CHAPTER 24- ATTEMPT

3rd person's pov

"Hey, I heard that someone attempted to kidnap Dione from the interior design course." Someone gossiped.

"Where did you get that information?"

"Someone spread it. I don't know who did it."

"I heard that because she is dating Elijah."

"Really? If that's so, it's more or less Ari will do it."

"Yes! She's crazy about Elijah."

The gossip is spreading like wildfire to the point it reached Fiona, one of Ari's lackey's. she ran desperately to their room and saw Ari putting on make up.

"Ari!" Fiona called her out. Ari looked at her.

"What?" she asked and goes back putting on powder.

"Have you heard rumors about you? They said that you're responsible for Dione's kidnapping!" She exclaimed. Ari just raised her eyebrow.

"So? It's not like she died you know. It's just a baseless rumor. What idiot will believe in the rumors?" Ari rolled her eyes. On that cue, Maya entered with Tina and slammed her hand at Ari's table.

"What the hell Maya?!" She exclaimed.

"Were the rumors true Ari?! Did you attempt on kidnapping Dione?!" She angrily asked her. Ari rolled her eyes.

"I didn't! why on earth would I do it if I can just confront her head on?!" She denied. But Maya didn't listen.

"We're no longer friends Ari. I'm ashamed to call you my friend after what you did." She firmly responds and left the room.

"Yeah right, don't go crying on me when you need something." She laughed. Fiona also giggled. They both looked at Tina.

"What are you still doing here? Don't you have to follow your crying friend there?" Ari sarcastically asked.

"Don't even think that you'll get away from this mess even if your mom is a cop, Ari. Karma will always find its way." Tina warned and walked out from the room.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She brushed them off and just proceeded in retouching her make up.

At cheer practice, during break, they were discussing the rumors and Ari had become annoyed by it.

"The hell? Why would they suspect me when I didn't even do it? Someone must be jealous of me because I'm the cheer captain and I'm pretty." Ari bragged. Fiona agreed whereas Maya is nowhere to be seen.

"How come Maya is not here with you?" someone asked. Ari tsked.

"She broke off our friendship. That's why she's not here now." Fiona answered.

"Oh, I think she's already fed up with you being a meanie." They laughed. Ari rolled her eyes and went through her phone. She received a text of an anonymous message.

'you're not getting away for what you've done. I will tell all of the student body what you did, especially your mom.'

Her eyes grew big. This was not the first time she received a text. But this time, it involves her mom. She was enraged and assumed that Maya did it. She grabbed her bag and Fiona's arm.

"Hey, that hurts!" she complained. Ari shot out a death look.

"I think Maya just sent me a text. Look at it!" Fiona looked at the message.

"Oh goodness! I don't think Maya will do that. But it's a possibility." Fiona also agreed. Ari was already fuming mad and stormed out of practice to seek out Maya.

They saw Maya chatting with someone. Their conversation stopped when Ari interrupted them.

"Did you just threaten me via text? And now you're just laughing with some loser?" Ari insulted. Maya glared at her.

"Watch your words Ari." Maya warned. Ari hysterically laughed and Fiona was trying to calm her down.

"Oh really? How petty can you be? Now you're just hanging out with some loser here after you accused me of kidnapping Dione?!" she was about to pounce at Maya when Fiona stopped her.

"Stop it Ari! You're overstepping boundaries!" Fiona exaggerated. Ari pushed her.

"Now you're siding with her? Hah! What friends you are!" She snapped.

"You're stupid Ari. The one you just called a loser is the mayor's daughter. I don't want to be dragged by you if there are politicians involved. If you still want to bully students here, fine do it! Do not even seek help from me when you got a taste of Karma!" Fiona exploded. Ari was stunned to see Fiona talk back at her.

"Fine then. You're all miserable anyway." She blurted. Fiona only smiled sadly.

"No Ari, you're the one who's miserable. Not us." Maya talked back. She stomped her feet and left them.

"I apologize for what happened." Maya apologized to the girl.

"No biggies. We could at least get her suspended for what she said. That's already below the belt." She spoke. She excused herself to report it to the office.

"Are you sure about what you're doing, Maya?" Fiona looked worried.

"Yes, she might be our friend, but I'm done covering up her wrong doings, it's already too much of her kidnapping Dione, I could have tolerated it if she just do her pranks as usual but kidnapping? That's a no." She spoke. Fiona has something to say. Maya noticed it and looked at her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It wasn't really Ari who did the kidnapping." She whispered enough for Maya to hear. Her eyes grew wide.

"What do you mean?" She asked again.

"it's a little awkward for me to say it in public. Let's go to a private spot." Fiona looked nervous. Maya sensed that something was up and had to know the truth. As they walked off, they didn't notice a shadow from afar, looking at them.

"Dione! Dione!" Maya suddenly barged inside Dione's house after school.

"Maya?" Dione called, luckily, Dione was just at the living room with Alice.

"I have news." She said. She quickly closes the curtains and sat in front of them.

"What is it?"

"Well…."

Flashback…..

Maya's Pov

"There's no people here in my car. So, talk." I spoke to Fiona. I'm having doubt that something really is off.

"The timing was off; Ari also received an anonymous text message that night. We were buying groceries that night. You went home first, right? At the same time, Ari's anonymous text message was 'I will expose you.' At the time, we thought that it was just a random threat like we all used to know. But, this morning was really unusual that they really concluded that Ari was involved in Dione's kidnapping. Ari was already fed up with it." Fiona explained. I looked at her.

"You really didn't see the video circulating online? It just proved that Ari is the one who attempted to kidnap Dione." I told her and showed the video. "The girl I was talking to earlier showed me this and I asked her to send me." I showed Fiona the video and her eyes shrunk.

"Since when did Ari had a tattoo?" Fiona asked. I was confused and looked into the video deeper. I saw a faint tattoo that shaped had a half circle?

"A half circle tattoo?" I asked also.

"That's weird. We've seen Ari's nape multiple times, but she doesn't have a tattoo." We both looked at each other, thinking the same thing. There's only one person who had that tattoo that we could think of.

End of Flashback…

"Right now, Fiona is confirming if there really is a tattoo on Ari's nape. As for the other suspect, let's check it ourselves." I told them.