A/N: Hello all my followers and active readers. I know you're all probably upset that I left you with that cliffhanger in the last chapter for nearly six months, but this chapter has seriously been stuck in editing hell. Like, I was struggling to find what direction to take the story into next while also finding the confidence to go with it. But like I've said numerous times, no matter what, this story will never die. I'm having so much fun telling you all this amazing story and I had no idea that the popularity would grow like this. Every now and then, I wake up to see notifications regarding new favorites and follows. I've also got some exciting news to share with you guys at the end of this chapter, so be sure to read my A/N at the end :)

Chapter 15: Downfall

"Here we are!" Ben said confidently as he cautiously pulled into the empty parking lot at Blackwell.

"Um, Ben? This isn't the dorm. This is where the swimming pool is." Kate pointed while sitting in the passenger's seat.

"I know." He replied as he shut off the ignition in his car. "I figured we could go for a late-night swim to get some exercise after all that food we ate back at the fair."

Ben was the first to step out of the car. He took a good look around to make sure there was no sign of any security guards. After a few seconds, Kate also stepped out to join him.

"Aren't you a little worried that someone might catch us wondering around here? It's past curfew and we could get in a lot of trouble if we get caught." Kate brought up.

"I wouldn't be too worried. Hayden told me that security usually doesn't bother sticking around here on nights like tonight." He told her.

"Really? Why's that?" She asked.

"Because they assume that most students are at the fair tonight. And the one's who think that they're too cool to go usually just stay inside their rooms all night." He explained.

"Well, in that case, I'm fine as long as we don't get caught." Kate stated.

"Which we won't. I thought that you would have a little more faith in me." Ben teased.

It was quite surprising that nobody had locked the doors to the building which housed the pool. Because of this, Ben and Kate had easily walked in while peering around the main entrance to make sure that the coast was clear.

"I guess I'll see you on the other side." Ben said before walking off to enter the boys' locker room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kate asked him before he could even leave her sight.

"To change in the locker room. It's probably not the best idea to go swimming in our nice clothes we've been wearing tonight." He explained jokingly. Ben felt perfectly fine with using sarcasm around Kate as he could tell that she was used to his sense of humor with her being around him so much.

"If I knew we were going swimming, I would have packed a bathing suit with me." She said in a tone that signified that she didn't have anything to change into.

"No worries, Kate. Just do what I'm doing and go swimming in your under wear." Ben suggested. It was a bold move to tell that to a girl, but there weren't many options that Kate had when they were already at the pool and nowhere close to the dorm for her to grab a bathing suit. "I've got an extra towel in my locker that you can use though." He added.

"Thanks, Ben. I won't be long." Kate said as she walked into the girls' locker room on the other side.

Inside the Boy's locker room, Ben began to think to himself as he stood in front of one of the empty lockers while he began to undress. 'Is this it? Is this where I tell Kate how I feel about her. That I... love her.' He thought to himself. Even if he found out that Kate felt the same way about him, how far would their relationship even go? Sex was obviously out of the question, but could they still kiss? Could they even lay next to each other in a non-sexual manner? And even if they did begin dating, how exactly would Kate's parents react to her having a boyfriend. Especially one who once had the reputation of a partier that was sleeping around with other girls at Blackwell. Thinking about all of this was making his head hurt and he figured getting in the water would help him take his mind off things. Now wearing nothing but his navy boxers, he grabbed the two towels from his locker and walked out of the door leading to the swimming pool.

The large room where the pool was held was filled with darkness, though the full moon shone through the ceiling windows, providing a doable amount of light. Still Ben knew that he and Kate would practically be swimming in the dark if nothing was done about it. Which was why he had a key on him to get into the offices of the school's athletic team coaches. Surprisingly enough, Ben still had a spare key with him, which was given to the captains of the football team for special cases. Luckily, it was the only item that he didn't return after he was recently kicked off the team.

After opening the door to the offices, he flicked on the light switch and then searched for a panel on the wall that turned on the pool's lights. And with just the press of a button, the pool was completely illuminated. "Now, we're in business." He said to himself.

As he walked out of the office and along the side of the pool, he was now reunited with Kate, who was certainly right about not having a bathing suit to wear. She was only in a light blue bra and matching colored panties. She had her arms crossed, though it was more likely due to the fact that she felt uncomfortable instead of being cold.

Ben tried his Best to be respectful by doing his best to make eye contact with her. However, he couldn't resist taking a brief glance of her body and seeing the she looked good. While she was petite, Kate's stomach showed that she had some abs, not belonging to a body builder or anything, but it did look like she exercised occasionally. A girl like her most likely did some running or swimming on her free time. He noticed that she also had long and slender legs which was already obvious from how she always wore skirts. Finally, he noticed the size of her breasts just before making direct eye contact with her. Kate was in no way flat-chested but she wasn't busty either. In fact, she appeared to have a slightly larger size than most girls Ben had hooked up with. 'Is it just me, or does Kate have a bigger rack than Victoria Chase?' Ben thought in his head, though he felt awful for thinking something so vulgar, but it only added to the fact that Kate wasn't just beautiful on the inside, but also drop-dead gorgeous on the outside from head to toe. She practically looked like she could have been a bikini model if she wanted to.

"So, I was just thinking," Kate said while walking over to the pool, "since we're probably two of the very few people on campus right now and you were so eager to come here, I'm getting the feeling that you either really wanted to get some exercise from all the food that we ate or you just wanted to see me in my underwear." She said with a frown on her face.

"Oh, well. Actually, It just that..." Ben tried to explain in his defense.

"It's okay Ben, I'm only teasing." Kate reassured him after letting out a playful giggle. "I've known you for quite some time to know that you wanting to see me like this isn't true. So, is the pool warm?"

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out." Ben said as he ran towards the ledge near the water. He then jumped up into the air and performed a cannonball straight into the pool. In a few seconds, he was reunited with the surface to see Kate standing by the edge and looking at him. "Alright, it's a little cold." He told her.

"I have to jump in sooner or later anyway." Kate said confidently. She took a few small steps back and ran straight for the pool, jumping into the water as well. "This is a little cold? It's freezing!" Kate said as she kept herself afloat.

"It's not so bad. You just have to move around and then you'll get used to it." He said as he began to stroke towards her.

The two of them were such great swimmers that they practically looked majestic swimming near each other. They clearly seemed to be extremely content with having the entire pool to themselves. As they continued to swim together for quite some time, Ben and Kate both got out of the water and sat along the edge of the pool with their feet still in the water.

"That was actually pretty fun. Tonight, in general, was fun." Kate said.

"Yeah, it was." Ben replied while staring out into the moonlight.

"Hey, Ben? Are you okay? You seemed kind of distant at one point tonight." She asked with concern in her face. "Did you have fun at the fair?"

"I did, it's just that..." Ben took a deep breath before delivering what he was going to say next. He placed his hand right on top of Kate's hand just before he spoke again. "Kate, I want this. What we have together. I want it to last forever. All I want to know is if you want the same." He said.

Kate was completely awestruck by Ben's words of affection. She herself felt a very similar way about Ben but there was always a voice in the back of her head telling her that she wasn't good enough for him. But could she really tell Ben that she felt the same way about him when she would probably never see him after this semester. There were so many emotions going through her head that she pulled her hand away from Ben's and looked down at the water.

"Ben?" She said with hesitation in her voice.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Kate. I should have known about your abstinence. I wasn't trying to force you into doing something you were uncomfortable with." He tried to explain.

"No, it's not that. It's just..." Kate sighed in frustration before stating what was next to come out of her mouth. "I like you Ben. I really do. You've done so much to make me feel happy and because of that, I feel the same way about you. But I'm just not sure if I can do this. For all I know, I might be at a completely different school next semester. And for as long as I can remember, my parents never allowed me to have a boyfriend. I don't know how they would react if they found out that you and I were... you know."

"Dating?" Ben said.

"Right. Ben, please don't take this wrong way. I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm saying no or rejecting you, but I just don't want to hurt you if I don't come back." She explained.

"Yeah, I understand." He said sounding sad.

"I'm starting to get a little cold. Do you think we could head back to the dorms now?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go change and meet you outside. Don't forget to grab one of the towels." He reminded her.

"Thanks, Ben." Kate replied as she smiled at him.

About twenty minutes later, Ben and Kate had now found themselves in front of the dorm building. Just before the two of them went their own separate ways, they both faced each other to say their final goodbyes for the night.

"Thanks again for everything, Ben. I had a great time. And about what I said back at the pool, I think that I just need some time to think about all of this, that's all. I was wondering if maybe tomorrow after school, we could sit down together and talk about things. You know, so we can figure out where to take things from here." She suggested.

"Of course, Kate. Anything for you. Have a good night." He said as he stepped up and hugged her.

"You too." She said as she hugged him back. Ben let her go inside first and waited a few minutes to head back to his own room.

Now inside his room, Ben had shut his door behind him.

'What the fuck was I thinking? I knew it was stupid to tell her how I felt about her. I'm probably never going to see her again just because she made one mistake that she wasn't even in control of. I got my hopes up over nothing.' He thought. What he really needed right now was to listen to some music to forget about what Kate had told him and hopefully, he would fall into a deep sleep. He grabbed one of the many records off the shelf and placed it into his turntable. He then kicked off his shoes and plopped down onto his bed, now lying down. The song that began playing was I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls. Ben stared at the ceiling of his room while the opening melody of the song played. Then as the lyrics were being sang, the song made him think about how crazy things were becoming at Blackwell ever since he met Kate. He didn't even know her at the start of the semester but somehow, he just happened to find himself entering her life. And surely, being attracted to her and developing strong feelings for her had its consequences for him. Like the fact he was basically avoiding his fellow friends in the Vortex Club and on bad terms with some of them. Or that he was making enemies with elites like the Prescotts. No matter what predicament he was in, he could care less, so long as Kate was happy like she deserved to be. He then started to sing along to the lyrics of the song as he closed his eyes and began to drift away to sleep just before softly singing to himself,

I just ran

I ran all night and day

I couldn't get away

The early morning sunlight managed to sneak its way through the bedroom window of Nathan Prescott, who did a careless job at shutting his blinds. He could hear the obnoxious blaring noise of his digital alarm clock being made as it rested on his nightstand, right next to his him. It only did nothing but aggravate him. Turning over on the other side, he took the expensive wireless clock and chucked it across his room as far as he could, which placed a dent into his wall and broke into several fragments as it hit the floor. He knew that this was now the seventh time his alarm went off after repeatedly hitting the snooze button. It was another reminder that he lacked any desire to go to Blackwell today or anymore at all.

After years of being bullied by both students who held personal vendettas against him, and the adults in his life like his own father, Nathan finally felt that he got a break from it all in his final year at Blackwell. He felt more than lucky to have been made president of the Vortex Club and planned to make some big changes. He took advantage of his family's wealth to buy more friends and throw wild parties that the Vortex Club was now known for. And once he gained the popularity that he so much yearned for as a freshman, he abused his status to become a bully and attack students he felt were beneath him. Max, Warren, and especially Kate were just some to name a few. But this life was just a way for him to hide his true emotional pain that was inflicted from the bullies in his life.

But to Nathan, his life only began to spiral out of control because of one person. Ben Ferris, Blackwell Academy's number one sellout, in the eyes of Nathan. The fact that Ben, someone that he considered a friend and took the initiative to let into the Vortex Club, could just turn on him one week and then beat him to a bloody pulp the next, was enough to leave him hurting. And what fueled Nathan's rage even more was how Ben always felt that the actions he made against him were justified. He wanted to do something about it, but he was just losing more motivation each day as Ben was gaining more and more popularity among Blackwell's students and faculty. More so, was the way how Ben thought so highly of Kate. It only drove him crazy how his former best friend could treat such a repulsive Jesus-freak as if she was a princess. But thinking about all this wasn't good for him. It only added to the current pressure that was being put on him by his father, who unwillingly let him back into the Prescott residence after he was banned from the dormitory on Blackwell's campus, which barred their family's name.

He was still wearing the same clothes he wore to the fair last night, his red bomber jacket and white dress shirt with black chinos and brown loafers. His light brown hair was a mess after a night of tossing and turning in his bed. As he walked down a set of stairs in his family's house, he tried processing what happened the night before. Being embarrassed by the two girls, then confronting that douchebag Ben and seeing that pious bitch, Kate, follow him around like a stupid lost puppy, just before being humiliated in front of them by his own father. As he finally made his way downstairs, he then entered his kitchen to fix up something to eat. He searched through the cabinet trying to find something to sate his appetite. The cabinet contained several small orange bottles which contained most of his medication. The fact that those bottles were still practically full showed that he wasn't taking those meds like his psychiatrist advised him. As Nathan then grabbed a box of pop tarts and prepared to place them in the toaster, he was greeted by the last person he wanted to see right now.

"You overslept." Nathan's father deadpanned as he stated the obvious to his son. He sat across the kitchen at a table while having a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. "I trust you know that you're late for school today." He added while still looking at the paper.

"I know. I'm sorry." Nathan replied with a hint of remorse in his voice.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to yourself, Nathan. I'm just about tired of you asking me for my forgiveness." His father stated in an annoyed tone. "Have you read the paper yet?" He asked.

Nathan was completely puzzled as to why his father was asking him this question. No eighteen-year-old ever read the newspaper except for maybe the Blackwell Totem. Most kids usually got their news feed from watching the news or going on social media these days "No, I haven't. Why?" Nathan sulked.

Because your school's Drama teacher, Sarah O'Dea, released the names of the full cast for the Spring Musical. And do you have any idea who was given the lead role.?" He asked in a serious tone.

Nathan had a pretty good guess of who it could have been. The person who he knew besides Rachel Amber that wanted to pursue a life of acting more than anyone else. But to say or hear his name right now was enough to make him wince.

"Benjamin Ferris." His father spat out in disgust. "This is the fourth time this month I've seen that boy's name in the paper." He said in annoyance regarding Ben and disappointment towards Nathan. "Ben Ferris leads Bigfoots in 4-0 season. Ben Ferris saves fellow classmate from attempting suicide. Ben Ferris organizes rally for said classmate. How many times do you think I've seen your name in the paper?" His father yelled as he stood up from his table with his newspaper in his hand.

"Coach Ferris is laughing behind my back every day, knowing that he has a son that isn't a complete embarrassment to him. What have you even done this year besides throw wild parties and get in trouble for various allegations?" He barked at his own son, who just stared down at the kitchen floor. "It's no wonder that your mother left me all those years ago. She didn't want to bear the Prescott family name anymore all because of you. You finally came of age, yet you still manage to be a disappointment..."

"It's not my fault!" Nathan shouted back in defense. His father was shocked by what his own son had just said to him, while Nathan had the biggest "oh shit!" look on his face.

"What did you say to me?" Sean Prescott asked while gritting his teeth.

"I said it's not my fault." Nathan replied in a shakier voice. His act of defiance against his father's verbal abuse didn't help him at all as his father smacked him across the face with the thick rolled up newspaper.

"So then who's fault is it then? Because it most certainly isn't mine." He yelled as he smacked his son again. "Who?!" He shouted.

"It's mine." He sniffed.

"I can't hear you, boy!" His father said in a stern voice.

"I said it's all my fault." Nathan cried in anguish. He felt defeated once again and dropped to his own knees while weeping before the man he feared for so many years.

"You ungrateful little shit. I allow you back in my house after you get yourself kicked out of the dorm that bears our family name, and you have the gall to raise your voice at me." He said in disappointment as he walked to the doors of the kitchen. "If you ever speak out against me like that again, I will personally ship you off to a boarding school in England." He threatened before leaving the house. "I have to leave for work now. See yourself out immediately before you miss anymore of your classes." He told his son shortly before walking out the front door of their mansion.

Once Mr. Prescott was finally gone, Nathan shot up in a state of rage and screamed as loud as he could. With anger being the only emotion that he could express right now, he ran for the table his father previously sat at and flipped it over, with everything on top of it falling to the floor. He then grabbed the toaster that sat on the counter and chucked it across the room as it hit the sliding glass door leading to the patio, which left a crack. He wasn't done as he repeatedly punched one of the cabinet doors until there was a clear sign of damage on it. For as long as he could remember, he just wanted to be accepted by his own father. But how could that possibly happen when he was constantly being compared to someone he currently despised so much. Once his tantrum had ended, he felt nothing but exhaustion and slowly fell against the fridge. With his head in his hands. As he sat there he felt his phone go off in his jacket pocket, making him aware that he had just received a text. As checked the phone, he saw that the text was from an anonymous user. However, based on the text, this person sounded as if they were already acquainted with him.

Unknown:

We're running out of time! He's continuing to spend more time with her and he could be close to finding out the truth at any moment. We need to deal with him tonight. Do you understand?

Nathan didn't bother replying to the text as it only reminded him of public enemy number one.

"Ben! This is all Ben's fault! He did this to me! And now, he has to die!" Nathan swore to himself.

As the school day at Blackwell was already over, students were out and about socializing together on campus or even taking part in daily activities. Others, however, were working steadily on preparing for the Homecoming dance. Each of the assigned groups were hard at work, especially Ben and Kate who were tracing the drawings and font for the banner.

Kate laid against the floor on her stomach, happily putting her drawings to the paper while swinging her legs in the air. Although she noticed during lunch, she didn't mention how Ben wasn't as talkative as he usually was. She tried to think of a way to bring him into a conversation.

"Hey, Ben?" Kate said as she looked over at him on the other side.

"What's up?" Ben replied as he worked steadily on tracing letters onto the banner.

"Could you hand me the yellow marker next to you, please? I need it to color Belle's dress." She asked while smiling at him.

"Yeah, here you go." He said as he rolled it over to her. She stopped it with her hand as it got closer to her and noticed that Ben had gone back to working on the banner once again.

"You seem a bit quiet than usual today." She perceived as she decided to speak up and say something. She hoped that it would spark a conversation between them.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Ben replied, as he was still distant from everything else.

'So much for an easy conversation, Kate.' She thought in her head. "You're still thinking about what I said last night aren't you?" She added.

"It's not that, Kate." Ben stated. It's just..."

"Ben!" Kate said with a pout on her face, knowing that she caught him in a lie. "I only said what I said because I care about you. And I don't want to hurt you if I never come back to Blackwell because of my parents' decision." She tried to explain.

"I know, but we could at least try to make it work if that does happen. I could drive up to visit you every weekend. And maybe I could even apply to the same Art School as you if they have a theatre program." He suggested to her.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do for me, Ben. But I'd still like for us to have that talk after this though. You know, to figure everything out." She said.

"Yeah, sure. We can do that." He replied.

"Wow, looking good you two." Someone who was towering over them said. Ben and Kate both looked up to see that it was Mr. Jefferson with a look on his face that showed how proud he was of their progress. "I've gotta say, you two make quite the dynamic duo together."

"Oh, well thank you, Mr. Jefferson. As you can see, I'm the illustrator and Ben's the writer." Kate said as she took his statement as a compliment.

"I don't mean to interrupt your work, but do you think I could steal Ben just for a quick second?" He asked.

"Sure thing Mr. J. What do you need me for?" Ben asked with a curious look on his face.

"Actually, I think it's best if we talk out in the hall." Mr. Jefferson suggested as he turned his back and walked towards the gymnasium doors, signaling to Ben that he was to follow him.

"I'll be back." Ben said to Kate as he got up.

"Take your time. I'll still be here." Kate said as she looked up at him before she went back to her drawings.

Ben followed Jefferson and walked through the doors that brought them both into the highway.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" Ben questioned

"As a matter of fact, I do. You're not in trouble, but I did want you to know that I've been beginning to express some deep concern for you as of lately, Ben."

"Concern? Concern about what?" Ben asked in a demanding tone.

"Ben, as an educator, it's my responsibility to be aware of what my students are getting into. And I've noticed that you and Kate have developed quite a fondness for each other." He said. As he pushed up his glasses.

"It's nothing like that, Mr. Jefferson. We're just good friends, that's all." Ben replied nonchalantly.

"Oh really? Well then perhaps you'd be okay with explaining to Principal Wells what you two were doing in the swimming pool past curfew last night." He stated with a pressed look on his face. "You should never lie to a teacher, Ben. Especially when he holds your independent study in his own hands."

"What do you want from me?" Ben asked in a calm voice. In actuality, the real question he wanted to ask was, 'How the fuck do you know about that you stalker?'

"I'd like to know a bit more about last week's incident that involved you and Kate and Nathan last week." He replied with his arms crossed.

"I already told Principal Wells everything that happened, so why don't you ask him instead." Ben said in an annoyed tone. He turned around and began to walk back into the gym just before Jefferson grabbed ahold of his arm.

"Whoa, not so fast. You still haven't answered my question. When you gave Nathan that little beatdown, it seemed like you were almost trying to interrogate him from what I heard. What exactly were you trying to get out of him?" Jefferson questioned.

"The truth. Don't you think that Kate deserves to know what really happened to her the night she got drugged." He declared as he turned back to face him again.

"Sometimes the truth is more than you can handle, Ben. And besides, isn't Nathan's statement good enough. I doubt that Blackwell's most honored student would lie about helping out a fellow student who was heavily intoxicated."

"I believed Nathan the first time which was my mistake. We know he's hiding something from everything, and I'll find out eventually." He said just before he looked through the glass window of the gym.

"That's a shame to hear, Ben. After working with you on your independent study I was considering you for another line of work. An internship of sorts. However, it would require you and Nathan working together under my supervision. But something tells me that you wouldn't be a right fit for it anyway. Your attention's been elsewhere lately." He stated as he noticed that Ben had his eyes on Kate through the window of the gymnasium door.

"Take care, Ben." Mr. Jefferson said as he walked away.

"Mr. Jefferson, wait... what?" Ben spoke as he attempted to return his focus to the teacher, but as he looked down the hall, he noticed that he was already gone. It was strange how he had vanished just like that. But the things that Jefferson said to Ben didn't sit well with him. How exactly did he know about him and Kate last night? What exactly did that internship entail and why would he have to work with Nathan. There something about Mr. Jefferson's odd attitude towards Ben which made him want to know more, but all of a sudden...

"Is everything okay?" Kate asked as she poked her head out of the door.

"Yeah! At least I think." Ben replied in a confused tone. "What are you doing out here? I thought everyone was still working on Homecoming preparations."

"Dana just dismissed everyone since it's already been two hours now." Kate answered.

"Oh, right." He replied as he looked down at the floor.

"Ben, did something happen? You look like you just saw a ghost." Kate observed.

"To be honest, I don't know how I feel after that talk that Mr. Jefferson and I just had. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way." Ben admitted.

"What did he say to you?" Kate asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Ben paused and took a short breath before disclosing to Kate what just happened between him and the photography teacher. "He told me that..."

"Hey, guys?" A voice interrupted. Ben and Kate both looked behind them to see that the person calling them was Max, who was also accompanied by Warren.

"What's up you two?" Ben replied.

"Not a whole lot. Listen do you think I could speak with Kate in private? It's just girl stuff, that's all." Max said coyly.

"Yeah, sure thing." Ben said while trying to figure out what Max was getting at.

"Hey Ben, while they're having their little talk, maybe you could help me out with this little chemistry experiment I've been working on." Warren suggested as he placed his hands-on Ben's shoulder's and tried to get him away from Kate and Max.

"Alright! I've got some time anyway. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Sweet! You're the best, buddy." Warren said in an overly excited tone. Ben was curious why Warren needed his help and even more, what it was that Max needed to talk to Kate about so urgently. Ben was usually quite gullible, but he knew that there was something that Warren wasn't telling him. Especially when the two guys walked into Mr. Jefferson's classroom instead of Ms. Grant's science classroom right across the hall.

"Come on, Warren, cut the shit. What's going on and what are we doing in Jefferson's classroom right now."

"I know that I'm not being honest with you right now, but you have to see this for yourself." Warren said nervously.

"See what? What are you talking about, bro!" Ben demanded in a frustrated and confused tone.

"Whatever you do, just don't freak out, alright!" Warren tried to explain as he lead Ben to the computer in the back of the room. "So I was with Max when she was trying to print out some pictures on this computer and the first thing that we saw on the computer was this."

"What the..." Ben tried his best to find the last word to finish his question, but he couldn't. What he saw on the computer screen made every hair on his body stand straight.

Before Ben and Warren's very eyes, were a set of various images of girls at Blackwell. However, these photos were taken without their awareness or consent. They appeared to be candids of the young girls. Some that Ben just casually knew and barely spoke to but other that he was good friends with like Dana and Juliet. And as the two scrolled down, there was eventually Kate. The last person that Ben could even imagine being involved in all this. The first picture he saw of her was one that he could remember because he was also in it. It was the two of them sitting on the bench near the dormitory building, talking together.

"I know when that picture was taken." He mentioned to Warren.

"It gets worse, man." Warren said. He continued to scroll down which unveiled photos of Kate from last night when she had gone swimming with Ben, each one depicting her in her underwear.

"Who took these?" He asked angrily.

"Take a look at the thumb drive?" Warren said as he pointed to a red and white thumb drive. Ben saw it and immediately pulled it out of the computer's USB port, causing all of the photos to disappear from the computer screen. He then saw a name of the owner of the drive written in black sharpie which read Nathan P.

"That little shithead!" Ben said as he gritted his teeth.

"So, what are you about do to him?" Warren asked.

"I'll tell you what I'm about do. I'm gonna kick some dirt in his face. Warren, grab as many people as you can from our dorm and tell them to come to the front of the school. I'm about to give everyone something they've always wanted to see."

Right outside the front of Blackwell's main building was where the most recognizable members of the Vortex Club could be found, as they sat on the green and grassy lawn. Sitting in a circle, were Victoria, Taylor, Courtney, Zach, Logan, Hayden, and Nathan each conversing with each other. However, Nathan sat with his back towards everyone in the circle, not saying a single word to anyone. Victoria had noticed this and attempted to bring him into the discussion.

"You okay, Nate? You seem pretty quiet today?" Victoria asked concerningly.

"What? Oh, yeah! I'm fine. It's just... what's he doing here?" Nathan said in a frantic voice. The reason as to why he was so shook-up suddenly was that he saw Ben approaching the group's circle. Accompanying him was Warren, along with other guys from boys' dormitory floor floor such as Trevor, Justin, Luke, Daniel, and many more.

"Hey, Ben!" Taylor greeted happily.

"Ben, what's up?" Hayden asked in hazy tone, indicating that he was obviously stoned.

Ben didn't reply to any of the greetings, as he only had his sights set on Nathan.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Bible Study with your new girlfriend?" Nathan spat out.

"Relax, Nathan. Ben's only here to say hi." Courtney stated.

Ben only ignored the insult that was directed towards him "Give me your bag." He demanded.

"What?" Nathan said.

"Never mind, I'll just take it myself." He said as he snatched the rich kid's messenger bag from the ground.

"That's not yours, Ferris. Give it back now." Nathan ordered as he got up and walked towards Ben. The only outcome was that Ben had knocked him right on his ass.

"Ben, what is your deal?" Victoria reacted angrily.

"Nothing really. It's just that Warren and I happened to stumble upon some of Nathan's photos on the computer since he left his flash drive in Mr. Jefferson's classroom. And we just thought that everybody else might want to check out his portfolio. This is an art school after all." Ben stated as he searched through the possessions in Nathan's bag. "What's this, Nate?" Ben teasingly as he fished out a white binder from the bag.

"What? I don't know what that is." Nathan claimed nervously.

"Really? So, you don't mind if we all take a look inside, then?" Ben said. And without even hesitating, he opened up the binder and started to flip through the first few pages until he found exactly what he was looking for. "Wow! Just when I was beginning to think you were weird enough for talking to yourself and locking yourself in your dorm room, this tops it off." Ben said in a not so surprised voice as he turned the open book towards the circle of Vortex Club members. Each of them were surprised to see the photos of girls who were unaware that they were being photographed as they went about their own business.

"Dude! That's just wrong." Logan said with a hint of disappointment as he shook his head at Nathan.

"That's not even the half of it. Check it out, Zach. Your girl made it in Prescott's pervy little yearbook too." Ben said as he flipped to the next page.

"What? Let me see." The quarterback said as he shot up from where he sat and went to see the contents of the book for himself. He was alarmed to find a picture of Juliet sitting by herself in the student parking lot. "Dude, what the fuck?!" He shouted angrily to Nathan in reaction to seeing photos of his girlfriend in the book as well.

"I don't understand! Nathan, this isn't like you at all." Courtney said in a shocked tone.

"That's what I thought too, Courtney. In fact, I wondered how long he was able to do this without any of us knowing. But I guess when you're nothing but a spineless little pervert, you can get away with anything." Ben said. "You mind telling me, why I found these on your flash drive today, Prescott?" Ben asked as he pulled a stack of printed out pictures from his pocket and threw them at Nathan's feet for him to see. The same pictures of Ben and Kate swimming at the pool together, with some that were more focused in on Kate.

In a panic, to try and clear things up, Nathan got up and tried to make his case. "Ferris, listen to me, man. I know it looks bad, but I didn't take those..."

"Oh, really? Then who did take them? Because I doubt it was Max." Ben shouted. "Are you obsessed with Kate or something, huh? Just like how you were so in love with Rachel Amber. I already know for a fact that your lying ass didn't take Kate to the hospital that night." He stated. Everyone was focusing on the confrontation going on right in front of them. "I bet you tried to fuck her when you had the chance, but then you changed your mind not because you knew it was the wrong to do, but because you probably just couldn't get your tiny little dick up that night."

"That's not what happened, Ben." Nathan tried to explain.

"So, then what really did happen that night? Tell it to my face. Because at this point, I didn't even care if it's true or not. I'm still going to kick the shit out you either way." Ben said as he towered over him. Nathan felt completely panicked and helpless as he saw a collection of shocked, angered, and disappointed faces all focused on him. Feeling so defeated, the only thing he could even do at this point was cry. It was this very moment that made him feel as if he was reliving his Freshman year at Blackwell all over again.

"Wow, I never knew that someone like Nathan Prescott was capable of showing a human emotion like sadness, let alone being able to shed tears." Ben joked, which got a couple of laughed from people, except from Victoria, who was silent.

"You know, Nate, I really just wanted to help you and be there for you with all of the stress that you said you were dealing with. But now, I will once and for all. By destroying your prized possession." Ben said.

"What?" Nathan questioned in confusion. He watched Ben dig into his bag only for him to pull out his camera.

"Nice camera, Nate! Was it a birthday present or an early graduation gift? Knowing you, you probably just had the money to blow as always. Ben teased as he tossed the thousand-dollar camera up in the air.

"No!" Nathan screamed as he tried to stop Ben only for Trevor and Zach to hold him down.

"It's been a while since I played little league guys. Let's see if I've still got it." Ben said as he cocked his hand behind his head and launched the camera away from him as it flew at rapid velocity and collided right into the statue of Jerimiah Blackwell. The camera shattered into several fragments just before they fell into the fountain.

"Nice, wind up, Ferris!" Logan cheered as he laughed.

"Ferris you fucking dick!" Nathan shouted as he broke free and charged right at Ben, only for Ben to deliver uppercut straight to his gut. Nathan had fallen to his knees trying to gasp for air while tightly clutching his stomach.

Ben only looked down at him with disgust before giving him a threatening warning. "Do yourself a favor, Nathan and leave Arcadia Bay for good. Because if I ever see your face again I'll do everyone here at Blackwell a favor and..."

"Ben, I want you to stop right there." Someone shouted from behind him. It was a voice that Ben knew far too well at this point. All he had to do was turn around to correctly match the angered voice to a very disappointed face.

"Kate?" Ben said in a surprised tone. "I can explain..."

"You don't have to. I heard and saw everything that happened." Kate replied as she stood several feet away from Ben with her hands crossed. "I think you need some time alone to think about what you just did." She said as she walked away.

"Kate, hold on." Ben called out. But it was useless. She only ignored him as she distanced herself from Ben and the crowd of students.

"Everybody hates me. They all hate me." Ben heard Nathan whimper. He turned around to see that everyone else left to go their own separate ways now that the show was over, but Victoria stayed behind to comfort Nathan. Who was still on the ground.

"You know, you should probably go talk to her before she thinks you're even more of an asshole." Victoria suggested in a rude demeanor.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry!" Ben said, realizing the damage he had just caused.

"Don't apologize to me, Ben. Apologize to yourself!" Victoria barked at him.

"Shit!" Ben thought to himself. There wasn't a lot of things in life that scared him. But wondering if Kate would forgive him after seeing how he had just acted was enough to make his skin crawl.

Hours had passed after the whole incident that occurred on the campus. The skies were finally dark, and most students were returning to their dorms after finishing their supper at the campus cafeteria. One of those students who happened to be walking back was Ben, who was by himself, and in a rush to get to the dorm. He was focusing more on trying not to drop or spill the plastic container of food and the contents of what was in the Styrofoam cup he was also carrying while passing by other students. That very cup was filled with hot tea and the container had a full dinner of what included roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. Though none of this was for Ben it was for someone else.

He rushed up to the second floor of the dormitory making his way right into the girls hall and passing the first few rooms until he made his way to Kate's.

Meanwhile, on the other side, of the door, Kate sat right at her desk in deep thought. She tried her best to process everything through her mind regarding what she had witnessed Ben do today. It didn't make since to her how someone who was so kind and caring towards her and always going out of their way to make her smile in the past few weeks, do something so hateful towards another person. No matter what Ben's motive was for doing what he did, Kate didn't want to believe that was the same boy who she was beginning to fall in love with.

She was then startled by the loud knock on her door, followed by the sound of Ben's voice.

"Hey, Kate? It's me. Can I come in?" He asked her, resulting in Kate to look at her door but hesitate to answer. "I brought you some food and tea from the cafeteria." He added.

"You can come in, Ben." Kate finally responded.

"Thanks." Ben said as he opened Kate's door, greeting her with a smile. "You weren't at the cafeteria for dinner tonight, and I wasn't really sure if you went to the Two Whales or ordered take out instead. So, I grabbed an extra helping of stuff just for you. I even got you your favorite tea, Chamomile." He said. Kate walked over to him to take the container and tea from him.

"Thank you, Ben." She said as she walked back over to her desk with them. Ben could tell by her body language that she wasn't okay.

"So, about today, I know what I did looked bad. But you came in at a pretty bad time and..."

"Ben! What you did to Nathan was uncalled for. You didn't have to do that."

"What?! Kate, that creep had tons of pictures of you and other girls that go here all over his flash drive and in that scrap book he made. Not to mention the fact that you were even half-naked in some of them."

"I know. Max, told me earlier today in the hallway. I only wish that you would have waited for me and then we could have reported him to Principal Wells before you ran off to do something so... so stupid like I saw you do today." Kate said with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"Are you serious? I took the liberty of publicly shaming him just for you and everyone else here at Blackwell and all you're going to do is shake your head at me? A nice 'thank you' wouldn't hurt." Ben replied.

"Ben, I know that you wanted to try and protect me, but that wasn't the way. Sometimes, you have to learn to love your enemies and turn the other cheek." Kate mentioned.

"Well, I can't!" Ben yelled back.

"What do you mean?" Kate questioned in a fearful voice. This was only her reaction to hearing Ben raise his voice at her.

"I don't mean to sound like a pessimist Kate, but that doesn't always work. Turning the other cheek doesn't solve everyone's problems. It didn't stop my brother from committing suicide when those bullies made his life hell and it sure as shit didn't stop me from being abused and molested when I was just a kid. You just have to understand that life is cruel and nothing about it will change unless you actually do something yourself." He argued.

"Ben, other people have been through their own personal tragedies too. I know you've been through a lot in your life but it's not always about you."

"Really, because I could say the same thing to you about how these past few weeks went for you." Ben snapped back. He then wished that he hadn't said those words as he realized that Kate was now paralyzed and what he said had pierced her heart. "Kate, I didn't mean..."

"No, it's alright, Ben. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was such an idiot for falling in love with the one and only Ben Ferris and thinking that he actually loved me back."

"I..."

"Just go, Ben! I think this is the God's way of telling me we're just not meant to be together. We never were." She said with nothing but remorse in her voice.

"Okay, Kate." Ben said sadly. He knew that she was in no mood to hear his pleas for forgiveness. Not this time. The best thing to do was for him right now was to leave her room and go back to his own. He turned around and walked towards the door to Kate's room. As he opened the door and walked out, he took one last look at Kate, who had her back turned to him and looked out her window, and could hear her faintly crying to herself just before he closed the door. Knowing that curfew was fast approaching, Ben headed to the exit of the girls' dorm and made his way back to his room.

Ben knew that he was wrong to say what he said to Kate. He knew that everything she said was right, it was no different to the teachings of his grandmother, who was another devout Christian like Kate was. Right now, the only emotion that was going on in his head was fear. He was fearing the very future of his friendship with Kate, realizing that he may have just destroyed everything that they had recently developed with each other. He figured that instead of pondering on it, he would work on resolving things tomorrow morning by going back to her and giving her the apology that he very much owed her. But for now, he would head back to his room and sleep all his worries away if that was even possible for him to do. But just as Ben opened the door to his room, he noticed that his lights were already on, along with four unexpected and unwelcome guests sitting in the room.

"Long day huh, Ferris?" Nathan asked. He sat on top of the desk that was on the other side of Ben's room. "What happened, ran out of fun things to do with 'Sister Kate'?" He mocked.

"Get out of my room, now!" Ben demanded.

"I guess you're not looking for a roommate then. Well then you better tell that to these guys!" He said pointing to a group of three other guys that where in the room. One of them sat on Ben's bed, another on the couch in his room, and the other was leaning against Ben's wardrobe while holding a wooden baseball bat.

"Who are they, Nathan?" Ben asked as he quickly eyed each one of the other boys.

"Seriously? You don't know any of the guys on the baseball team. I thought all the jocks where supposed to know each other. But I'm not surprised. You traded that life to become a Drama loser anyway." Nathan said, which got some laughs from the three baseball players.

"What do you want?" Ben asked.

"What I want is for you to pay for a new camera after you thought you could just break mine. But we both know you don't have the money to pay for it anyway. I mean the reason you drive a shitty muscle car straight out of the '70s. is because you can't afford a real car like everyone else here." Nathan continued to mock. "So, since you can't buy me a new thousand dollar Kodak digital camera, I guess it's only fair to have these guys give you a long overdue ass-kicking."

And just like that the next thing Ben could see from his peripheral vision was a fist flying to the side of his face. He could feel the sharp blow of the punch being delivered straight to his cheekbone, causing him to lose his balance and fall over. But before he could hit the floor, he was caught by another one of the jocks who helped him on his feet and punched him right in the face. It wasn't long until he shook off the two punches and found himself being held tightly by the arms from two of the athletes. Ben was strong, but right now, he couldn't find the amount of strength to break free from such a tight grip.

"Hold him down, boys." Nathan instructed as he grabbed the baseball bat from the third player. "It's only fair if I get a couple hits in too." He briefly studied Ben, who was looking down at the floor and panting heavily, trying to his best to recover. "You're not the only one who's played little league, Ben. I've got a pretty good swing myself." He taunted as he held the bat tightly in both hands and swung it furiously across Ben's face. Ben was able to hear a cracking noise along with the sharp pain along the bridge of his nose. He couldn't tell yet but the bridge of his nose was already split open, with a trail of blood started to flow.

"Do you know how much it fucking hurt, Ferris?! When you walked away from the Vortex Club? From me?" Nathan shouted as he swung the bat again, this time hitting Ben in the temple. His skull had been fractured. "I was the first friend you had here, I made you popular. And then you threw me away for some frigid Jesus freak. You're nothing but a sellout." He taunted as he rammed the end of the bat forcefully into Ben's stomach making him fall to his knees. "What nothing to say now." Nathan taunted as he lifted the bat over his head and and swung it down on Ben's head as fast he could. Ben had been completely laid out on the floor and bleeding like crazy from his broken noise and any blood that he had spit out. It was far from over as he still felt the wooden bat impact against his body along with several punches and kicks from the three baseball players. Fighting dirty was one of the only things these four knew how to do. "Get the camera." Nathan ordered one of the jocks.

"I thought you said we we're gonna just rough him a bit. He looks real messed up right now and..."

"Just do it! I'm the one who's paying you to do this shit, remember?" He hissed back. One of the guys grabbed a video recording camera and handed it over to Nathan, while the other two jocks grabbed each of Ben's and helped up to his knees.

"Listen, Ben, this can all be over quick or we can make this much worse for you." Nathan said while focusing the camera on Ben's bruised and bloody face. Just admit to the camera that everything you said me, the gun, me dosing Kate, and taking the pictures of all those girls were all just a bunch of lies you made up just to make a name for yourself." He instructed Ben.

Ben was kneeling against the floor of his room as he heard that exact order from Nathan. Knowing that he couldn't bring himself to that for the sake of one person on he truly cared about at Blackwell, he had another option that came to his mind. He looked at Nathan and his cronies that were all in front of him and then turned his head looking at the only open window in his room.

"Say it!" Nathan shouted in frustration as he angrily kicked Ben in his face, knocking him down.

Using the amount of strength, he had left in himself after the beat down he received, Ben had feebly stood up on both legs and stated at the four guys in his room and faintly said, "Fuck... you... Prescott." And in the blink of an eye, he threw himself out the window, shocking the four who watched him.

"Oh shit!" One of the jocks shouted in shock to seeing Ben fling himself like that.

"Oh man! Fuck this, Nate! I'm outta here." Another jock said in fear, thinking that Ben had probably just killed himself after pulling off a stunt like that. Everyone all ran out of the room except Nathan, who walked towards the window and looked out to see if there was any sign of Ben.

Ben opened his eyes to see that he was laying against the ground right outside of the dorm building. His room was on the first floor, so it wasn't that big of a jump from his window. Still, it wasn't a soft landing and he fell face first against the pavement, splitting his head open. Feeling too weak to get up and run for help, let alone walk, he dragged himself onto the grass lawn with the lamp posts shining on him. Knowing that he wouldn't get very far in the state he was currently in, he used every inch of his breath to crawl towards the bench. It was the same bench that he and Kate sat at together and talked with each other just last week. As he finally made it to the bench he, lifted himself up and rested his tired and broken body on the planks of the bench. For once he felt that he had been beaten, not by Nathan Prescott, but by life itself. As he looked out in the distance, he could see a tall silhouetted figure slowly walking towards him. As the figure got closer to him, he could see someone he knew too well. Someone he least expected to see. It was his brother, and he looked exactly the same as he did before that fateful night he called Ben and took his own life.

"Ronnie?" Ben questioned while sounding surprised.

"Hey, little brother." He said. "I'm sorry I left you. I never realized how much you really needed me after Mom and Dad split. But right now, Kate needs you more than anything. So, you have to get up." He told him.

"No. Kate doesn't need me. I pushed her away and now she hates me. I don't deserve her." Ben lamented talking to his brother. "Right now, I just want all this to end so I can be with you." He said.

Before Ben began to slowly shut his eyes, he saw his brother disappear and the shadowy figure reappear and begin to close on him. As he shut his eyes and finally lost consciousness. His body was slowly lifted from the bench by whoever the individual was. Whoever this person was though, his or her intentions for Ben couldn't be good.

It was already the next morning, and Kate sat in her room as she tried her best to play Bach's Partita No. 2 on the violin. However, she found herself pausing frequently as she couldn't stop thinking about the argument between her and Ben last night.

'He couldn't have meant those things that he said to me, could he? I know how he feels about me, but I think he was just being too overprotective.' Kate thought to herself.

A knock on Kate's door could be heard along with the voice of Max. "Kate? Did you want to grab breakfast before class?" She asked from the other side.

"Sure thing, Max." Kate replied. She placed her violin and bow back into its case before she got up from her chair and opened her door to greet Max. She was also surprised to see that Chloe was with her as well.

"Good morning, Max! Good morning Chloe." She said with a faint smile on her face.

"You alright, girl? You look hella upset about something." Chloe stated as she picked up on Kate's facial expression.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Ben and I had a bit of a disagreement last night, that's all." She tried to explain.

"That's putting it lightly. I spent the night at Max's room and we could hear him shouting at you from down the hall. What exactly did he say to you, Kate? If he lost his shit and hit you, I swear I'll..."

"Chloe!" Max jumped in. "Maybe you should just let Kate explain.

"It's like I said, we just had a disagreement. Are we still going to get breakfast together?" Kate said.

"You bet! Two Whales here we come." Chloe said with excitement as she was first to start walking towards the exit.

"Actually... do you think that we could stop at Ben's room first? You know, just to check up on him." Kate said timidly.

"If you want to, I guess." Chloe said. "Just so you know, I tried texting him last night to see if he was okay and he hasn't replied back at all."

"That doesn't sound like Ben at all." Max said.

Kate said nothing at all as hearing that made her feel nervous about Ben's whereabouts.

A couple minutes later, the three of them were now on the boys' floor, passing by some of the boys who were heading to the bathroom to get ready. Kate, Max, and Chloe now found their selves in front of the door to Ben's room. Kate knocked on the door very feebly to see if she would hear Ben's voice on the other side. However, there was no response.

"Ben? Are you in there?" Kate asked. "It's Kate." She then said. "Can I come in?"

"We might as well just barge in to wake him up at this point." Chloe insisted.

"Okay." Kate thought as she slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open, hoping that Ben was at least dressed if he was awake.

When Kate opened the door, she, Max, and Chloe were welcomed to an unoccupied room with a total mess.

"Shit! He must have been hella pissed to have torn this place apart." Chloe commented as she analyzed the room.

Max and Kate had both looked around to see a chair knocked over and some of Ben's personal belongings scattered across the floor along with the window being open.

"Hey guys?" Max called out in a concerned voice, grabbing the attention of both Kate and Chloe. "Is it me, or does that look a lot like blood?" She questioned while pointing at a dried red stain on the carpet of Ben's floor.

"What? Max, that couldn't be." Kate doubted.

"I don't know, Kate. This all seems a bit sketchy. Ben didn't answer any of my calls, his room's completely trashed, and he just leaves the window wide open like that. It kind of makes you wonder if he was trying to get away from something."

"That's ridiculous, Chloe! Ben has nothing to run away from. And that stain can't be his own blood." Kate shouted.

"Kate just calm down." Max quickly intervened. "What Chloe's trying to say is…"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Max! I don't know if this is your way of trying to help me find out where Ben is, but if it is, it's not funny. He could be anywhere on campus and if neither of you are going to help me, then I'm going to find him myself." Kate said as she marched angrily out of Ben's room.

"Is she usually like this?" Chloe asked as she looked over to Max.

"No, but I can understand why." Max stated.

As she found herself back in the hallway, she found the starting quarterback, Zach Riggins, leaving his room in a bath towel to go use the shower.

"Hey, Zachary?" Kate questioned in a nervous tone. "Have you seen Ben?" She asked him.

"Not since yesterday when he taught Prescott a lesson. Um, no offense, but shouldn't you know he should be?" He replied while scratching the back of his head.

"Right. Thanks anyway though and have a nice day." She said as she continued down the hall. 'Where could he be?' She thought to herself.

Hours had passed to the point where Kate now found herself in class. She was on edge as she constantly worried about where Ben could be and why he hadn't even responded to any of Chloe's texts like she mentioned.

'I know it might not work, but maybe he'll try picking up if he answers me.' She thought to herself. She tried to discreetly pull her phone out of her red handbag, until the sound of the school's intercom alerted everyone. "Please pardon this interruption but will Kate Marsh please report to Principal Wells' office immediately."

"Kate's in trouble?" A student questioned, followed by several other classmates chatting with each other behind Kate's back, wondering what exactly the church girl did.

"Please settle down class." The teacher ordered. "Kate, I think you should probably go see the Principal now. She told Kate.

Kate got up from her desk and grabbed her belongings to leave the class and see what she was needed for. As she walked down the hall she saw Nathan Prescott from the other end walking in her direction.

"Oh, its you?" Nathan sneered as he stopped in front. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here to see Principal Wells like he asked." Kate said confidently. She wasn't trying to show any weakness as seeing him again remined her of that night she was confronted by him in the hallway of the boys' dorm.

"Have fun with that shit." He replied as he brushed past her and began to head toward the main hallway.

"Nathan?" Kate asked in a nervous tone.

"What?" He replied in an annoyed tone.

"Do you know where Ben is? I haven't seen him all day and I'm worried about him." She confided in the rich kid who was also a bully to her and other students at Blackwell.

"Don't know, don't care." He said bluntly. "Maybe being captain of the football team and landing the lead role in the school musical, he figured he was too big for this school and decided to leave this place along with everyone here." He answered. Or maybe you killed him." He added with a curious smirk on his face.

"What?" Kate said as she sounded shocked by hearing such a wild accusation.

"Oh, yeah! I was next door in Victoria's room when I heard you two fighting last night. I bet you probably performed some kind of sacrificial ritual on Ben as part of your Jesus cult." He said.

"That's not..."

"Tell me something, Katie. Before you got rid of his body, did you at any point... you know get sexy with it all? You probably didn't even have to worry about violating your abstinence pledge. It doesn't count if it's a dead body you know." Nathan taunted.

"Do we have a problem here?" The voice of a female teacher called out. Both Kate and Nathan looked to the end of the hall to see that Ms. O'Dea was standing roughly ten feet away from the two.

"Not at all, Sarah. I was just trying to bury the hatchet with Kate and let bygones be bygones." He explained.

"You can drop the act, Prescott. You may have all the other faculty here at Blackwell fooled, but not me." She stated. "Now, if I heard correctly on the intercom, then I'm certain that Principal Wells wanted to speak with Kate. Not you! So, I advise you to drag your backside back to class before I report you to the Principal for skipping class for the seventh time this semester."

"You can do that if you want to. But then again, my Dad can always cut the funding for Blackwell's Arts program, just in time before the Drama Club starts preparing for Little Shop of Horrors." Nathan threatened with his usual smug look on his face to signify he was going to have his way.

"Please, Mr. Prescott. Let's just go our own separate ways before either of us says something else we might regret." Sarah said with a frustrated sigh. "Are you alright, Kate?" She asked, now turning her attention towards Kate.

"I think so. To be honest, I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew that Ben was okay." She admitted.

"I'm worried about Ben's whereabouts too." Sara confessed as she placed a hand on Kate's shoulder and walked down the hallway with her. "I've heard that he has the reputation of a partier from some students, but truancy just doesn't sound like Ben at all. And besides, I'm concerned that he's going to miss the first rehearsal for the musical. He must be happy to know that he's been cast as Seymour."

"I just hope he'll come back soon." Kate mentioned.

"I'm sure he will, Kate. This looks like your stop." She said as the two young women found their selves at the door to Principal Wells' office. "By the way, Kate, I've seen some of your drawings and I think you should consider helping with making some of the backdrops for the school production."

"Oh, well thank you Ms. O'Dea." Kate said.

"Please, Kate. Call me Sarah." Sarah said in warm voice before she left.

Kate opened the door to the office to Principal Wells sitting in his desk, also accompanied by David Madsen and a police officer.

"Good afternoon, Miss Marsh. Please, take a seat." Principal Wells said in reaction to Kate's entrance.

"Okay." She said timidly as she walked towards the chair in front of his desk.

"Kate, I understand that you and Mr. Ferris are quite close with each other here at Blackwell. Correct?" He questioned as Kate sat down.

"Well, yes. But we're only just friends. Does this have something to do about what Ben did?" She stated.

"Not exactly. That's another matter entirely. We've noticed that Ben hasn't reported to any of his classes today. And Mr. Madsen had also noticed something unusual last night."

"That's right. When one of the other security guards was making his rounds on campus last night. He noticed that the lights were still on in Ben's room past curfew along with his window left wide open. He said there was no sign of Ben when he stopped by the room to check in on him. So, my only conclusion is that Ben snuck out of the dorm and left the campus." David theorized.

"And even if Ben has decided to play hooky, I am taking the initiative to find him in a swift manner so that we can prevent another student disappearance like last year." Wells explained.

"Do you mean like with Rachel Amber?" Kate mentioned.

"Yes. How did you know about that?" He questioned.

"I saw some of those missing posters with her face on them that were put up across the campus."

"Right. Anyway, as you can see, I've asked officer Barry to come here so that he can investigate the matter as well. In fact, the reason I had asked you into my office was to see if you could provide him with any information on Ben's possible whereabouts."

"That's right. Is there anywhere in Arcadia Bay that you think Ben might have ran off to, Kate?" Officer Barry asked. "Even the slightest details you can tell me might be able to help us find him."

Kate tried her best to think of anywhere Ben could be. The Two Whales, downtown Arcadia Bay, his own house. No of those seemed even remotely significant to her.

"No, I'm not sure where he could be. I'm sorry." Kate said in an ashamed tone.

"No, that's alright. Thanks for your time anyway." He replied.

"Thank you, Ms. Marsh. We'll be working very hard to find out where Ben is. You may return to your class now." Wells said.

"We should call down the next student. Ferris has got a lot of friends and one of them has to know something about where he went." David suggested.

"Of course." He replied as he pressed the button to a microphone to activate the school intercom once again. "Will Zachary Riggins please report to my office at this time." He said. Meanwhile Kate left the office, feeling nothing but regret for telling Ben to leave her room last night. If things between them last night didn't end on such a bad note, there might have been a chance that she would know exactly where he was by now. But right now, all she needed was time to be alone and think.

Kate Diary Entry, October 24th

This all feels like a bad dream. I found out today that Ben left Blackwell without even telling anyone, including me. I've tried calling him a few times after school, but he hasn't answered at all. I don't know why he would do something like this. I know that he's been under a lot of stress lately. Maybe it has something to do with him and his dad. I don't think he likes me very much and the fact that he sees Ben spending most of his time with me probably bothers him. Then again, Ben and Nathan were best friends at the start of the school year and now every time they see each other in the same area, things turn into World War III. I still couldn't believe that Ben would do something so nasty like smashing his camera for everyone to see.

Or What if this has to do with me. Ben and I got into an argument and I turned him away after what he said to me. I hate myself for doing that. I knew that he was only trying to protect me and that he had gone through so much at such a young age. I could have just hugged him and let him know that it would all be alright. But I didn't. I always talk about believing in forgiveness and redemption for others, but I'm just a hypocrite. I know that my parents would be disappointed in me if I they knew the decision that I made. I can see why Ben hasn't answered any of my calls now. I'm probably just one of the last few people he would want to talk to right now and he has every reason to hate me.

Kate wanted to wrap up her most recent entry, but she came to a halt after seeing two droplets of water land on the current page of her diary. These were tears that symbolized the very pain of loneliness that she was experiencing right now.

She was sitting on the bench outside near the dorms, facing the bushes and having her back turned to everybody else. It was weird to think that just last week, she and Ben were sitting here together, just innocently chatting and getting to know each other better. And now, he was gone.

"Hey, Kate." A voice called from behind. Kate wiped away her tears before turning her head to see who the person was that called her. It was Victoria Chase.

"Oh, hi Victoria." Kate replied in a monotone voice.

"Listen, I just came by to say that I'm sorry about what happened the other night."

"The other night? What are you talking about?" Kate questioned looking back up at Victoria.

"At the fair. I was really drunk, and Taylor and Courtney told me that I was all over Ben, trying to steal him from you and getting him to be my date to Homecoming. It was wrong of me to do that and I hope I wasn't the reason you were two were arguing in your room last night.

"Oh no, it didn't have to do with that. It was just that..."

"It's okay you don't have to tell me all the details." She stated. "I just hope wherever Ben is, he'll come back to you soon."

"Thanks, Victoria." Kate stated as she watched her walk away.

"Kate!" Max called from the other side of the grass lawn. She ran over to Kate and was accompanied by Chloe.

"Max! Chloe!" Kate cried out in relief. "I'm so sorry about how I reacted this morning. That's not who I am at all. It's just that I'm worried about Ben."

"Relax, we know!" Chloe said reassuringly.

"I just got back from seeing Principal Wells in his office. He said that no one's seen Ben all day and they've been asking every student that he's friends with if they know where he could be. David and Officer Barry where there too."

"I know. They asked me this afternoon if I knew where he could be. I wanted to help them so that they could find him, but I couldn't think of anywhere he could be. Any place here in Arcadia Bay that's special to him... wait!" She finished her sentence as an idea went off in her head.

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked, picking up on what Kate was thinking.

"Earlier this week, Ben took me to the boardwalk by the beach. He said that it was where he would always go if he needed to get away from Blackwell if he was ever having a bad day." Kate explained. "What if he's there you guys?"

"Shit, that's a pretty good guess, Kate. You might be on to something. What do you say us girls go for a ride and find 'Ferris Buller' on his day off."

"'Ferris Bueller'?" Kate repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, it's just a little nickname that I gave Ben a while back when I first met him. I'll tell you the full story of how I gave him the name on our way to the beach." Chloe explained.

The three girls rode in Chloe's rusted pickup truck, speeding down the street, with Chloe on the wheel, Kate sitting in the passenger seat, and Max in between the two of them. Kate stared out the window, observing the tall trees and the sky's sunset. She felt anxious at the same time to get to the boardwalk and find Ben before they were too late and he went somewhere else. In just a couple of right and left turns and traffic lights, they had finally arrived to their desired destination and pulled into an empty parking spot.

"Alright. If Ben's here, then he can't be far away." Chloe said.

"Follow me, it's this way down those stairs." Kate said as she opened the door and flew down the set of stairs to her right. As she made it down to the end of the stairs and found her self at the boardwalk, she was hit with the feeling of shock to see that it was completely abandoned. And that very same spot where she and Ben stood and shared their first intimate moment, was vacant as well. She had never felt so weak, that she fell to her knees and cried in pain.

"Kate!" Max called out as she and Chloe made it down the stairs, to which they both saw Kate kneeling on the boardwalk floor sobbing.

"Kate, what happened?" Max questioned.

"It's Ben, Max. He's... he's really gone." She wept.

"I'm so sorry Kate." Max replied as she knelt to comfort her best friend.

"I never even had the chance to tell him... how I really felt about him." She said remorsefully as she continued to sob.

"Damn." Chloe said to herself as she stood behind the two girls and watched them embrace. She began to fight back a couple of her own tears. Ben was indeed a good friend to her after her dad, William died and Max left her. She felt hurt as she now realized that she had lost him along with Rachel.

In the bright room that was mostly all white, Ben was completely unconscious as he sat in a chair with his wrists and ankles strapped down. He wore a burlap sac over his head to prevent him from seeing where exactly he was.

"I think it's about time we woke him up." A voice said. Someone had walked over to remove the sack from his face. When they did, they had revealed Ben face, which still badly damaged from the scuffle he had previously gotten into. He looked around to see that he was in a brightly lit room filled with photography equipment. When he looked in front of him, he felt uneasy after seeing who he was in the presence of.

"Mr. Jefferson?" Ben said in an alarmed but weary voice. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Oh, Ben. You're exactly where I want you to be." Mr. Jefferson replied calmly with a smile. "You're in my Dark Room."

A/N: Soooo yeah! I left you guys with another cliffhanger (don't hate me), but I'm not planning on making this a habit. I'm planning on getting the next chapter up very soon. There might have been some questions that this chapter left you with and don't worry, they'll all be answered in the next chapter, including Ben's fate. Get hyped y'all cause we're finally going to the Dark Room (Unless the Dark Room scares you, then be afraid). In other news, i wanted to share with everyone my plans on FF and AO3 after Polar Opposites is finished. I'm planning on writing maybe one more LiS fic which instead revolves around all the of the LiS characters. Aside from that I'm going try to write more stories on some of my other favorite games. I have a long term goal to try and have all of my stories connected to each other, but I can't say too much right now. As always make sure that you guys leave a comment because feedback, feedback, feedback is so important to a writer. And be sure to follow and favorite if you haven't. Until next time everybody!