chapter 8 " game of power "

Helena had only been home from the hospital two days when her phone buzzed again.

Theo: I’m in.

She sat up in bed, still weak, her body sluggish from the overdose—but her mind was sharp. She tapped back quickly.

Helena: In where?

Theo: The school’s security system. Attendance logs. Camera feeds. Even digital archives.

Helena’s chest tightened. “You hacked Brentford?” she whispered aloud, stunned.

A second message came.

Theo: Let’s clear your name.

Later That Evening — Theo’s Garage

Helena sat beside him, wrapped in a hoodie, her eyes wide as Theo flicked through the files like they were just songs on a playlist.

“Someone planted that camera in Greg’s house weeks ago,” Theo muttered. “See this?” He pulled up a log. “It was linked to a private cloud server that only came alive after your visit.”

“Bianca,” Helena whispered.

“Maybe. But the upload route was masked—whoever did it was careful.”

“So can we prove I didn’t record the video?”

Theo grinned. “Give me 48 hours.”

The Next Day — Brentford Academy

The air around school was electric again. Gossip had died down after Helena’s absence, but now it buzzed back to life with her return.

She walked through the gates like a ghost. Still suspended from classes but called in for “a final review.” No one expected to see her. But she was done hiding.

Greg found her first.

He was waiting at the side of the administration block, hands in his pockets, face unreadable.

“You look... better,” he said, softly.

“You look guilty,” she replied.

He leaned against the wall. “I didn’t leak that video.”

Helena’s eyes narrowed. “Then who did?”

He sighed. “I didn’t know about the camera. But I know who put it there.”

Helena’s breath caught. “Bianca?”

Greg nodded slowly. “She knew I brought you to the house. She had one of her cousin’s tech guys sneak something in. She’s been waiting for the perfect moment.”

“To destroy you?” Helena asked.

“No,” Greg said, voice tight. “To humiliate me. Make me crawl back.”

Meanwhile… Bianca’s Dorm Room

Bianca flipped through her makeup palette slowly, face blank as her best friend rattled on about who got suspended this week.

She wasn’t listening.

Her focus was on the mirror. On the cracks forming in her carefully manicured life.

Greg hadn’t come back.

Helena hadn’t stayed gone.

And now the power she held over the school was starting to slip.

No more mistakes, she thought. No more warnings.

She closed the palette and reached for her burner phone, typing quickly:

Bianca: Plan B. If Helena breathes near Greg again—I want her gone. This time for good.

After the Review Board Hearing

Helena stood with her mum just outside the headmistress’s office.

“She’s clear,” the woman had said. “Video was illegally obtained. Evidence shows Helena had no part in its leak.”

Her mum had squeezed her hand. “You did it.”

But Helena didn’t feel victorious. She felt exposed.

Because even with her name cleared… the truth was, someone wanted her destroyed.

Later That Night — In Her Room

Helena changed into her pajamas and collapsed on her bed, ready to shut her mind off.

That’s when she noticed it.

A folded piece of paper slipped into her backpack.

No name.

No handwriting.

Just six words printed in stark black ink:

“Sophia was warned too. You’re next.”

Her blood ran cold.

Cliffhanger Ending

Helena stared at the note, hands trembling.

Sophia’s name.

Again.

A warning.

Or a threat?

She looked around her room.

The window was locked. The door had been shut all evening.

She picked up her phone and called the only person who’d believe her.

“Tessy,” she whispered when she answered. “Someone’s in my room. Or was. They left a note.”

“What does it say?” Tessy asked urgently.

Helena didn’t speak right away.

Then: “It says… Sophia was warned too.”

Tessy’s voice was trembling through the phone. “Helena… you’re sure the note said Sophia was warned too?”

Helena sat upright on her bed, her fingers still clutched tightly around the paper. “I’m sure. Someone must have slipped it into my backpack at school.”

“Or before,” Tessy said. “If they were in your room...”

Helena’s eyes darted to the corners of her small bedroom. The closet door was open. The curtains fluttered faintly, though the windows were closed.

She didn’t feel safe. Not here. Not anywhere.

“I need to know who Sophia really was,” Helena said. “Why her name keeps coming back. Why I look like her.”

“You don’t think…” Tessy’s voice trailed off.

“What?”

“You don’t think whoever made her disappear… is after you now?”

Helena didn’t respond.

Because she was starting to believe it was true.

The Next Morning — Brentford’s Library Archive

Helena met Theo in the old Brentford archive room. It smelled of dust, leather, and secrets. They sifted through records and yearbooks, looking for anything connected to Sophia Makinde.

But page after page… her story had been stripped clean.

Her yearbook photo? Still there. A glowing quote underneath: “Truth is the sharpest tool.”

But her award listings? Gone.

Mentions of her debate team championship? Erased.

No newsletters. No scholarship records.

“She was scrubbed,” Theo muttered.

“Why?” Helena whispered. “Why erase someone unless they had something to hide?”

Just then, Theo’s laptop pinged.

A file upload.

From an anonymous source.

He clicked it open, and a video began to play.

A hallway.

Dimly lit.

Two students. One of them—Sophia. Her face barely visible. The other—a male figure, tall, blurred.

But the voice was unmistakable.

Greg Carter.

“You were never supposed to find that out,” he said in the video, his voice clipped, urgent.

Sophia’s voice followed. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have buried the truth with your father.”

The video cut off.

Helena and Theo stared at the screen.

“What truth?” Helena whispered.

Theo’s face had gone pale. “We need to talk to Greg. Now.”

Later That Day — Behind the Auditorium

Greg looked like he hadn’t slept. His blazer was wrinkled, and he barely acknowledged Helena when she approached.

She didn’t wait.

“You knew Sophia.”

He exhaled, eyes on the ground. “Yes.”

“You were with her.”

He nodded once.

“She disappeared after you two had a fight. Her records were wiped. And someone just sent me a video of you two arguing.”

He blinked. “What?”

“I want the truth, Greg. All of it. Now.”

He rubbed his jaw. “My father… had dealings Sophia uncovered. Illegal ones. Connected to the land Brentford is built on. Donations that were really hush money. She threatened to expose him.”

“And?” Helena demanded.

“And she was warned. Told to leave. Told to disappear quietly, or things would get ugly.”

“Are you saying your father made her leave?”

“I’m saying… I didn’t stop him.”

The weight of his words hung between them.

“She trusted you,” Helena whispered.

“I was seventeen,” Greg said, eyes burning. “I didn’t know how to fight him. And after Sophia vanished, I changed. I became what he wanted me to be.”

Helena stepped back, shaken. “Then why me? Why bring me into this?”

“Because you look like her. And because… maybe I hoped I’d get a second chance to do it right.”

Before she could speak, a loud buzzing echoed from both their phones.

Another message.

Same number.

Unknown Number: So many masks. So many lies. Tick tock, Greg. Truth is coming. And this time… no one gets away clean. 🔥

Greg looked at Helena, dread in his eyes. “This isn’t just about me anymore.”

Cliffhanger Ending

That night, Helena returned home exhausted. She tossed her bag on the bed and headed for the shower.

But as the steam filled the room, her mind wouldn’t let go of that final message.

Who was behind it?

Who was playing with their lives like a game?

When she returned to her room, another note had appeared. Taped to her window from the outside.

She peeled it off with trembling hands.

Four chilling words, written in red ink:

I was Sophia’s roommate.