Chapter 29; The plan

*Unedited (It's two thirty pm and I'm kind of delusional, just letting you know)*

Enjoy the chapter!

*

I was a bit uncomfortable when I entered my house. Though, seeing that it was the first time the guys were at my house -except for Caleb-, I'd say it was understandable.

"Your house is... big." Said Klay as he walked a few steps into the house. I didn't know how to reply to his comment, so I didn't. I started to make my way to my room, hearing the others following me.

When we all settled down in my room, Thomas broke the silence. "So, what did you have in mind?" He asked me, the boys' attention all on me as he did.

I thought of how I should tell them what I wanted. What will be the best way? After a few moments, I finally decided to just say what's on my mind. "We'll go and look for the missing boys."

At first there was a complete silence in the room, and only after what felt like hours Elliot said "What?"

His response seemed to have woken up the other boys from their trance as they all began to speak together.

I held my hand up to make them quiet down, and when they didn't, I took a pillow I had laying on the carpet besides me and threw it on Klay. But I wasn't good at aiming, and it ended up hitting both him and Oliver who sat next to him. However, it did the job, and now they all sat quietly again.

"I don't mean just us," I began to say, standing up and walked to my closet. "I mean the entire school." I opened the doors and pulled out a whiteboard on a stand with wheels to the room.

They stared at the board for a few moments. "Somehow I'm not surprised," Said Oliver, crossing his arms with an amused look on his face.

"Okay," I said, looking for some markers to write on the board. "so I check in with my sources and I was told that there are twenty boys who went missing overall." I stated, writing the number twenty then circling it. Reagan raised a brow, "Sources?"

"We also lined up the timelines of their disappearances with the Friday Fights and we came to the conclusion that all of the boys vanished on that day." I wrote the words Friday Fights= Disappearances.

"Wait, hold on," Elliot stopped me with a raised hand. "'We'?" he asked, making the other look patiently for an answer. I sighed. Klay suddenly raised a hand, "Are we really just going to ignore the fact she just pulled out a whiteboard from her closet?" Oliver glared at him, probably considering if hitting him will help his situation.

"Okay, you know what? Fine," I crossed my arms, "A few days ago my... brother came, along with Grey, and they shared some of the information with me in return for what I told them. I helped them a bit with the investigation." I admitted to them. Thomas stood to lean on my desk besides the board. "My brother came to ask for your help on his case?" He asked, looking like he was a bit impressed. I shrugged, "Among other things." I said, trying hard not to look at Caleb who was probably turning red right now.

"Can I continue with the briefing?" I asked, tapping my foot on the floor.

"Jesus," Oliver mumbled under his breath.

"So in addition to that, I was told that when Mr. Hobson was question for what he did to me, he was also question about what he said to me about the missing boys." I started to explain, writing his name on the board. The fact that I didn't shiver from neither saying his name nor writing it was a big win in my book.

"He went through a polygraph test, and he failed it." I said, looking at them. "But not for lying about having to do something with the disappearances, but with allegedly telling the truth. Or at least, what we believed was the truth." They looked at me as I crossed his name, all of them confused. "I crossed Mr. Hobsons name, Elliot." I added after a moment. His gaze softened and a small grin went up his face.

"Wait, I don't get it," Said Thomas, looking at the board thoughtfully. "You mean to tell us that Mr. Hobson lied about having something to do with the case?" He questioned, frowning. "Why would he do that?"

I sighed, looking at the board. "We don't know, maybe to scared me? The point is, there is someone else on the inside involved in this case. However, now that the school is closed, it raises two possible threats," I explain as I write the number one.

"The first is that we'll have even harder time finding out who this person is. The second is the most concerning one; this guy doesn't have the ability to kidnap students from the school anymore," I began to say, but Reagan is the one to complete my sentence. "So he might start looking for other places to kidnap." I nod at his words, "That's right. And from what we've seen, the only disappearances in the area were teenage boys from Woodblock High." I finish writing on the board and close the marker, putting it on the desk.

I ran a hand over my face. "We have to find them, and not only so we can get the school to open again, but for their loved ones." I said, turning to them. We all became silent, no one's sure what to say.

"How are we going to find them, Rhi?" Caleb asked, talking for the first time since we got here. He met his eyes with mine, thinking carefully about an answer. "I don't have the full plan, but-" "-Does my brother knows about this?" Thomas cut me, making me look at him. "Does he know you're trying to find the missing boys?" I could tell he didn't ask this out of contempt, but out of concern. I sighed. Telling the truth was the best, now. "No," I answered, making him tense up.

"Rhi, we can't go and search for kidnapped people," Reagan said, and though I wanted to be mad at him for going against me, I knew he was right. "Even if it's not just us and the other students from the school will help us?" I asked, hopeful, but after one look into his eyes I knew what his reply will be. I sighed, "Those boys... they have been missing for so long, and the police is still nowhere near solving the case." I looked at the board, shaking my head.

"If the police can't solve it, what make you think we will?" Asked Klay, for the first time being completely serious. I turned to his direction. "Because we can make the kidnapper lead us to the guys," I answered, and Reagan immediately stood up and made his way towards me. "Are you crazy? You think I'll let you, what, be a bait?" I tilted my head back to look at him.

"Why yes, I do." "What? Rhi, you can't do that," Said Elliot, standing up from my bed. Protests filled the room before Thomas shut them up just by saying, "Quiet."

Just like that, they all turned to him. He looked deep in thought, like he was considering my words. Reagan must've thought the same because he narrowed his eyes at him. "You're not actually considering her as a bait, do you?" He asked with anger in his voice. I tried hard not to melt because I was still mad at him and the others, but he was making it really hard.

"No, of course not; only boys were kidnapped, it won't change now." I scowled at Thomas and Reagan saw that, so he narrowed his eyes on me this time. I shrugged in return, an innocent look on my face. His face softened almost immediately, and I quickly diverted my eyes from him.

"No, we need someone else as a bait." Thomas' words made everyone freeze and look at him in question. Even I was shocked from his words.

"You can't be serious. Letting him kidnap one of us? If we want a bait, it should be a cop and we shouldn't have anything to do with this," Oliver tried to reason with his friend.

Thomas pushed a hand through his hair and sighed. "We need to talk with my brother, but it might be a good option. That person who took the boys was someone from inside the school, so he will target boys he knows for sure are students," He explained, then continued after making sure we understood what he was saying. "So, he will know and recognize us from the school."

We all stopped to think about his words. Thomas was right. One of the boys could have a tracking device or something, and with the help of Grey and Jason we can help lead the police to the kidnapper.

Oliver sighed, "Call your brother, then." He told him.

Thomas nodded and pulled his phone out.

I looked at Reagan as he stepped away from me. His eyes met mine and for a few moments we just looked at one another.

"Can we talk?" He finally asked quietly, looking around the room at his friends now sitting on the floor with their attention at Thomas.

I swallowed hard, but nodded my head. I led him to an empty guest room right in front of my own, looking at the windows just to keep my eyes away from him.

I was afraid that if I looked at him, I'll cave and forgive me. I couldn't do that so fast.

"I know that sorry won't be enough, so I won't say it," He said, standing in front of me. "So instead, I'll volunteer to be the bait." His words made me instantly look at him.

"What?!" I asked, starting to panic. "No, I won't let you risk your life just to make me forgive you, are you crazy?!" I heaved harshly, not believing he was actually suggesting that.

Reagan shook his head, looking at my hand for a second before taking my hand in his. "Listen," He began, "I know that apart from me being an overprotective jerk and sometimes hot-headed, you don't know much about me. So, I'm going to tell you something you don't know," Reagan lifted my head with his hand to my chin, making sure our eyes were locked. "I will do anything to make the people I love happy." My heart stopped in the second, I swear. Was he saying what I think he was saying?

"Do you understand? And if it means that trying to find those boys will make you happy, then I'll do whatever I can to help." I felt myself tear up in that moment. It happened a lot more often than before, now that I met the boys.

I sniffed, looking at him through the tears. "You really are a jerk," I say and break down, rubbing my eyes as I started to cry. "How can you leave me like that? And those stupid friends of yours, leaving like they think I gave them permission to go." I stated, still sniffling.

Reagan warped his arms arounds me, and through watery eyes I saw him smile. "It's not funny you tool, all of you are a bunch of dumb pencil boxes." I told him, rubbing at my nose. He laughed, "Dumb pencil boxes?" "Shut up! My insults inventory doesn't work when I'm crying, you troll,"

Reagan laughed again, making me hit him on his chest.

It's been quite a while since I've been so close to him. But, I was still mad and wary. What if they stopped talking to me again? Reagan risking his life for me was one thing, but could he and the others keep their promise.

"I can practically smell the wheels in your head burning," He said, making me hit him again. "Shut up! I'm thinking whether or not to forgive you guys and trust you again." He pulls back a bit to look at me. "It will take a while, but we, I, want to do this right this time. I want to gain your trust Rhi, even if it means that it will take a long time. Can you at least trust that we will all try?" I looked at him, thinking carefully about my answer. I can let them try.

I can let them show me how bad they feel, and how much they want to correct the wrong.

Friends fight. People make mistakes. I could stay hidden behind walls forever, but at the end I'm the one who will pay for this. They wanted to do better, be better.

And the least I could do, as their friend, was to help them.

"After this is over," Reagan pulled me from my thoughts, not waiting for my answer, "I want to take you on a date." I blinked at him. "A date?" I asked almost mockingly. Did he even know what it was?

Like he realized what I was thinking, he rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yes, a date. That is, if I'll come out alive from this plan." His words made me scowl, and I hit his arm. "Don't say that!" he only laughed in return, pulling at my hand. "Come on, let's go see what Grey said."

I could only hope that what we planned won't fail.

~*~

There! I finally finished this chapter after having to re-write it (thanks Word), but I have to say this version is better than the other one and I'm happy with how it turned out.

So I don't want to write too much, but I do want to say that there are like two or maybe, maybe, three chapters till the end. I still need to wrap some things out, like with Elliot and his mom, and Caleb and Grey (which I bet you guys can't wait read more tea about those two) and a lot more, so the next chapters will probably be really long.

Hopefully now that summer vacation started and I only have a math exam in like two weeks to worry about, I should be able to update soon.

Sorry if I end up updating in like three weeks or something, I'll try not to.

Okay, I'm going to go now.

Bye. Good night. Good morning. Good afternoon.

Yep.

I should really just go to sleep. Sorry.

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