the let-down conclusion. things just didn't work for this part. sorry. there are reasons, to be explained later.

i'd say more but my mood tanked and i almost didn't post this. oops.


The Five Fabulous Suspects
Prom Night, Part III

"Give up, Alfred!"

Timo stepped forward and around Svea, who grimaced as Alfred stepped closer to them. Alfred reached out, grabbing Svea and pulled her towards him. "Oh, it's like you have some taped confession and… wait, no you don't. I broke that."

Svea yanked her arm away, stepped between Alfred and Timo. "Why couldn't you just leave it be, then? You had Willie call our parents? Even fucking Erikur's? Oh, you are so disgusting I could…!"

"Careful Svea," Alfred warned. "I told you what you were getting involved in. Now, you do remember what I said to you…"

"I don't care if you tell the school I was your little sex slave anymore," Svea declared. "Go ahead. Do it. Post whatever pictures or videos you have of me! I'm not scared of you…"

"Except maybe don't, because jobs and stuff," Timo muttered under his breath. Alfred laughed as Timo stepped closer to Svea. "I could kill you. Your little minions aren't gonna stay on your side for long, Alfred. In fact…!"

"Oh, can it," Alfred snarled. "All this wouldn't have happened if you had minded your own damn business and stayed away from what wasn't yours. Then maybe Erikur would've taken the fall like planned. But no… you all had to stick your noses where they didn't belong."

"You're not getting away with this," Svea said. "Trust me."

Alfred laughed. "Baby, come on. Don't play dumb with me! Your friends are fucking done for. Lukas is getting tossed for crashing, Erikur's mom is going to drag him out and Mathilde… well, she's got a flask with her name written all over it somewhere around here…"

Alfred grinned. "You're lucky, babe, I can get you out. Just say the words."

"I'd rather die," Svea scoffed. "And you underestimate us." Alfred frowned, reaching for Svea again. Timo stepped in, grabbing his arm and twisting it. Alfred hissed, bringing his knee up to Timo's stomach as Timo gagged, releasing Alfred.

"Oh, it's on, Väinämöinen."

x x x

"Okay, we need to go to the sound system." Erikur pulled the tape from his pocket, flashing it to Lukas and Mathilde as the three stopped in the dimly lit hallway. "They're going to announce the prom queen and king in thirty minutes."

Lukas glanced down at his phone. "Okay, so… if we get you up there, can you handle the rest." Erikur nodded. "I can grab a microphone… and Mathilde…"

"Mathilde Densen!"

Mathilde jumped, clinging to Lukas as Mr. Willie stormed down the hallway. "And Lukas Thomassen! Oh, you three are up to something!" He stepped in front of them, pulling a flask from his coat jacket.

Mathilde smirked. She always had a fast tongue. "Gee, Mr. Willie, you want us to drink with you? I accept." She laughed as Mr. Wilie scowled, rotating it so that she could see the bottom. In big, bold letters, Mathilde's name was written.

"This was by the punch table," Mr. Willie shouted.

"Well, I've been in the basement," Mathilde explained. Lukas nodded. "Lu was there too! That's where Eri found us!" Lukas shot Mathilde a dirty look. "What?" she asked as Erikur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh… oh! Willie won't believe us… if we say… one of us… oh…"

"And the lights come on," Erikur mumbled. Lukas elbowed him as Willie sighed.

"Erikur, I may have sent your mother home, but that doesn't mean…!"

"Mr. Willie! Look!" Mathilde screamed, pointing towards the gym. "Uhm… teenagers! Doing… drugs! And… teenage stuff!"

Mr. Willie tensed up, swatting her hand away. "Tell me what Väinämöinen is doing, and I'll let you off with a suspension." Lukas blinked, looking over as Erikur shifted. "Now, what are you doing?"

Erikur cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir? But how do you know we're doing anything?" Erikur asked. Mathilde leaned forward, looking over as Erikur smirked. "I mean, you have word of mouth… and maybe a misplaced flask and a big display of… affection…" Erikur stepped between the other two teens and the vice-principal as he chuckled nervously.

"Mr. Steilsson, what point are you trying to make?"

"Well, I was just wondering… you know, uh… the school prides itself on fairness and stuff…" Erikur inhaled, forcing a smile.

Lukas blinked and grabbed Mathilde's arm, backing away from Erikur and Mr. Willie slowly. Erikur began to motion wildly, and Mathilde smirked. "Smart kid," she whispered as Lukas led her into the crowded and dark gym, towards the concession area. Lukas huffed, opening the door as they reached the stairs that led up to the stage.

"Knock it off!" someone shouted and the two stormed up the stairs. Lukas growled as he ran over, pulling Alfred off of Timo as Mathilde crossed her arms. "Oh, now you guys show… and Erikur is where?"

Mathilde rolled her eyes. "I guess he got caught up in a riveting…" She looked over as Alfred threw a punch towards Lukas, who dodged it. "Timo didn't kill him?"

"Alright, call off the guard dogs." Svea clapped her hands, adding, "It's done, Alfred. Just admit you did it. It's over." Lukas crossed his arms, tapping his foot. Timo nodded.

"As if! Don't you see, you guys made it too easy!" he explained. "Everyone knows Timo is the school rebel. The punk. He was just too easy to throw it all on. And, well, with how obnoxiously close you guys were, it was too easy…"

"So what were you planning on doing tonight?" Lukas asked.

"Have you ever seen Carrie?" Alfred responded, asking another question. Timo gasped, slapping his face with both hands.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, obviously faking his shock. "Alfred's gonna use his psychic powers to blow up the gym!"

"Ew, pigs' blood?" Mathilde spat.

"Well, grenadine is more human and harder to wash off," Alfred said with a laugh. Mathilde shook her head. "When Willie goes onto the stage to present prom king and queen… I'd send a bucket of grenadine down, and with you all back here… it'll be an easy way to frame you!"

Alfred frowned. "Except poor Steilsson is gonna miss all the fun, but if he's lucky, I can get his parents up here and…"

"That's it!" Lukas shouted, tackling Alfred and falling into the curtains. Timo ran forward as the two continued to exchange blows. Svea looked up, tugging on Mathilde's skirt as she pointed up.

"Up there!" she whispered. She shifted her skirt around, unbuckling it and tossing it to the side. Mathilde nodded. "I'll go, you get the curtains open!" Mathilde ran towards stage right, untying to ropes as Svea hopped onto a box, climbing up the later towards the rafters, where the bucket was resting. Mathilde yanked the rope, opening the curtain as the music came to an abrupt stop, the whole student body before them gasping. Mathilde inhaled, watching as Willie stormed toward the stage, with a few teachers in tow.

Lukas stood up, wiping his nose as a bit of blood trickled down. Timo ran over, snatching the microphone from the disc jockey, who stared in shock. "Uh, hey everybody!" Timo said into the microphone. "On behalf of myself, Lukas Thomassen, Svea Oxenstierna, Mathilde Densen, and Erikur Steilsson, we're here to make an announcement."

Mr. Willie jumped up onto the stage. "You are banned from school property!" he shouted as Timo took a step back. "What are you demons doing now?" he snapped.

"Alfred Jones has been manipulating and lying!"

"Not exactly how I imagined this exposé thing going," Lukas whispered to Mathilde, who stood next to Lukas as Alfred stood up, glaring at Timo as he shouted. "Of course you want to blame someone else!" Alfred motioned towards Lukas and Mathilde. "And I'm the manipulator?" Lukas stepped forward, as if he was about to lunge for Alfred's neck, before Mathilde caught his arm.

"Lukas!" she warned.

Timo cleared his throat. "Alfred did this because he was salty about one thing or another." Timo glared. "And in order to go through with this, he manipulated and paid a variety of characters to help vandalize the gym and keep the blame on us…"

Alfred took a step forward, before Timo's eyes darted to a spot right behind Alfred. He smirked. "Now, uh, Alfred… I'm gonna give you one last chance to admit it."

"Why would I?" he snarled, snatching the microphone away from Timo. "I have you where I want you," he whispered, turning the microphone off. "You'll still be expelled, and your little friends will be in the same boat. And after this humiliation, you can be your little girlfriend is gonna…!"

Lukas snatched the microphone from Alfred, switching it back on. He passed it to Mathilde, who smirked as she turned to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have the debut of a new prom hit: the 'Alfred Jones caught admitting he's an asshole who did all of this shit on tape!' Brought to you by DJ Steilsson!"

Mathilde waved towards the balcony, where Erikur peered over and waved. The system echoed as there was a bit of a scratchy noise, before Alfred's voice began to echo across the gym, followed by short, curt answers from a female voice that was similar to Svea's.

Willie's eyes widened as the tape continued. Alfred's eyes widened. "I can… that's… she…!" As Alfred tried to protest, a bucket came flying down, landing on Alfred's head as the contents inside slowly seeped out. Mathilde giggled as Lukas jumped back, rolling his eyes as Svea cackled.

As the student body erupted into various screams, gasps, and shrieks of laughter. Mr. Willie approached Timo, grabbing his arm as he dragged him away from Alfred. "What the hell…?" Mr. Willie asked, looking over at Timo. Timo shrugged.

"He really liked the movie Carrie, and was hoping all that grenadine would hit you," he mumbled, motioning to Alfred. "Oh! Well, you… wouldn't believe us, Willie, so the five of us did our own detective work."

Mr. Willie scowled as he released Timo's arm. He motioned to Coach Jonah and the French teacher, who walked onto the stage. "Anything you would like to say, Alfred?"

He bit his lip. "Fine! I did it! I paid Leon, Feliciano, and Raya for help! And there was a good fucking reason!"

"I'm sure there was," snapped Mr. Willie. Mathilde smirked, watching as Svea climbed down from the ladder and walked over to the stage. Mathilde held out her skirt as Svea dropped her heels next to her.

"One minute," Svea said, walking over towards Alfred. She smirked, tapping on his shoulder and drawing his attention away from Willie as she delivered a vicious punch right into the side of his face. "That's for all the shit you did to me!" She punched him again. "And that is for fucking over my friends!"

Svea was yanked away by Lukas, who just smirked at Willie as he decided how to react to Svea's outburst. Mathilde held her skirt back out as Svea adjust her spandex, before finally taking her skirt back and snapping it back on.

Mr. Willie cleared his throat, raising his voice as the recording stopped. "Uhm, well! This has been an eventful prom… everyone gets to enjoy the last twenty minutes…" He turned to Alfred. "And as for you," he snapped. "My office now. As for you five…"

He scanned the stage, before looing up at Erikur. "Enjoy prom," he said with a sigh, before having Jonah and the French teacher drag Alfred from the stage. "Timo, if you have the chance… I'd like to see you in my office…"