Chapter 43: THE TRUTH FILE
It was Thursday afternoon, and I was sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria, poking at my fries when my phone buzzed. It was Tabitha. I quickly unlocked it, curious about what she had to report. The text that popped up made my heart skip a beat.
She’d sent me the name of a student, Jordan Bennett, who had made videos for her TikTok page the same night I got pushed into the pool. The one thing that stood out, though, about this whole thing was the part about the CCTV glitching. Apparently, right around the time I got shoved into the water, the footage had skipped a few minutes until it caught Elijah performing CPR on me. The security said they had no clue how it happened. The rest of the team said it must’ve been a system error. That felt fishy. Something about that didn’t sit right with me.
I stared at the name on the screen. Jordan Bennett. I didn’t recognize the name at first, but Tabitha had also sent a quick bio about her.
According to the message, Jordan had only about 2000 followers on TikTok and just under 1800 on Instagram. She followed me, too. The girl lived with her aunt and was here on a scholarship.
A good target for bullies.
I took a deep breath and decided to message her directly. Using Aura official business account, I typed out a message asking if she could meet me at the cafeteria. I hit send, hoping she would respond quickly.
Within seconds, my phone buzzed again. It was her.
**JordanBee15**: *Oh my God! 🤭 Reallyyyyyy? Yes, yes, yes. On my way 😭❤️ I love you so much Blakely.*
I nodded at the screen, at least she knew my name. That was a plus.
I didn’t respond right away. Instead, I put the phone down on the table and went back to my fries.
Not even a minute passed before someone dashed through the cafeteria, weaving between tables and people. I looked up just in time to see her stopping right in front of my table, adjustable her heat uniform. She looked like she was trying to hold herself together, but I could see the excitement in her eyes.
“You’re here. That was fast,” I said, a small smile tugging at my lips.
She squealed a little, and I could see her trying not to jump up and down. “This is really real,” she muttered to herself, shaking her head as if she still couldn’t believe it.
“Sit,” I said, pointing at the chair across from me.
She frowned slightly, a nervous laugh escaping her as she stuttered, “Is it okay? I mean, really? You want me to sit?”
I nodded, not bothering to hide the frown creeping onto my face. “Yeah, sit down.”
She did, carefully lowering herself into the seat. She looked at me like I was a literal celebrity, her hands fidgeting in her lap. “It’s such an honor to meet you, Blakely. You’re, like, my role model,” she said, she sounded surprised and…whatever the word was.
I waved off the compliment, trying to keep the growing annoyance in. “Thanks. I’m glad you like my stuff. But listen, I heard you made a video that night at Frankie’s party, is that correct?”
Jordan nodded eagerly, her wide eyes glued to me. “Yeah. None of the other students made videos. They didn’t want their parents to find out they were sneaking out to a party, especially since their parents are probably all over social media. I made the video because my aunt didn’t care. She’s cool with me going to things like that, you know, socializing, networking et cetera.”
I nodded slowly, waiting for her to continue.
“I did see what happened that night,” she added, her voice softening. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything, though. I have this… fear of water, so I couldn’t help. But I called for help, and Elijah was the only one who actually did something.”
I stopped understanding what she was saying af I couldn't do anything. That wasn't really what I wanted to hear and know at the moment. “Thanks for calling for help,” I told her. “No worries, though. I wasn’t asking or worrying about that. I was just wondering if you could send me the video. I lost something, and I need to figure out how and where it happened.”
Jordan nodded enthusiastically. “Oh! Luckily I haven’t edited it yet because of classes. Usually post on weekends so that's a good thing. It’s perfect timing!” She stopped suddenly, her eyes flicking up to meet mine. “Can I ask a favor, though?”
I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of favor?”
Her face lit up as she leaned forward, practically bouncing in her seat. “Can we take a picture together first? Just one? Please? No offense but that's going to take me a long way”
Atleast she was honest.
I nodded, and stretched out my hand. “Sure, let me see your phone.”
She handed it over without hesitation, I navigated to the camera, and I leaned in a little closer to her. The phone clicked, once , twice, and I handed it back to her, she collected ot readily.
“Okay, now send the video,” I said, nodding toward the phone.
She nodded eagerly, her fingers flying over the screen as she sent the file to my IG.
Once it was done, I nodded in approval. “Thanks, you can go now.”
Jordan smiled wider than I’d ever seen anyone smile before, nodding furiously. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She grabbed her phone and ran off, squealing in excitement as she clutched it to her chest.
My phone buzzed with the video, and I took a deep breath. At least I had what I needed, and I didn’t have to stress myself any longer, trying to find the culprit who kept me up every night because whenever I closed my eyes, I either saw myself drowning, or being dragged to the back of the truck I saw that night.