Beside me, Ashton watches the crowd anxiously. Kat also gets up from the couch and stands behind us.
Any moment now.
I turn my gaze to the back. Miles looks like he's about to pee. Grace continues cursing aloud. Nyako tells Owen something. Owen nods and presses his palm against her mouth. Grace struggles against his grasp on her.
They look so comical, I hardly manage to keep my face straight.
A minute passed, no one moved. "Plan A failed," I whisper.
Ashton nods. "Time for plan B."
Kat gasps. "You got more than one plan?"
"Yes," l say, keeping my eyes fixed on the front of the bleacher where Natasha is sitting.
She glances at the backstage and nods. Then she stands up.
"I'm the one who did it," She says. The whole room gasps and watches her as she walks towards the stage.
My gaze turns to the back where Cora is sitting. She's now gaping at her. Then I look at Ashley. She looks red from anger.
"What's happening?" Kat whispers. Ashton looks down at me. I say nothing, my lips turn up in approval.
Principal Samatha looks at her skeptically. "Do you have any proof?"
Natasha nods and opens her backpack. She shows everyone the remaining posters. "Here's the remaining poster, they're all unglued, you can check," She says.
Everyone howls for her. From the back, Bonnie looks at her with a smile but quickly hides it when Derek's friends turn to look at her.
Ashely looks at the other cheerleaders. They all gape at each other. Emery still looks unfazed as ever.
Is he going to make a move?
The principal and the officers take the poster from Natasha. "Were you alone in it?"
Natasha shakes her head.
"I was with her too," Bonnie says and walks down. Payton gasps and everyone else stares at her. "I pretended to be a member of their committee to keep an eye on them."
Jason stands up. "I helped them too when Bonnie told me about the gang."
Miles, who was sobbing previously, tries to clutch his arms but Jason was quick.
Grace and Owen turn to Nyako but he keeps his cool.
The sheriff nods. "So what are you still doing there?" He says. "Get up here, three of you will receive a letter from the governor."
As three of them proceed to get up, someone shouts from the middle.
"That's it! I can't take it anymore," before anyone can catch her, Ashley runs down the bleacher. "They're a fraud. They're all lying."
"It's showdown now," Ashton whispers to us. Kat comes to my other side to get a good view.
"I'm still not sure what you are trying to do," she says nervously.
Principal Samatha looks at Ashley. "What are you trying to say?"
She walks towards the stage. "They're lying, they didn't expose Ashton and Kiara."
The sheriff lifts a brow. "Then who did it?"
She raises her hand. "I did," she says, smirking.
Almost instantly, the other two cheerleaders who were with them in the cafeteria the other day steps beside her. "We helped her."
Chuck gets down. "Me too."
Someone else stands beside him. And almost like a domino, half of the row-which mostly contained cheerleaders and jocks-empties as they stand beside Cora.
One of the Garrett twins looks at Derek and Emery apologetically. "Sorry man, but it's Ivy Leagues we're talking about."
"What?" Derek asks confusedly but Emery pulls him back.
They walk down the bleachers and stand beside the other six.
The sheriff looks at the principal and then back at them.
"You all were in it?" They nod.
"We can show you the proofs if you want," Ashley says. "We made all those posters and gave that girl to stick them around the school, we can also give you the number of the guy who printed those photos and made the poster."
"Really?" The Officer standing beside the sheriff asks.
They nod.
Sheriffs' lips turn up. "I'm sure they can give us information about more than that one poster," he turns toward his coworkers. "Arrest them all."
Ashleys' eyes widen. "What?!" She yells as an officer cuffs her.
"Stealing, Invading students' privacy, spreading fraud news, making one of them do inconvenient video, using school's property for inappropriate work, hacking your school's newspaper committee's account," the lady officer who cuffs her hand says. "But most importantly, swapping news in the school's weekly."
Others try to run but more officers surround them and start to cuff them.
"But we are not all!" Chuck says. "Emery was in it too." Others agree with her.
"In fact, he's the mastermind of the plan," Ashley informs. "He did this all for his best friend, Derek."
Derek turns to his best friends. "Emery?" But he doesn't look at him or anyone else in the room.
"Trust us, officer, we couldn't imagine doing any such things," one of the cheerleaders says.
"We agreed to help because we were trying to be a good friend," Mark says. "There was nothing else in it for us.
I almost snort. Such good friends they are.
Everyone in the room turns towards Emery. He turns pale.
"Emery? How could you?" Derek mutters, loud enough for everyone else to hear. Betrayal is written all over his face as he turns to face his best friend.
"I-I-" Emery shutters. Before anyone else can tell, he runs towards the exit. Luckily, Asher was standing close by and before he could run off, he tackled him down. Some other boys block the exit so none of them can run away.
Ashton tugs my wrist. "It's our turn," Ashton says and turns to Kat. "You stay here."
Kat nods.
"So you are saying you didn't steal that photo of mine from Miles?" Ashton's voice holds authority and I almost shiver. He walks over to where Principal Samantha is standing. I follow after him.
"And that none of you signed Cora's name for that prone video?" I say crossing my arms. "Or didn't lie to get Asher out of the team?"
Everyone around the room gasps. I glance at the back. Grace is throwing tantrums in Owen's arms as Payton is condoling a sobbing Cora beside them.
"They're not arrested?" Someone asks from across the room.
Ashton chuckles and winks at the girl. "Not yet."
The girl looks like she's about to faint. I roll my eyes and turn to our fugitives.
Ashley stares at me with her mouth open. "How-did-y-you-"
"Find it out?" I suggest. "Well, just try to be careful before talking loudly in the public. We have a witness too."
Natasha turns to the officers. "That's me," she says. "I overheard them confessing their guilt."
"I have all the threats they sent me on my phone," Bonnie adds. "But I'm not sure if any of the numbers belong to them."
"But I got the list of students who used our school's computer to hack out the committee's account," Mrs. Roth busts through the doors. "Samatha, all of their names are in the list."
Some students cheer for her. Principal nods and turns towards the husband.
"So sheriff, you know what you have to do next, right?" He nods and nods at his coworkers. "Arrest them all."
Then we hear a loud yelp. Everyone turns to Emery, he's holding out a knife. Asher groans on the floor. A cry leaves Cora's mouth. I gasp. Did he hurt him?
"Don't follow me or I won't hesitate to stab you," he threatens everyone with the knife.
The boys blocking the door start to step away. Emery takes the chance and runs out.
Beside me, Ashton curses under his breath and follows him. Asher and two other officers follow him as Nyako and some other boys hold his friends down who are trying to break free too. Owen fights to hold Grace in her place behind them.
I try to go after them too but Jason holds me. "Don't," he says shaking his head. "Let them handle it."
"But what if Emery hurts any of them?" What if he hurts Ashton? Blood drains out of my face when I think of it. He had a knife with him where Ashton has nothing but his fist to defend himself.
"Then your presence won't make a difference," he says. "You'll only put yourself at risk." I try to break free but Jason's grip is tight. My other friends come to our side and we wait for time to show up anxiously.
I just hope Ashton returns unharmed.
But relief washes all over me when the officers return with a handcuffed Emery as Ashton follows after them.
ð¸
One hell of a dramatic chapter, right? ð¤£