Principles Office, Blackwell Academy, Arcadia Bay Oregon, October 9th, 2013, 12:19 AM
The Trio walked into the office, James found it oddly amusing. So far this week he had already been in this office twice, both for very different reasons. Yesterday he was being labeled a hero for simply trying to stop one person's tragedy and now mere hours later he was breaking in and committing a crime. "I suggest we find what we need and get the hell out of dodge" James said to his co-conspirators,
"Man, I can see why the principal locks this room up. Fancy faux art crap. He must want everybody to know he has money...but no taste." Price commented on the room decor. She walked up to the desk and turned on the lamp that sat upon, giving the room some luminescence, "How can you trust somebody who has a fucking bronze bird in his office? I'm glad I was expelled..." She said emphasizing the bronze statue of an American eagle which also sat on the desk
"Yes if only the principal had a Monet or Picasso you'd still be at Blackwell..." Max said sarcastically,
"Truly one of histories greatest crimes. Not having proper room decorations in order to keep Chloe Price seated in Blackwell's halls." James added. He wasn't sure but he was positive Price cursed at him under her breath
"I'm gonna pilfer the papers on this ugly-ass desk." She said apparently going through the drawers in the mahogany table. She sat down in the office chair that stood in front of the desk commenting about how comfortable it was. James had been looking around the room with his flashlight when he finally looked up he noticed Price had placed her feet on the desktop and was swiveling in the chair from side to side "This is your chance to truly get all deductive 'n' shit, Sherlock!" she said while removing her boots from the top of the desk "Find us some clues about Rachel...or Kate...or Nathan...anybody!"
"Don't tell me how to do my job" James said flatly but went to work thoroughly looking through files in the cabinets the lined one of walls.
James and Max looked through the filing cabinets for around a solid minute or two looking through each individual student file. James adamantly let curiosity get the better of him and took a peek at his own personal file. The paper was white in color with his photo attached via a paper clip, The file contained his full name, his place of birth, phone number, and other various personal information. He looked over his GPA of 3.1 which didn't surprise him seeing as he was a hardworking student and usually paid attention during his studies. He read through the quick summary about him, It stated that while he was a hard worker and a good student, but was reclusive, antisocial, and unfeeling which he was, along with how aggressive he could act at times. The file presumably written by Wells suggested counseling for James which James scoffed at the suggestion. It also chronicled the time Madsen had caught James attempting to lockpick a door after school hours, If James could remember correctly he was breaking into the science room to grab something for Warren early in the School year. it seemed that File was updated recently as it reported James' attempt to stop Marsh's suicide attempt. Having read everything that Wells had on him James put the file back inside the cabinet and closed it
He and Caulfield walked away from the filing cabinets have not found much of any useful information within them. Price called them over having pulled some files from Well's seemingly unlocked computer. "Nathan accused Rachel of bringing drugs on campus? And my step-troll went along because he thinks Rachel was a bad influence on me." Price said clearly annoyed at the accusation, "'Nathan Prescott the Third.' Oooh, he's so money. And you know the Prescott's dropped major bank to bury Nathan's real file... Look, it reads like a rap sheet. bad grades, teacher complains, secret probation... But I was expelled?" She said speculatively
"The perks of being rich I guess..." James shrugged. "It's a damn shame I couldn't get the trust fund prick suspended for drugging Kate..." He thought reflecting on the meeting he had with Wells that afternoon.
Caulfield looked at the screen and asked Price to click on one of the notes, she obliged pulling up the image of some kind of drawing made of some kind of mad scribbling. James pointed this out and asked what was so important about it
"It's not a drawing... look, 'Rachel in the dark room... Rachel in the darkroom...' Over and over." that's when upon a second observation James realized the 'scribbles' he had noticed before were in fact the message Caulfield had pointed out written in messy, shaky handwriting. James was more than a little disturbed by this image and apparently so was Chloe
"That's... fucked up. What does this even mean? Nathan is truly psychotic. I know he has something to do with Rachel missing..." She said with a certain uneasiness in her voice
"listen to this, 'David M. always asks what's going on in my head... David M. always helps me follow those he follows...' Awfully cryptic" James read from the screen
"Jesus, David was stalking Kate, hassling me, and now we know he was all over Rachel too..." Max observed,
"There are far too many similar facts between Kate and Rachel." James wondered "What if what happened to Rachel was going to happen to Kate. If that's true..." James didn't finish his thought as the idea of this being some kind of larger conspiracy was much too awful a thought and made his stomach turn
"Oh, we are so going into his garage files... Plus I'm getting a little paranoid in here. We got our info, let's bail." Price said logging off and about to rise from the chair before stopping "But maybe we shouldn't leave without a gift..." She said a sly smile crept across her face.
Caulfield shook her head "No, you are not taking the cozy chair."
If James could laugh he probably would "I don't think she meant to take the chair" He thought to himself,
"Max, do your powers include mind-reading?" Price asked confirming she in fact. Meant to take the chair
"I stand fucking corrected then"
"Or did you just rewind because I tried to steal the chair? Shit, I'm confused." Price second-guessed her mind reading comment, "
I am too" James added flatly. He was still confused about Caulfield's abilities, though perhaps he had seen them first hand, after all. There was really no way for Caulfield to have been able to unlock the door from the inside.
"It's the powers of best friendship. I know how you roll... We should definitely get out here. We pressed our luck enough." James had almost forgotten that once upon a time Max Caulfield and Chloe Price were an inseparable pair. It reminded him of days gone. When he still had friends.
Price rummaged through the drawers in the desk until apparently finding something that caught her interest "Hullo, what have we here?" pulling out a literal stack of US Dollars, Chloe's eyes lit up in excitement "Holy shit, jackpot! Cha-ching!"
Even James had to admit he surprised at the amount of money he saw in her hands, then he remembered that the money was more than likely for the fund to make Blackwell Handicap accessible
"Wowser, that's a lot for the 'handicapped fund.'" Max said in a tone that reflected the same amazement and suspicion that James had. James chose to ignore that really lame word Caulfield just used
"Dude, there's five thousand dollars here." Price said counting up the bills "I could pay Frank back tonight! This will chill him out after you almost, you know, shot him."
James slowly turned his head and looked over at Caulfield with his eyes wide "You almost shot Frank?" He asked almost mortified
"He was threatening Chloe with a knife, what else was I supposed to do?" Max shrugged
James Put his hands on his head and let out a loud exasperated sigh "What the fuck have you gotten yourself into James?!" His inner monologue asked himself
"Are you going to make a big issue out of this? Sherlock?" Price looked over at him.
"Frank knows things about Rachel and he might talk if he's been paid... Right?" Max asked clearly throwing her vote to taking the money,
James had to admit. it was one way of getting Bowers to talk, usually, he just Threatened to take all the dirt he had gathered on Frank straight to the cops, but Bribery could be an easier way of getting what he wanted. Plus with how often he never followed through with his threats Frank was starting to wisen up to James' plan.
"Thats two for taking the cash Sherlock, what do you say?" Price called out
{CHOICE}
{TAKE MONEY/LEAVE MONEY}
"ugh, fine Price. Take the damn cash" James didn't bother with putting up a defense.
Price rose from the chair and started walking out of the Principles Office standing by the doorway, an evil grin showed on her face indicating she was thinking of something
"That impish look scares me." Caulfield said concerned,
"Same here, what are you thinking Price?" James added
"Care for a midnight swim? The Blackwell pool is ours." She asked
James involuntarily rested his head in his left palm and shook it disapprovingly "what happened to bailing?..." James wondered
"Swimming? You want to take that risk now?" Max asked nervously
"It's been a cray week, we deserve a little mindless fun in the water... We're done for the night anyway, we're rich, and nobody busted us. So, splish splash?" Price said confidently.
Caulfield thought about it for a moment "You're right. We hella deserve it. Splish splash!" She said in agreement
"Did you actually just say "hella"? I think I'm a good bad influence on you." Price Commented, James groaned "Great... Nows there's two of them! Oh, what I wouldn't give to never hear the word hella ever again..." Price looked over to James "Sherlock you want to head for a swim?" She asked
{CHOICE}
{LEAVE/STAY}
James thought about it for a moment, "Oh... What the hell, someone's gotta keep you two out of trouble tonight..."
Price looked shocked and amazed at the same time. "First we find information regarding Rachel, then I convince James Makintosh of all people to do something fun, What's next? Am I gonna find a fucking Unicorn or something?" She asked rhetorically. "Well, what are we waiting for? To the pool we go!" She said triumphantly before marching out of the Principles Office with her two partners in crime.