THE JOURNAL

THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS

They all look at Maddy in surprise. She continues reading the journal out loud to them and the more she read, the more questions they had

"this is crazy"Zoey whispered,"do you really think it's true'

"I don't know but we have to find out" Katy says

"it might be dangerous "Maddy says

"well Jake wrote a journal about a murder and ran away from home, don't you think it's weird?". Katy asks,"besides it's our senior year" she added smiling

" well if we're going to investigate we have to work together, all of us" Belly says looking at Addison and Maddy

"fine" Addison says

They decided to find out more about the death of Jake's brother, Jamie. They searched online, went through newspapers and managed to get their hands on some school records

As they dug deeper, they discovered that two years ago some rumors had circulated around the school that Jamie's death was more than it seemed but it all died down quickly

They decided to pay a visit to Billy Hayes, the student who was accused of murdering Jamie hoping to get to the bottom of the story

The next day when school was over, they all met in the parking lot. They were going in Katy's car because she's the only one who knew how to drive and had her driver's license. As they get closer to his house,they couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness. What would they find out? And what would happen if they got too close to the truth?

When they arrived at at house, Billy answered the door."hi, we're looking for Billy Hayes"Danielle says

"well you found him"Billy says

"do u think we could come in"Danielle asks."yeah, sure" Billy says letting them in

"um......we were hoping to talk to you about Jamie Clark"Danielle says. Suddenly Billy's mood changed and his face turned pale "what makes you want to find out about him?"Billy asks

"well we found......."Katy was about to tell him about the journal but was interrupted by Maddy " we found out Jake Clark, Jamie's younger brother, ran away from home and we think it might be because of his brother, he talked about it a lot this year, I think something reminded him of his brother. I'm his girlfriend, Jake's girlfriend, Maddy "

Billy sits down facing them and sighs heavily."" I think the school is hiding something"he says quietly,"I think they know more than they're letting on. And I think that's why..... that's why things have been hard for me since then"

They all looked at each other.

Addison gulped "since when?" she asked with mixed emotions in her voice

"since Jamie's murder"Billy says

"murder?"Belly asks

"they said I killed him and I know I didn't do it, so it's definitely murder. Even when the cops found no evidence they still blamed me, it was like they wanted the blame to be on somebody....,anybody and I was the scapegoat"Billy says."Jamie was my best friend why would I kill him"he sips from a glass of water on the table."I don't know everything "he said quietly"but I know the school was really strange around the time of the incident, principal Steve and Miss Emily were always together, they were being super secretive and there was a lot of hushed conversations "

He paused, collecting his thoughts

"miss Emily,the student guidance counselor?" Katy asks

"yeah, Jamie came to me a few weeks before he died, telling me he had discovered something big. He said it was about the school, something that could get him in serious trouble". Billy's voice dropped to a whisper," he told me he found some hidden documents and that the administrators were hiding something. He didn't tell me what it was but he was really scared, I thought he was just being paranoid so I didn't believe him"

"well why didn't you believe him?" Belly asks

" I thought he was just being dramatic. I told him to forget about it, to focus on his studies. But now.......now I realize he was trying to tell me something. He was trying to warn me"

The room is immediately quiet

" what do you mean warn you?' Katy asks breaking the silence

Billy's eyes locked on theirs."I don't know"he said quietly."but I think it's connected to his death and the school is involved. After I was accused, everything got worse. The school seemed to turn on me. They made it clear they thought I was guilty, and the police......they seemed to believe it too "

Billy's voice cracked, and he looked away trying to compose himself

"well..... who exactly accused you?" Addison asked, it was the first time she spoke since they got there

"Sam the maintenance guy, he saw me on the roof and said I pushed Jamie but when I got to the room Jamie had already fell"Billy says

"why were you at the roof?" Addison asks

"earlier that day Jamie sent me a text to meet him there saying it was urgent and his life wss in danger. But I thought he was being paranoid again again so I didn't pay attention to the message. He missed the class we had so I went up to the roof to find him. If I could go back.....I swear I never would've doubted him"Billy says heartbroken

"wow, you were one hell of a best friend " Danielle says and they all stare at her, their eyes telling her to stop

" I know I didn't do it, I've been trying to clear my name, to find out what really happened. But every door I try to open seems to be locked "Billy says

"we'll uncover the truth,Maddy says

Billy nodded, a small smile on his face

When they were in Katy's car and she was driving them to the cafe where they would go their separate ways they had a discussion

"what do you guys think?" Zoey asks

They all turn to look at her."what?"Zoey asks

"you didn't say a word in there" Mika says

Zoey scoffs."that's rich coming from you, you didn't say a word either. We went to investigate so I just figured we shouldn't all do the talking"Zoey says

"So what do we know"Danielle asks

"well we know that Jamie es definitely murdered and Jake somehow knows about it",Belly says

"we also know that principal Steve and miss Emily are suspects "Mika adds

"yeah but let's not forget the maintenance, why was he even up there on the roof in the first place" Zoey says

"so Jamie found some documents, right, probably about the school. He was scared and said his life was in danger, principal S and miss Emily were behaving all shady and maintenance guy was where he wasn't supposed to be, unless there's something in the room that needs maintaining which there isn't" Addison says."that about it?"she asks

" yeah pretty much"Katy says."eyes on the road" Zoey says

"guys what if Jake didn't run away "?Maddy suddenly says

"what are you getting at?"Katy asks

"eyes on the road ma'am"Danielle says to Katy

"well in his journal he said he saw the murder happen and he also said he was going to follow the clues his brother left behind....... I mean what if.... what if he found something or he found the same thing his brother found and they took him"Maddy says

"what, the school?"Mika asks

"well.....not the school, just the people involved, we definitely know principal S, miss Em and Sam are involved somehow,we just gotta find out how and who else is involved "Maddy says

"if he did find something and they found him, they would've killed him and cops would have found the body by now"Belly says

"what if he's alive, somewhere....."Maddy says

" I think the only way we're going to get any answers is by looking into the school, maybe we might find something off"Mika says

"yeah you're right " Zoey says."wow I never never thought I would say those three words to you, and not as an insult "she chuckles slightly

"I never thought I would be sitting in a car with all of you, and it isn't even a police car driving us to the station to arrest us"Mika says. "what we know is that there school's at the center of everything, that's the only lead we've got"

"we also need to watch out for principal S, miss Emily and maintenance guy "Danielle adds

They started investigating the schools past to see if they could uncover anything off or any evidence of wrong doing.

Will they be able to handle what's coming next? Or will they back out ?