On my usual walk to school with Haruka the air was tense. While I slept like a baby last night, the morning I woke couldn't be described as peaceful. From the moment I woke to now my heart wouldn’t calm down.

  If what happened yesterday evening were to get out I’d be labeled a psycho and a bitch. Not to mention the possibility that the black haired girl saw what I had done. I couldn't have my image smeared, and as such, I've been in a state of confusion and worry all morning.

  “Hellooo~” My thoughts were interrupted by the wave of a hand as Haruka stepped in front of me.

  “Sorry, I was lost in thought”

  “Y’know, you've been like this all morning. Something up?”

  I couldn't bring myself to tell her what I had done. Even though we are best friends and I have known her since the start of middle school, not even Haruka knew that side of me.

  “Yeah sorry, just had a bad dream and it has had me shook all morning” I lied

  “Ooo even the perfect class prez can have bad days too” she remarked in a teasing tone

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Without getting a reply we slowly strolled onward eventually arriving at the school. The day began as always and we made our way to homeroom. The students trudging along and telling each other the gossip of the previous day filled the air with noise.

  As we chatted about mundane topics of nothing in particular with Arima and Hamada, I spotted her.

  “Saito…” I mumbled under my breath trying to hide the stares I was giving her. Surprised she even came to school today I accidentally let my thoughts out through my mouth which was picked up on by Haruka.

  “Huh, you know her Sei?”

  “Ah, no not really. She was just here yesterday evening too”

  “I heard she’s bad news, a total delinquent, best to steer clear of her” Hamada said as the other 2 nodded in agreement.

  “I heard she actually hit a teacher in middle school” Haruka input

  “Woah, that's really scary” said Arima

  While I was of the same opinion and I’d heard all these rumours too, that didn't matter to me right now. What did matter was the fact that I had done something outrageous yesterday in a moment of impulsive weakness and she might have seen it. To make matters worse it appeared she had seen me staring at her and she flashed me a piercing grin.

  Desperate to hide myself from her I quickly turned and pretended I was listening to the conversation of my friends.

  The bell for homeroom had begun to chime and students sat in their respective seats as our homeroom teacher walked through the door.

  Anything they were saying was going straight through one ear and out the other. It wasnt that I didn’t want to pay attention, it's just that I could feel the daggers in my back as Saito glared at me.

  She knew something. There's no way she’d flash that creepy grin and stare at me like that if she didn’t. My chest hurt and my heart raced thinking about it. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that we shared every class together.

  Seriously, this girl I’d barely even noticed before was now my center of attention, every class was a miserable drag on as I felt her stares. Finally, lunch break. Maybe I can get some reprieve and just eat in peace without thinking about anything.

  Just as I turned to leave the boring history class for lunch I felt a tap on my shoulder, expecting to see one of my friends, I turned quickly. As I turned around my face slowly began to grimace as the person who stood in front of me was not a friend. Far from. This person was Saito.

  “Ah, aha. Saito-san, is there something you need” I tried to play it off cool.

  “Follow me”

  That's all she said and yet those two words made my heart sink as images of my life being ruined flashed before me. “That's it, it's all over.” I thought.

  I followed her through the corridors weaving between students trying to keep her in sight but her small stature and quick pace made it difficult to follow. Eventually leading me to an unused music room where we both entered and stood silently for a moment.

  “So uhh, what can I help you with?” I said with a smile, still hoping somehow this had nothing to do with yesterday’s events.

  “I'm surprised you know my name, class president”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Ah well you know, it's my job to know all the students isn’t it?”

  “Is that so?...”

  Although it was a question it was posed with no way to answer, so for another moment we both stood there before she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Fiddling with it for a second she brought it up to my face and…

  Gulp

  There it was, not only did she know what I did yesterday, she somehow managed to record me doing it. Yep. I’m so screwed. I stood there stunned in silence for a moment as I tried to think of ways out of this. Nothing came to mind. In fact, as if in betrayal, my mind not only failed to come up with a solution, it was showing me the disappointed looks of everyone in my life.

  First to break the silence was Saito-san

  “You're actually a naughty girl aren't you, Shiori-san?”

  Those words rang in the air for a moment as my face must have had all its colour flushed away and a shiver shot down my spine. Speechless and dumbfounded, I had nothing to say, but I had to say something, make some sort of excuse right?

  “No. Uh, that was a blank test you see” Laughing nervously I tried to play it off but somehow in the back of my mind, I knew that it was useless.

  “Is that so? Then how come you looked so guilty as you shot off after? I bet you actually wanted to do that, didn’t you?”.

  She was right, I did. At that moment just seeing her name had made me furious. I couldn't tell her that though. I have to be perfect, no matter what, people can't be disappointed in me. I kept reminding myself.

  “No, of course I didn’t, it was just a blank test”

  A pathetic excuse.

  “So you’re saying that when the results are posted there won't be a student who scores zero thanks to you?” She led on with a vicious smile, clearly she knew more than she was letting on.

  I gulped again. She was right, no matter how you look at it. It would eventually come to light that a student's test was missing. Ayano Haru. Although I hated the girl, she was actually quite studious and her test scores were high, it would be unlikely she’d miss a test day or fail to answer all the questions.

  “So, what then?” I asked with an icy tone, the goody perfect girl had left me for a moment.

  “Wow. Scary, it suits you I think” She replied with a grin staring into my eyes.

  “Huh?” I was caught off guard by this ridiculous remark. What on earth was she talking about? Furthermore, she didn't even answer my question. What the heck?

  Refusing to even let me process what was happening she spoke out again.

  “Shiori-san, give me your contact info.” She said quite bluntly. Like hell I'd want to give this girl my contact info. Not only had she maliciously recorded me doing something I shouldn't have, she had a bad reputation as a delinquent. I shouldn't get involved with a girl like her. And yet, I was in no position to argue.

  “Okay.” I said meekly “What are you going to do? Do you want to ruin my life?”

  She scoffed as she noted down my contact information.

  “Nothing yet, I’ll be in touch.” And with that, she turned around and left.

  “Well that was something.” I mumbled in a soft breathy voice.

  I wonder what she wants?

  I didn't put up much of a fight with her, I was way too exhausted to even try. To be honest, part of me just wanted to give up there and then. I wondered what my life would be like if I just let it all crumble. Just as quickly as those thoughts entered my mind I shook my head and slapped my hands against my cheeks. I couldn't be thinking something like that now. What's done is done and I’ll just have to wait.

  Somehow, despite this delinquent girl now having blackmail over me, I felt a little relieved. I mean, I no longer had to worry if she’d seen me. That much was clear. She had. I could stop worrying about that which helped clear my mind a little.

  After spending a little more time in the empty unused music room, I turned for the door and left so I could finally eat lunch.

  Without worrying too much, the rest of the day was coming to a close and I headed home.

  ?

  I sat on the floor with my back against my bed anxiously awaiting for something to happen. I wasn’t sure what to expect but after the conversation with Saito-san I was feeling a little less concerned about it. Like a huge weight had been removed from my shoulders.

  Pingg

  The sudden sound of my phone alerting me to a text sent a cold chill throughout my body ending at my heart, it was as if I had been stabbed.

  I checked my phone hoping it was just one of my friends but as I expected, it was not.

  “Come to the unused gymnasium storage room after school tomorrow.”

  That’s all it said. A demand.

  “If I don’t?”

  Knowing fair well what would happen if I didn’t, I asked anyway. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe I just wanted to hear her say it.

  “Or this gets released” An attached file of the video she had taken of me the night before was sent along with it.

  “Why did I even ask?” I mumbled to myself as I typed out a half-assed reply. “Ok”.

  Although I was anxious and a little angry at myself, I couldn’t find it in me to blame Saito-san. I was paying for the consequences of my own actions and in a way having my fate be decided by someone else for a change was rather calming.

  For the first time in a long while, I had let guard down around someone and revealed a side of me that had been kept hidden. It was an enjoyable experience having someone who didn’t hold such high expectations of you, even if that person was a completely unknown factor.