Classes were already over for the day, and by extension the week since it was Friday at that point, when Warren Jackson had been conducting his investigation of the abandoned PoliSci club room. There was something about the room that had bothered him the last time he was there, so he asked Lawrence for the keys once again in order to take a look. Whether it was lucky for Zoey Brahm or not, however, the room kept filling his head with images of his first kiss with Penny Taylor, so he couldn’t manage to focus on his objective.

There were few things that were so joyful that they made a physical dent in his otherwise neutral expression. After all, this was Warren. He was infamously difficult to read due to his inability to properly convey his emotions to others. But ever since dating Penny, those around him began noticing something resembling a smile tugging at the ends of his lips. Lawrence noted it at lunch today. Love changes a man, Warren thought.

‘Love doesn’t exist though.’ He heard Lawrence’s words ringing through his mind. If that were the case, then Warren couldn’t help but wonder what it was that he’d been feeling for the past few days. If love didn’t exist, then was he just drunk off the idea of a relationship? Warren couldn’t put two and two together no matter how much he racked his brains over it. He needed more experience.

But that newfound joy didn’t last long. News of Gwen’s transfer had already spread throughout the student body, and Warren was determined to figure out Zoey’s part in it. She’d called him the day before she started skipping school and told him that her decision to drug Ben was all her idea. Whether it was true or not, Warren decided to believe her if that was what she truly wanted him to believe. There wasn’t any point in doubting his friend, after all. But that was before news of this transfer happened. Now, he became keenly aware of the distress in her voice when she’d called him.

There was no way to draw any absolute conclusion, but he felt certain that it was no coincidence, and that Zoey was involved somehow in all of this. If it were just her issues with Ben, then she would have transferred after everything blew up on Saturday. Instead, she came to school and seemed fine, no. Her mood was the best it’d been in months. It was like peering into the past at the old Gwen before Ben had left her behind. So what happened? And was Zoey responsible? Warren was determined to get to the bottom of it once he was done investigating the room.

“Sorry, we’re not open today.”

“Please, it’s important!”

“I’m really sorry. Could you check back with us on Monday?”

“But…”

“Thanks.”

Warren heard the conversation from inside the PoliSci clubroom. Of course, the photography club was just next to this clubroom. That was what had tipped him off about the room in the first place. However, he couldn’t figure anything out due to his love-muddled mind. Instead, he decided to leave the room and investigate the source of the confusion outside.

The door to the photography club, which had only been opened a smidge when Warren walked out, had closed shut, barring two students who were waiting by the door. Their dejection at their denial of entry was apparent even to Warren. But why was the photography club closed anyway? Warren knew that Fridays were usually their busiest days. It would be strange for them to be closed on a day like this.

“Hello,” he greeted the two students.

“Huh? Oh, hey. You’re on the basketball team, right?” the boy asked.

“So tall…” the girl marveled.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, they’re not letting anyone into the club today for some reason... It’s lame. We wanted to ask about Travis again…”

“Ollie!! Shh! We’re not supposed to talk about him!”

“But Linda…”

The name Travis didn’t ring any bells to Warren, so he had no idea what their business with the club entailed.

“What about you?” she asked. “What did you want to do here today?”

“Oh, I was just looking around the PoliSci clubroom. But I also wanted to ask Zoey if she knew anything about Gwen’s transfer.”

“Gwen…” Linda repeated the name, as if pondering it to herself. “Hey, Ollie. Maybe we can tell him. He might know something.”

Warren eyed the door beside them. Whatever it was that they wanted to talk about, he decided that it probably wouldn’t do them any good to do it within earshot of whoever was inside.

“Can we do this somewhere else?” he asked.

“Oh, sure. I kinda wanted to snack anyway,” Ollie said.

They made their way down to the first floor and from there they headed to the cafeteria. It wasn’t quite as busy as it was at lunch during these hours, so it wouldn’t make for a bad spot to talk about whatever it was they wanted to. And if it was at all related to Gwen, then Warren needed to secure whatever information it was that they had to offer.

“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” Ollie said after Linda and Warren sat down. He ran over to the vending machine to pick up something to munch on. Linda, on the other hand, stared at Warren with such awe in her eyes that Warren thought that he must have looked like a Gundam in her eyes.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“So tall…”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? It’s a good thing! I wish I was taller.”

“Are you a freshman?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ll get taller, don’t worry.”

She smiled and looked down at the desk.

“So, are you two dating?” Warren asked.

“H-huh? No! I mean, we only just met last week.”

“So?”

“So?! So… so it’s too soon!”

“Do you not like him?”

“I… I do. I mean, I think so.”

“You should ask him out then.”

“It’s too soon, okay? We’re just friends. Plus, what if he doesn’t like me back? I’d be ruining our friendship for nothing.”

“I’m back!” Ollie crept up behind her with a smile, and handed her some canned soda. “You looked thirsty, here.”

“O-oh, thanks…” Hiding the redness spreading quickly across her face, she opened the can and took a sip. Ollie took a seat next to her, opening his bag of potato chips and munching away. It all seemed a bit too relaxed considering how tense they were earlier about this secret, but he didn’t let it show. He never let anything show. Perhaps that was why they continued with their nonchalance.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Warren asked.

“Oh.” Ollie suddenly looked up. ”I forgot about that.”

“Do you know anyone named Travis?” Linda asked.

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh. But you know Gwen, right? The girl who’s transferring.”

“Yeah, we’re close friends.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

It wasn’t okay, but Warren didn’t know how to say it. All he knew how to do was say what was expected in situations like these. The truth is, he was beaten up over how his friend group had splintered apart. Sure, his newfound romantic relationship with Penny had eased both of their pains over it, but it didn’t change the fact that Ben was suspended all week, and Gwen was now transferring to a different school. But the only thing he knew how to say was ‘it’s okay’, because that’s just what was expected in situations like these.

“They met that day, you know,” Ollie spoke up. “Before the homecoming match.”

“Gwen and the Travis person?”

“Yeah. He paid Linda to have Gwen meet him near some bathrooms.”

It was fishy. That was before she drugged Ben. Even if Warren assumed that Gwen was lying to him over the phone, then wasn’t Zoey the one responsible for that? Why was this Travis person suddenly inserting themselves into the story?

“Did you hear what they were talking about?” Warren asked.

“No, they stopped talking when I got close.”

“What did he look like?”

“I don’t really know. He’s white, and his hair is brown.”

“No it’s not, it’s like dirty blonde,” Ollie said.

“Whatever. Brown, dirty blonde, doesn’t matter. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap so I couldn’t see his face too clearly.”

A disguise. Perhaps it could have been Zoey, Warren thought for a moment.

“What did he sound like?” he asked.

“Uhh, like a normal guy,” Linda said.

“Deep voice?”

“Average for a guy, I think.”

It wasn’t Zoey then. It didn’t make sense anyway. She had been setting up in the gym when Gwen was missing. So then, who? Who did Warren know that could have possibly done something like that?

“We asked Zoey about him,” Ollie said. “She said he was an Ollenville student who snuck in to watch the game.”

“I see.”

“He was sitting next to me the entire time. If the photography club was open, we could show you the picture Zoey took of the crowd… for some reason the photos of him aren’t on the school website. I guess she’s protecting him from punishment for sneaking in. She was actually supposed to introduce us to him this week, but she never called. That’s why we were trying to talk to her today.”

When Warren thought back to his confrontation with Zoey after the dance, she hadn’t denied his accusation that she was responsible for Gwen drugging Ben when he confronted her after homecoming. Yet for some reason, she went out of her way to protect this Travis character’s identity when he might clearly be the culprit.

Was that it? Or was their meeting just a coincidence?

Was Gwen’s call earlier this week all for the purpose of protecting this Travis’s identity?

There was more to this than what met the eye. Gwen definitely knew this person’s identity, and she might have been blackmailed by Zoey or Travis himself to keep her mouth shut.

He reached into his pocket to grab his phone, then decided against it. Even if he called her right then and there, she probably wouldn’t answer, let alone divulge Travis’s identity. He had to figure this out on his own.

It was someone who hadn’t been at homecoming.

Male, white, dirty blonde, absent from the homecoming game, close to Gwen and Zoey both.

And of course, someone who needed Benjamin to lose his bet.

Who did he know that met all these criteria?

“Do you have an idea?” Ollie asked.

Gwen’s birthday at the mall. That’s what it came down to. Why was he there? It made no sense. Lawrence seemed to have an idea, but neither Penny nor Warren could make heads or tails of it. When had they met? When had they had the chance to bond with one another? It didn’t seem like they’d ever so much as exchanged words together outside of class, let alone in one.

“I’ll handle it, don’t worry,” Warren finally said.

“What? But… I wanted to meet him,” Ollie said.

“Is he the reason Gwen’s transferring?” Linda asked.

“Probably.”

“Then we should tell the school! It’s important!” she said.

“Don’t do anything crazy. I said I’d handle it.”

“But…”

Perhaps he should just report it. He was slowly coming around to her side of things. Was he getting ahead of himself? He had been convinced to do things thanks to other people’s input for so long against his better judgment that the thought of doing it again here didn’t sit right with him. If she wouldn’t listen to the request on her own, Warren realized, then he needed to convince her.

“There’s a bomb in the room.”

“What?” Linda looked confused, twisting her head around in search of something.

“There’s a bomb in the room. The room is locked and full of hostages. It’s ticking down slowly. You’re anxious. If it goes off, everything and everyone in the room is going down. But in that room, there’s an agent skilled in defusing timed explosives. Do you try to break in and save everyone yourself, or will you let the expert who understands the situation handle it?”

“I’d… I’d…”

“Linda…” Ollie placed his hand on her shoulder. “He’s right. We don’t know anything about this. We should… probably leave it to him.”

“But… I’m responsible. I led her to Travis. All for twenty dollars. It’s my fault. It’s…”

“It’s not your fault, Linda. If it wasn’t you, it would’ve been someone else.”

“But…”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Warren said. “I’ll handle it, don’t worry.”

“He’s right Linda. It’s not your fault.”

“Ugh… I’m sorry. I’m being a downer. The real victim’s Gwen. I don’t know what he did, but if he really is responsible, then I hope he gets what’s coming to him.”

Warren stood up from his seat with new determination. He stared down at the two of them, who looked up at him in awe. He thought he saw Linda mouth the word ‘tall’ while staring.

“I’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”

Though his words were confident, he would have to confront both Zoey Brahm and Tristan Collins about this. How he’d go about doing it, he wasn’t sure. Judging by their personalities, isolating Tristan and confronting him separately might have been the best bet. Zoey was still too difficult to talk to for him. She had wormed her way out of a checkmate last time because he had no evidence. But he decided that he would bring the fight to them once he mulled over everything over the weekend. He knew the truth now, after all. At least, he thought he did.

Unknown to Warren, however, was a rabbit hole that even he would have great difficulty navigating.