Chapter-52 Truth

Jay-jay's POV

Damn it! I can't use my bike. I thought it was fine after we fell, but Uncle Julz noticed something was wrong.

And now? It's all taken apart.

So here I am, walking to school. Aries is still asleep, and I'm sure Uncle or Kuya will insist that I ride with him. But I really don't want to.

I don't want to ride with him, and I don't want to go to school either. I'm getting sick of the whispers from the students—so obvious they want me to hear them.

Just like now.

"Wow, shameless!"

"Watch your bags, guys."

"Magna!"

I just rolled my eyes at them. I wasn't in the mood today. The twins kept me up all night with the nonsense they were spouting.

When I got to the room—empty?!

Where were those snakes? Their bags were here, but they weren't.

I set my bag down for a moment and stepped outside. I listened carefully, and not too far away, I could hear some guys talking.

I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling it was them, so I went to the other side of the building—the part we never really passed by.

I was right.

They were behind a tree, causing a commotion. I could hear a girl's voice too. I moved closer to see what was going on.

"What's happening?" I asked one of them.

The guy looked surprised to see me and quickly tried to block my view.

"Oh, Jay… y-you're early today," he stammered.

Hm?

I think his name is Denzel. Next time, I swear I'll start writing their names down.

"What's going on there?" I tried to peek behind him.

But he kept blocking my view.

"I swear, I'll punch you," I threatened.

Still, he didn't budge.

"STOP IT!" a girl suddenly screamed.

My stomach clenched. I had a bad feeling—like maybe a girl was being hurt in the middle of all this.

I immediately pushed past the guy in front of me, shoving my way through the group to get to the voice. But when I got there… It wasn't a girl being hurt.

It was Ci-N throwing punches at a guy.

I couldn't even recognize him anymore—his face was swollen and covered in blood.

And the one who had been screaming "Stop it"? None other than Imelda the Maldita. Kit and the others were holding her back as she struggled against them.

"Ci! What are you doing?!" I shouted, making everyone freeze.

Ci-N didn't answer. He kept glancing at the others, as if asking for help.

"We're making them confess," Keifer said lazily, arms crossed as he leaned against a tree.

"Them?"

I looked closely at the guy who was already knocked out from Ci-N's punches. It was Imelda Maldita's boyfriend. That loser.

"Confess to what?"

"To what they did to Ci-N," Keifer answered.

"We're not confessing to anything! Stop hurting my boyfriend!" Imelda cried.

Even though I was annoyed with her and wanted to slap her, I still felt a bit sorry for her.

Ci-N punched the guy again. Blood splattered everywhere. His eyes were swollen shut.

"Ci-N! Stop that!" I stepped in.

He stopped and looked at me.

I walked over to Imelda and tried to pry Kit's hands off her. The moment she was free, she rushed to her half-conscious boyfriend.

"Di! Can you hear me?" she sobbed.

Keifer stepped closer to me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Don't you feel bad for them? The guy can't even open his eyes anymore!"

"We're just making him confess, aren't we?"

"What if there's nothing to confess?"

"We'll confess!" Imelda suddenly shouted.

Keifer and I both turned to her.

Oh? So there was something to confess. I thought there wasn't.

"We were ordered to do that to him…" she pointed at Ci-N. "She promised us a lot, so we did it."

"W-who told you to do it?" I asked.

Imelda shook her head. "I can't say."

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. She already admitted the truth—what's the big deal about saying who was behind it?

Just a little more, and we'd have our answer!

"You won't say?" Keifer asked.

Imelda didn't respond.

"Ci! Hold her! I'll be the one to beat up her boyfriend!"

Ci-N immediately grabbed Imelda, and Keifer took a step toward the guy.

"No! Please, have mercy on my boyfriend!"

"Keifer!" Imelda and I shouted at the same time.

"She just has to tell us who it is! Why is she making this hard?!" Keifer snapped.

"I really can't! Please, I'm begging you!" Imelda sobbed desperately.

So even Imelda the Maldita has a breaking point.

"Tch." Keifer ruffled his hair in frustration, pacing back and forth.

"Is that enough already?" he asked, annoyed.

Huh? I wasn't even sure if he was talking to me. He was looking in a completely different direction. And… I didn't even understand his question.

"Let me through!" someone shouted.

Rakki emerged from behind the group of bystanders, holding a camera—probably a DSLR.

"Yes! This will do!" Rakki said bluntly.

I didn't understand a thing. I just stared at Rakki and Keifer while Imelda kept sobbing as she tended to her boyfriend. Wait, why was Rakki even here? I thought he found the E group barbaric?

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"We're making them confess, and Rakki's recording everything to post on Facebook," Ci-N explained as she walked towards me.

Holy cow carabao!

"I-Is this the plan you were talking about?" I asked Keifer.

Keifer shook his head. "This wasn't the original plan, but because of what you did, we had to improvise."

"And even though I absolutely despise working with the E group, I volunteered to help you out," Rakki added, flashing me a smile.

I smiled back.

"You're helping Jay-jay? Not me?" Ci-N questioned.

Rakki rolled his eyes at him, but deep inside, I knew she cared about Ci. Ayiiehh!!

Keifer kept replaying the video on the camera. When he was finally satisfied, he handed it over to Edrix.

"I'll take care of this," Edrix said, taking the camera and walking away.

"Help them out! Take him to the clinic!" Keifer ordered the others.

They obeyed, working together to carry Imelda's boyfriend. I approached Rakki, wanting to talk to her and thank her.

"Rakki..." I called his attention. "...Thank you for this."

"You're welcome... I also wanted to help Ci-N. I wasn't here when the incident happened," she explained.

Tsk! I knew it!

"What about you? I'm sure Aries and his group will find out about this. We suspect that one of them is behind what happened to Ci," I asked worriedly.

I knew they always hung out together. They ate at the cafeteria as a group.

"I guess that's fine... I only hung out with them out of obligation. I just recently realized I was starting to adopt their attitudes. Good thing my classmates were honest enough to call me out on it," he said.

That made sense. Our first meeting was embarrassing, and he practically humiliated me in the cafeteria. But after that, he made it up to me.

"Aren't you afraid of what they might do to you?"

"No... I can handle it. It's me we're talking about." He smirked.

"All set! You can check your Facebook now!" Edrix announced.

I did as he said, and the first thing I saw was Freya's account.

Why Freya's account?

The video of Imelda's confession was posted with the caption: "No such thing as an innocent thief. Watch the video." It already had thousands of views, reactions, and shares.

Wow! Does Freya really have this many friends on Facebook?

I checked the comments. Most people were furious at Imelda. Some apologized to me. Others didn't believe the video. Some were just confused, asking what the truth really was.

"Wait... Why was this posted on Freya's account? Is this really her account?" I asked.

"Yup! Freya's account, hacked by—no other than—Edrix Knight!" Edrix declared, waving his phone.

The remaining bystanders burst into applause.

"I bet Freya's fuming right now," Rakki said.

Aries's POV

"....If X is equal to 8, then Y should be—"

"What the fvck?!" Freya suddenly shouted.

Everyone turned to look at her, even our teacher, who had been solving a math problem on the board. He frowned in disapproval.

"Ms. Hidalgo! Language!" the teacher scolded.

Freya shot him a glare. "Shut up!"

Even though he was taken aback, our teacher chose to stay silent. Freya's eyes burned with rage as she repeatedly tapped on her phone.

"OMG!" one of her minions gasped, gripping her own phone. "...Is this your Facebook account?"

"Hell yeah!! It's mine!" Freya snapped.

I had no idea what was going on. I shifted my focus back to the board. I had no interest in Freya's drama. But then, I caught sight of Ella staring at her phone.

"Hey... What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked at me and handed over her phone. A video was playing. I wasn't sure who the girl in the video was, but she looked familiar.

"We admit it!" the girl in the video said, looking at someone off-camera.

"We were just following orders... She promised us a lot, so we did it," she added, pointing at someone nearby.

I knew exactly who she was. She was the one who claimed that Ci-N stole her money.

Then, I heard a familiar voice.

"W-Who ordered you to do it?"

It was Jay-jay. They were trying to get the girl to confess. I wanted to stop watching the video, but I needed to know if she would reveal who was behind this scheme.

The girl shook her head. "I can't say."

The video stopped. I felt relieved. I thought they were about to find out the truth. I thought Ella was about to be exposed.

I handed the phone back to her. "Just let them be. It would be too obvious if we made a move now," I whispered.

She forced a smile and nodded.

Don't worry, Ella. I won't let them put you in danger. I'm sure they'll stay quiet.