CHAPTER 3: The Secret Recording

CHAPTER 3: The Secret Recording

POV: Ivy Bennett

The cardboard box on my bed was only half full, and my hands were shaking so badly that I could not fold my clothes properly because the music from the student party outside was very loud and came right through my glass window, and it felt like the entire hockey team was celebrating my departure from the academy. Every few minutes, another group of students would shout insults toward my building, or someone would throw a plastic cup against the brick wall right outside my room, and the sound of their laughter just made the space feel even more uncomfortable than before.

"Are you really just going to pack up and leave like a coward, Ivy, because you didn't even try to fight them after Chloe told those ridiculous lies to the board?" my roommate, Maya, asked as she walked into the room, slammed the door shut behind her, and stood there with her arms crossed over her chest while looking at me with a mixture of anger and worry. "Everyone out there thinks you actually stole those papers, and if you just walk away tonight without saying anything, you are letting them get away with destroying your entire future."

"They already made up their minds before the hearing even started, Maya, and you saw how Noah looked at me in that auditorium like I was some kind of insect he wanted to crush," I replied, tossing a heavy calculus textbook into the bottom of the box and wiping a stray tear from my cheek before she could notice it. "Noah wanted me gone because it saves his precious team from disqualification, and the school board was just looking for an easy scapegoat so they wouldn't have to cancel the national championship game and lose millions of dollars in sponsorship money."

"But it isn't fair that you are taking the blame for something you didn't do while Chloe is out there right now drinking with the varsity players like she's some kind of campus hero," Maya said, stepping closer to the bed to help me tape the bottom of another small box while the shouting from the quad grew even louder and more obnoxious. "You have straight A's, and you spent your whole life working hard to get into a good college, so you can't just let Julian and his friends win this game without showing some kind of resistance."

"My dad always told me that sometimes you have to lose a small battle to win the actual war, and right now, staying in this dorm is just going to make things worse for me because the entire student body wants blood," I muttered, but before Maya could answer me or argue further, my phone buzzed violently against the wooden desk and rattled against a ceramic mug.

I picked it up, expecting to see another nasty anonymous message from one of the cheerleaders, but the screen displayed an unknown number with no caller ID, and there was just a single audio file attached with a short message that told me to listen to it immediately.

"What is that, and who sent it to you from an unlisted number?" Maya asked, leaning over my shoulder as I tapped the play button, and a heavy layer of static from the recording filled the quiet spaces of our room while we both held our breath.

"Just keep your voice down, because if anyone hears us discussing the login codes or the server access, the whole plan falls apart and my father will kill me," a male voice spoke through the phone speaker, and though the audio was incredibly grainy, the sharp, arrogant tone was completely unmistakable to my ears.

"Don't worry about it, because Ivy leaves her login details on the library table every Wednesday afternoon during her tutoring sessions, so it was easy to copy her credentials and use her IP address to upload the chemistry files," a second voice answered, and my breath caught in my throat because that smooth, condescending laugh belonged to none other than Julian Kingsley, Noah’s older brother and the academy’s most prominent alumnus.

"And what about Chloe?" the first voice asked, laughing along with him as the sound of glasses clinking in the background became clearer. "Is she going to stick to the script we gave her for the disciplinary board, or is she going to crack under pressure from Principal Vance?"

"Chloe will do exactly what I tell her to do because she wants that summer internship at my father's investment firm, and besides that, she hates Ivy enough to enjoy watching her get kicked out of the school," Julian’s voice replied, and I could hear the sound of a door closing in the recording as if they were moving deeper into a private room.

"So Noah doesn't suspect anything at all about the leak?" the first voice questioned, and my heart hammered against my ribs as I waited for the answer, leaning closer to the tiny speaker of my phone.

"Noah thinks she did it because he's stupidly loyal to the hockey program, and as long as he believes the evidence, he will push for her expulsion himself without us ever having to lift a finger," Julian laughed, but just as he was about to mention another name, the audio sharply cut off into a loud burst of static, and the file ended completely.

"Oh my god, Ivy, that was Julian Kingsley, and he is the one who set you up from the very beginning," Maya gasped, her eyes wide with total shock as she grabbed my wrist and stared at the dark phone screen. "He used Chloe to ensure you got blamed for the leak so his family's reputation wouldn't be ruined by whoever actually stole those exam papers, and you need to take this directly to the police or the board right now."

"No, I need to show this to Noah right now, because he needs to know that his own brother is the one behind this whole mess, and he needs to see how they used him to do their dirty work," I said, my heart pounding as I grabbed my jacket from the chair and turned toward the door with the phone clutched tightly in my hand. "Noah might hate me right now, but he isn't a liar, and he will have to listen to this recording if he hears Julian's actual voice admitting to the frame-up."

"Wait, Ivy, don't go out there into the quad alone because those players are completely drunk, and they won't let you talk to Noah anyway," Maya warned, pulling me back by my jacket sleeve just as my phone buzzed again with another incoming text from the exact same unknown number.

I looked down at the glowing screen, and my blood ran cold as I read the words that appeared in the text box.

Leave tonight if you want to stay alive.