner where I am now heading in to. We all waited for a minute or two when a tall guy, approximately 6'0 ft. walks towards the south left corner of the stage in front of us. I can say that many of students here recognized who he is. I stare at him for another second then unexpectedly put his eyes on me. I cut my gaze and put it elsewhere. Based on my peripheral vision, the guy did the same. What a relief! He was followed by a bespectacled girl who just stood on the opposite side of the stage where he's standing right now. Then a man probably on his mid-'30s walks towards the center of the stage while holding a mic on his right hand. "Good morning, students of Hyeoncion University!" Applause from every side of the gymnasium increased. "We're so happy to see your precious faces personally. As a matter of fact, we waited for the opening of face-to-face classes to continue the university's good reputation here in our country. We are aware that some of you didn't wanna go to their respective classes yet, but trust me, this year is going to be different. To all of those newcomers, prepare yourself for a challenging yet enthusiastic activities. But before all of that, we'd like to take it easy for all of you." He stopped a second or two before continuing, "We didn't have the chance to do this last year due to distance learning . For your first task, you have to decipher a code." Murmurs from each side of the gymnasium starts occuring. I didn't expect this. I thought they would just remind us about the school's protocols but what is this? "I see," he said while nodding his head. "Some of you don't know what I'm talking about but this is the university's habit to execute something, especially that you made it in here." "Regarding the task, there's an envelope glued under where you're sitting right now." Just like the others students, I grasp under the chair and removed the square thingy from being glued. A small peach envelope as it appears. "Inside of it is the code that you'll need to decipher. Here's the catch, you'll need to do it during your class hours. The code will reveal the place where you need to go after deciphering it." "Sir, is there a prize?" random girl from the bleachers asked. "Yes, 50 pesos." 'WTF expression' is now visible on the faces of students here. Another wave of murmurs arose inside the gymnasium. "Anymore questions? None? Okay, then I will call it a day. Go forth and enjoy your day! Remember, the tones will bring you the key." _______________________________________ We spent hours on introducing ourselves and sharing our ambitions in life. Most of the teachers encourage us to join clubs. It is not mandatory to join a club, but additional points will be given to students who will participate. Professor of the last period can't make it today due to an emergency. I remember the envelope so I took it outside of my bag's pocket to see whatever is inside. It goes along with a paper with lots of repetitive numbers printed on it. 6-999-666-333-333-444-222-33 Must be the code. I have only less than an hour left to decipher this but honestly, I don't consider deciphering this. I don't even know the process of deciphering a code. If i recall, the teacher didn't even gave us a clue earlier about this. Also, I don't wanna waste my time for 50 pesos. I wonder, why would they give this kind of activity for the prize of 50 pesos? I'm not saying that they should make the prize higher but didn't they entertain the thought of students not gonna spend their efforts deciphering a code for such a low prize? Considering that most of the students here are quite well-off. What exactly is their objective? My thoughts came to an end when I felt something vibrated in my bag . I took out my phone to see who is calling. I almost puked when I saw the name of the caller. Why is he calling me? Out of all people he's the one who is less likely to call me. This never happens.... until now. I don't want to answer this and If ever, I have a great excuse as to why I can't answer his calls. 4 miss calls. Why would he? Could it be an emergency? But if this is an emergency, Lucy and others will be the first one to call me instead of him. Knowing him, no matter how serious it is, he will for sure command someone to get to me. I really doubt it is an emergency but I badly want to make sure that it isn't. I clicked the keypad app to dial Lucy's number. My fingers stopped tapping when I remembered something. "Remember, the tones will bring you to the key" Tones? Key? I take out the paper inside of the envelope once again, to examine the group of numbers. Holding my pen out, I write every letters I get from deciphering the code. I don't know if this will make any sense but I don't care, I want to try this. I spent a minute or two doing the thing then... I was stunned after I read what was written on the paper.