章 2: Chapter 2

Inside their room, the four boys sat cross-legged on the floor while facing each other and a phone in the middle. Adam and Oliver had gotten the photo from Ryan. The guy had taken the photo because he knew James and Juniper were in a relationship. Ryan swore that he didn't show the photo to anyone else besides James so Adam and Oliver deleted it from his phone then coerced and bribed him into keeping his mouth shut.

Half of the photo being displayed on Oliver's phone was blocked by a bronze statue, as if someone hid behind it while taking the photo, but what they wanted to see was still pretty clear. The girl had her back to the wall and her arms around a guy's neck who was wearing the school's tracksuit. They were kissing and the girl's clothes seem to have messed up so they might have been at it for a while. The photo had a timestamp of yesterday afternoon, so Ryan took the photo right after the football team's practice.

Most of the school was empty during weekends except the club rooms and playing grounds, so they understood why these two were bold enough to make out outside the main building.

Adam looked up at James, who seemed to have calmed down fully and was staring at the photo with no emotions on his face. If you looked at him now, you couldn't tell that it was his girlfriend in the photo making out with his friend.

Oliver finally broke the silence as he asked,

"There's no doubt it's Juniper and Ethan, so what do we do now?"

Jonathan was the first to speak.

"We find that bastard in a secluded place and break his bones. As for that bitch-"

Adam cut him off before he could finish,

"If they both ended up in the hospital, we will be the prime suspects. If we put the image in the forums, the school will still come after us for posting an image that harms the school's reputation instead of contacting them. We can't explain our motives since we are doing it for revenge."

"Then, what do we do?" Jonathan didn't want those two to escape unharmed.

"It depends on what James wants to do." Oliver looked at James who was still silent and continued,

"Do you want to break up with her and forget what Ethan did or get some payback?"

"Even if he dumps Juniper, he still has to put up with being in the same team as Ethan."

Adam pointed out.

"I'll tell the coach and show him the photo. That should get that bastard kicked out."

"Do you think the coach will involve himself in the relationship of students, Johnny? James isn't the captain or a star player, he won't pick him over Ethan. It will still be James who's forced to quit the team."

James who had been quiet for so long finally spoke, "I want revenge on both of them. I feel my head will burst from anger if I see them walking around."

James hoarse voice cracked while he spoke and he got up went outside.

While Adam and Johnathan could see the surprise in each other's face. They had known James for longer than Oliver, so they knew what kind of person he was. James would suffer in silence and forget whatever happened instead of getting back at people.

Adam was the first to speak,

"I can understand why he wants revenge this time. James seems like an easy going guy but he still has his pride. He was considerate of that girl 4 years ago and she ended up trampling all over his self-esteem. He probably thinks if he had ruthlessly rejected her, he wouldn't have to go through all of this."

Johnathan spoke up next,

"What do we do now, then? I want to help him but I don't know how, there must be some way we can use this photo to harm them."

"Only students can post on the forums. We had to input our student ID when we made those accounts. There's no anonymity there"

"We can always use the account of someone who's already graduated. The person just has to deny they did it or gave the account to someone."

Adam suggested.

The three saw James walking over and sitting back down. He didn't wash his face and didn't have red eyes, so he had only gone out to get some fresh air.

James finally spoke after sitting down,

"Even if we post the image, they will get a stern warning from the school at most."

"Then, we will have to escalate the situation before posting the photo so the school will have no choice but to punish them harshly if they don't want others to misbehave." Oliver added.

Adam turned to Johnathan and James,

"Do you guys know anything about Ethan or Juniper we can use against them?"

"I have nothing we can use against Juniper."

James continued, "As for Ethan, that guy got us and the others from the team into the Brave Hearts Club paying nothing and that was last year. We were still underage back then."

"That's too long ago, and you guys will also get in trouble if this gets out. You probably can't remain in the team either."

Johnathan spoke next.

"I went back there a few times so I can get you guys inside if we decide to do something to him there."

"Do you think he will go there this Friday?" Adam asked.

"How will he leave the school? Even if Friday is a national holiday, we need to get our guardian's permission if we intend to leave early."

"Or he can do the same thing you guys have been doing for the past year. Use my badge to get out early. It's not like the guards recognize every prefect." Adam added, "I haven't thought of what we will do next but if he uses my badge and goes out, at least we can accuse him of stealing it."

"How will he steal your badge?" Oliver was really confused at Adam's words.

"I haven't thought everything through. Just give me a few days."

Adam pointed at James and Johnathan, "Bring this up in conversation during your practice. Make sure he hears it."

The next day the team was doing their daily morning practice at the football field.

Johnathan was also doing practice drills with the ball. He could see the Striker practicing at the goalpost with the two goalkeepers while the rest were doing drills around him. He turned around to see the coach standing at the end of the field. Johnathan knew Ethan was just behind him, so he signaled for James to speak.

"John, do you have Adam's badge? I need to go out today so give it to me later." James spoke up.

"I already made plans with that girl from 2-C so I can't give it you today."

All the surrounding boys got curious when they heard the two talking about girls.

The midfielder couldn't hold his curiosity back so he asked,

"Which girl are you guys talking about? Adam? You mean that prefect roommate of yours?"

Johnathan gave a mental thumbs up to the guy and promised himself to let the guy appear in more matches, but his expression remained the same.

"Yeah, we didn't know before but the guy's badge is like a master key. You can go anywhere in the school and even go out without permission."

"Don't they check the camera on who used the badge?" The defender joined in on the conversation.

"Adam said they don't check it unless they have to, and the footage only lasts for two weeks. It must be true since we have been doing it for a year and nobody caught on."

Ethan finally showed some interest and said, "Won't you guys have problems if someone stole it or you lost the badge?"

"The badge is only useful for boarding students like us. And you guys know that those things have a GPS locator that only works inside the school premises, so if someone stole it, they'll be in trouble. People just return it to the lost section if they find it. We lose it all the time and Adam just gets it back from the lost section on Monday and forgets about it again for the rest of the week."

Johnathan had done his best to pique Ethan's interest in the badge when the boys heard the coach shouting at them for stopping practice.

That evening the four gathered back in their dorm room. Oliver looked at Adam and said, "Did you come up with anything?"

Adam already had a plan in mind so he nodded and said, "Yeah, we will do it this Thursday. We will need the fake account to post the picture. One of us needs to stay at school while the others go out and deal with Ethan. Me and Johnny will have to go out so either James or Oliver needs to stay."

"I will stay in school and handle the ID, you guys deal with Ethan.", James said.

That was also Adam's plan since James wasn't decisive or someone with a lot of courage. It was best that James stayed at the dorm.

"We can tell our parents we want to return home but what about you Adam?"

The others could tell their parents they wanted to return home early, but Adam couldn't make the same excuse since the reason Adam moved into the dorms was because he didn't have anyone in the city.

"I already talked with my mom. They rented an apartment for me in the city since they are going on a vacation. I told her I'll sign the lease on Friday and spend the night there so she will get the permission from school for me."

"What are we going to do once we get out?" Johnathan asked.

"You invite Ethan to meet up at the club. Bring him to our room and give him my badge. That way we can make it look like he stole it. You leave a few hours later and meet him. Oliver should be able to get in easily since he's already 18 but you have to help me."

Adam was only 17 since he had jumped too many grades while trying to catch up with people his age.

The four discussed the entire plan for a few hours before going to sleep.