Nethania

Chapter 30: Whose Fault? Cont.

AVIA

WHAT in the world was Vino saying? Was he blaming Hannah because she was the reason why this started? For me, I couldn't blame her because she, herself, wasn't aware that this would happen. She just shared it with us, and it is our choice to either accept it or ignore it.

I was just observing them arguing in front of us. They were really blaming each other and Hannah was the subject of all the blame Vino was throwing at her.

"No!" Hannah yelled at him. She was clenching her fist while gritting her teeth. She glared at Vino and her nostrils were like flaring flames with infuriation.

We just eyed each other. The stench of animosity might have sprouted anytime by now, and it is currently happening. Vino kept his stare at Hannah. He was so determined to stand on his claim against her.

Nico held her wrist and pulled her gently to make her sit again on her chair. Nosy students began to gather around us, and their eyes were jumping off of one another. I then began hearing mumbles from them.

"Hey! What are you looking at? Mind your own businesses!" I yelled at those students who were listening to our conversation.

Hannah obeyed Nico's gesture and settled on her chair, but her eyes stuck at Vino. I eyed Austin and moved my eyeballs sideways, signaling him to do something to stop this scandalous scene.

Austin sighed and placed his arms on his arm chair. "We heard your sides. But we shouldn't blame each other."

"Who am I blaming?" Vino asked, glancing at him while his thumb was on his chest. "I'm not blaming someone here, I am telling you the truth?"

"What truth?" Hannah thundered. She tried to stand, but Nico pulled her back.

Why are we in this situation? We should help each other to get out of this problem, yet they were quarreling and blaming each other. I sighed and flipped my hair. We shouldn't do this.

Vino pointed his finger at Hannah. "That you're Nethania's accomplice. Your task is to spread the story, make it popular, and make everyone fall for your trap," he spat.

Hannah rolled her eyes and slammed the table with her hands. "What the hell are you talking about? I am not what you're claiming about me," she defended.

Vino snickered. "Why so defensive?"

Of course! If I were to be blamed for something I didn't do, I would defend myself to the extent of my might. And in the case of Hannah, she was in a hot seat and trying to defend herself from what Vino was accusing her of.

"Then why are you aggressively accusing me that I'm her accomplice? I even don't know her!" Hannah raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.

"Why are you pushing Hannah that she was the accomplice and, worse, the possible killer? Are you hiding something?" Jamsen spoke, eyeing Vino.

Vino looked away and smirked. "Of course no. Isn't it suspicious?" He returned his gaze to us. "That she was the one who told us about the story."

Vino was too shallow. He immediately judged Hannah for her deed. Hannah was the one who used the app for entertainment, and surely she would come into contact with the story because she was simply using that app! This conversation is leading us to nowhere and can destroy someone's reputation.

I felt pity for Hannah and anger towards Vino. He was judging a person using scarce evidence, or worse, no evidence at all.

"The story is already on the app, Vino. The system can place it in the list of latest reads and in the recommendations. Even Hannah stayed silent, people would see it and everyone is expected to see that coming," Austin commented, glancing at us.

Hannah sneered. "Who are you going to blame next? Avia? Hilary? Alexandra? All the ladies' names that would cross your mind? You f*****g liar," she uttered and rolled her eyes.

"I don't care, Hannah. I see you as her accomplice," he shook his head. "Among Hilary and Avia, you're the only one Nethania didn't confront and attack. Isn't that a clear reason to prove my claim?"

Hannah raised her eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "Just because of that? Why? Did Alexandra encounter Nethania too? Jamsen, Nico, and especially you? Am I the only person who you could blame? You liar."

"I see no sense here, Vino," Austin spoke, facing him. Vino was smiling like an i***t without even throwing a glance at Austin. "You don't have any solid proof to support your accusation. Hannah isn't the only one who Nethania didn't attack. She is lucky that she didn't meet her."

"Not changing my mind," he scoffed.

Hannah simpered. "Of course you do. No one can change a liar's mind to believe the truth."

"Not listening. Blah blah," Vino teased, covering his ears and singing a tune.

We eyed each other. I felt a strange aura from Vino. He was taking a firm stance on his conviction that no one could ever change his mind. But I didn't think that the card hadn't slapped him the truth.

"Are you sure you are not hiding something from us, Vino?" I asked that made him turn to me and he gave me a confused look.

He sat up straight. "Wait wait, what the s**t are you talking about? Turning a table, huh? Hannah is the one who should be the topic here, not me."

I shook my head. "No, this isn't about turning the table. There's one question you haven't answered yet."

"What is it?"

"Why do you have pictures of Austin and I on your gallery? That's a weird thing to do, Vino," I asked.

They looked at me like I was digging for more information. Of course, they already knew about it since Vino had shown them the photos and told them that they were taken only for fun.

"What? You didn't forget about it? I told you it was just for fun. I'm happy to know that you're okay with each other."

"Oh, crap." I heard Austin sigh beside Hannah.

"Fun?" My eyebrows raised. "I'm not considering it as a reason. What is it? I can feel that it wasn't your real intention," I looked at him straight in the eyes without breaking eye contact with him.

Say it, jerk. I knew it wasn't the real reason.

"Okay okay!" He looked away. "Your dad messaged me to take a photo of you and Austin together," he confessed, eyeing me. "He wanted to see you two together. Together. Okay, that's all. That's it. Happy now?"

"Oh crap."

I sighed in embarrassment and rolled my eyes, looking away from them. It seemed I regretted what I asked him. "Geez. Fine! I believe you, that's why you took a bunch of photos. Did you send those photos to him?"

"Yes and he's happy to see it."

Geez. I wasn't expecting that my Dad would do it. I was embarrassed. I'm just curious if my father did anything that would come back to bite me.

"Since we can't change Vino's mind about what he believes in, we have no choice but to disregard your claim, Vino," Austin spoke.

"What?" Vino exclaimed, turning to Austin. "Okay! That's your choice, but I swear to you that, that woman is her accomplice! Nail that," he pointed at Hannah, who was sitting in front of him.

Hannah rolled her eyes and looked at us. "You know very well, he's lying and I'm innocent. I don't need to argue," she said and waved her hand in front of us.

I nodded. Hannah was innocent, but just because of this jerk, she was accused of something she wasn't even aware of.

Our new teacher, who replaced Miss Jane, entered the classroom and began her class right away. Our class went on and on, noticing Vino and Hannah weren't talking to each other. Well, I wouldn't expect that they would be okay after what the conversation had turned out earlier.

It's lunch break! Look how fast the time passed. I felt peckish and a little bit tired. We did two group activities and one of them included a physical performance wherein we had to dance and act to meet the requirements of the activity.

After our lunch, we went back to our classroom, but in an unexpected moment, the faculty was called to a meeting. Of course, what would the reaction of the students be? We were happy to know that there was a meeting so that we could enjoy some free time.

We decided to stroll around and finally reached the benches and sat there. Well, Alexandra was with us. I didn't know why she went with us. Vino bought a few bags of chips so that we could have a bite when chilling for awhile.

"I hope that before the sunset there is no death today," Hilary said, starting the conversation. We were just enjoying the chilling wind breeze under the shade of a tree.

"Uh-huh, just hope," I nodded. "If ever there's no death until five and before our sleeping time, perhaps Nethania was having a free time," I muttured.

"Yeah, maybe resting for awhile," Hannah echoed. She was just looking at Vino, and Vino was doing the same to her.

I want peace, guys!

"Where do you think she lives?" Jamsen asked, leaning on the bench like he was just resting in the house.

"Yeah, I am thinking about that too," I agreed.

"She's a killer, perhaps she is living with us," Austin suggested.

"No way!" Hannah exclaimed.

"It's possible, Hannah," Austin turned to him. "She could disguise herself as a student and transform as a killer if she wanted to kill someone."

"That was a quick transformation," Vino chuckled.

"I just hope nothing bad will happen during our upcoming event," Alex spoke, pulling our attention.

"Why?" I asked. She was sitting next to Austin in front of us.

She looked at me. "Because the administration and the student council had decided to have a program for the school's foundation day."

Hannah jerked on his seat. "It is happening this week. So what about it?" she asked.

Alex looked down and her shoulders drooped. "I'm just worried because the killer is still lingering around the place, and what if she might attack the program and kill people."

"She can't do it," Jamsen mumbled, eyeing her. "There are so many people around her and she is alone—"

"No she's not, she has an accomplice," Vino interjected, ruining the moment.

"Shut up, Vino!" Hannah snapped.

"Okay."

"If she's smart enough, she won't let herself out in public with a bare face and show everyone that she's the killer," Jamsen continued, "She is only attacking her victims at night and she is afraid to be revealed."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, but what if she does something unexpected just to ruin the program? I'm suggesting that maybe it will be postponed for the sake of our safety, but they chose to pursue the program. So what can I do?"

"Actually, you can't oppose that decision," Austin replied, "That's the school's decision and all you have to do is to follow it."

"Okay, at least I shared my concern with you. I felt uneasy when I heard about it. I am just thinking of our safety here."

"We understand you, Alex," I said, "All of us are thinking about our safety too. You're not alone. But we can never predict tomorrow. It's a mystery. So don't worry and let's see what tomorrow will bring."

We've already depleted two bags of chips.

"What's the progress on the school's false alarm issue?" Hilary asked, changing the topic.

"Ah, about it," she muttered. "The campus police deduced that it was connected to the murder of the five publication staff. It was used to distract people from noticing the crime happening in the office. Because of it, the crime was executed."

"Hilary and I thought of it after the incident. I was so confused that time. There was no smoke, yet the alarm was turned on. It was just strange," Jamsen shared.

"Uhm...During the false alarm, we were at the Publication Office. Nethania was there, with us. She tried to kill us, but luckily she spared our lives. I didn't know why," I commented.

Yeah, she didn't kill us like what she did to her other victims. Maybe she has an unfinished matter with us, hasn't she?

"Really? So she killed the five staff members," Alexandra confirmed.

I nodded. "Uh-huh, including Jeromy and all the people who were killed by her."

"She is so vile and mean," she stated.