Chapter 10 – Deceived

Saturday gently drifted in to a calm but lazy Sunday and Chantelle was once again sat in the library surrounded by several books that she hadn't even touched. She was staring at the dusty volumes stacked up in front of her and realised that after all the searching she had done to find them, she wasn't interested in researching the Renaissance period after all. However, as usual she found that the library was the most peaceful area on campus and decided to stay inside away from the hustle and bustle of the other students. There were only two other people in the library today, a Prep whom Chantelle had never really spoken to before (but she knew he was called Tad Smith) and the Librarian who was staring at Chantelle with hawk-like eyes, obviously making sure she wasn't abusing her precious books.

Averting her eyes from the Librarian she settled her eyes on the slightly worn pages of her book and began to read the first line, which included a brief introduction of a man called Vesalius. Seconds later she closed her eyes and began to massage the throbbing pain in her right temple. It was only 1:30pm and she already had a pulsating headache that was no doubt going to last for the remainder of the day.

She remained in the same position for several minutes, listening only to the sounds around her, which included the shuffling of paper and the light footsteps of the Librarian who had now resorted in pacing up and down the shelves of books. The peaceful silence was immediately broken by the banging of the doors and Chantelle was stirred out of her reverie. Blinking stupidly, she turned around in her chair and saw her best friend charging towards her, fiery red hair swinging out behind her. She was scarlet in the face, and was looking angry and nervous at the same time.

"Chantelle…Christ, I didn't have a clue where you were, I was looking everywhere…I hope that you weren't in town…" Christy rambled, taking a seat opposite her, trying to catch her breath. It was obvious that the girl had been running since her hair was tangled and messy, her chest was rising and falling rapidly and her cheeks were bright red.

"What's happened? Has Ricky been hurt or something?" Chantelle asked nervously, aware that Christy's some-what brusque and dramatic entrance had guaranteed the attention of both the Librarian and Tad Smith who indeed was poking his head over his book. Christy quickly shook her head but seemed incapable to come straight out and reveal what was really happening.

"No it's nothing about Ricky…Oh God, it could be going on right now," Christy mumbled looking over her shoulder at the Prep who was trying his best to conceal his interest. Chantelle waited as patiently as she could whilst Christy started mumbling, but she was beginning to get extremely annoyed at having to wait so long for a simple explanation.

"Christy just spill the beans already, jeez…It can't be that bad." She said slowly, raising an eyebrow as her best friend turned back round to face her.

"Ok…I know how you told Jimmy that time not to go around picking fights and such…But he's completely gone behind your back and…Well he's fighting the leader of the Bullies right now, you know the one…The big burly one, Russell?" She added quietly, seemingly cowering away from Chantelle's steely gaze.

"WHAT!?" Chantelle yelled standing up so fast her chair fell on the floor with a loud echoing bang. Without waiting for a reply from Christy who had opened her mouth to speak once more she strode hastily from the library, leaving the masses of books that she had spent at least twenty minutes fishing out, abandoned on the table.

Chantelle stormed outside, banging open the library doors in the same way Christy did earlier, before stopping abruptly after realising that she didn't have a clue where the fight was situated. She bit her lip and turned around to face Christy who had been following her with a concerned expression. With a deep sigh, Chantelle allowed her anger and frustration to slide away so she didn't start taking everything out on her best friend. Again.

"So where exactly are…"

"Basement, we need to get down to the basement. I'm pretty sure I know my way down there, Ricky showed me…" Christy interjected, coughing loudly to cover the awkward pause that followed her sentence. Chantelle however, did not seem to notice that Christy had gone exceptionally red at the fact that she had mentioned her and Ricky and the basement. She was too busy fretting over the fact that Jimmy Hopkins could be getting beaten to a pulp at this very second to notice anything at all.

"Well can we get a move on then? He's probably bleeding to death by now," Chantelle said loudly, staring avidly at her friend who nodded and then began to walk quickly. Chantelle followed patiently behind her, and they finally broke into a run after they both descended the steps from the Nerd's hang-out.

Christy and Chantelle made quick progress through the maze of a basement, which was littered with splinters of wood and random boxes, strips of toilet paper and broken televisions. Once they were deep inside the basement, the dull constant sound of dripping water was eventually replaced with yelling, shouting and jeering. Chantelle hastened her pace again and stopped just short of a deep hole in the ground where Jimmy Hopkins was standing, talking to a dazed and confused Russell. By the looks of things, the fight was already over and instead of Jimmy coming out looking like he had been bludgeoned, he had gotten the victory over the biggest student on campus.

It also appeared that plenty of people in Chantelle's year had turned up to watch the fight. It looked as though all of the clique leaders had shown their faces and others such as Mandy, Pinky, Trent, Damon and Norton had turned up to observe the contest between the newest student and the Bully that everyone was terrified of tangling with, even Damon himself.

"You happy now jerk!?" Jimmy called out as the crowd quietened down a little. Chantelle moved back in the shadows slightly so he didn't spot her, she was also trying to see whom Jimmy was actually talking to.

"Ecstatic! I love to watch two morons beat the crap out of each other." Came the response, and Chantelle didn't need to crane her neck around little Petey to know who it belonged to.

"Why'd you do it Gary? I thought we were friends," Jimmy retorted, glaring at Gary Smith with intensity. Gary replied with a very fake laugh as he turned to look over at Petey and then at the Nerd at the side of him whom Chantelle knew to be Earnest.

"Friends…You and me? I've taken dumps that have more brains then you friend. No, I'm taking over this school and you're just a liability. See you around, moron." And with that, Gary turned on his heel and strutted away from them all, with a hint of laughter still reverberating through the air.

Petey began to talk but Chantelle didn't have any time to spare for him. She was now stealthily following Gary in the shadows and once she was sure they were out of earshot and out of sight from everybody else, she grabbed his arm in an extremely tight grip and pulled him into the darkness.

"So that's the way you wanted to do it then?" Chantelle hissed as her eyes started growing accustomed to the limited amount of light. Gary knew instantly whom the voice belonged to and he gave another chuckle.

"Entertaining wasn't it, I bet the idiot didn't know THAT was coming…Oh how exciting it all was…Should have stopped taking this stupid medication ages ago." He said loudly, the happiness in his voice was too pronounced to miss and it made Chantelle slightly sick.

"But Jimmy won, he managed to overcome your stupid little plans and he came out on top," Chantelle started, but she was immediately cut off by Gary.

"Do you think that matters to me!?" He snarled, the tone in his voice reverting back to anger. "I still managed to make him seem as though he's a trouble-making arrogant bastard, even if he did win. I'm going to make his life at Bullworth hell…And whilst I'm doing that he's going to still help me go up through the school until I have complete control over it." Gary continued, adding another sinister laugh at the end.

"Everybody knows your plan now though," Chantelle added hastily, trying to fight back the surging frustration and anger that was seething through her. "Everyone knows that you're trying to take over the school, you basically revealed everything to them."

"You think they actually listened to what I had to say just then? I'm just a crazy sociopath who accidentally forgotten his medicine to them, they probably think I've got a little hyperactive and only said it for some attention. Well let them think that…Just let them think it." Gary hissed, and even though it was pretty dark in the tunnel, she could tell that Gary was smirking.

"You ARE crazy," Chantelle whispered, stepping away from him and shaking her head. Gary who had been gazing around the tunnel with his arms folded and fingers drumming against his arm, set his eyes back on Chantelle and raised his scarred eyebrow.

"Then why are you here?"

Chantelle stopped moving and looked at him. This question literally stumped her and she stood gazing at Gary for several seconds, apparently deep in thought. Why was she here?

She could have just stayed with Christy to see if Jimmy was ok, but she hadn't. She had rushed off to see Gary Smith instead when she had sworn to herself to stay away from him. There were other things that were far more important than Gary and yet here she was standing with him.

"You need to think where your priorities lay Chantelle," Gary said softly, approaching her very carefully "You need to figure out whether your on my side, or the failure's side." He reached out a hand and tucked it under her chin to lift her chin up since she had been staring determinedly down at the ground. His hand was surprisingly soft and warm. They stared at one another for only a mere few seconds before Gary allowed his hand to drop, turning his back on her.

"Like I said before, I'm what you want and you know it." He said snidely, before walking away from her once again.

Chantelle clenched her fists in anger but didn't have the ability to shout him back, she didn't want to. Instead, she turned on her heel and sprinted back down to the hole in which Christy, Jimmy, Russell and Petey were now standing near. Once Chantelle had come in to the dim greenish light, Christy bounded forward looking worried.

"Where did you run off to eh? You were standing right beside me and when I turned to talk to you, you'd vanished! I thought you'd done another one of your disappearing acts and I had to explain to Jimmy that I was here with you to try and stop you getting into this stupid fight, not here to watch!" Christy ranted, flinging her arms up in the air to emphasise her point. Jimmy and Petey were the next to come over whilst Russell randomly walked back out of the tunnel leading to the basement. Chantelle distinctly thought about whether or not Russell had the capability to actually get out of the basement without help.

"Sorry…I just thought…I thought I lost something." Chantelle lied quickly, just before Jimmy and Peter reached them. She gave Christy a weak attempt at a smile before turning her attention on James who had a painful cut across his eye. "And you…What the hell were you playing at!? He's meant to be the strongest in the school and you decided to agree to fight with him?"

"Of course I didn't, I'm not that stupid you know," Jimmy retorted, the grin that had momentarily appeared, quickly vanished. "That stupid sociopath lead me here, it was a trick. He said he had something cool to show me, and we went all the way through the basement, how was I supposed to know Godzilla was waiting on the other side!"

Chantelle folded her arms over her chest and shook her head, allowing her anger to seep away once again. "Ok…Ok I believe you; I'm just a bit irritated you know you could have got seriously injured fighting that ape." She said quietly, rolling her eyes.

"Wait…You were worried wasn't you…You thought I was going to get seriously injured and you came running to try and stop me fighting…You were worried about me!" Jimmy said grinning and watching with some satisfaction as Chantelle blushed scarlet, opening her mouth to try and defend herself. However, with Christy and Jimmy both laughing and Petey nervously trying to join in, her words were drowned out and she was unable to protest against what he had said. She rolled her eyes once again and turned away, her cheeks still glowing red.

"Can we just get out of here already?" She yelled over their laughter, turning her head to face them for a few seconds. "C'mon guys it smells so bad down here, seriously…James I'm sure you've been rolling around in toilet waste down there, you need a shower...Badly,"

At this, Christy howled once again with laughter, doubling over to clutch her stomach and it was his turn to go red. He hastily moved ahead and cleared his throat allowing them to have time to follow him. "Ahh, come on Jimmy, I was only getting you back for what you said about me." Chantelle added, catching up to her friend and looking at him, surprised to see him grinning.

"Yeah, I know…I'm not dumb. It was a pretty lame joke though, even I could have come up with something better then that…Let's just get out of here and then we can figure out what to do with that crazy ass who's marching around the school."

Authors Notes: This is basically a quick thought up chapter to keep the large gap a little shorter between the next two chapters. It's definitely not my best or my favourite but with exams to revise for I've barely got time to eat my dinner anymore...Next chapter will be up in June unfortunately. Don't forget about the story because after June I'll have until September full of free time to get back on track. Read and Review 3