The List

"You found the list then," Reese said.

Blue's hand tightened around his phone.

His other hand remained in Magenta's hold. She tugged at his hand and asked what Reese was saying.

"But you know what will happen if you or pretty little Magenta tell anyone, right?" Reese said.

"You're sick," Blue replied.

"Let me tell you how this is going to go. I know you kept a copy of the list for yourself. You're going to delete that list and any other evidence."

"And if I don't?" Blue asked.

"Let's just say, I'll be paying you a visit and we'll have a nice chat," Reese said.

The line went dead, and Blue released the hold on his phone to put it back in his pocket.

"Reese is crazy if he thinks he's going to get away with this!" Magenta said.

"Yeah, but it's not looking great for us either. Unless one of Reese's people confesses, since all those people serve him at the party room, in the restaurants..." Blue said.

"Wait, The Bridges!" Magenta's eyes lit up.

"We had dinner at The Bridges, and the waiter gave me his number, maybe he can help us." Magenta said.

Blue shook his head.

"I don't think so. He might already have been talked to. Principal McCartney is really powerful in Oakstone. He has connections everywhere. And to protect Reese, he'd probably do anything." Blue said.

"But Reese said his dad doesn't care," Magenta said.

"Maybe Principal McCartney doesn't care about Reese as a son, but he cares about reputation," Blue wondered aloud.

"How do you know that?" Magenta asked.

Blue said, "Have you noticed how we've never been punished more than light warnings for our pranks when that was the main rule? Have you seen how Spider Wells was given more chances than he should have?"

Magenta gasped.

"Wait, because of what our parents give to the school and the connections they have?" Magenta felt incredulous.

"He's okay to do this to us just so they can get enough funding and support to keep Oakstone running!" Magenta fumed, realizing the ploy at hand.

Blue nodded and he said, "Yeah. But we have to do something to stop Reese from his next target."

Magenta wholeheartedly agreed. She didn't want any other girl to experience what Reese had done. No more. This was time to set their feet down and refuse to allow Reese and his family name to reign over everyone.

They left the park early, and on the train home, Blue and Magenta thought about how they could approach the situation. At present, the evidence pointed to Blue and Magenta. Reese had worn gloves so none of his fingerprints were on the wine glass. He claimed Blue and Magenta hacked into his party room to steal money and had a fight while they were there. The turning point really would be the submission of new evidence against Reese.

And that was when Magenta remembered Matt, Reese's ex-best friend. Who had a sister? Who had also been on Reese's list?

"Blue, I think I can contact one of the girls on the list," Magenta said.

The next day Magenta called up the dorms office of the rival school, Thundering School. She searched Matt and the soccer team as well as Thundering School on Google and found his last name.

"Hi, may I speak to Matt Ripley? It's urgent, a message from his aunt." Magenta asked, putting on a higher voice.

"Hello?" Matt spoke into the phone.

"Hey, please don't hang up. This is not your aunt. It's Magenta, I need your help. I was on the field that day with Reese at the inter-school match. You were right, I should have stayed away from him."

"I'm listening," Matt said after a pregnant pause.

"I and my friends are being blamed for something we didn't do by Reese. Please may I know if you happen to have anything that could help us prove Reese's track record?"

"His family tried to wipe away everything, all his records, his academics, his even being there at Thundering. It was like he became a ghost. None of us could contact him. Not until we saw him again at the inter-schools match. But I do have something. It's a voice recording of Reese talking about my sister. I've had it for a while but wanted to get rid of it anyway. Our friend Oscar sent me the recording to hold onto in case I ever needed to show evidence against Reese. I guess today is that day." Matt said.

Matt was very helpful and said he would send an email to Magenta with the audio recording.

After talking with Matt, Magenta felt some hope that maybe just maybe, everything would be alright.

If life were that easy, they could enjoy it a lot more. But life kept proving to be hard, and it seemed there would be no relief for the longest time.

That night, as Magenta tried to text Blue, he didn't respond. She tried to call Blue's number, and there was no reply. It was highly unusual, especially as he usually responded right away, and if he didn't he would tell her earlier that he had something going on.

She felt a rising case of goosebumps stand against her skin.

"Shelby, did Jasper mention anything about Blue?" Magenta asked.

"Hey girl, no he didn't! What happened?" Shelby asked.

"Could you ask Jasper to check? Blue didn't reply to any messages or calls." Magenta said.

"Oh, maybe he's sleeping or in the bathroom? But sure, I'll get Jas to check in on Blue!" Shelby offered.