Entry #27: Warning

"Sir Castro–"

I stopped talking when he pressed his finger on his lips to hush me.

"Did you hear everything?" I asked in a low voice.

He looked around warily before nodding.

"Everything?" Nick confirmed.

"What are you guys doing?" he scolded in a hushed voice. "Don't you know this is dangerous? What if anyone else hears you? What if HE hears you?"

The four of us exchanged looks.

"You knew, Sir?" I asked.

"I heard the rumors. Let's not talk here. To the Math Exhibit room."

To be honest, I felt a surge of relief crash through my body. It was reassuring that an adult knew about the case. We weren't paranoid.

I stood up and was about to blindly follow the Math teacher when Nick caught my hand and sat me back down.

"We'll be there, Sir," Nick told him.

"Children, I am absolutely terrified for you." Sir Castro added. "You shouldn't be out and about talking about this case. Make sure to follow me to my office."

When Sir Castro was gone, I looked at Nickle.

"Fire away," I told him.

"He's a bit sus."

"Oh, come on! You suspect everyone!" I exclaimed.

"Shouldn't we?" he argued. "We're investigating, Jasmine. And the details of this case should be confidential. We can't just let anyone in. If you want to investigate, do it right."

Simon anxiously added, "What if he's up to no good?"

We were facing a dilemma. At this point, it was a battle between keeping the investigation exclusive and bravely admitting to ourselves that we couldn't finish what we started without an adult to help us.

"What are we gonna do, Ate?"

"Right now, what we need is help. Help from someone capable, from an adult." I stared at each of them to show how serious I was. "We can't do this by ourselves. We need Sir Castro."

"Jas–"

I raised my palm to stop Nick's objection.

"I'm not saying we should trust him. Let's hear what he has to say. Then we'll decide."

Our hearts weren't one as we followed Sir Castro to the Math Exhibit room. I didn't know he had an office there.

Simon and Nickle were silent as Rox and I filled Sir Castro into our investigation. However, we made sure to reveal only the basic information and what led us to investigate. We kept the juicy details exclusive to the team.

"There has been a rumor going around about Angel's case in the school. And this issue had reached the ears of the Parents and Teachers Association. The school's been getting a lot of calls lately. The parents are threatening the school that if this rumor turns out to be true, they'll pull out their children."

"What rumor, Sir?" Rox asked.

"That Angel was murdered, and the killer is in the school."

I held my breath for a few seconds.

I glanced at the team. So that was the reason why talking about Angel was banned!

I would shamefully admit that I felt a bit of satisfaction knowing I was right. Angel's case was fishy, and I wasn't the only one who thought of it. I wasn't insane for dragging three people to my investigation.

"What if it's true, Sir?" I rhetorically asked.

"Children, whether that's true or not, it's not your job to find out. Leave this to the authorities."

"But they aren't doing anything," Simon suddenly inserted.

He shrunk back in his seat, embarrassed by how he acted unusually.

"What if there really is a killer? And you guys…" He sounded frustrated. "It's dangerous to pry on the case like that."

"We couldn't stop thinking about it," I told him.

"And what's with this suspicion about Sir Aresso? He is your suspect? That is hard for me to believe. You're lucky I was the one who overheard your conversation. If it was Sir Aresso, you would've been inside the guidance office right now. You could get expelled for slandering a teacher."

"We know, Sir," I agreed. "That's why we need your help. It's frightening to think that the killer is in the school, unnoticed. We have to find him before he finds another victim."

He clasped his hands together and stared at his desk for a long time.

"You'll seriously get in trouble," finally, he said, as if he was praying we would change our minds and forget about investigating.

"We are already in trouble, kinda," Rox joked.

"Sir, do you believe she was murdered?"

I turned to Nick who had just spoken. He upped his chin and stared confidently at the Math teacher.

Sir Castro halted his movements and replied, "No, I don’t. It was clearly suicide. Even the police said so."

Of course! What did I expect? There was no way he would believe us.

I clasped my hands. "Sir, please…"

"You know what, this is what I want you to do."

We all prepared our hearts for what he was about to say.

"Stay out of this case and be safe. I would never help my students get into trouble. I seriously don’t want you guys to be in danger."

"If you don’t believe us, why would you think we would be in danger? If you think there isn't a killer, why would we be unsafe?" Nick said.

Nick was right. The math teacher was contradicting himself.

"I only believe what has been proven true," he responded. "Even if I believe you, there's nothing we can do. So stop this nonsense right now."

The admirable image he painted in my head suddenly crumbled down. I thought he was the perfect adult to help us, but I was wrong.

I left the room with dead shoulders. My hope was crushed.

I guess it was just us four who were crazy enough to fly directly to danger.

Rox occupied Simon by loudly talking to him about nonsense stuff that made him smile awkwardly from time to time. Nick was quiet the whole time.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

He ignored me. I poked his side.

"Hey, Grump!"

"What?!"

I jerked when he yelled. "Are you upset?"

The usual frown appeared on his face. "I didn’t like how you easily trusted him. It angers me. You're not supposed to trust anyone that easily. This isn't the first time you carelessly trusted people."

He secretly eyed Simon. I understood perfectly what he was referring to.

"Come on! We did the right thing about letting Simon in, you jerk!"

He groaned in defeat.

"It's not that I trust easily. I wanted to be realistic. And I thought we needed help. If he could help us, then I'd reconsider trusting him. If he can't, then forget it."

"I just feel like you wanted to trust him because you like him."

My jaw dropped. "I don't! Who said I like him?"

He slit his eyes at me.

"Okay fine, maybe a little?" I said in defeat.

It started with a chuckle. Then I burst out laughing.

"What's funny?"

I could feel the irritation in his voice. He was literally gritting his teeth.

"So this is the reason."

"What are you saying?"

"You're jealous."

"What?!"

"Do you have a crush on me?"

His frown turned darker. "Are you crazy?"

I cackled.