It was Friday morning.
Sandy wished that the bell would just ring and start the first class of the day. Yes, Sandy wanted classes to start. That was because, just outside her classroom, Keith McDowell had caught her and was at that moment firing question after question at her. Fortunately, she did not suffer alone. Ariel was with her to share some of the fire.
"So, is there any truth to the rumor going around about Annie Billings?" Keith was asking.
"What rumor?" Ariel asked blankly.
Keith checked his notepad. "The one where Ms Billings cut up the clothes of a girl then dumped her into the sewers."
Sandy gasped. "Annie did that!? She bullied another girl!?"
(No, Sandy still had not made the connection.)
"What do you mean 'another'?" Keith asked.
"I heard she bullied a girl into stripping and dancing naked for her," Sandy said, "then yesterday, I heard she tore off a girl's clothes and tossed her out into the cold."
"Interesting," Keith muttered as he scribbled on his notepad with a pencil. "Ms Billings seems to have some preoccupation about female nudity..."
"Look," Ariel interrupted, "why don't you just ask Annie herself? For all we know, all these could be false."
Keith turned to the blond. "I'll ask just as soon as I can find her. I haven't seen her in school yet."
"Then you'd better go look for her," Ariel told him, "We've got class to prepare for." She pulled Sandy into the safety of their classroom.
Once they were away from Keith, Ariel chided Sandy, "I don't think you should be telling him all that. Who knows what he's going to put in the news."
"Why not? It's not about you." Sandy dropped her schoolbag on her desk near the front door as she passed.
"Annie, nasty though she may be, is still a person," Ariel said, "Who knows how all this will affect her." She walked to her desk and hung her bag on the back of her chair. Then she took off her coat.
Sandy unzipped her jacket but did not remove it. She did unwrap the wool scarf from around her neck, though. She followed Ariel as the blond went to hang her coat on one of the hooks at the back of the class. Then they went over to Selina's desk, where the tall girl sat. Esper stood nearby.
"You're quiet today," Esper mentioned.
"Hmm... oh, just reading this for class," Selina replied as she continued reading her textbook. She appeared to be distracted, unconcerned about her surroundings.
"Hi, Esper, Selina," Ariel greeted.
Both girls returned Ariel's greeting. However, Selina's greeting appeared to be more subdued than usual.
Sandy did not think much about Selina's quietness. Instead, she joined in conversation with her friends about the latest music until the bell rang.
***
At the start of the morning break, Selina came over to Sandy's desk. "Sandy, can we talk outside?"
"Okay." Sandy followed Selina out into the corridor.
Selina leaned against the wall opposite their class. "Sandy," she began in a quiet voice, "remember what happened with Annie last Monday?"
"Yes." How could Sandy forget? That treacherous little girl had not paid her!
"Do you think I was too harsh on her?"
"I don't know, I didn't see anything." It was partly true.
"Sandy, you were still there, hiding on the stage when I left. You must have guessed what I did to Annie."
"Oh." Sandy wondered where Selina was going with that.
"Do you think what I did to Annie was too much?" Selina asked again.
Sandy thought for a moment. "I don't think so. She did trick me, and get me to do all those things."
Selina glanced away for a moment. "Sandy, did you tell anyone what happened?"
"No," Sandy lied.
"Really? So you're not responsible for the rumors going around about Annie?"
"No," Sandy lied again.
Selina sighed.
"What's wrong?" Sandy asked.
"I just feel responsible for what happened to Annie. Maybe I was too hard on her. Maybe the rumors were too much for her."
Sandy looked closely at her friend. "What do you mean? She deserved all that, didn't she? She wasn't very nice to me."
"Sandy..." Selina met the other girl's eyes. "Annie fell off the Maizen bridge yesterday."
"She what? Was it an accident?"
"It seems so. But I think it was a suicide attempt."
"What do you mean?"
"Annie's short, and the place where she fell off had high railings," Selina informed her, "It's possible that she jumped."
Sandy stared in shock. Had Annie really tried to kill herself? Why? Because of Selina? Because of all those stories about her? Oh no, Sandy had contributed some of those stories! If Annie had jumped because of that... that meant that Sandy killed her!
"So she's dead?" Sandy had to know, though she dreaded the answer.
Selina shook her head. "They pulled her out of the river. She's now in a coma in Judy Perkin Memorial."
That was a relief. That little girl was still alive in the hospital. So Sandy was not guilty of murder. Yet.
"So what are we going to do?" Sandy asked.
"Nothing," Selina replied, "We just go through life as normal. Let the doctors fix Annie up." She pushed herself off the wall and walked back to class.
***
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