No Way Out

The heavy silence in the principal's office was broken only by the rustle of trembling hands. Principal Anders leaned forward, sweat lining his forehead, his voice a pitiful whisper. "Mr. Graves, please… we understand the situation was unfortunate, but surely there's a way to—"

"There isn't," the man replied coldly, adjusting his designer cufflinks. "Your school failed to protect my daughter. Humiliated her. Shattered her reputation. You want me to keep funding this circus?" He stood, brushing the creases from his suit. "Jessica will be transferred immediately. And once I pull my money, the rest of your board will follow like the spineless parasites they are."

Outside, the hallway buzzed with whispers. Mr. Graves walked with heavy, deliberate steps toward the exit, ignoring the stares. As he passed Class 3C, his eyes flicked sideways—just for a moment. Inside, Blake sat silently in his usual seat, watching. Their eyes met. One second. No words. Just silence. Then, the man turned his gaze forward and walked on.

"Urgh," Mr. Raymond gets his students' attention back. "Focus on the lesson." Though he can't even focus on teaching. He knows that if Mr.Graves stops funding this school, board directors would stop too, the school would lose the money to pay the teachers and cleaners, and he would lose his job. 

The three seats in the classroom are empty, their owners are absent. Given what happened yesterday, it is not surprising that they chose not to come today. The effect is still lingering among the students. Videos, photos, and voice recordings are still shared among them. No one knows who uploaded the original footage, but it is entertainment for them. 

The lecture goes on, though no one is paying attention. 

Then, the recess comes. Students walk out of their classrooms, walking in pairs or groups, talking about yesterday's event. As always, Blake buys food from the vending machine. Sitting on his usual bench, he is having lunch while looking at the park. 

At the same time...

Mr. Graves takes a seat in his office in his modern house. Just as he is about to do his work, a knock comes. 

"Come in."

The door is slowly being opened, a glimpse of blonde hair appears before revealing the full figure. Jessica. Standing there still in her pajamas at noon. Her face is pale, her expression uneasy. 

"D-dad? Y-you're back?" 

Mr. Graves takes a quick look at his daughter before focusing back on his work. 

"I am. You need something, Sweetie?"

Jessica hesitantly walks toward her father before standing in front of his work table. 

"Uhm," She is hesitant to ask. "Where were you this morning?" She already has a suspicion of where her father was when she was asleep. She just needs the confirmation. 

"Your school. I had a talk with the principal. You'll be transferred to another school." 

Jessica's face suddenly goes pale, eyes widen. Her legs shakingly take a single step forward. "W-what?" 

Hearing her unexpected reaction, Mr. Graves puts down his pen and looks at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you surprised? I thought this was what you wanted. They didn't protect you properly. It only makes sense that I have to transfer you to another school." 

"N-no, please... I-I still can attend that school." She is shaking in fear. 

Mr. Graves looks at her in surprise. "Are you sure? How about-" 

"Yes! Y-yes, I'm sure..." 

He looks at his daughter with skepticism. She acts weirdly odd today, but given what happened yesterday, he doesn't want to press it further. Being the only child she is, he eventually give in. "...If that's what you want," Jessica looks relieved. However," She gets tense again. "I'll assign you a bodyguard who will be by your side all the time. I should've done that years ago."

"T-thanks, Dad"

I did what you asked me to do. Please, leave me alone

Jessica's thoughts drifted to two days ago.

____________________________________________________________________

It was afternoon, around 4 pm, school had ended, and most students had gone home. Except for Jessica.

Jessica was sitting on a bench near the gate entrance, waiting to be picked up by her personal driver. Casey and Brittany have gone home, leaving her alone. However, Casey was acting very weird before she went home.

Jessica's PD was unusually late, something that had never happened before. Feeling annoyed, having to wait like a peasant, unworthy of her status. She was ready to scold and threaten to fire her driver when he arrived.

As she was scrolling on the phone, a figure from behind approached. Unaware she was, an arm wrapped around her neck forcefully, locked her head in place. "Ahh!" She gasped at the sudden force. She was about to scream, but a threat coming close to her ear stopped her.

"Scream, and this knife will slice your throat." A sharp folding knife was dangerously close to her throat.

Fear kicked in. Eyes widen. Her phone fell flat on the ground, still playing a short-form video. The area was silent, with only the music from her phone playing as background music.

"W-what do you want?"

A phone was shoved in front of her face. A voice recording played.

Slurp, slurp, slurp

Oh yes~ That's the stuff, Jess

Her eyes widened upon listening to the voice recording. "W-what? How the fu-"

She was about to turn her head around to look at the threatener, but the knife was brought closer and slightly touched her throat, a drop of blood coming out. 

"Eek!" Fear had reached its highest peak. For the first time in her entire life, Jessica finally shed blood. Her blood. 

"Know your place." The voice growled. "Apologize to Emily—the girl you and your friends bullied. Do it by midnight, or that recording—and more—goes public."

Memories of their bullying flooded back.

"Do you understand?" The deep voice snapped her back. 

"Y-yes, I understand..." Lied. 

"And after you apologize, don't even think about transferring to another school. I know where you live, where your room is, and what time you sleep. Don't test the water." The voice continued.

"I-I won't do that." Another lie. 

Then, the knife folded back and retracted behind. As soon as the knife was out of her sight, she quickly turned around to see who the culprit was threatening her, but the man had walked away. She only managed to see his back, which was just a plain black hoodie. 

She wanted to chase him, but he was too quick and was already out of her sight. She took a deep relieve, finally saved from that crazy man. Noticing that her throat was still dripping with blood, she quickly wiped it away with a tissue from her small purse. 

Then, a luxury car parked in front of her with a driver got out of the driver's seat in a hurried state before opening the door for his young lady. Jessica headed to the car with a smirk on her face. 

You think I'd beg for forgiveness from that weak girl? You wish

That night, after showering, Jessica was sitting on her bed. With a comfy bathrobe, she called Casey, one of the girls who were bullying Emily. 

"Hey, girl~! You won't believe what has just happened today." She spoke in a high pitch, excited to tell her best friend about the event of this afternoon. However, the reaction Casey gave was not what she expected. 

"...Yeah? What happened?" It was lame and uninterested. Casey had never reacted like this before. Usually, she would match the excitement with Jessica, but tonight? The opposite. 

"You okay, girl? Well, anyway," Jessica didn't even sound sincere asking that. "A guy threatened me to apologize to that weak girl. Can't you believe it? I mean-" 

"Hold on! What did you just say?" Casey cut in.

"Uh, a guy threatened me?" Jessica was confused by her best friend's sudden interruption.

"He came at you, too? Shit! Shitshitshit! We'd better apologize to that girl right now!" 

"What are you talking about? You should calm down, girl. That threat means nothing." 

"Shut up, wh*re! Text Brit! Quick, before-" 

Ding!Ding!Ding!

Messages came in on both of their phones. Notifications exploded. Videos of Casey's poop fall, Jessica's audio, and Brittany's betrayal were everywhere. Students flooded the chat.

What the hell is this?

Is this real? 

No way

Most of them were expressing their shock reaction to the footage, but downloads upon downloads and being shared with other people happened in the blink of an eye. Jessica and Casey were dumbfounded when they saw the footage and people's reaction to it. 

Shock, furious, sad, embarrassed, ashamed, and regret. All of these emotions happened at the same time, and they didn't know how to properly react to them. 

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" They screamed at the top of their lungs. 

"I've told you to apologize!" Casey yelled.

"Wha- You're the same, bitch!" Jessica shifted the blame back to Casey. 

That night, they were fighting, arguing, blaming each other, and ultimately turned their fury on Brittany.

__________________________________________________________________

Back to the present.

Jessica has to listen to her father's lecture about what her bodyguard will do to protect her. Although she is nodding her head, none of the info goes through her head. All she can think of is whether she is free from that man's threat yet. 

Casey... I hope you do your part, too

Casey has to do the same; convince her mother not to transfer her to another school. 

Brittany, on the other hand, doesn't have a clue about what her ex-friends are doing. Her parents have taken back her privilege, comparing her humiliation to her older brother's successful future, and transferred to another school.

Back to school.

Recess time has ended, and Blake is on his way back to classroom 3C. 

It will be fine