Aqua Tail led us to inside the cave, and what was waiting for us shocked my classmates and I. It appeared to be some kind of courtroom setting, which I guess makes since since Aqua Tail was calling this thing a class trial. There was eighteen stands in a circle, which each had a podium for us to stand at. I quickly assumed we would each have to take a spot in this weird circle. On the wall overlooking the courtroom was a chair, which Aqua Tail quickly ran over and hopped onto.

"Places people!" Aqua Tail stated. "Each stand is for one of you! Your names are on it, so hurry up and move it!"

We all gathered at our assigned podiums and all stood in a circle. Most of my classmates were looking pretty anxious, as I was. Something else in the court room caught my attention.

"Aqua Tail, what the hell is that?" I asked pointed to a black and white portrait of Donald with a dark ribbon on top of it, as well as a red x over his face.

Aqua Tail laughed. "I hate for the puppet master to be left out, so this is my way of remembering him in the class trial, as it will be for anyone else that bites the dust for future class trials!"

"There won't be any future class trials!" Irene growled. "We're gonna make it through this and then work together to find a way off this island without any more murders!"

"Yeah! Okay!"

"Can we seriously do something about this creepy ass photo of Donald?!" Sapphire who was sitting next to it, she then tried to lower it.

"Hey! Don't touch that!"

"Fine! God!"

"Anyway, time to over the rules of the class trial one more time! You guys will now begin debating on who you think the killer is, before voting for a final answer! You vote right, only the killer will die! But if you vote wrong, the rest of you die, while the killer will be allowed to leave this island!"

I looked around at all my classmates again. Going clockwise, the order of the circle was me, Sam, Gavin, Sapphire, Donald's portrait, RK, Ellen, Raj, Dane, Irene, Henry, Miranda, Kirsty, Harvey, Dana, Simon, Bridget, and Rory. Everyone still looked pretty nervous, but determined as well.

"Alright guys!" Sam exclaimed. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah we will!" Added Gavin.

"Shut up geek!" Harvey responded.

"Where do we even start?" Dane asked.

"You shut up too-AAHHH!"

Kirsty reached over to Harvey and started choking him, extremely hard. "I'm only gonna say this once you pig! Don't start any of your usual shit! Too much is on the line here!"

"O...O...KAY!"

Kirsty released Harvey, who started wheezing and holding his throat.

"Are you okay Harvey?" An alarmed Dana asked.

"He's fine." Rory assured. "We should really get started now."

"I agree." I replied. "We need to figure out who killed Donald so we can bring him to justice."

"We only...only have one chance...at getting the killer...correct." Miranda stated, extremely nervously.

"And if we get it wrong, we'll all be joining the puppet freak's body on the beach." Simon added.

"All of us, except whoever killed him of course." RK stated.

"Enough useless talk." Ellen cut in, annoyed. "Stop wasting time and let's get started."

"Here we go." I thought to myself, while playing with my ponytail.

Nonstop Debate.

"Donald was the one killed." Henry stated.

"He was killed, so cruelly." Raj added.

"Not artistic at all." Bridget frowned.

"Do we have any ideas on how he was killed?" Sam asked.

"Any possible murder weapons at all?" Dane added.

"No, I don't think we found anything that could have been used to kill the annoying puppet geek." Harvey replied.

"Are you people seriously that fucking stupid?" Simon asked.

"Simon." Irene growled.

"Wait." I thought to myself. "Harvey's wrong about what he just said. I need to quickly correct him, so one gets the wrong idea."

"Wait a second everyone!" I cut in.

"Yes Natalie?" Kirsty asked.

"We do have something that can be pretty easily determined as the murder weapon."

"No way!" Harvey replied. "I didn't see anything."

"Perhaps you were too busy guarding the body, and most likely bullying Raj." Bridget replied.

"It's true, he was." Raj answered, rubbing his head.

"Quit bitching you bitches." Simon replied. "Get back to the murder weapon."

"Right." I responded. "On the beach, not far from Donald's body, was a small pile of rocks."

"Rocks?" Sapphire asked.

"That's right!" Gavin agreed. "Those rocks!"

"How sure can we be that the killer used rocks to kill Donald?" Dana asked.

"I can't know for sure if the killer used multiple rocks or just one." I continued. "But at least one rock was definitely the murder weapon. There were five rocks in total in a pile. One was on top of the rest that was quite bloody, so bloody that it dripped onto the other rocks and even onto the sand."

"Donald's face was pretty bashed in and bloody." RK stated. "I can definitely see those rocks being used in the act."

"Okay, so the killer used a rock or rocks to commit their crime." Kirsty added. "Good work so far."

"But still so far from the truth." Raj replied.

"Okay..." Miranda said. "What's...next?"

"Since we found both Donald's body and the rocks on the beach, can we also assume the beach is where Donald was killed?"

"That would be what is most logical." Ellen replied.

"Hey!" Harvey cut in. "If the rocks are really what the killer used, why didn't the killer hide them after finishing the job?"

"Perhaps they didn't think about doing so, or they didn't think us knowing the true murder weapon would be much help in uncovering the killer?" Dana suggested.

"Or they're just fucking stupid." Added Simon.

"We can come back to this later, but I think we should move on for now." Irene recommended.

"What's next then?" Rory asked.

"It may not be artistic, but I do have a question." Bridget said.

"What is it Bridget?!" Sam asked.

"How was Donald's body discovered exactly?"

I grew a bit more nervous about having to answer that question, but I knew I had to be honest. "I was the one who discovered the body this morning on the beach."

"Natalie?" Dane stated a bit shocked.

I nodded. "I screamed so loud, it attracted the attention of Dana, followed by Simon."

"I can confirm her statement." Dana added.

"Yeah, what fucking ever." Simon replied.

"I don't want to flat out accuse her yet, but shouldn't Natalie be suspicious since she who claims to have found it and started this whole process?" Bridget suggested.

I was horrified. "Bridget?!"

"I'm sorry Natalie, but I do think all possibilities need to be considered is all, even ones without full evidence."

"Though how can this even be considered a possibility without any evidence?" RK asked.

"Easy, Natalie could of killed Donald on the beach this very morning, and right after she did it is when she screamed, bringing out Dana and then Simon."

"I don't want to believe Natalie is the killer, but that could be possible." Gavin replied.

"Is it true Natalie?!" A shocked Sam asked.

"No!" I replied, now a bit angry. "It isn't true!"

"But can you prove it?" Henry asked.

"Can I prove it?" I thought to myself. "This should be easy..."

"Yes!" I replied. "I can easily prove I couldn't of simply killed Donald this morning, and then scream when I did."

"Let's hear it." Bridget insisted.

"Going back to the rocks, the blood on them wasn't fresh, meaning they had been there for sometime. If I killed Donald with the rocks and then called for help, they would have been more fresh and messy, as well as still dripping most likely."

"Same thing applies to the blood on Donald." Ellen added. "The blood on his face was dry as well."

"Plus, if Natalie had been the one to attack Donald right before Aqua Tail summoned us all, she most likely would of gotten some blood on her, and considering she was the first one at the beach, she wouldn't of had time to change clothes." Irene finished up.

I smiled, knowing that should clear my name.

Bridget looked sorry. "I suppose that makes sense, I'm so sorry Natalie."

"It's fine, you were only thinking of everyone else." I smiled at Bridget.

"The same thing should apply to Dana and Simon, who arrived after hearing Natalie scream." Dane stated. "We can't go with one of them killed Donald this morning on the beach right before Aqua Tail summoned us."

"That doesn't mean any of them are innocent." Ellen replied. "They still could of done it, just not this morning."

I wanted to disagree with Ellen, but she was right. While I wasn't suspicious, I wasn't proven innocent.

"Well it looks like now we're all on the same page that Donald's body had been on the beach for quite some time before being discovered." Kirsty stated. "When was he killed though?"

"The stupid file that Aqua Tail gave us didn't list any time of death." Rory replied.

"Hey!" Aqua Tail shouted.

"I don't think we can narrow it down to an exact time for Donald's death." I added. "But we can get some idea of a rough estimate."

"How so?" Dana asked.

"What piece of evidence can help us with this problem?" I asked myself. "...I know!"

"The order of when people left the party." I said. "Sam, if you please."

"You got it Natalie!" Sam exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Raj asked.

"During the party last night, I memorized the exact order of when people left."

"Really?" Miranda asked.

"Really! Here we go! The order is RK, Dana, Sapphire, Raj, Rory, Kirsty, Henry, Harvey, Natalie, and then Donald! Simon and Ellen didn't come to the party of course, while Dane, Miranda, Irene, Bridget, Gavin, and myself stayed in the hotel over night!"

"Does that order sound about right to everyone?" Irene asked.

No one disagreed.

"Well I think this order can narrow down the suspect list by a lot!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"How?" Raj asked.

"Six people never left the hotel, and the hotel is right near the beach! Someone who stayed at the hotel after the party could of easily gone down to the beach to kill Donald and get back without being seen!"

"Who stayed at the hotel overnight again?" Harvey asked.

"Irene, Bridget, Miranda, Dane, Sam, and Gavin." RK answered.

"Wait!" Dane cried.

"Hold one!" Sam exclaimed.

"I didn't...do it!" Miranda sobbed.

"This claim is pathetic." Irene growled.

"It actually sounds quite possible to me." Ellen countered. "If any of you six who stayed at the hotel really were there all night, you could of killed Donald any chance you had without it being too hard to avoid being seen."

"Question is, which of these six pieces of shit is the killer?" Simon asked.

"The party was Gavin's idea!" Sapphire exclaimed. "He should be the most suspcious!"

"Whoa! Hold up here!" Gavin cried.

"That Miranda girl has always been quite quiet, perhaps it is all an act to hide her true colors?" Rory suggested.

Miranda was crying hard now. "No!"

"Leave her alone!" Dane shouted angrily.

"I would rather accuse one of the guys, but with Sam's speed and skills, wouldn't she be able to perform the murder quickly without being seen?" Kirsty suggested.

"Shut up!" Sam yelled.

Nearly everyone in the courtroom started arguing with each other, I had a feeling the six who were accused wanted to say the obvious evidence that they were innocent, but they couldn't get enough time to get it all out there.

"I know all six of them are innocent, and all the accounts that can prove it!" I thought to myself. "I gotta stop this arguing now!"

"HEY!" I yelled so loud, everyone turned to me.

"What is it Natalie?" Dana asked.

"I know those six who stayed at the hotel overnight look suspicious simply because they never left the hotel, but they're all innocent and I can prove it."

"Please do." RK insisted.

"They have all alibis for last night cause they were all in pairs after the party ended."

"What pairs?" Henry asked.

"Gavin and Sam, Bridget and Irene, and...Dane and Miranda."

"You six answer now, is this true?" Ellen demanded.

"You got it!" Sam complied.

"That is correct." Irene answered.

"Yeah!" Gavin replied.

"Yes." Dane answered.

"It was so artistic." Bridget smiled.

Miranda nodded her head.

"Everyone who stayed at the hotel last night was with someone else?" Raj asked.

"Yes." I replied. "They pretty much saw their...partner the whole time after the party and we were up all night, and even if someone left for any amount of time, it wasn't enough time for them to go down to the beach, kill Donald, and return to the hotel without looking suspicious."

"And since Sam said Donald was the last person to leave the party, none of them could of done it then either as I imagine by the end of the party, all three pairs were together." Kirsty added.

All six of them shook their heads.

"But wait!" Harvey cut in. "Why did you all spend the night together?! Did you...Hook up?!"

"You got it!" Gavin exclaimed.

"We sure did!" Sam smiled.

Bridget and Irene looked a bit uncomfortable at first, but then looked over at each other and smiled before confirming they had did.

"Lesbians huh?" Simon asked. "Now I wish I had went to that party!"

Bridget and Irene glared at Simon, who simply snickered.

"And Dane hooked up with Miranda?" Rory asked.

"Stop talking about it!" Dane shot back. "Miranda and I are each other's alibi! That is all you need to know!"

Miranda just looked embarrassed, as she tried not to cry anymore. I started to feel a bit jealous of her for hooking up with Dane, but now was definitely not the time.

"Well if this is how things turned out, we can eliminate those six as possible suspects." RK stated.

I smiled at the progress we made so far. "We definitely can."

"Zero stars!" Sapphire randomly shouted.

"Huh?" I turned to Sapphire, really confused on why she just said that. "What Sapphire?"

"No, no! This isn't settled yet!"

"What isn't?" I started to get annoyed.

"The hotel people being innocent! That can't be said just yet!"

"Why not? They all have alibis."

"Girl! You're stupider than Harvey and Raj combined!

"Hey!" Harvey and Raj said at the same time.

"Shut up! Don't worry girl, I got you!"

Rebuttal Showdown

Sapphire looked pretty confident and smug with herself. "Now pay attention girl! Since you're this stupid, you're gonna need to pay extra attention to me! Yeah, all the people who stayed at the hotel overnight can claim whoever they slept with is their alibi, and two couples are probably telling the truth! But one of them may very well be not!"

I was ready to take on Sapphire's claim. "What do you mean one couple might be lying? All six of them have a confirmed alibi, as well as can confirm an alibi for someone else!"

"But that is my main point girl! If two people worked together to kill Donald, of course they would provide an alibi for each other! With the possibility of of two people teaming up, we shouldn't say all six of these people are innocent just because of these so called alibis! In fact, since the party was Gavin's idea, and Sam has good speed and skill, we should focus on them teaming up to kill Donald!"

"I guess Sapphire has somewhat of a good point if what she was saying was the case." I thought to myself. "But she is definitely wrong, and I need to use the small, but big piece of evidence that will shut her up!"

"No more responses huh girl? Figures you would see things my way, perhaps you're not as dumb as you think. Now we gotta find out which couple might be lying, starting with Gavin and Sam-"

"I'll cut your argument in two!" I thought to myself.

"Hold up Sapphire!" I shouted. "Just hold up!"

"What?!" Sapphire whined.

"What you're saying is way wrong, and I can prove it."

"I bet you can't!"

"Check out the rules on your tablet." I pulled my tablet out and went to the rules. "Rule number 2."

"Any student who kills one or more other students, will be considered the killer." Irene read from her tablet.

"And?" Sapphire asked.

I groaned. "Only whoever kills someone is the other killer, and while it isn't stated in the rules, if two or more people decided to team up to kill someone, only who actually did the killing would be considered the killer, while anyone else would still be innocent."

"Can you confirm this Aqua Tail?" Kirsty asked.

"Sure!" Aqua Tail replied. "Natalie is actually correct! There aren't any rules against any number of people teaming up to commit a murder, but the only whoever actually lands the killing blow is the killer, anyone else who teamed up with the killer, but didn't do the killing would be on the opposite side of the killer during the class trial."

"Then it would appear, teaming up would be pointless if not everyone would be able to leave the island." Ellen replied.

"Unless any of the hotel people actually did team up, but didn't know that only the killer would be able to leave." Henry suggested.

"If that is the case, then if any of them speak up now, we can possibly narrow it down to a couple." Dana replied.

"Well new groups of fuck buddies, is that the case?" Simon asked.

All six people denied that was the case.

"If all six of them are still sticking with their alibis, then we can officially confirm that they all are innocent." I confirmed.

"I was wrong?!" Sapphire asked.

"Hell yeah you were." Rory replied.

"Therefore, we can now safely say that the killer isn't Gavin, Sam, Irene, Bridget, Miranda, or Dane." Dane stated.

"Woohoo!" Sam cheered.

"Quite artistic." Bridget smiled.

"Finally." Dane sighed.

"Man!" Harvey groaned. "That would have been so much easier if we were able to trim down the list of suspects to just six!"

"Though at least we knocked six people off the list." Raj replied.

"Looks like at the moment, the killer is either Ellen, Simon, Raj, RK, Rory, Sapphire, Harvey, Henry, Kirsty, Dana, or Natalie." Irene listed.

"While I don't like it that I'm still on the list, we really are working hard to solve this case." Kirsty replied. "Keep up the hard work everyone!"

"Though I don't like the odds of one out of eleven." Rory commented on.

"It's fine." I replied. "Let's back to on track."

"Where...do we...go now?" Miranda asked.

"We need some new suspects!" Harvey replied.

"I got an idea!" Sam answered.

"Please explain Sam." Bridget replied.

"What if the killer prepared something in advance? You know, that would help them with their crime and save them some trouble when it was actually show time?"

"Speak normally." Ellen ordered.

"What I mean is, someone who was at the hotel way before the party started could of prepared something!"

"Who do you have in mind?" Raj asked.

"The people on cleaning duty!"

"And what bastards cleaned that shithole?" Simon asked.

"RK, Henry, and Kirsty." Bridget answered.

"What?!" Kirsty shrieked.

"Hey! Don't accuse my Kirsty!" Henry shouted.

"I didn't plan anything." RK replied.

"While I can't prove those three innocent just yet, I should be able to help clear them of suspicion for now." I thought to myself.

Nonstop Debate

"We should look into RK, Henry, or Kirsty doing something shady while they were cleaning for the party!" Sam exclaimed.

"Kirsty and I didn't do anything!" Henry shouted.

"I don't need you to defend me!" Kirsty yelled at Henry.

"Interesting." Ellen commented on.

"I doubt all three of them were constantly looking at each other as they cleaned the patio and lobby, so I don't think they can provide an alibi." Bridget replied.

"Which one of you three did it?!" Harvey demanded.

"Wasn't me." RK replied.

"No." I thought to myself. "Bridget is wrong, they do have an alibi."

"Hang on!" I cried. "I'm not saying RK, Henry, or Kirsty is innocent, but someone would of saw them doing anything suspcious during cleaning duty."

"Who would that be?" Dane asked.

"Dana." I continued. "Can you list a certain party role?"

"Indeed I can." Dana replied. "Gavin insisted on supervising cleaning duty with RK, Henry, and Kirsty, so he could make sure the cleaning was done well for the party."

"That's right!" Henry confirmed. "Gavin watched us clean the whole time, he would of noticed if someone did something like that!"

"I can confirm, this is true!" Gavin replied.

"Oh, sorry guys." Sam looked quite down.

"I knew you were innocent my dear Kirsty." Henry had heart eyes.

"Shut the hell up!" Kirsty angrily yelled at him.

"Like Natalie said, you three aren't innocent yet, just that you didn't do anything on cleaning duty." Ellen reminded him.

"Can we confirm that anyone else didn't do anything to prepare for the murder while doing their party planning role?" Dane asked.

"For decorating, Sapphire led Harvey, Sam, Dane, Miranda, Donald and myself." Dana answered. "Everyone was always with two or three other people the entire time, so nothing can help us there either."

"Rory!" Miranda suddenly shrieked.

"What?" Rory asked, confused.

"What about Rory?" I asked.

"He...set up pranks before the party started! He could of planted something for the murder during that time!" Miranda exclaimed.

"Gotcha red handed prank boy!" Harvey yelled.

"Hey now, you got no proof I did that!" Rory replied, getting a bit angry.

Nonstop Debate

"I have nothing to do with the murder!" Rory continued.

"That is exactly someone who was involved with the murder would say!" Harvey replied.

"Is Rory the killer?" Raj asked.

"He is looking pretty suspicious right now." Sapphire replied.

"Rory...used his chance of setting up pranks to plant something to prepare himself for the murder!" Miranda stated.

"Definitely not artistic." Bridget frowned.

"And...he has no alibi."

"My collection!" Raj cried.

"No, Miranda is definitely wrong here." I thought to myself. "Rory could still be the killer, but this isn't helping us, I need to make things right. Also, what came over Miranda like this?"

"No, you're wrong Miranda." I said. "Rory does have an alibi when he was setting up his pranks."

"Wha...What?" Miranda asked.

"Irene."

"Yes, I can confirm." Irene confirmed. "I watched Rory set up all his pranks before the party started, just to make sure they were harmless. He did nothing that warrants suspicion."

"That's right!" Rory exclaimed. "Irene was with me, so you can get me there."

"Oh...Sorry..." Miranda looked like she was ready to cry again.

"It's fine Miranda, everyone is bound to say something wrong during this hard time." Dane smiled.

"No it isn't fine you damn idiot." Ellen replied. "Once again, you people wasted time with possible ideas of people being the killer without any proof, and then we had to waste more time proving those ideas wrong, without eliminating more suspects."

"Like you're doing any better!" Sam shouted back.

"Excuse me?" Ellen asked, quite annoyedly.

"Hey! Leave Sam alone!" Gavin shouted. "You never even involve yourself with the group, but you're gonna try to take charge of the class trial?!"

"Look at you Bigfoot man, trying to defend your girl all loud and shit." Simon snickered. "When this gay ass party was your idea."

"I had enough of your shit Simon!" Kirsty shot back at him. "You're just a miserable piece of shit!"

"Stop it everyone!" Irene shouted. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"

"Yeah, fuck you Simon!" Henry shouted.

"Shut up! You're so annoying!" Sapphire whined.

"This is definitely not artistic at all." Bridget frowned.

"Do you ever say anything else?" Harvey asked.

"What was that?!" An enraged Bridget asked.

"Come on guys, we need to focus here." Dane pleaded.

"This is embarrassing." RK commented.

"My collection!" Raj cried.

Nearly everyone started to argue with each other over petty feelings, it was getting us nowhere!

Aqua Tail started laughing. "This is great!"

"What can I do?" I asked myself. "We still have a long way to go before we can uncover the killer, and everyone fighting with each other is only gonna throw us off track!"