50. Web of lies
Whatever Beale Crest had sought to achieve with the implementation of the cameras, it either went too well, or too wrong.
The entire school was in a silent uproar. It didn’t matter that their fathers were billionaires at this point, everyone needed a voice that could stand against the authorities. The tension hung in the hallways like cobwebs, weaving into every single room ominously. Anderson knew that there was only one person who could give them a light at the end of the tunnel to look at. Mia’s ex best friend.
“Did this have to be so complicated?” he mumbled under his breath as he headed to the mini stadium where the spectators sat. He saw a light flash at a dark corner and he shoved his phone into his pocket. He found her easily enough, thanks to the quick light and sat down next to her, his eyes scanning the environment. “Hey.”
Mia flashed a smile at him that he could barely see. “Crazy how we have to sneak out here now,” she blew at her cheeks, “don’t you think what the college did is absurd? Veronica, my friend, said that we can definitely sue them for doing this. It’s against the laws.”
“The laws? What laws? I thought Beale Crest created all the laws here?” Anderson remarked gloomily, his mind was struggling to come up with the best way to tackle the matter at hand. “It’s absolute madness. And we need to find a way to put a stop to it.”
Mia scoffed and raised her head to stare at the dark, blurry metal ceiling. “You believe this is going to end? Don’t be naïve, Anderson. Mr. Jenkins and the authorities would never undo what they have just done. We are all fucked, especially those that smoke in their rooms…and do other things.” She looked away with red, blotched cheeks.
Anderson’s dejected sigh made her squint at him, “I guess that’s really it then.”
“What?” she asked, placing a comforting palm on his shoulder, “Don’t stress too much about it though. They possibly can’t rusticate everyone. We’ll just serve certain punishments.” She frowned, “A lot of people’s names would be dragged into the mud, but I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t have dirt on them already.”
Anderson’s face dropped. He didn’t want to have sex with Mia. He believed that he could elicit information from her another way, but how? He felt bad whenever he felt like he was manipulating her, but wasn’t that better than fucking her without enjoying it? He sighed, his mind was lost in a turmoil of his thoughts.
“What are you thinking about?” Mia asked restlessly.
“What else?” he mumbled and shook his head grimly, his heart thumping witlessly, “It’s a bit different for me, you know. The Wells name carries no influence. I’ll definitely lose my scholarship when they find out that…” he hesitated, but looked at the mask of curiosity etched on her face. He took a deep breath, “I think about you a lot, Mia.”
Her pupils slowly dilated, riddled with a dim excitement she tried to hide, “What do you mean?”
He cleared his throat, “It’s a bit awkward for me, being the poor boy and all that.”
She scoffed in disbelief, “I’ve been meaning to ask, how were you able to pay for our dinner that night? I wanted to pay the bills but you covered it. And the car and even the hotel room, how was all that possible, Anderson?”
“Carl.” He mumbled in a choked voice, “Carl made it all possible. None of it was me. He knew how addicted I was to you, how desperately I wanted to spend that night with you.” He chuckled wryly, “Something I never wanted to reveal to you, but here we are. He caught me once, scrolling through your social media handle and,” he laughed and bit his lip.
She smiled and patted his shoulder, “Come on, Anderson. Spill!”
“It’s embarrassing, really.” He dragged, but she impatiently patted his shoulder again. “Fine, fine. I beat my meat to your pictures at times.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed immediately. She looked away, a bubbling feeling of excitement in her stomach made her lean forward to compress it. “You can’t be serious, Anderson.”
Of course, he wasn’t!
“I am. That’s my fear. It’s weird and I just know that the authorities are always looking for the slightest opportunity to terminate a scholarship and I think this might just be it, Mia.” His smile dropped again. “My father will have a fucking heart attack. I’m so sure about it. I’ll lose everything I have ever worked for. Everything.”
Her eyes grew with sympathy and she placed a palm on his shoulder again, “Oh, Anderson.”
He frowned, “I mean, I know I shouldn’t have, but how does one compress such deep feelings for you? I tried, but I do it almost every day and I will get punished for it. I also think about Carl. He smokes from time to time, then there’s Keisha’s unwholesome visits. I don’t want Carl to get implicated, I know a thing or two about him. This will wreck him completely. Everything is a fucking mess right now!”
“Calm down, Anderson,” Mia said softly, “I really don’t know what we can do about this. No one expected such a drastic move…you can’t really lose your scholarship, can you?” she asked, a worried look darting in her eyes.
He met her eyes, a deep, sunken look on his gaunt face, “I can.” He said broodingly, “I’m not like you, Mia. I can lose everything and there’s no one to intercede on my behalf. Don’t you understand?” He queried in a sudden annoyance, his tone hardening.
Mia flinched slightly, “I’m sorry, Andie…very sorry. I didn’t know what this meant to you. This is awful!” she exclaimed, her face appalled. “What do we do now?”
Anderson shook his head, “Why is she silent?” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
“What? Who?”
“The Student President,” he frowned, “why is she silent? She can do something, can’t she? Jason said that she can and you said everyone has dirt on them. So, why isn’t she doing anything?”
Mia’s expression hardened and she sat back on the uncomfortable seat. She stared ahead and her eyes flashed with anger, “That’s because she is selfish and loves to be the goodie-two-shoes. Sam Spears. She’s supposed to be my best friend.”
Anderson feigned ignorance, “Supposed to be?”
“Yes. She betrayed me for a reputation. It’s still mind-boggling, and I hate to talk about it,” Mia said and looked at him softly, “but now I feel like I can tell you everything.”
Anderson’s heart began to pound once more and the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead and the back of his neck started rolling into cold lines of sweat. He didn’t trust himself to speak at this point, so he only nodded.
“I snuck out to a party, she was my only friend and somehow, Jenkins found out about it. Before we could bribe the guards, Jenkins was rather strict last year. I hid in Sam’s bedroom, I was so sure Jenkins wouldn’t search her bed and he didn’t,” she scoffed bitterly, “but as Jenkins was about to leave the room, she called him back and pointed to me. I got suspended for a month and my father cut my allowance by eighty percent for six months.” She looked at him, “and what do you think about that?”
Anderson was shocked by what she had just said, perplexed even, “Are you sure she saw you as a best friend, the same way you saw her?”
“How would I know? But it doesn’t seem like she did, does it?” she replied and her eyes darkened, “But Sam isn’t the saint people think she is. Even though she tried to keep it away from everyone, including me, I found out about it right before that betrayal.”
He leaned in, his heart was racing now and his mouth hung open slightly. This could be it! The gateway to a solution! “What’s that?”
Mia looked at him and said, “You promise not to tell anyone about this, right?”
Anderson swallowed and nodded, “I…yes.”
Mia sighed, “She had a terrible habit of…”