#KILLME2

Chapter 12

#KILLME2

By: theinkslingerr

Chapter 12

    That sentence got me in trouble.

    Finley looked at me like a machine he needed to run a diagnostic on and Ross shook his head sadly.

    "You're not allowed to have any more ideas," he said.

    Then he went on to list why trying to snoop around Dr. Tifft's office was the worst thing I could've suggested: We'd get caught. If he was the Social Media Slayer, why would he keep evidence on a work computer? And last, but not least, the very compelling argument of: it was dumb.

    They were valid points, but I had two rebuttals: We wouldn't get caught if we had a plan, and the Social Media Slayer was cocky. If he was leaving bodies around the school, then what else could he have left?

    The answer was still no, so for the next couple of days I tried to wear Finley and Ross down. I was aware it was risky, but I just couldn't get Dr. Tifft's cryptic DMs with his mom out of my head. They weren't necessarily incriminating, but they were unsettling and since that wasn't going to be enough for the FBI, we had to find more.

    "It's not like we're breaking and entering. I'm supposed to see him every Wednesday. That's our in," I finally admitted.

    It was Tuesday, and Finley, Ross, and I were standing by Steve Manganello's bench; a place we were guaranteed privacy.

    "So...tomorrow. You want us to search his office tomorrow," Ross pointed out dryly.

    I nodded.

    He turned to Finley. "Why're we still entertaining this?"

    "Because you guys saw those DMs too. You can't tell me they're not bothering you," I argued. "But hey, if we can access his computer remotely, we might not need to search his office."

    They'd be doing the accessing, but I used "we" to make it sound like a team effort. We were in this together now. If they got caught, I got caught and vice versa. I zeroed in on Finley. He usually got the final say. He was giving me that weird unfocused but assessing stare. I had to convince him.

    "Come on, Fin. We've already hacked his Ig. You can't tell me a crappy school computer's where you draw the line..."

    To my relief and Ross's dismay, my logic tracked. Finley agreed to hack Dr. Tifft's computer, and because they were a two-for-one deal, Ross would help. They promised to text me if they found anything.

    In the meantime, I continued searching for a link between the victims. As usual, I couldn't find one. Sam, Ella, and Liam's socials were completely different, and LaTanya's were gone, because her parents didn't want to torture themselves. Why did I even bother? I sighed and went back to Sam's Facebook on my laptop, and left it there. He'd had such a nice smile. His nose scrunched up when he did it, and his hazel eyes were warm. I'd heard Simon and a few others still hadn't removed #KILLME2 from their Facebooks and Instagrams, so they were getting expelled. It was sad, but maybe they'd actually be safer if they were no longer students at Brookside.

    It was now Thursday night, and I was in my room looking for similarities between two strangers, a friend, and a cheating ex's social media accounts instead of catching up on missed schoolwork. Yesterday I'd skipped my session with Dr. Tifft. There was no point in going. Any trust that'd been built during our last one had collapsed, and Finley and Ross were hacking his computer, so I didn't need to physically be in his office.