NAOMI'S POV:

I wonder if others could hear the sound of my heartbeat. It's rapid thumping was somehow noticeable apparent in my ears, tricking my mind into hearing its echo through the corridor as I rushed to Mr. Davis' office. It was after nine so there was a good chance he'd be in here. Although I'm nervous of what he'll have to say, there was no one else I'd be able to go to for comfort.

*Knock, knock*

I put my hand on the knob and began twisting before he even responded. His voice gave the impression that he was unaware of the situation, which gave me some hope that I'd be able to appeal to his good side before Mr. Patry fills in the details.

This seems crazy, I know. Obeying a direct order from an Administrator was the most absolute principle here, as was following the terms of the punishment and refraining from passing notes...and I had violated all three in one day. But I was once told to tell him if I had been reprimanded by any member of faculty, how could he punish me for doing so?

"Naomi, I've been waiting for you." He said from the couch, closing the red-covered book and tossing it on the table.

"I was in..."

"Mr. Patry's office, I know."

How would he know? Did Mr. Patry text or make a call during the three minutes it took me to get here? I involuntarily noticed everyone who witnessed me being forced to Mr. Patry's office, but Mr. Davis was nowhere in sight.

"T-then you know I was..."

"Spanked? Yes, it's written all over your face." He stood this time, folding his arms over his chest and waiting for a response.

Up until now, I hadn't considered that a confrontation regarding my encounter with Mr. Patry would make me feel so childish. A wave of humiliation had invaded my mind as I heard him so blatantly summarize what happened.

"How?" I wiped my eyes, taking a step toward the center of the room.

Mr. Davis wiped his hands against his pants, hiding his smirk as he looked down. "You're grounded but you weren't in your room; Mr. Patry is on duty tonight but wasn't anywhere in the halls..."

I rolled my eyes at his observation.

"And his door was shut. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"Why did he have to punish you?"

Have to? Oh, that is just condescending.

"Talk to me Naomi." He came forward and wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

"Well...that's kind of a long story." I buried my chin against my chest, picking at my finger nails to give me some wholeness in the situation.

*Knock, knock, knock* The knocker did not hesitate to open the door, which clearly meant that it was Mr. Patry.

"Howard, I need to..." He stopped immediately when he noticed he interrupted our conversation. "Naomi? What are you doing here?"

I glanced at him over my shoulder, but kept my body turned in the opposite direction. The tension was simmering in the room as my bottom somehow felt more on fire with him being near.

"He asked you a question Naomi, have the respect to look at him when he's speaking to you." Mr. Davis motioned for me to turn around.

I took a deep breath and straightened myself, my sobs were reduced to sniffles, but there were a few tears still leaking out, not wanting to give him any indication that his punishment resonated with me.

"I wanted to see Mr. Davis."

"I sent you to your room after I concluded your punishment." He responded bitterly.

"But," I turned back to Mr. Davis for support. "but I wanted to see you."

"He gave you an order and you should know better than to disobey." His eyes flashed dark and his voice went cold.

"Actually, let her stay." Mr. Patry said, closing the door behind him. "We can explain tonight's event together." Holding up my note, he handed it over to Mr. Davis.

______________________________________________________________________

JESS' POV:

I haven't seen either the Administrators in a while, and hopefully won't for the rest of the night. The look on Naomi's face when she headed towards Mr. Patry's office made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight...she had been caught, but I was lucky enough not to be. This whole smokebomb charade has gotten way too many people in trouble, none of which were the main culprit. That little ego-maniac deserves the full wrath of the Administration.

Everyone, even Ryan himself, thought the matter was settled when Jasper took the fall for him on Wednesday. But now that Mr. Patry has intercepted Naomi's note, a crack was forming in the solid foundation we had laid. There was no one that would outright dob on Ryan, so I just hope her note has enough clues to point them in the right direction.

Someone is going to go down for this...and for our sake, I hope it isn't Naomi.

I don't think she would dime on me, not even to her, now legal, guardian. She wasn't someone to sift blame, which was probably one of her most admirable qualities. So, fulfilling her intention was the least I could do, I owed her that much.

*Knock, knock. * I glanced at each end of the hallway, trying to avoid any glance from another person. "Come on." *Knock, knock, knock*

"Jesus." I heard him say quietly on the other side of the door.

Opening it, I took a step froward and put my finger to my lips. "Jasper, listen to me..."

"Jess?" He peeked his head out. "I'm not supposed to be socializing..." Stepping back, he went to shut his door, but I caught it with my hand.

"Just be quiet and listen; Naomi tried getting a note to you that Ryan may retaliate since you destroyed his stash. She wants you to stay out of it."

"Tried?" Apparently, that was the only word he heard.

"She was caught by Mr. Patry before she could give it to me, he punished her obviously but now she's in Mr. Davis' office."

"What was in the note? Does it mention Ryan's name?" Glancing at his door, which was diagonal from his, he tightened his jaw.

"Are you listening to me? Ryan might come for you..."

"Yeah, I really don't care." He shrugged that off quickly, a little too quickly in my opinion. "Does her note mention Ryan by name?"

"She's too smart for that, she must have coded everyone's name. Even yours."

"Wait a minute," He rubbed his hands against his chest. "if Mr. Patry saw the note, then he must have figured out that Naomi knows who the smoke bombs belonged to."

"Maybe."

"I have to go..."

"No, you can't." I grabbed the corner of his shoulder as he tried to past me, pushing him back quietly. "I said maybe. Her note probably doesn't even point a finger in Ryan's direction."

"That's just the thing; it might and if Ryan is caught then he'll know someone leaked information to the Administrators."

Scoffing, "I hope he does get caught." I narrowed my eyes and removed my hand after he settled. "And who cares if he thinks someone ratted him out, we're not talking about bat-cave level secrecy here. It could just be that the Administrators figured it out."

"No Jess," He shook his head, condescendingly looking back to me when he was finished. "I've been here a long time and so has Ryan, we know the spots where the Administrators don't look for contraband. He'll know someone dimed on him, and if suspicion about Naomi spreads...it'll be a lot worse for her than anyone else."

Wrapping my jacket tightly around my chest, I shook my head. "Naomi's doesn't cause any problems, she has no enemies why would it be worse for her?"

He sighed, looking to the left as if it would somehow get him out of answering my question.

"Because...uh," Sighing, his hand reflexively went to rub his neck. "Because she's been adopted by one of the Administrators; people already believe she gets a 'free pass' on too many things. This will only give them reason to believe she's the 'Administrator's pet'."

Salient point. I hadn't thought of that, maybe because I never harbored any ill-feelings towards her, but I guess that doesn't mean everyone else doesn't either. She was the kind of person that rarely caused issues with another, a true pacifist at heart.

"Okay but..."

"And because she's never going home." His voice cracked mid-sentence, signaling that that was the true reason. "I'm not the only one whose been in-and-out of here, Ryan has too and I guarantee you he'll be back when he leaves here. If he finds out that Naomi named him...he'll never stop harassing her and convincing everyone to join him."

I nodded, "You're right."

"And because she's never going home, it's not like all she has to do is suck it up for a few weeks...Ryan will never let it go. He'll remember it every time he walks through this building."

"Okay, okay, I get your point...but maybe she wrote the note vague enough for them to think she doesn't actually know who they belonged to, only that the person would be angry for having their stash ruined." I tried to say optimistically. "Naomi's a smart person, you must let her handle this. You can't go barging in there now and potentially expose her in a lie."

He didn't seem convinced, but perhaps that was just from inclining apprehension. "Maybe Mr. Davis will give her the benefit-of-the-doubt, he does have a soft spot for her."

His eyes widened in confirmation of that, nodding his head while grinning. "He sure does."



"I need to go," I heard the first door-lock click from the left end of the hallway. "just don't do anything until you've spoken to her."



NAOMI'S POV:

"The person who the smokebombs belonged to may come after you for using the dryer you weren't supposed to use. Please don't do anything proactive, just keep yourself out of trouble." Mr. Davis crumbled the note in his palm after reading.

Mr. Patry, who stood against the left-side of the desk, put his hands to his sides and turned to me. "We can tell this is about the smokebombs, you made the mistake of blatantly identifying the contraband. Do you know who the smokebombs belongs to?"

"No sir." I said clearly.

"I don't believe you. You wrote this note for Jasper..."

"What makes you think it was for Jasper?" I interrupted.

The question, though asked bluntly, had captured Mr. Davis' intrigue as well.

"I have a hunch."

"Thanks for all the details." I whispered under my breath.

"Mind your attitude Naomi, this is serious." Mr. Davis scolded. "Who was this note for if not for Jasper?"

Their eyes locked on me, causing me to shrink back into the corner where I had secluded myself. I opened my mouth reflexively, beginning to make some sound but then being left with nothing but pure silence.

"It was for Jasper." Mr. Patry affirmed this time.

I could tell Mr. Davis was beginning to lose his patience with the both of us.

"It's obvious, he's the one she cares for the most in the Academy so she wrote a note to warn him to watch his back."

"Or maybe it's obvious that whoever they did belong to would be mad that someone used the dryer they shouldn't have and ruined their stuff. That's a counter theory, what you're saying doesn't prove anything..."

It most certainly doesn't, I just learned about 'burden of proof' in Mock Trial. I knew that class would come in handy. Do you think if I asked for a lawyer, they would let me get one?

"Naomi Taylor." He raised his voice, grabbing the attention of both Mr. Patry and I. "Smokebombs can be dangerous, someone could get hurt. You obviously know that someone else had taken the fall, and that this note was a message warning them of retaliation. Who was the note for?"

Mr. Davis was tearing into my conscious because he knew I was the most vulnerable there, fortunately for me my resentment of Mr. Patry trumped that.

"I-I'm sorry." I whispered. "I can't say."

He breathed heavily through his nostrils, unbuttoning the hem of his sleeves and rolling them to his elbows.

Mr. Patry sighed, "I made a deal not to disclose this, but now we can clearly see that he was the innocent party...so please do not hold anything against him." He slapped his palm on Mr. Davis' shoulder. "I punished Jasper on Wednesday for the smokebombs. They were in his pile of clothes in the dryer, so I immediately assumed they belonged to him, and was even more sure of it when he didn't object."

Mr. Davis looked to me, "Great, but that still leaves us with the most important question; who did the smokebombs belong to?"

"I already told you I don't know!"



Mr. Davis gave me a predatory look while Mr. Patry shook his head at my stubbornness. Suddenly the room felt as if it were shrinking, or maybe that my head was exploding from built-up pressure. I was being tag-teamed by two of the most intimidating individuals I've ever met, and I had just raised my voice to one of them. The look on Mr. Davis' face was enough to cause me to subdue to the meek character that was created after my first month of being here.



Maybe I should just tell the truth. Would it save Jasper from Ryan? Is Ryan really capable of finding out it was me who ratted him out? Will Mr. Davis' trust diminish even further if I remain silent? Would my best friend and boyfriend's opinion of me change if I did? Those were the most important questions circulating in my head, and I couldn't even answer one.



"Jim, will you give us a minute?" Mr. Davis asked, looking over his shoulder. "I'll come talk to you later. After I have a few more things to say to her."



When the door closed, Mr. Davis drew his pointer finger and motioned me forward. I hesitated, of course, the terror conquering my response to obey which drew a growl from him.



"Get over here."



I walked slowly to where he was standing, having to move forward two more times before I was exactly where he wanted me to be. Which was right against his lower chest.



Bending over, he cupped the underneath of my chin. "I appreciate that you don't want to snitch on anyone....but you need to tell me the truth because I don't believe you either."



"M-Mr. Davis, I can't..."



"I assure you I won't let any trail of your cooperation leave this room. No one will know you named another student."



"I trust you," I moved my head back, forcing him to release my chin. "I really do...but I can't tell you because I don't know."



Sighing, he knelt down. "Can you look me in the eye and promise me that you don't know who they actually belong to?"



No.

No, I couldn't. I could barely look at him right now, so I was forced to bury my chin against my chest. My insides burning at the thought of how disappointed he is right now.



"I didn't think so." He sighed aggressively, turning around to tense himself in an attempt to release some of the frustration he was harboring.



I don't think I can make up my mind until I talk to at least one of them.



"Alright. It's past your bedtime, I'll walk you to your room but we're going to discuss this first thing in the morning. I suggest you think about how you're going to answer when I ask you the same question tomorrow."



"A-are you mad?"



"Yes." He answered with a strong conviction, causing my heart to sink into my stomach. "I'm mad."



He motioned toward the door, taking a step forward to force me out. So, with my tail between my legs, I walked briskly out of his office and headed toward my room.