Storing her phone back in her pocket, Nadia took off down the hall.
She was in a much better mood, having been able to mess with school
property and have a good reason, and maybe now they were getting
somewhere about that killer. Just as they reached the room, through
the open door, a teacher said, "Alright, I'm ending class early.
You can go." Students began filing out, including Salene, who
glanced both ways. Seeing Nadia, she stopped hurriedly. "H-hi, uh,
you need something?" Nadia didn't realize she had been staring at
her.
Shoot, Colt grimaced. "Er, no, sorry," he interjected.
The plan, what was the plan? He stood there looking lost for
a second before saying, "We, er, didn't come from the music wing,
if that's what you were wondering." Oh, gosh, that sounded so
stupid. It felt like a giant error message was flashing in his
brain, taking up all of the space he needed for thinking. "Uh,
right, Nadia? Yeah, I'll... just be going." It was all he could do
to not visibly wince.
It took all of Nadia's willpower to not smack this boy upside the
head. He might be..well, a lot taller than her, but she would still
do it if she had to. It was like watching an outdated computer
crash. Ridicolus. She shook her head, turning back to Salene.
"Don't mind the idiota, can I show you something? I'm working on
getting through the firewall, and I've seen what you do in Coding.
You want to take a look? I need a second opinion," she said
casually, lying as easily as could be. Salene looked slightly
nervous but nodded. "Okay, sure!" "Excellente! I've set up down the
hall, let's go!" With Salene enthusiastically walking beside her,
Nadia glanced over her shoulder, mouthing the words, "You know what
to do."
The second they were out of sight, Colt smacked himself in the face
with his palm. "Smooth, real smooth," he muttered condescendingly
to himself, waiting another moment before following Nadia and
Salene. He hoped his peering around corners to make sure they were
out of sight before turning them didn't arouse and suspicion from
the other students. Good Lord, he was terrible at this.
When Salene wasn't looking, Nadia rolled her eyes. As they walked
towards the trap laid, she kept up a steady conversation with
Salene, leaving her unaware of the other girl's intentions.
As Colt tailed the girls, he couldn't help but think that Salene
seemed just... too nice. While he knew that the Killer could be
anyone, it really was difficult for him to wrap his mind around the
possibility that it could be the short, awkward introvert, or at
least that was how he'd always perceived her. It would make sense,
though, for the principal to choose someone so unassuming, he
guessed. As they approached the band room, he hoped Salene wouldn't
question the odd location. Perhaps his messy execution of
attempting to sneakily appear sneaky would help with that and make
her subconsciously unopposed? He could only hope...
"The music room's the most private," Nadia said, gesturing for
Salene to follow her. The girl nodded eagerly and hurried after.
Nadia laughed. "You sure are excited." "I love coding! It's-it's
what got me here." Nadia noted the pause in the girl's speaking but
ignored it. "Here, let me pull it up on my phone." She leaned
against the wall, right underneath a shelf with heavy music books
on the shelves. With all of her "Attention" on the phone, it was
the perfect setup, if Salene was the killer. Salene took a couple
of steps forward, her hand reaching for the side of the shelf...
Taking a deep breath, the boy hurried to the right, keeping his
footsteps soft, flattening himself against the wall outside the
band room. It was oddly perfect; the door was on the side closest
to him and opened out, so the second Nadia left, he would be able
to slam it shut and pull the instrument cabinet to the left in
front of it in a single fluid motion, provided he didn't slip or
freeze. That shouldn't be a problem, at least not due to nerves.
Despite the fact that he was on edge, Colt found himself able to
keep focused on the task at hand and not on the potential
consequences, which he was particularly grateful for.
"Alright," Nadia said, handing her phone to Salene, "Just check it
out while I go use the bathroom. I'll answer any questions you have
when I get back, ¡Está bien!" "Got it!" Salene paused and reached
for the phone. Nadia left the room, and when she saw Colt, she
stalked right up to him, fire in her eyes. "You....idiot!" She
waved her hands frustratedly. "Just do your thing and then I'm
going to have a little talk with you."
Oh goodness, am I in for it, he thought ruefully, but
knew better than to argue. He might have to look down a bit to meet
Nadia's eyes, but that didn't mean she wasn't absolutely
terrifying. And also slightly amusing. But mostly terrifying. "Yes,
ma'am," he whispered with a slight grin, nudging the door softly
with his hand to make it look like Nadia had simply allowed it to
drift close behind her out of habit as she left. The second it
shut, he started forwards, moving around to the other side of the
cabinet and began to slowly, steadily push it in front of the door,
grateful that the music teacher always left the black drape over
the window closed.
Nadia tapped her foot, hands on her hips. Inside, Salene was
absorbed in the mock project Nadia had made to grab the girl's
attention, and didn't even hear the sound for awhile.
"Er, so. Maybe I should leave the sneaky stuff up to you from now
on, yeah?" he began, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand
sheepishly. Understatement of the century.
Nadia glared at him. "Uh, yeah!" She shook her finger a little,
yelling at him. Eventually her speech switched to Spanish. It
didn't seem like she would ever stop, and was starting to get a
little blue in the face. Nadia was cut short by banging on the door
and Salene saying, "H-hey, the door's locked!"
"Oh, praise God," he muttered when Salene's voice put an end to
Nadia's rant. He'd deserved a chewing out, he knew, but
goodness, if he ever set Nadia off again, it would be
too soon. However, the boy was beginning to have misgivings at the
tremble in Salene's voice. Didn't mean she wasn't guilty, of
course, but... "Perhaps this wasn't the best plan...?" he muttered.
Nadia was having simalar doubts. The girl didn't seem like she'd
hurt a fly. But Nadia would do anything to get off this island, so
she couldn't ignore the suspicous actions. She placed a hand on the
doorhandle. "Nadia?" Salene said. Nadia paused, before answering.
"Salene, are you the Killer?" Salene was silent for a moment...
Coolly, Colt moved to open the cabinet and remove a heavy trumpet,
setting it opening-down on the ground and resting a hand on the
mouthpiece. It was a sorry excuse for a weapon, but it would have
to do. If Salene was the Killer and got any ideas, he
fully intended to protect himself and Nadia.
Salene's voice drifted from beyond the door. "I'm not the Killer. I
know you probablly saw me, but I have a perfectly good explenation,
I swear." Nadia's grip on the doorknob tightened, and she glanced
at Colt. If this wasn't such a serious situation, she might have
laughed at his choice of weapon.
The boy met Nadia’s eyes and shrugged for her to proceed. He didn’t
want a repeat of her response to when he’d attempted to verbally
participate in this whole plan.
Nadia paused before responding. "If you're not The Killer, than
what were you doing in the vents?" "I-I was trying to hide my
brothers. There's a place where they can stay. I don't want them
hurt." Nadia bit her lip, then nodded. "Colt, can you move the
cabinet?"
“Yep,” he nodded, stuffing the trumpet back inside with a grimace
and leaning his shoulder against the wooden object. The second it
was out of the way, he opened the door and stood back so the
younger girl could leave. “We’re really sorry,” he said with a
wince, hoping Salene wouldn’t be too upset with the pair of them.