3 days and 15 texts from Tom to Sam later, it turned 6:30 in the afternoon. Hector's Party Van pulled up. Sam and I showed up in our black sweatsuits for obvious reasons. Everyone else was in black, too. Hector greeted us with a welcoming smile and some awesome music. "Hey, doggs! Glad you could make it to the Party Van!" We greeted him back and walked to an open seat. I sat with Nicole, Sam sat with Jill. Taylor started a conversation. "I wouldn't usually condone all black, but this is a real problem. I'd sacrifice fashion for my friends any day." We all laughed and agreed. Suddenly, we hit a bumpy road. Everyone started screaming until Hector said, "Don't worry, everyone! It's just a dirt kind of road. Lots of rocks for some reason."
The van arrived at his mansion, so Hector looked at me. "Zoe, are you sure this is what you want?" Now that I thought about it, I was shaking and scared now. "I want a few of you guys to come with me." Sam, Amanda, and Maria volunteered to come out with me, and they waited in the front of his yard I did some super-sneaky running across his yard, then popped up at his door. Lifting one manicured nail, I picked the lock apparently perfectly. The door was quiet, luckily. I shut the door slowly and tip-toed up the stairs. I suddenly fell upon a crossroads- there were two seperated hallways as most mansions have. I decided to go left. All of the doors were open so far; A bathroom, a guest room, and a game room. Next to the game room, I spotted an open door which was Tom's room! Suspiciously, no one was there, but the light was on. I looked inside his room, feeling a bit bad and still scared. Suddenly, I heard loud footsteps and hid behind the door. "Zoe?" It was Sam. I whispered, "Sam, you're in luck. Tom isn't in the house." Sam nodded and spotted his cell phone on his bed. "Zoe, his phone. We need this. He could be anywhere. And plus, if we take it, we can do some sort of prank." She explained. The hairs on my arm stood on end. I said, "Stealing? I don't know, won't he just buy another one like he's been doing?" Sam gave me that 'I know what I'm doing' look and replied, "Not if he doesn't have his cell number." I finally agreed to the plan, with a little nervousness.
As we dashed to the Party Van, I frantically asked Sam, "Are you sure Mr. Prince wasn't in the house?" Sam replied in shortened breaths, "Hey, he's the owner! His auto shop is open to him around this time." "And his butler?" Sam laughed, "Stereotypical butler's association meeting." We ran to our seats (Along with Amanda and Maria), and Hector drove off. Hector then loudly asked, "Any evidence, girls?" I proudly held up his cell phone, and everyone cheered in excitement. Hector then added, "Alright, so I sent a mass text to our parents saying we'll be hanging out tonight! The party is set at my house. Is that cool?" We all smiled and all felt relief. "Good!" Maria said, "We can check out Tom's phone when we get there."
Upon our arrival at Hector's, I made sure I knew how the phone worked. It was a touch screen, so I only had to figure out a few things. Before I knew it, I was on Tom's home screen. A few buttons later, I checked his pictures to see if he had taken any photos. There was one that caught my eye and scared me- a picture of Sam walking to a classroom with her back turned. She seemed to be far away in the picture as well. By this time, we all sat in the circle for Tom's 'dissection' of his phone and reasons for stalking Sam. "Okay, guys. This is what I found." I explained, and the rest of the group saw the picture. Sam's jaw automatically dropped. "When was this?" She asked, now shaking. I replied, "It looks like it was taken around 6th period due to the time." Sam then said sternly, "Zoe, give me the phone. I hear Tom can get texts on his house phone." I immediately recoiled in fear. "F-fine, but don't go too far like cursing him out or something." She whispered back, "Look, I know I used to have that bad girl rep at Monarch, but I've never moved near that point. You'll see what I'll do." I lended her the phone as the rest of our friends scooted by to watch what she'd do.
Sam furiously typed with the same straight face for what seemed like 10 minutes. When she finished, she showed everyone and announced, "Take a look at this little number." We all craned our necks and went closer to his phone. The text read, "Tom, I know you're a spoiled brat with hardly no friends, but that doesn't mean you should be stalking girls to get revenge or whatever you're trying to do. Yes, I said stalking, because it's exactly what you're doing. It's time you realize girls will not want you back if you take pictures of them in the hallway and constantly text them. What is your deal? Why are you doing this, and why me? Have I done something to you? I want to know, because you would seem like a nice guy if you weren't so obsessed with money and power, conceited, and the occasional dash of jerk." We all looked at her impressively. It was quite quiet until Amanda suddenly asked, "How does a dash of jerk taste? My parents are making chicken tomorrow." We all started laughing. Amanda may seem like she doesn't know what's going on, but in reality, she has it together and knows when we need cheering up.
Saturday came up, and I made sure to get up early and check Sam's phone. I walked into her room. She was at a social call with Portia, a cheerleader at Wilson High, our rival school. Sam wouldn't be back for at least 2 hours. I picked up her phone and turned it on. By then, my heart was beating extremely fast, because who knows what I'd find? As I suspected, it was a text from Tom. I slowly clicked the 'open' button and read it: "This is the last straw. Centerscore's going to get a little more interesting, Samantha... very interesting." The very words of this message sent chills up my spine, and more than once. I exited out of her messages and left her phone on her nightstand. On second thought... maybe I could freak him out! I picked up the phone, but undecidedly put it back down. Then, I finally picked it up and texted him back. "Dear Tom, you don't know me, but I know of you. You've been stalking and spying on Sam since day one. Things are about to get interesting, all right... for you." It was a VERY risky text, that's for sure. I was also sure I was fighting fire with fire, but I wasn't sure what else to do. Until Principal Shapiro gets our report on Monday, I needed to help as well. My heart pounded as I went back to my room to continue on with my day. I decided I'd sit on my porch and just chill. The text I sent was in the back of my mind, and it got to the point where I got paranoid of Tom being around, but I had second thoughts. He doesn't know who I am at all. I'd like to keep it that way until this gets to a certan point.
Aunt Cathy noticed I was hanging around and sat with me. "Hello, Zoe! Are you just chilling out here?" She asked, smiling. I smiled back and said, "Yeah, I was getting kind of bored. I'm glad you came, though!" Aunt Cathy laughed. "So, anything on your mind you'd like to talk about?" Wow, it's as if she's a mind reader! "Um... Aunt Cathy, I need to tell you something. It's about Sam." I hesitated. She gave me a confused look and replied, "Are you guys not getting along?" I shook my head and immediately said, "No, no, not at all. But... it's extremely scary, I have to tell someone else. Sam... she's being harassed and stalked by this guy from Spartan Academy." She gasped and I almost felt her fear. "Oh, no! Zoe, what exactly has he been doing? Because when I get this information, we'll all sit together and talk about it when she gets home." She said, very scared. I told her everything, and immediately, she whipped out her phone and got to talking to Sam.
As Sam got through the door, we were already sitting at the table. She walked curiously toward the kitchen. "Guys...?" Aunt Cathy said seriously, "Sam, don't worry. You're not in trouble. Have a seat and we'll ask you some questions." Sam sat down on the chair and waited. I asked, "Sam, did you forget something at your social call today?" She replied suddenly, "Oh! My phone. I realized that when Portia wanted to play DrawSomething with everyone." I picked up her phone and added, "Wait, there's more. Tom sent you another text." Sam suddenly looked up at Aunt Cathy. "Mom, you know? But how..." She looked to her, then at me. "Oh..." Aunt Cathy nodded and continued on. "So, how long has this been going on?" Sam sighed and looked down, then said, "About... almost a week." Aunt Cathy then asked, "Do you know why Tom Prince could be doing this?" Sam shook her head. I shook my head as well. Aunt Cathy finalized this mini-interrogation by saying, "Until Zoe gets Principal Shapiro's report on Spartan, I am heading down to Prince Automotives. I'm sure Silas himself would be THRILLED to hear this. I cannot believe it, my own daughter!" She ranted until she closed the door. We sat in silence until Sam quietly said, "I really hope this is resolved soon. I kept having to look behind me and ask the girls if they saw anything. Taylor was seriously not pleased, and neither was Porscha's friend Steph." I sighed, then replied, "I mean, we tried lots of things. On Monday, hopefully Shapiro did enough to stop this mess." Sam nodded. What else could we do in the meantime?