Chapter 7

The gym teacher only let the class leave when she was sure everyone could do a perfect serve. So without saying they stayed quite some time even after the bell rang.

Kelly got whisked off to the library with the nerds (not that she complained) for their "great reveal" as Betty called it.

"I've been working on it all winter. It's epic, and will convince you to join the press club." Lexy said grabbing her.

"Shoot your shot." Kelly said smugly as they pulled her away, after making Matilda promise to save her a front seat in maths class.

Matilda smiled. She secretly thought that the only reason Kelly so vehemently rebuffed the whole press club idea was just because they wanted her so badly.

She fell into pace alongside KC who just happened to be moving down the corridor.

"Queer thing isn't she?" KC said without looking at her.

Matilda followed her eyes and saw Lucinda at the far end of the corridor where the stairs led downwards.

Funny, Matilda thought. Classes were in this floor. But then shrugged it off which she had quite a habit of doing when it came to Lucy.

Going downstairs wasn't a completely out of the ordinary behavior… except when you counted the fact that she went everywhere with her crew.

"How so?" Matilda asked noting the fact that KC just called dear Lucy a "thing."

"I've met a lot of people who think that life's a play, and their the star actors. She's just one of them." KC shook her head almost pitifully.

Matilda's chuckled entering the class. "You seem to have made quite an enemy out of her."

"Luckily there's only one of her."

"Or is there?" Matilda raised an eyebrow for the effect. She decided that an enemy of her enemy could pass off for a friend. "Welcome to Perfect Confederacy Academy KC Randolph."

Kelly couldn't for the life of her figure out what these nerds were so eager about. But their excitement was really starting to rub off.

Not that it mattered though. All she had to say was "I'll pass," at the end of the day and watch in glee as their hopes shattered to dust. "Ooh I just love my script!" She thought.

They walked to the end of the building ignoring the librarian's suspicious gaze that lingered on them for like forever.

"Now Kells," Lexy began with a flick of her sleeve like kind of fairy about to perform some magic.

Except this fairy was brown skinned with a thick afro and green lens.

She drew out a chair for Kelly.

Kelly sat down feeling amused. She couldn't shake off the feeling they were all acting a little snippet.

Lexy plaxed her laptop on the table. The table was the large one that stretched for considerable length with little rectangles bordered at the back and both sides, allowing for total concentration and absolute secrecy as far as there wasn't anyone peering over your shoulders.

This was the sitting arrangement in the deep section of the library, with a huge shelf of books that lay solid on their right.

The rest of the girls surrounded them while Lexy stood at her right operating the gadget.

"Say hello to the press club secret weapon. Total coverage operation 2, ultimate view." They introduced.

"I don't know girls, isn't this some member exclusive showcase." Kelly ventured righteously although she showed no signs of leaving.

"Oh but you'll be a member soon enough." Betty giggled.

Kelly thought their confidence was really over the top.

"Besides we haven't shown it to the members yet. We decided to test the code first and who knows, recuit a certain someone along the way."

Lexy opened a new page and turned on the program. A series of codes filled the screen. Kelly was a little familiar with computer language and she had to say, Lexy was quite impressive as she hacked her way through the security professionally.

"What better way to grant us omniscience than to breech Principal Lauren's security and hack into her cameras." Lexy explained while typing furiously.

Kelly honestly thought she should be the one sitting…. "Wait you WHAT!" She shifted back Lexy's words suddenly registering.

"Shhhh!" A hand covered her mouth as one of the girls silenced her from behind.

Lexy continued typing with godspeed until the only thing that could be heard was click after click.

"I said I just breeched the principal's security and hacked…."

"Lex I heard you right the first time!" Did she think she was some kid? Thought Kelly. "This sh-t is crazy… heck you know Principal Lauren is ka-ra-zi! What if she finds out…."

"And it gets even better," Lexy continued ignoring her.

Kelly noticed that everyone had their eyes glued ahead of them so sensibly she looked at the damn screen.

She saw miniature blocks indicating classes, hallways, and other strategic points. Man! Kelly thought. Even the boys school was here.

So this was how Matilda and her got caught every damn time. Once something was off, all Lauren had to do was take a peek at her ultimate spy machine… to the point she had their names burned into memory.

Of course Kelly had known there were some cameras around the school, but she expected some them to be fakes as she really didn't think they could afford a whole arsenal of them.

"If I try hard enough I can take full charge of the control and block off the principal at some point… assuming we badly want to cover up something."

Kelly breathed in sharply. This was killer!

As though to prove it's efficiency, Lexy zoomed into their maths classroom.

Kelly even spotted Matilda, as bright as day. Although her back was to them, the auburn hair was impossible to miss. And she could guess that the girl seated beside her would be KC.

"With this, press club has infinite stories to publish. We can literally cook up anything. This would be the most interesting year yet." Lexy grinned as she logged out, clearing all traces.

Kelly could only imagine how long it took Lexy to set up the whole code… half a year maybe?

"All we need now," Betty began tentatively.

"Is a good content creator." Lexy finished gazing into her brown eyes. "The best actually."

Kelly suddenly blinked drawing back. "Hold up girls." She stood up shaking her head. These girls were hypnotizing her or something.

Ever since she won the teenage content writing award she knew her fate in PCA had been sealed.

But then again, she thought. She could actually have fun doing this. She could cook up any story, rumor, scandal… just whatever, stir up trouble from the background and maybe save a few punch lines for a certain someone that got in her way. Her black heart nearly leapt for joy.

Press club was the way to unanimously cause trouble and toy with authority.

All the girls kept looking at her with puppy dog eyes which made her feel like some goddess.

Kelly closed her eyes. If her aim was to cause trouble she had other ways to do it. Being a little behind the scenes devil wasn't exactly her specialty. It was time to think straight.

How was this shiny new weapon beneficial to her?