Chapter 25 : Convincing rather than interrogating

'Bingo.'

I smirked triumphantly. I changed my expression back to a neutral one before I turned back again facing Kelly's pale face. A moment ago, she appeared hostile and vigilant around me, but now she looked horrified. Her eyes blinked nervously as she bit her lips.

I observed her reaction intently. From the look of it, she didn't seem to be faking it. She was genuinely afraid I knew something about her I should not have. As I thought, Mr. Gilbert was not only targeting me. He was using his power to manipulate students to bend according to his will. Now I just needed to coax Kelly into giving me more information.

"Do you feel like talking now?" I walked past her and leaned my back on the nearest tree, trying to look relaxed and confident, while in reality, I was kinda nervous.

Kelly approached me gingerly. Then, she talked to me in a lower voice. "Did Mr. Gilbert told you something?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Before that, I wanted to ask something first."

Kelly's brow furrowed and her expression was clearly displeased with how I ignored her question. Nevertheless, she reluctantly chose to yield. "You can ask, but it's my choice whether to answer or not."

"Why did you give me that warning? Aren't you in this together with Mr. Gilbert?"

She snorted. "You are free to think like that, but I don't like it when you put me on the same level as that teacher."

Kelly was usually a quiet girl. To make her this flustered, what in the world did Mr. Gilbert do to her? Or rather, what makes Kelly so hostile against Mr. Gilbert?

"So you are his accomplice, then. You guys are working together to harm me."

"Wh-what? What does it have anything to do with me? I didn't do anything!" Kelly appeared more flustered. There was a hint of guiltiness in her voice. "I-I didn't have a choice, alright? I needed to do anything he asked me for! It's not my fault!"

I didn't expect her to crack so easily. Her agitation was increasing by seconds. From a short conversation with her, I could tell that despite her harsh words, she was not a bad person. However, she fully realized she had done something wrong deep inside, and the guilt gnawed on her. Her being so aggressive with me from the start was solid proof of it (or maybe she just disliked me that much).

If I could just push her a little more…

I held myself with my arms while putting on a wounded front. To make it more real, I even made my voice tremble a bit. "How could you? Now I have nothing left. Nothing. You two took everything from me."

Kelly's eyes widened in shock. She was silent until an idea came to her. Her fair face became paler as she whispered. "No way. Don't tell me…"

I didn't answer her and resorted to covering my face with my hands. It was well done acting if I could say so.

"No. No! It-it's not my fault! I-I don't know anything!" Kelly's voice trembled as she took a few steps backward. From the gap of my fingers, her figure somehow looked smaller than it already was. I kind of understand what idea she had in mind right now, and I felt bad for scaring her like this. Oh well, I will think about that later.

"Please tell me the truth. I… was so confused with everything. Please help me."

"Wh-why are you asking me this? I told you I didn't know anything!" Kelly averted her eyes from me as if she couldn't bear to look at me.

"Yes, you did. You must know something. Because you are the same as me, aren't you?"

Hearing that, Kelly's face had ascended to the level of mortification. For a moment, she lost her words and could only gape at me like a goldfish.

Wait, seriously? I was just saying it carelessly since I wanted to get more reaction from her. But from her expression right now, I was almost sure she was also a victim like me. No, her reaction was too strong for that. Kelly, what exactly happened to you?

Kelly's next action was totally unpredictable. With a face as if she just met her mortal enemy, she held my shoulders and clenched them so tightly it would leave a bruise tomorrow. Great, my injuries kept increasing day by day.

"You.. you... What did you know?" Her voice was shaking. "Answer me! What did you know? What did that teacher tell you?!"

Kelly's expression looked like she was possessed and it freaked me out a bit. My shoulders were in so much pain, but I gritted my teeth and endured it. "Could you calm down for a second? We are in the same situation, so you should know very well what I was talking about!"

"NO! YOU ARE LYING! You are just trying to taunt me!"

I gazed firmly at her crazed eyes as I grabbed her wrists. "Clarkson… No, Kelly. Please listen to me. Don't you want to take revenge on Mr. Gilbert?"

"Wh-what?"

"I won't tell you what happened earlier to me, the same goes for what happened to you. Let's leave the details and focus on how to get back at the person who manipulated us. I swear I won't say a word about your secret, and I demand you do the same about me."

Kelly stared at me. She might be surprised by my straightforwardness. I could tell that she didn't fully trust me yet, but her guard had lowered considerably.

She slowly released her grip on me (thank goodness!). "What are you planning? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I can't stand it anymore. I can't stand seeing that teacher roam around freely after making me go through that!" I stopped a bit here to emphasize my bitterness. "I want revenge. No one has ever gone so far to humiliate me like that in my life!"

Actually, everything I told her was not a lie, since Mr. Gilbert indeed tried to put his hands on me. His attempt was fortunately interrupted by Mrs. Victoria, but Kelly didn't need to know that. I decided to take advantage of her convenient misunderstanding. The more her imagination went wild, the better it would be for me.

"And since you are kind enough to give me a warning beforehand, I thought I could get you to cooperate with me. I… I don't have anyone to share this burden, that's why… I am telling you this."

Seeing Kelly's reaction, I realized I might be cut out for acting after all since she looked convinced and even had a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

"Th-then, what do you want me to do?" After a second, she seemed to realize something and coughed awkwardly. "L-let me make it clear first! I am not and never will be your friend, we are just in a temporary partnership! After we fulfill our goal, we make a clean separation and will never talk to each other anymore. Our secrets will be buried forever!"

Why does it sound like we are a couple on the verge of breaking up? Oh well, whatever.

"I… I might have a plan. But first I will need more information. We both need more information. That's why let's trade everything we know about Mr. Gilbert. Of course, we are not going to mention each other's secrets."

Kelly nodded her head in understanding. "You are right. Mr. Gilbert was not an easy person to handle. He was too cunning and to make it worse, he even had a strong person supporting him from behind."

'Here it comes!'

"Yes, he mentioned it to me too, but he didn't tell me who it was. Do you know who it is?"

Kelly glanced around. After making sure no one was eavesdropping, she put her hand beside her mouth as she leaned into me. With a low voice, she whispered in my ear. "It's Gonzalo Herrari. The director of this school, and Harry Michelson's uncle."