Nethania

Chapter 17: Proof for What?

AVIA

IT WAS despondent to think that the killer was still alive and continuing to kill people. Two students died, and a member of the faculty followed them. Sometimes I wonder, what sin did they do to be in that situation?

I sighed and sipped my hot chocolate. It was raining outside and we were lucky this morning because we didn't have three classes today and we didn't have to force ourselves to walk in the rain to attend our classes.

I lifted up my feet and placed them on the couch. My knees were leveled along my chin and my nape was on top of the back pillow of the couch. I still haven't moved on with what I encountered yesterday and my meeting with Austin was still bothering me.

If only the victims had thought of scribbling the murderer's name on the wall with anything that could imprint letters on it, we could have known who it was, but ironically, I didn't even do what I was thinking.

Another question that was bothering me was that when I asked about the similarities between the killer and the girl in the mirror, Austin answered, 'she's alive' without even showing any confused expression on his face. Like, geez! How could he say that she was alive when he vividly saw her in the mirror? But at the back of my mind, my thoughts were also telling me that maybe, the killer was just pulling off a trick to deceive or make us bewildered about her true appearance.

"Via, are you okay now?" Hilary sat beside me, placing her cup of milk on the coffee table.

I nodded and sat up straight. "I think I'll go to our classes later. I'm feeling well now."

"Vino told us that he saw you in the chamber yesterday...with Austin. I never had an opportunity to ask you because when we got here from the class, you were asleep."

Geez! Vino must have readied his body for a punch from me! I exerted an effort just to sneak out of the dorm without Hilary and Hannah knowing it. I wanted to make it a secret! I wanted my meeting with Austin to be a secret, but because of the three-sixty-degree eyes of Vino, I was revealed and exposed to them.

"Uhm..." I averted my gaze, looking somewhere else. I was caught off guard. "Yes—"

"Girls, look!" We turned our heads to notice Hannah, who squealed from our room. She ran towards us while holding her phone, and its screen was facing us.

I flipped my hair. "What's that?" I asked. She was still wearing her pajamas and his hair was messy.

She grinned. "I have a love life now! Look, I answered Nico's question just now."

Hilary and I eyed each other while our mouths formed an O shape. When Hannah neared us, I grabbed her phone and we looked at it. This was the reason she had been on her phone for the past few days. It was because Nico and she was flirting with each other.

"Is this real?" I gasped.

"Do you love each other?" Hilary asked out of nowhere, glancing at Hannah.

Hannah rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Of course! Would I answer him if I didn't? That's real. I'm not a scammer, Avia."

I stared at her and waved her phone. "You answered him through chat?" I asked and shook my head. "I'm not seeing this."

I couldn't believe someone would do this.

"Where in the universe do you come from, Avia? For the second time, stop meddling with my life status," she blatted out, grabbing her phone from my hand.

"Hey! I'm not meddling with your life status. I was just amazed how your life revolves like, wait...how many days did he court you?" I asked with my furrowed eyebrows and leaned closer to her.

She sighed and waved her hand at us and, at the same time, shook her head. "You know what, it doesn't matter. We have already been chatting with each other since heaven knows when. What's important to me right now is that we're officially together starting this day," she said, pointing her fingers on the ground.

"Okay, no arguments," I surrendered. "But if Nico makes you cry, he'll taste the sweetness of my slap," I stated and winked at her.

I would never forget what he did for me when Austin hurt me.

She nodded and c****d her head. "Thanks, Avia. You must have to do that after all. I already did my part when Austin made a s**t on you," she said while her lips twisted in pride.

"We'll yeah, thanks for that."

"I'll have my bath now." She turned around and left us in the living room.

I sat again and drank my lukewarm hot chocolate. I placed my cup on the coffee table when I unconsciously glanced sideways and saw Hilary staring at me intently.

"So... Why were you with Austin yesterday?" She asked and looked at me with an intriguing look, without even blinking until I got uncomfortable in my seat.

I looked away. "I was here all day—"

"Nope, you're not," she cut off my words while shaking her head.

I felt something was off here. I tried to hide my deed by lying, but I guess she had firm proof against me.

"Did he take a picture of us for proof?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes and he showed it to me."

Geez! That guy! He had the audacity to stalk us!

"Why was he there?"

"He was with his friend and I don't know what he did there."

"Are you dating?"

My eyes widened while shaking my head rapidly and waving my hands in front of her. "No!" I exclaimed. "We talked about the murders and shared our opinions about it, that's all."

"Ahhh... Okay, I thought you were going back to him."

"Geez. No."

"Okay, I won't insist. But may I remind you that what he did is unforgivable, okay?"

"Yes, sister," I agreed.

She stood and looked at me sharply when she heard what I called her.

"Hey! Don't call me that, I'm not a nun," she reproved, pointing at me.

"Okay, okay, but yes, sister by heart."

"Hmm... That's better."

"WHAT a great lunch girls! Hilary has the potential of becoming a chef! You're impressive!" Hannah declared.

She was talking over and over about the food that Hilary cooked for us. For the reason that the rain had continuously showered until noon, we got tired of going to the cafeteria while walking on the wet pavement with water spattered on the ground. We already walked in the rain when we attended our third subject and went back to the dorm after one hour, because our new teacher in place of Mr. Hilles had a meeting in the faculty room so we didn't have a class on our fourth subject.

We were walking along the pavement heading to our classroom. When I learned from Hilary that we were going back to our original classroom, my creeps awakened. I can still feel the shivers down my spine whenever I stay in our classroom.

"Thanks, Hannah. I want to share my skills with others, at least with my best friends. You're the second group of people who have tasted my cooking. My family is the first," she responded.

"Aww... What a lucky family to have a future chef in their clan. I wish I could be good at cooking too," Hannah said, hopping while clinging to Hilary's arm.

We bounded up the stairs of the main building and reached our classroom. We entered and got here in time. We still have enough time to chitchat with our friends and I have enough time to confront Vino.

I roamed my eyes to searched for Vino and I stopped at the right corner of the room. He was leaning against the wall while talking to Jamsen. He was laughing and talking loudly like there was no tomorrow.

"Hi, Avia." As I approached him, Austin's husky voice echoed in my ears.

I glanced at him. "Hi," I said quietly, smiling a little bit.

I grabbed Vino's arm and dragged him away from their spot. Jamsen was surprised to be able to move his feet and speak. His gaze showed that he was shocked. And yeah, I also pulled the attention of our classmates. They were looking at us while Vino was mumbling loudly.

"Here," I yelled, slamming him into the railing. "Now show me."

"s**t! What?" He asked with furrowed brows and his mouth was gaping.

I stepped closer to him and placed my hand in front of him with an open palm. "Show me the picture," I asked.

"What picture?"

Still playing dumb, huh?

"Give it to me!" I ordered, narrowing my eyes at him.

He looked away and touched his chin. "What? I don't have anything to show you?" He insisted on playing dumb.

I placed my hands on my hips and nodded. "Uh-huh? Hilary said you saw Austin and me in the chamber yesterday and she told me that you even took a picture of us. Now where is it?"

You wouldn't get away with that now, jerk. Hilary was my proof and you have to show yours.

He scratched his head while looking below. "About that..." he mumbled.

I sighed. "Just tell the truth, Vino. I know you have it. Hilary isn't a liar."

"Fine!" He slapped his lap. "Here." He took out his phone and gave it to me.

I went directly to his gallery and checked if those pictures were here, and I was correct. More than ten photos were taken at different angles. This was clear evidence against me.

"Nice."

"Why did you take these pictures?" I asked.

"Uhm... I was shocked that you and Austin are getting along now, so because I'm happy, I took a photo, but it's nothing, I swear! I just took it!" he said, looking at me.

I pointed my finger to him. "Every move has a reason, Vino. And your reason is that, because you're happy for us, that's all. That doesn't even have a sense. If you're happy, then why do you need to take a photo? You could have smile and do nothing, why took a picture?" I reprimanded him.

Yeah, why should he take a photo? For what?

"Sorry, my mistake," he apologized, looking below. "I'll never do that next time."

"You should," I agreed. "There are people who value privacy and they get infuriated when someone tries to cross it. Understood?"

He must learn his lesson.

"Okayy, I'm very sorry. I never expected you to be angry," his voice cracked, still looking below. He covered his face with his hands and began sniffling.

Geez, he began crying.

"Hey, don't cry!" I exclaimed, patting his back. "You're not a baby anymore! Don't be a cry baby!"

He stopped but his face was still covered. "Just kidding!" He gazed at me while grinning. "I'm not crying. Give me my phone."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Here."

We went back inside the classroom and on time when Hannah called us, "Girls! Please gather around!"

I shuffled toward her. I didn't have any idea of what she was going to say to us. We gathered around and my eyes narrowed in confusion when I saw Nico and Austin present in our group.

"What?" I asked while looking at them.

"I want to have your permission to accept Nico and Austin to be in our circle of friends!" She announced, clapping her hands.

My eyes widened. "Geez, No!" I opposed.

This is bad. This idea is bad!

They eyed me with creased foreheads. "Why?" Hannah asked. "Because you don't want to be with Austin?"

"Hannah!" I thundered.

"Oh... I guess that's the reason why," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"So to make this fair, we'll have to vote."

Hell no!

"Who's in favor of not accepting them?" Hannah asked in a loud voice.

I raised my hand, and I smirked when I saw Jamsen raise his hand too. I didn't tell him to do that, so he made the right decision.

"You're such a—"

"What?" I cut off Hannah's words, glaring at her.

"Now who's in favor of accepting them?"

Of course, Hannah was the first to raise her hand, next was Vino, and the most awaited vote of all was Hilary's. I glared at her not to raise her hand, but she just shrugged and smiled. She gradually raised her hand and viola! We got defeated.

Hilary, why?

Hannah clapped her hands and beamed. She eyed us. "The decision clearly shows that the majority of us are in favor of accepting of Nico and Austin into our circle of friends!"

She shook hands with Nico, her boyfriend, and Austin, my ex-boyfriend. I rolled my eyes at them.

"Congratulations! Starting now you two are part of the Elite Clique."

Geez... I'm doomed.