The following morning... I'm in the courtyard, where a large group of students gather around the vandalised Ollie the Tiger statue. I hear people whispering about yesterday's run-in with Hearst.
"Caleb was telling me someone from our school did it." Ezra says
"I can't believe this" I add.
"Well, whoever spray painted him is gonna pay." Michael says.
Before I can respond, Michael storms off. I approach Myra and Luis standing nearby next to a trash can.
"Poor Ollie. And a Berry student? I don't get it." Luis says.
"I bet whoever did it must feel terrible. I'd hate to have to keep a secret like that." Myra said.
"I hope they come forward soon." Luis adds
"Me too. It'd be for the--" I start but was interrupted by Vice Principal Isa
"WHY ARE YOU STANDING AROUND HERE? DON'T YOU ALL HAVE CLASS TO ATTEND?" Isa shouts. Me and the students around scramble to class just as the school bell rings.
Later that day, before second period...
"Alexandria! IS IT TRUE?" I shut my locker and see Maria bolting down the hall, her eyes fixed on you.
Startled I stammer "Is.. what... true?"
"I heard that Hearst didn't vandalise Ollie the Tiger... Someone from Berry High did!" She says looking at me.
"If you believe the Hearst students, yeah." I say.
"I'M GOING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS, AND YOU'RE COMING WITH ME." Maria says.
"You want me to investigate with you?"I question "Okay, only because it's you asking. I wanna catch our culprit, but it wouldn't mean as much without you." I say to Maria.
Maria smiles, blushing a bright red. "You're sweet, you know that?" She says smiling at me.
"I might've heard that once or twice before." I say smiling back.
Maria then shakes herself to regain her focus "What am I doing? We should really get back to the task at hand. Now, before we get started, I was thinking, do we want anyone else to help us? It might go smoother if we have a third person."
"Who do you have in mind?" I ask.
"Well, Emma and Aiden both strike me as especially perceptive. Caleb would also be a good pick because he knows everyone. And as much as I hate to trust him with anything, Michael's clearly dedicated to the cause. I think any of them could help us catch our culprit!" She replies.
"I think we should ask Emma" I say and Maria nods.
We go and find Emma at her locker. She retrieves a textbook as she sees us approach.
"Hey, you two! Did you see what happened to Ollie? It's just awful. He looks so sad in red paint" Emma says.
"About that... How would you like to help catch the culprit?" I say smiling.
"You really want my help?" Emma asks surprised. "Yes, Of course! Whatever it takes." Emma smiles.
"Fantastic. I've got faith in the three of us." Maria smiles. "Come on, let's check out the scene of the crime! There's bound to be some clues around there."
Me, Emma and Maria make our way to the courtyard. The spray-painted Ollie the Tiger dominates our view.
"Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way." Maria says
I kneel beside one of the green, loft trees and notice a small piece of fabric sticking out of the dirt. I use my fingers to dig it up. "What's this?" I say to myself It's gas mask. I smile to myself and put the mask on... I walk up to Emma "Mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Eek! Maybe this means Ollie's alive!" Emma shrieks jokingly.
"Where's the Doctor when you need him?" I laugh.
"I assume off on another wibbly-wobbly adventure" Emma chuckles.
"What are you doing, Alexandria? Take that off!" Maria comes over.
"I don't think it's a clue, but it's a cool find!" I respond.
"...sure. Let's see what else is around." Maria adds.
I go towards the trash can, grimacing; I peer into the overflowing bin. "Urgh. This stinks." I say as I dig through the garbage, uncovering half-eaten food, plastic bottles, and... a spray paint can. "This is the same colour paint!" I shout.
"You're right! But who does it belong to?" Emma adds.
"I'm pretty sure Morgan used this to decorate the homecoming banners." I add.
"She will not ruin my dance. Let's find her." Maria says angrily.
I stand in front of her. "In a minute. We need to make sure there's nothing else around." I say. I decide to look under the table and "maybe this is something" I say as I pull out a notepad. "This must be a clue it's missing a page..."
"Uh, Alexandria, we're at a school. Everyone has a notepad.
"Oh yeah... good point." I add feeling really stupid. I glance back at the ground and notice a crumpled up piece of paper. "Maybe this is the missing page?" I add
"It's ripped in half.. what does ours say?" Maria responds.
" 'M... don't forget or else L gets it' or else who gets it?" Then it hit me "and who's 'M'?"
"Hm, I don't see the other half." Maria adds.
" I don't think we'll find it here. Let's talk to Morgan."
During lunch, we head to the cafeteria and find Morgan in the middle of eating a sandwich. Her hands are covered in red paint.
"Stop right there, Morgan!" Maria says.
"Morgan please tell me this is just a coincidence. I really want to believe you didn't spray paint Ollie the Tiger, but..." I say
"I swear, it's not me. We just have the same kind of paint." Morgan adds.
"A likely story. Where's your proof?" Maria adds.
Morgan replies back angrily "I know my rights. Innocent until proven guilty!" Besides, Ollie has amateur written all over him a real graffiti artist would never write something as unoriginal as 'Berry Sux'."
"You have to admit, it looks slightly suspicious." Emma adds.
"I didn't realise owning a spray paint pint was such a crime!" Morgan shouts.
"Look, we just want to get to the bottom of this. Do you have an alibi for last night?" I ask.
"Yeah." Morgan replied.
"And that is...?" Maria adds.
"This." Morgan says as she thrusts a plastic bag into my hands. I pull out a familiar can of spray paint...
"This is the same colour we found in the courtyard!" I say.
"She could just have two cans of it." Maria adds.
"Still don't believe me? Fine. I'll show you my work. It's just down the street." Morgan says.
"Now? But we can't leave campus during school hours!" Maria adds.
"It's now or never. Take your pick." Morgan adds.
"... Okay, But only because it's for the greater good." Maria adds.
A few minutes later, at the nearby park... We take in the large, canopy trees as we walk down the brick pathway. Morgan points to the red graffiti initials painted on the sidewalk.
"This is what I've been working on." Morgan says.
"Those are your initials..." I add.
"See? Like I said, I happened to use the same paint as the culprit. That doesn't make me guilty" Morgan added. "Besides, I don't give a crap about school rivalry, and whoever did this obviously has ties to Hearts."
"Sorry for jumping to conclusions..." I add.
"So if you didn't paint Ollie, who did?" Maria adds.
"Mia, Obviously." Morgan answers.
"But she doesn't seem like the type." Emma adds.
"Come on. Who else has ties to Hearst like her? She used to go there, her brother's captain of their football team, and her dad 's the principal!" Morgan.
"Wait..." I say "what? Her family's all Hearst, but she goes to Berry?"
"Oh, yeah." Morgan starts "It was this huge thing when she transferred. Her family was a bit controlling and transferring was her chance to take matters in her own hands you could say her dad and her brother, Max, weren't too happy about it. But she still could have reverted to the dark side!" Morgan finishes.
"Mia has too many connections to ignore. We should at least check he out." Maria adds.
Back at school, during free period. Me, Maria and Emma enter Mia's gym class. She sits on the bench, her crutches lying beside her. She yells at her classmates playing basketball.
"WHAT KIND OF SHOT WAS THAT? I SWEAR I COULD MAKE THAT IF--" she yells "... If I could actually walk." she casts her gaze downward at her cast before looking back at the match. Mia sighs heavily as we approach. "What do you want?"
"We need to get to the bottom of this." Maria says. "Why'd you mess wit Ollie the Tiger?"
"Me? You seriously think I did it?" Mia asks surprised.
"I don't think. I know." Maria asks.
"Judging by the evidence... it all points to you! But... I have my doubts..." I add. "I just don't see you betraying Berry High. I can see how much you care about being here."
"Seriously, Alexandria? Way to back me up." Maria adds then she says the look on my face a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Alexandria's right. I love this school. I left everything behind, despite my family's objections to come here. I'd never do anything to hurt it! Not to mention I'm injured, remember? There's no way on earth I'd be able to hobble around and spray paint Ollie." Mia adds.
"Yeah. That'd be hard..." I add.
"Back to square one. We're no closer to finding out who did this than when we started!" Maria adds.
"Have you already asked Wes? If anyone at this school has information, It'll be him." Mia adds.
"She's got a point. Wes seems really shady, but he can help us out." Emma says "unless he's the vandal!"
"Doubtful. Even if he was, you'd never be able to prove it." Mia says.
"It's settled. I'll shoot him a text." I add.
I pull out my phone and click on Wes 'Wes, let's meet up. We gotta talk about the statue.' almost immediately, my phone buzzes with a reply from Wes. 'Diner. Ten minutes after the final bell. Grab a booth.'
"We have a lead." I say to Emma and Maria.
Twenty minutes after school ends, at the diner. We sit at one of the booths, I tap my foot restlessly.
"Okay, Wes. It's been longer than ten minutes... Where are you?" I add.
"Maybe he's waiting for us outside. I'll go check." Maria says as she exits the diner, leaving me alone with Emma.
"I still can't believe someone painted poor Ollie. I don't get why." Emma adds.
"I believe it because they wish things were different. They might not be happy with how everything's going now days." I add.
"I know things used to be different here, but who'd pick Hearst still?" Emma adds.
"That's what we're here to figure out." I add.
Emma reaches over and squeezes my hand. Our eyes meet for a moment.
"Alexandria, I..." Emma begins "I'm glad you invited me along." suddenly, the diner door swings open! Maria stomps in and sits across from me and Emma. Emma quickly takes her hand away and scoots farther from you. She shyly smiles at you from behind her long, blonde hair.
"I didn't interrupt anything, right?" Maria adds.
"What? Oh, no! Nope. Everything's a-okay." Emma says.
"Any luck finding Wes?" I smile.
"Nope. This is such a waste of time." Maria says."Meanwhile, the actual vandal is getting away!"
"I'll bet that Wes is just running late, he probably got caught up with Autumn or something. Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll be here soon!" I add smiling at Maria.
"I DOUBT IT. THIS COULD BE SOME SORT OF SCHEME OF HIS." Maria moans.
"Just you wait. Any moment he's going to walk through those doors and--" I start but was interrupted by someone.
"Prove you wrong?" Wes adds as he slides in the booth beside Maria.
"About time you showed. Ever heard of punctuality?" Maria adds.
"Eh, I'm never late. Everyone else is just early." Wes smirks.
"So do you know who spray painted Ollie the Tiger?" I added
"Yup." Wes simply replies.
"So, who did it?" Maria asks.
"I could say... but it'll cost you." Wes adds.
"You can't just do this one thing out of kindness of you heart?" I ask.
"If I cut you slack, then the next guy's gonna want a discount, and then the guy after that... it's just bad for business." Wes says. "All things come with a price. What can you offer?"
We start digging through our pockets, taking out whatever we manage to find.
"Um... Let's see here. How about 51 cents?" I ask
"And I can contribute a ticket to homecoming, and 10 cents." Maria adds.
Emma frantically rummages through her purse. "I can add a couple sticks of Gum!"
"Ooh, minty fresh breath, Wes. I'm sure Autumn would love that." I add smirking.
"That's all you guys can offer? I guess you don't want this that bad." Wes adds.
"Come on, Wes. You're our only hope." I add sighing.
"All right, fine. We've got a deal... but only because I kind of want that ticket to homecoming for Autumn." Wes scoops up the loose items on the table. "For what you paid, all I can tell you is... Look at Luis."
"Luis?" I ask.
"Uh huh. It all leads back to him. See you around." Wes says. Before I can ask Wes anything else, he stands up and leaves the diner.
"Do you really think Luis could've done this?" Maria says surprised.
"There's only one way to find out." I add.
Back on the campus, in the computer lab... Me, Maria and Emma find Luis, Nishan and Sakura.
"Enimies inbound on the western tower. Someone cover me! I'm going in." Luis shouts.
"Hey, Luis, we need to talk--"
"I say."No can do. They're flanking us! Minions on your six." He shouts.
"Can you pause for just a second? It's really important." Emma adds.
"Emma!" Luis says surprised. "I'd love to, but it's impossible. We're playing in real ti--" Luis glances at his screen and suddenly shouted into the mic. "Warrior coming this way! Take cover, everyone!"
"THAT'S IT!" Maria slams her hands on either side of his keyboard, blocking Luis's view of the monitor.
"Maria, move! We're about to win." Luis shouts surprised.
"I DON'T CARE. IT'S BEEN A LONG DAY, AND I'M GOING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS NOW! THAT MEANS TALKING TO YOU." Maria shouts.
I grab Maria by the shoulder and pull her away from the computer.
"Hey, Maria, just give him a minute." I say reassuring her.
"Fine." She replies.
"Thanks, Alexandria. Let me just kill these enemies... KA-POW! Match over. BerryKnights win!" Luis shouts.
"Now that that's finished... We really need to talk." I add.
"You've got my full attention. What's up?" Luis adds facing us.
"Did you spray paint Ollie the Tiger?" Maria says.
"You think I did that?" Luis says surprised.
"Wes said to look for you." I add.
"It couldn't have been me. I was playing Legeneds of ClanCraft with Nishan and Sakura all night." Luis adds "we're gearing up for ClanRumble in a few months, so it's been nonstop practice."
"A likely story." Maria adds.
"Look at the logs if you dont believe me! I'm telling the truth." Luis adds.
"What did Wes mean by 'Look at Luis' then?" I say facing Maria and Emma.
"Hmm.. maybe it's someone who's connected to him." Maria adds.
"I know! It's gotta be... Myra." I say "That's gotta be what Wes meant! She's your best friend after all, and her name begins with 'M'."
"It all makes sense!" Maria adds.
"Now that you mention it..." Luis frowns "she was supposed to be a part of last night's raid, but she never got online. She wasn't answering my texts or anything."
"Why would Myra do such a thing? She's so nice and funny!" Emma adds.
"Maybe we're wrong about her." I add.
"Let's ask her and see. Last I saw, she was in the band room."
We leave the computer lab and head towards the band room. We find Myra practicing a familiar tune on the trombone. She sees us enter, and her face drops... she stops playing and stares dejectedly at the ground.
"Hey, Myra. Can we talk?" I ask
"I think you have an idea why we're here." Maria adds.
"You know it was me." Myra says still looking down.
"Yeah, we do. All the clues led us here." I say.
"Let me explain" Myra says. I nod and she hands me a wadded up piece of paper. The page is missing its other half. I take out the not from earlier and line it up.
"It's a match!" I say out loud. Then I read the note 'Myra. Don't forget our deal. Paint Ollie or else Luis gets it.' "who wrote this?" I ask.
"Brian and his Hearst friends. They cornered me after school earlier this week and told me they'd hurt Luis if I didn't listen! Then that and the spray paint can showed up in my bag yesterday. And... So I..." She stops and looks down "I'm so so sooo sorry. You have to believe me, I didn't want to do it. But I couldn't let Brian do anything to Luis."
"One way or another, all roads lead to Hearst." Maria said.
"No wonder they were so smug when they came by." I add.
"I know what I did was wrong, but if Luis got hurt... I couldn't handle knowing I was the reason behind his pain. He's my... He's my best friend. But now the entire school's mad over the statue. I don't think I could take it if everyone knew it was me." Myra says.
"I get it, Myra. You were just looking out for Luis. He's a pretty cool guy." Emma says.
"He really is. I just... I just wanted to protect him." Myra adds. "I'm begging you. Don't tell anyone else I did it. I can't bear to see the look on Luis's face if he finds out it was me."
"I'm sorry, but we have to report this to Principal Hughs. Everyone has to face the consequences of their actions." Maria added.
"I don't know... It seems Myra's learned her lesson. I don't think she'll do it again." Emma adds.
"It's true. I swear I'll never listen to Hearst again. Just don't make me face the entire school." Myra grabs my arm, looking at me pleadingly... "Please, Alexandria. I'm begging you."
"Myra, we... can keep your secret." I say
"WE CAN?" Maria says sternly.
"I believe her. This was just a one time thing." I say.
"Thank you, so sooo much., Alexandria. I promise I won't let you down." Myra says beaming at me.
"Don't worry, Myra. Your secret's safe with us." Emma said smiling.
"Even Maria?" Myra looks surprisingly.
I face Maria "You'l keep her secret too, right, Maria?"
"I don't agree, but I'm willing to let it slide if... you agree to clean up the statue and join the homecoming committee." Maria adds.
"Deal. You're the best, Maria. You really are." Myra adds.
"Oh, I'm not sure about that, but thank you." Maria says surprised. "I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."
"I''m not sure if I should be excited or quaking with fear." Myra adds.
I grin. "Both. Definitely both."
Friday, after school... I follow Maria to her locker. She retrieves her backpack and a few textbooks.
"I feel so much better now that we've solved the case" Maria grins.
"Same, but I never thought It'd be Myra." I add.
"It's always the ones you least expect." Maria adds.
BZZT BZZT! My phone buzzes at the exact same moment as Maria's. We both recieved a text from Michael saying 'Meet me in the science lab... NOW!'
"What could he want?" I say surprised.
Me and Maria quickly make our way to the science lab and find Michael, Emma, Aiden, Caleb, Julian and Mia all waiting for us.
"About time you showed up, slowpoke." Michael said smiling.
"So now can you share your master plan with everyone?" Mia says.
"Yes! I was finally making some progress on my composition when I got your text!" Aiden says.
"What do you need us here for?" I ask.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking and got it all planned out." He then grins "It's time to get some revenge on Hearst... Tonight." Michael says.