Chapter 7: The Wrong Boy
1261 Words
Daniela stood frozen in the middle of the classroom.
YOU TRUSTED THE WRONG BOY.
She read the message again.
Then again.
“No way.”
Her eyes moved back to the photograph.
The blurred figure.
The school badge.
The letter D.
Daniel.
But something didn't add up.
If Daniel was the person in the picture, why would someone send her the photograph and warn her about him?
Unless…
Daniel wasn't the person sending the messages.
Daniela quickly opened her chat with him.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Daniela: Where are you?
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
Then disappeared.
They appeared again.
Daniel: Football field.
Daniela stared at the reply.
She looked through the classroom window.
The football field was visible from there.
She could see Daniel with the other boys.
So he was really there.
Or at least, someone who looked like him was.
Daniela grabbed her bag.
She wasn't going to sit in an empty classroom and overthink herself into madness.
She headed downstairs.
---
The football field was noisy.
Boys were shouting over a football match while some girls stood near the fence, talking and laughing.
Daniel noticed Daniela approaching.
He jogged toward her.
“Why are you here?”
She looked at him carefully.
“I need to ask you something.”
Daniel wiped sweat from his forehead.
“Okay.”
“Were you behind the classroom block yesterday?”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“What?”
“Just answer.”
He looked confused.
“Which time?”
“Around 7:42.”
Daniel stared at her.
For a second, he said nothing.
Then he laughed nervously.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Because someone told me to.”
“Who?”
“That doesn't matter.”
“It matters if you're accusing me.”
“I didn't say I was accusing you.”
“You basically are.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Daniela, what's going on?”
She wanted to tell him.
About the message.
The photograph.
The badge.
Everything.
But something stopped her.
Instead, she asked,
“Do you own a purple marker?”
Daniel blinked.
“A what?”
“A purple marker.”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked genuinely confused.
“Why would I even carry a purple marker?”
Daniela didn't answer.
Then someone shouted from behind him.
“Daniel!”
He turned.
One of his football friends waved.
“Coach is calling you!”
Daniel looked back at Daniela.
“I have to go.”
“Daniel—”
“After practice, okay?”
He ran back toward the field.
Daniela watched him disappear among the other players.
She didn't know what bothered her more.
The fact that Daniel could be lying…
or the fact that she still didn't want to believe it.
---
When Daniela reached the gate, Amara was waiting.
“You're still here?”
Amara frowned.
“Obviously. My driver hasn't come.”
Daniela walked past her.
“Wait.”
Amara followed.
“You look like someone just told you NEPA has taken the whole street.”
Daniela stopped.
“I got another message.”
Amara's expression immediately changed.
“What did it say?”
Daniela showed her.
Amara read it.
Her eyes widened.
“Wrong boy?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay…”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“Amara.”
“I said I don't know!”
Daniela stared at her.
Amara looked away.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“You're hiding something,” Daniela said.
Amara shook her head.
“No.”
“You are.”
“Daniela, I'm not.”
“Then why are you acting weird?”
Amara sighed.
“Because I'm scared, okay?”
That answer silenced Daniela.
“Scared of what?”
Amara looked toward the school building.
“I think whoever is doing this knows more about us than we think.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You keep saying you don't know.”
“Because I don't!”
A few students passed them.
Amara lowered her voice.
“Let's just go home.”
Daniela didn't move.
“Amara.”
“What?”
“Who was the senior that asked for me at lunch?”
Amara froze.
“I told you. I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I am not.”
“You're doing that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“Looking everywhere except at me.”
Amara sighed.
“Fine.”
Daniela waited.
“I saw him before.”
“Where?”
“Near the old classroom block.”
“When?”
Amara hesitated.
“Yesterday.”
Daniela's heart skipped.
“Yesterday at what time?”
Amara looked at her.
“7:42.”
Neither of them spoke.
The school suddenly felt much quieter.
Daniela whispered,
“You were there?”
Amara shook her head quickly.
“No. Not exactly.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“I was looking for you.”
“Why?”
Amara didn't answer.
“Amara.”
“I saw someone standing outside your classroom.”
Daniela's face tightened.
“Who?”
“I couldn't see.”
“What did they look like?”
“A student.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Boy.”
“Uniform?”
“Yes.”
“Badge?”
Amara nodded.
Daniela's stomach dropped.
“Did you see his face?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
Amara thought for a moment.
Then she said,
“He was holding something.”
“What?”
“A phone.”
Daniela's mind immediately returned to the photograph.
The blurred figure.
The school badge.
The letter D.
The camera.
She suddenly understood something.
“Amara…”
“What?”
“What if the person in the photograph wasn't filming Daniel?”
Amara frowned.
“Then who were they filming?”
Daniela slowly looked back toward the school.
“I think they were filming me.”
---
That night, Daniela couldn't sleep.
She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
Her phone sat beside her.
No new messages.
For once, the silence wasn't comforting.
It was worse.
She opened the photograph again.
Zoomed in.
The figure.
The badge.
The hand holding the phone.
She stared at it until her eyes hurt.
Then she noticed something.
A tiny reflection on the phone screen.
She zoomed in again.
There was another person reflected in it.
A girl.
Daniela sat upright.
“What?”
She zoomed in further.
The reflection was blurry, but she could make out long hair and the edge of a school uniform.
Someone had been standing behind the person filming.
Someone else had been there.
Daniela grabbed her notebook and wrote:
7:42 — Amara saw a boy.
Purple marker — unknown.
Crown symbol — unknown.
Photo — person filming me.
D badge — maybe Daniel.
Girl reflected in phone — WHO?
She stared at the last line.
Then her phone buzzed.
Daniela nearly dropped it.
A new message.
She opened it.
There was no text.
Only a photograph.
Daniela's breath caught.
It was a picture of her classroom.
Taken from outside.
And written across the bottom in purple ink were four words:
ASK HIM ABOUT YESTERDAY.
Daniela stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
UNKNOWN:
Tomorrow, ask Daniel where he was at 7:42.
Daniela's heart pounded.
She locked her phone.
Because now she had a question she couldn't ignore.
If Daniel had really been innocent…
why was someone so desperate for her to suspect him?
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