Chapter 2- Announcements and Betrayals

A man, wearing black quietly strode down the school hall. He stopped at a locker and secretly slipped an envelope in. Then, he walked away. Nobody saw him.

Nina

"See you later." I said to Fabian as we made our separate ways down the hall to our lockers. I turned the dial on my locker and waited for the click as it popped open. I swapped my French textbooks for my math and science ones. As I did so, an envelope fell to the ground. Strange, I thought. There's nothing written on it. Curious, I lifted the flap peered inside. It looked like photos were sitting inside, but there was no letter attached. I reached into the envelope and looked at the photos more closely. My jaw dropped.

"No." I muttered. "No way."

In all three photos, Fabian was sitting outside a café. Next to Joy.

He was obviously laughing with her because he was happy. And, his hand was on hers. This had to be some sick joke made up by Jerome. Yeah, that's got to be it. I'm going to go confront him right now. But as I tried to take a step, I found that my legs were weak, and my head spun. Sliding down on the floor, I stared at the pictures and tried to make sense of it. Maybe this is an old photo, before I came, when Fabian and Joy were together. But no, that café was brand new, just opened up this school year. I couldn't believe it; Fabian would never ever ever do something like this.

"Hey Nina," I looked up. It was Fabian, his eyebrows knitted together when he saw me on the ground. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Fabian," I said, my voice trembling. "What's going on?" I tossed the envelope up at him. He slid the photos out. For a second, I thought I saw a guilty expression flicker across his face, but it was soon replaced by a confused look.

"Nina, this is nothing."

"Fabian, if you like Joy now, I'm completely fine with it." I lied, trying to hide my tears.

"No, Nina, you don't understand." Fabian protested.

"No, I'm okay with it. Really." I said, standing up.

"Bu-"

"It's ok, you don't have to say anything. I'm happy for you." Then, before I could burst into tears, I walked away.

Joy

I smiled to myself as I watched Nina walk away. Phase 1 of my plan had worked. Now that they had broken up, I could make my move.

I walked towards Fabian who just stood there rooted to the spot staring after Nina. I felt a little irritated. "Hey Fabe, are you okay?"

He spun round, and saw me. "Joy, you have to tell Nina that there's nothing going on between us. Someone planted this in her locker." He shoved the pictures towards me. "Please, Joy, you know that there was nothing going on that day. We were just talking."

"Why didn't you tell her that?" I asked.

He sighed "I tried, but she walked away before I could explain."

"You know, Fabe, maybe you should give her a chance to cool off."

He looked at me unconvinced. "Do you think that will work?"

I nodded and tried to give a reassuring smile, though I was really jumping with happiness inside.

Nina

I ran to my room and fell onto my bed crying.

"I can't believe he would like Joy again." I mumbled to myself in between sobs. I caught sight of the bracelet he had given me this morning shining around my wrist. Slowly, I worked it off my wrist and put it in my desk drawer. My wrist felt empty, unprotected and bare.

The door downstairs opened then closed. I could hear Mara, Patricia and Amber. Sitting up, I tried to wipe my tears away, but I could tell that my eyes were red.

"Nina!" Amber cried when she saw me. "I just heard what happened. Personally, I never thought there would be this day, you were supposed to be together forever and ever."

"Amber!" said Patricia and Mara in exasperation.

"Oops, sorry." Amber said, plopping herself down on the bed.

"I think this entire business is really strange." said Mara suddenly. "Fabian's not the type of guy who would, you know…"

"Cheat?" asked Patricia.

"Well yeah, and lately Joy's hasn't been herself, I think she might still be jealous of Nina." Mara added

"No way!" Patricia burst out. "Joy would never, she's my best friend. I know her."

"Well, she did interrupt us this morning." I said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Patricia asked.

I blushed. "Fabian and I walked to school together and he… well…" uncomfortable, I broke off the rest of the sentence.

Amber however, sat up straight "Did he try to kiss you?"

Cheeks flaming, I nodded mutely.

"I knew it!" Amber shouted.

"Shhh, Amber, not so loud." I said. "Victor might hear y-" but it was too late. Victor had appeared at the door, Corbier perched on his arm, glaring at us menacingly.

"Why aren't you at school?" he demanded.

"Well, we've come to help you scrub the toilets!" said Patricia sarcastically.

Victor pointed at her threateningly and drew out the infamous toothbrush. "Ms. Williamson, I want to see my face in those toilet bowls."

"That can be arranged." Patricia muttered under her breath.

"Get to school. NOW!" Victor yelled.

One by one, the girls left my room. As I got up to go as well, Victor aimed his finger towards me. "Ms. Martin, you are always the root of my troubles. If you step out of line again, I will make sure that you are scrubbing toilets for the rest of your life. Now shoo."

I hurried out of the house and started walking towards school. Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound in a nearby bush. Cautiously, I approached it, step by step. Just then, something hit the back of my head in a violent swing. Before I could cry out, the world went black.