Book #2 of the Campus Sleuths' Series.
Enter the student life in the prestigious academe of Castillo High - where favoritism is a religion, the campus is a board game, and the system is bullshit. Every single student is a pawn.
But not for long.
Thr...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE SIGNIFICANT sound of the morning paper hitting the roughness of the dormitory door was enough to get Elysia Rielle Arcedes out of bed.
Pinning her dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair up in a bun, the young girl shuffled her feet on the wooden floor. Napapahikab pa ito nang buksan niya ang pintuan para pulutin ang dyaryo na nakaupo sa doormat.
Every morning, Ylando City's newspaper boys would deliver the daily paper fresh from print — tossing it to everyone's doors. It wasn't their job to send newspapers to specific dormitories as well, but Elysia, who had just returned to Castillo High last night after a long summer vacation, had bribed a newspaper boy a week before the start of classes — just so she could still get her daily news.
With another yawn, her dark brown eyes skimmed over the headlines ofYlando Times as she shut the door using her left foot — a routine that seemed like clockwork for the young girl. With the Cortez-owned Ylando Bulletin closing down after the scandal that shook the community, Elysia turned to reading the Ylando Times instead, the second-best newspaper in the city.
As a campus journalist herself, Elysia had formed the habit of consuming the daily news.
For other students, especially her wealthy batchmates who were mostly heirs and next-in-line to numerous investments and businesses, reading the morning paper was the least of their worries.
But as Elysia would like to tell her best friend and roommate, reading the news was like eating one's vegetables. Though it was tasteless, it was essential to consume it.
"Morning, El!" sambit ng isang groggy na boses.
Just as Elysia was thinking of this particular mantra of hers, a girl with dyed dark blue hair entered the kitchen with a yawn. Ashley Jallorina, Elysia's best friend, was still in her pajamas, and had awoken as soon as she heard the door open.
"Aba, 'di ka late gumising ngayon?" Elysia teased Ashley as she poured hot water to her mug full of coffee, the other hand still holding the newspaper.
Outside, the early morning sun was shining softly on the old buildings of Castillo High — giving the whole campus a faint, hazy glow. Sunlight poured through the girls' dormitory room while few birds sat on their kitchen's window sill, chirping lively.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
