Chapter 3

The days went quickly, and it was already Friday. The football team practiced during the morning and at club time, except on weekends and holidays when they practiced only in the afternoon. Adam left after breakfast, saying he was going to the apartment to sign the lease and will meet up with them in the evening.

Johnathan was watching Ethan when he saw him go back to the changing rooms and hurried behind him. When he went inside, he saw Ethan drinking water and called,

"Ethan, Wanna go clubbing since it's Friday?"

Ethan didn't find it weird that Johnathan would ask him. He and Johnathan had gone together a few times after they went with the team. He could get them in with no IDs.

But, Ethan rejected him, "You know I don't have any family in the city so I can't go out unless it's the weekends."

Johnathan knew that this might happen, so he said, "That's a bummer. I already told my family I wanted to come home on Friday."

The two didn't speak for a while before Johnathan said, "Well, we can use Adam's badge to go out. We already used it a few times and have never been caught."

'I never used it to go outside but you don't need to know that.' Johnathan thought.

Ethan hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, "Won't that prefect mind? He seems like an uptight guy."

"He already went out this morning saying he was meeting up with his family. He won't come back until Sunday. We will be back by tomorrow. Even if he finds out, I'll tell him I used it since I had an emergency."

Ethan finally agreed, and Johnathan took him back to his room. The room was empty since they had decided beforehand to make it look like Ethan had the opportunity and motive. If there were people in the room, it was unlikely for it to seem like Ethan stole it.

After Johnathan gave the badge to Ethan, they agreed to meet up at the Bravehearts Club at 8PM after Johnathan went home. After Ethan left, Johnathan called back Oliver and James. Since James would stay at the dorm, he didn't have to prepare anything, so he watched Oliver and Johnathan pack up their stuff before leaving.

They would go home first and set up alibis for themselves before Johnathan met up with Ethan while Oliver would enter separately. Adam would arrive later and Johnathan will help him get in.

While the others were playing their part in the plan, Adam reached the place where his father had prepared an apartment for him. He saw a person standing at the gates wearing a formal suit and carrying a briefcase. This person would act as the guarantor and also help him sign the lease. Adam greeted him and the person handed him a business card and said,

"Hello, I am Michael Payne, your father told me to help you sign the lease and act as the guarantor. I already met with the landlady so, you will only have to sign the lease and make a deposit."

Adam looked at the card and realized it was from a law firm called Payne Law Associates.

Signing the lease was easy, Adam didn't care what the room was like since his parents chose it, so he directly signed the lease. He looked up and saw the landlady was smiling at him.

"Are you moving out from your parent's house for the first time? Your parents must be rich since they prepared an apartment for you in the capital."

Adam didn't respond and just smiled in return. The landlady also didn't continue to ask. Adam then went out and parted with the lawyer before going to the bank and transferring the money to the landlady.

After that, he went to a few places and bought the things he needed this evening and stuffed them in the bag he was carrying.

It was already night by the time he reached the Bravehearts Club. Adam took out his phone and looked.

8:45PM

He stopped at the staff exit like Johnathan told him too before calling him and let it ring a few times before hanging up. Oliver was also already inside and after Adam waited for a minute, the door opened and he saw Johnathan.

Johnathan saw Adam and said, "The guy already had a few drinks and I already slipped in a few of those laxative pills like you told me to but it doesn't seem to work."

Adam stopped and looked around before opening his bag and took out a plastic bag. It had a few pills inside it and Adam took one out and handed it to Johnathan and said, "Put this in his drink and wait."

Johnathan looked curiously at the pill so Adam explained, "It's called Melatonin, it's a sleeping pill. It helps a person relax and fall asleep quickly."

Adam continued, "I'll go wait near the restroom. That guy will want to go to the restroom in a few minutes."

Johnathan went back to where he was drinking with Ethan while Adam walked towards the restroom and called Oliver. After Oliver arrived, they hid behind one of the stalls, and Oliver asked,

"Why are you so sure he will come to the restroom?"

They had nothing to do for a few minutes so Adam explained in a low voice, "Johnathan has been slipping laxatives in his drink for the last hour, after he takes Melatonin his whole body will relax and he will want to go to the restroom."

Oliver only knew what they would do, but Adam hadn't explained the how saying they might chicken out.

After they waited for what seemed like an eternity, someone finally came into the restroom and entered the stall beside them. Oliver saw Johnathan call his phone, so he knew the guy who just entered was Ethan.

Adam and Oliver got out of the stall and Oliver's eyes widened as he saw Adam drop his bag, take out disposable gloves before reaching inside again and taking out a brick.

Oliver had questions, but he didn't ask what he wanted to do because he didn't want Ethan to hear them. After a while, they heard someone slump and hit their head on the wall. Oliver called Johnathan while watching Adam, who still didn't move while holding the brick.

After a minute, Johnathan arrived, and he saw Oliver looking at Adam's hand. He looked down and saw Adam wearing disposable gloves and carrying a brick. His eyes also widened like Oliver's did a minute ago.

Adam thought the two were acting weird but didn't mind since this was the first time they were doing something like this so he put the brick back inside his bag and took out two pairs disposable gloves,

"We just heard something hit the wall so Ethan must have fallen unconscious. You two, wear this. Johnathan climb inside and open the door."

The two relaxed after they saw Adam put the brick back inside. Johnathan wore the gloves before stepping on the handle and climbing inside the stall and opening the lock.

The door opened, and they saw Ethan slumped on the toilet seat with his pants down and his head leaned against the wall. A bad smell hit the three and Adam took out three gas masks he had bought earlier before wearing one and handing it to others.

"I thought this might happen, so I bought a few things after I left the apartment."

After hearing Adam's explanation, the Oliver and Johnathan looked at each other and saw the other was thinking the same thing.

'A True Professional'

Adam had already started moving as he took out his phone and took a few pictures of Ethan in his sorry state. Johnathan moved next and took out Ethan's phone. It had a fingerprint lock, but that wasn't a problem since the owner was slumped in front of them.

After unlocking the phone, Johnathan handed it to Oliver, who put in on silent while Johnathan took out his own phone and started making calls to Ethan's phones. They had already planned this, so it looked like Ethan didn't respond and Johnathan left the club on his own.

While they were doing this Adam called James and told him to post the photo of Ethan and Juniper using the account they had bought from a senior who had already graduated.

Oliver opened the school's forum app on Ethan's phone. Since it was not even 9PM, most of the students were still awake. Oliver saw the post had already had a few upvotes and comments.

'Isn't that Juniper?'

'Wasn't Juniper going out with James? Did they break up James? Who's this guy?

'I saw Juniper walking with James yesterday and the timestamp on the photo is from last weekend. James might be being cheated on.'

Oliver knew James and Juniper's relationship was famous in the school since it had gone on for four years, but he didn't think so many people were interested in it. The guy who commented that he had seen Juniper and James walking together wasn't lying. James was still putting on an act of being clueless of what Juniper was doing behind his back. He passed the phone to Adam and took out his own phone, opened the forum and found the post before commenting.

'That looks like Ethan. He's also in the football team with Johnathan and James. I thought they were friends.'

Adam was also going through Ethan's phone. First, he went to his browser and took a photo of all his passwords. Then, he opened his primary email and set up a fake email he had prepared before as the account's recovery email. This way, even if the guy changed his passwords, Adam could still access his account if he didn't change the recovery email.

After finishing that up, he went to the phone's gallery and started checking if there was anything worth using for blackmail and he found a video from a few months ago. Adam opened it and confirmed what he was before rubbing his eyes and calling the two.

Johnathan and Oliver were curious what he wanted to show them, but their eyes widened after seeing what it was. It was a video of Ethan and Juniper having sex. Ethan had filmed the video as it was taken from the top and the quality was shaky, but there was no doubt on what it was.

Johnathan turned around and almost punched the unconscious Ethan, but Oliver stopped him.

"Don't do it. We haven't finished yet."

Johnathan was still breathing heavily, so Adam told him to watch the door while he and Oliver wrapped up. Adam finished going through Ethan's phone and sent the videos to himself before finding their post on the forums. The post already had almost a thousand upvotes, but few comments since not everyone knew the couple. The forum was used by students from all three branches of Autumn High School, which came close to 15000 students, and that was not counting the ones that had recently graduated. Adam opened the comment section and wrote,

'Yeah, that's me and Juniper. I talked with her to mess with James since I don't like the guy. Who knew his girlfriend would be so easy? I already did what James couldn't in four years.'

They had prepared the comment beforehand to ruin Juniper's reputation, but they didn't think their lie might be the truth.

Adam finished up and removed any evidence of someone tampering with the phone before putting it back in Ethan's pocket. Oliver then locked the door before climbing out, and the three went out from the Staff's exit.

After they left the club, Oliver and Johnathan followed Adam as he threw away the gloves and masks and also dropped the brick somewhere. They didn't speak the entire way while Adam was doing this. After Adam disposed of everything, he finally said,

"Don't inform James about the video for now. We will tell him after he completely gets over her."

Oliver and Johnathan still seemed to be out of it, so they just nodded. After a while, Adam parted ways with the two. Oliver and Johnathan would return home while Adam was going back to his apartment, then rush to the school in the morning for the final part in the plan.