Segment: Confession

A Changed Woman

Jamie's P.O.V

"Why the long face? The riot seemed to have calmed down when the Principal told everything she'll be coming today." Joyce taps my shoulder before taking a seat beside me.

She brought a couple of books with her. The investigation was still on going and it seems they still haven't found anything. Even Gerald. After a day's rest, I got back my work from the almost dying Samantha and resumed. I admit, I missed it.

"You forgot that she'll come back as a changed woman."

"Do we have to worry about that?" Gerald comes in the room. His hair still messy and today, he was wearing glasses, not his contacts.

"Did you have so less time that you wore glasses?" Allie comes in and teases Gerald so early.

Allie had a goody smile on her face, something that has just recently happened. We have eased up on each other, even the uptight Cameron did too. His guard was down around us, unlike before. We sometimes see him sleeping here, sometimes on the floor and he'd ask for help. It was really bizarre.

"Yes, now shoo. You're invading my personal space." Gerald pushes Allie away while Allie just laughs and sits opposite of us, Gerald following after her, eyes still half-asleep.

"Where are Samantha and Cameron?"

Today, the President is coming back and we'll be the very first to see her. We are holding a meeting about some things that I don't know about. Cameron texted us yesterday that the President will be meeting us first thing in the morning. A mixture of excitement, relief and anxiousness reside in me. I was feeling funny, like in between wanting to go to the bathroom and not.

"You should relax, Jamie." Allie says with a smile still. She brought her elbows on the table and leaned forward.

"What gave me away?" I chuckle nervously and looked elsewhere besides Allie's eyes..

"You're fidgeting." Allie pointed out.

"Oh," was all I could say.

The three of them talked animatedly while I was away, dealing with my own thoughts at the back of my mind. I want to tell President of what we became after our little monitoring. How everything seemed to change.

But the moment the door bursts open, revealing a straight-faced President, a bad mood Cameron and a down Samantha, my excitement went away and anxiety ruled over. My heart dropped at how Cameron begrudgingly sat on his seat. The room fell silent.

President's eyes looked different, distant and cold. I held my presumptions of this being the 'changed woman', but it was hard. She doesn't resemble the President that I know. She had more scars than ever, her hand still hasn't recovered and so was her gunshot wound. A bandage was still wrapped around her other arm, where the cut was.

"Good morning, everyone."

The room fell silent, without a single response. I thought she'd snap like before but she didn't. She continued as if it's nothing.

"I'll keep this short. Whatever you're doing, I suggest to put a stop to it." Joyce stands up abruptly, making all of us flinch except for Cameron and the President.

"Why?"

"Miss Evans, sit down."

Joyce searches the President before sitting down.

"If you have any objection, then please continue what you're doing but don't expect me to sit around idly. I will give away my life if it means stopping what you're doing."

I look down at my hands.

What did that fucker Jason do?

Presidents sighs. I look up and she smiles sadly at us.

"I'm sorry but I will tell you soon, once I've healed. So can you just do this for me?"

There's something behind her statement.

"Just once you're healed, President?" Cameron asks. He must've caught what President was trying to tell and here I was, having a hard time figuring it out.

"Yes. Now, a meeting will be held again tomorrow regarding the postponed meeting. The superiors have come to a decision and will require an audience tomorrow. I trust everyone will be in their best behavior like the last time."

"Yes, President." we all say without spirit.

"Good. Meeting dismissed."

All seven of us stayed, while President went out first but before she did. She whispered something in Cameron's ear before completely disappearing. I was glued to my seat and my feet didn't move. I want to run after her and demand an answer but I can't. Not with her dead eyes.

President was tired and bruised so much. I don't want to give her more trouble by not doing what she asked. She told us that until she's healed. What happens after she's healed?

"What did she whisper to you, Cameron?" Joyce asks through gritted teeth.

I kept my head down. Processing how President had this ice cold face but then switched to exhausted tone. Has she given up all hope? What did Jason tell her? Was she threatening her?

"She told me to keep you guys all intact. I don't know what that meant."

So he doesn't know anything. I assumed wrongly. I thought he was onto something, like before.

"Are we going to give up just like this then?" Gerald says.

"Please, just give her what she wants." Samantha spoke up. I look up and she has her head down.

"If we don't do anything right now when she's still injured, we won't have anything done by then." Allie says in retort. Her voice rose in tone, instigating that she was angry.

"She's right." I turn my head to Joyce. Her brows were knitted and she grits her teeth.

"What if she's just testing us? Making us sure that this is what we wa-" Cameron cuts Allie off.

"Stop. All missions are now on hold until President is healed." Cameron stands up and leaves the room.

"What the f**k is happening? Jamie, do you know anything?" I shake my head to Gerald's question.

"I'm just as clueless as we all are."

The President didn't even tell me first that we were going to have a meeting. I heard it through Cameron. Cameron was the first person she thought of the moment she stepped back in here. Where was I? Do I mean too little to her? No. I shouldn't think of it like that.

I need to f*****g man up and not jump to conclusions. Overthinking is not going to do me good. It will only bring me down more than it will help.

"Let's all trust the President." Samantha stands up and heads to the door.

"You and Cameron seem to know anything." I say without much thought.

Samantha stopped moving. Her back was turned against us.

"We don't. But I can tell you all something."

"What?"

"If you do want to help President in the first place, you wouldn't defy her orders. Right now, you all getting worked up isn't what you call trusting her." and she left.

The fell room into silence again.

Not trusting her, huh.

It's not. I know right now we're suspecting President of something, but is it really to the point that we don't trust her? Did she mean that little to me? Now that it has come to this, I realized I'm being selfish. I have a little brain. It was me all along. It's not that she didn't thought of me, it was me who was insensitive.

The President is injured and I should've come to visit her last night. She's injured and she's still hurting. The first day she's come home, she's already working while the others gave me a break.

I exhale a long breath. I'm an i***t. I should've trusted President more.

"I'm going out." I say.

"You're going to talk to President?" Kristine says.

"No, I'm going to give her a well-deserved rest." I give them a smile before exiting the room.

I walk and walk, searching for Amelia. When I found her, she looks up at me and approaches me too. She still had that scowl on her face. I look around and saw no one. I wonder where they are.

"Hey?" I greeted her but her scowl turned even scowl-er, if that means something.

"How was your meeting?"

"It was short." I can't really tell her what President seemed like because I'm not too sure myself.

How to assess the President's change of color. Figuring out President was never my specialty. She's hard to read most of the times, what I mean is almost all the time. Her thought process is much faster than mine and runs more deeper. She can calculate the pros and cons in a minute upon discussion and weigh them accordingly.

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it. It was so short that she said what was needed before going out."

Sorry Amelia, we'll just have to see later tonight what President is really like.

"Argh, this is making me more frustrated than I thought."

"Where is everyone though?" I look around and still see no one. It's a rare occurrence. The hallways are as secluded as ever.

"They're visiting Lyle at the clinic one by one since not everyone was allowed in by the nurse."

"So, there's a line?"

"Unfortunately," she sighs.

"Huh. She's more popular than I thought."

"Almost all of them are girls." she gives me this look that I know. I chuckle nervously.

"Weeeeell, she's popular."

"Right, whatever. Why does she have so many girls after her?"

"She's charming?" I try to reason out.

"Is that all?" she gives me this look again, making me look away.

"I guess? Haha, let's go?" I push her towards the exit of the school.

"You're making yourself more suspicious by the second."

"Even still, I won't say anything."

We go to our own dormitories and changed clothes to a more darker tone. We were going stealth mode for the night. President and Chrelia are having their dinner tonight. Tailing them definitely is not on my bucket list but okay.

"You better put a good word to Michelle for me." I tell myself as I look at my reflection on the mirror.

Black pants, black jacket, brown shirt underneath and a black cap.

"Dude, I look so legit." I commented on my own reflection. I click my tongue and pointed my two pointy fingers on my own reflection with a goofy smile.

"I look like an idiot." I laugh at myself before exiting my room.

I walk to the girls' dormitory and waited for Amelia there. After a few minutes, she finally shows herself up and matches my outfit.

"Nice. We're undercover agents."

"You're making this seem light."

"If you want me to be dark then I can."

"Can you try?"

"Stalking someone is punishable by law and therefore we both, if get caught, will be taken to the police-"

"Okay, okay. I doubt Lyle will report us though but I think Chrelia will. She's snaky than you think." she shudders at the mention of Chrelia's voice.

"Is Chrelia really that bad? Isn't she supposed to be the campus sweetheart?"

"She's a double-faced woman. She pulled Lyle by her fake charms, it's unnerving. We should start walking."

Isn't Amelia also one to not mess with? She managed to get ahold of their time and meeting place with such detailed information. I just have to wonder where she got all of this. Did she pay someone for the details? If so, why didn't she just do it again for this time? This comes with a risk and she herself told me that so why is she doing this?

We start walking to the destination. She wanted to take a cab or a car but I told her that knowing Lyle, she'll want to walk.

"How do you know Chrelia is what you say?"

"We were friends before."

"And your friendship broke because?"

"Something happened and she distanced herself from me."

"I want to ask more, but I may look like a meddler so I shouldn't." she laughs a little.

"You and Lyle are so different. How come you're friends?"

I ask myself the same thing sometimes. She's able to handle my attitude over things and my hesitation that almost killed her. She's too good for me that I want to thrive better as a person.

"Must be because we're stuck in the same boat."

"Aren't you jealous of her or something?" I chuckle at the memory of that before.

"We all were. Back then, the student council was in chaos."

"What do you mean?"

We look around before crossing the road. If I get Amelia into some kind of accident, President will chew my head off and Mr. Taylor will probably send me away. I shudder at the thought. My guard went up, making sure that won't ever happen.

"The seven of us didn't accept that she was personally scouted by Mr. Taylor and that she was made the President."

"Really? I always thought that her being the President was meant to be."

"We were different. We were hungry for that label of value."

"Ah, I get it."

"We were jealous of her. We disobeyed her commands, but she earned our respect. She forced us to take our places without getting anyone's hands dirty."

"Are you secretly in love with her?"

"I don't look at my brother romantically, no."

The thought of dating President didn't even come to my mind and now that it has, it made me want to puke, hard. She's practically a man now, without the anatomy, of course.

"You see her as a man?"

"I see her as a superior human being, but seeing how she likes women, I used it as a figurative."

"Cool." I shake my head at the amused facial expression plastered on her face.

"She risked her life seven times."

"Each for you?" I nod and hum.

"She's crazy."

"Is she human?" she asks which made me erupt in loud laughter.

"She is."

"I never realized how hard your job was if I hadn't forced it out of my father."

"So you know everything about us?"

"No. He gave me so little to think about. Just enough to make me more considerate of you guys."

"Thanks, that meant a lot."

She pats my back. I look at her and she smiles. A girl like her is perfect for President. Now that I'm tailing them and risking this, I want to find out everything. I want to know what President saw in Chrelia that she didn't even think of Amelia. What's so good about Chrelia? Even before Amelia told me, without proof, that Chrelia is a b***h, I was sketchy of Chrelia.

Her smile didn't reach her ears and her kindness has an outlet. She helps someone if there's a benefit after but Lyle doesn't see that. Lyle is too head over heels for Chrelia and I always wonder why.

"You're welcome. We're here."

We saw in front of us, some distance away, Lyle and Chrelia. The two of them talked with smiles on their faces. Chrelia touches Lyle's arm and I hear a sudden growl beside me. If they kiss, I'll be crying. Who knows what Amelia looks like when angry and disheartened. She might be able to break my hand.

The two of them then walk to the restaurant in front. A high-tier restaurant and I didn't even bring enough money. My walled is going to cry.

Amelia pulls me by the jacket inside the restaurant. There were many people around so it was hard to spot us but Amelia is beautiful, she's a head turner. Every man we pass by, they look at her with intentions in their eyes. Girls look at her and I guess were jealous.

We take a seat and Amelia called a waitress to come. Before I could say anything, Amelia says to the waitress to have what Lyle and Chrelia are having without looking at the waitress once. The waitress looks at me and I just have on an awkward smile.

"Sorry about that. We'll have what they're having, thank you."

I hope they're not having that much or else I'll be crying with my wallet later.

"Alright. I'll be right back with your orders later."

"Thanks," I say with a smile.

The waitress goes away, leaving me with an annoyed looking Amelia. I sink in my seat.

Wait. This is not the time to be drowning in lack of money. Concentrate.

My wallet can come later. I lean forward a bit, getting a good look of the two before my eyes. Chrelia's smile wasn't up to her ears again, instead, she was forcing such a bright smile to come out. Her eyes were unfocused and restless. They sometimes wander around the room.

Is she looking for us?

No. That isn't the case. I look at Lyle and saw that she wasn't even having a great time. She's busy thinking of something while looking at Chrelia. She was staring too intently for it to be romantic.

She's figuring something out.

I look around the room, searching for something suspicious.

"What are your plans for the break?"

"Huh?" I stopped searching and turned to a beat up Amelia.

"The school holds an autumn break before welcoming winter."

I forgot about that. My plate was so full that I forgot a break was necessary. Thankfully it's around the corner. President can take a rest.

"Just chill and get some rest, I guess."

"The Occult Research Club and I invite everyone in the Student Council for a break at a hot spring."

My imagination immediately jumped to the hot spring. Its warm water enveloping our cold bodies and fight off the cold weather. A break from everything.

"I will have to tell everyone about this."

"Sure. Tell me if you'll be going."

"Got it."

In the end, the date was just dinner and nothing more. Nothing extraordinary happened, much to Amelia's relief but in the back of my mind, the scene of them both not catering each other's attention ate me away and the dinner, thankfully, was shouldered by Amelia.

"I'll pay for this as a thank you for making you come with me. Also, I'll give a good word to Michelle about this. I know the protocol."

Restless eyes, wandering the room, searching and the other, examining the expressions.

It's as if they're being watched.