It was crazy. After their meeting, Libby and the other students returned to their classroom in a dazed. The thrill of uncovering a cheating scheme still lingers. When they reached their classroom, their classmates did not stop pestering them until they got information. Everybody cannot believe that even their class adviser Miss Jimenez is involved. After a while, the school announce the suspension of their class for the rest of the day and advised all students to directly went home.
Libby, Mimi, Dan, Steven, Nikki, Ashley, May, Jon, Marco, and Brooke was asked to stay for a while to write their formal version that will be submitted to police officials. After they are also advised to go home. The Headmaster advised Libby that they will update them tomorrow.
Libby and her friends headed to Dan's house. Grace, Dan's mom prepared snacks and drinks. They stayed at the game room wherein they talked about the day's event and plan for their upcoming Prom. They feel relaxed compared to the past weeks that made them so stressed and depressed in a point.
"Guys," said Dan holding his glass of juice. "I want to make a toast." He raised his glass. "To Libby, for clearing Mimi and my name and for exposing Miss Jimenez and Coach Bradley's scheme."
"Hear! Hear!" Everyone raised their glasses.
"To everyone!" Libby raised her glass. "For helping all the way. For being our friends in time of trouble."
After that they went to each of their houses.
The next day..
Libby is rushing towards the school entrance. She overslept this morning and now it's seven forty five. As she climbed the school steps she saw Headmaster De Jesus by the entrance. She stopped to greet him.
"Good morning Headmaster De Jesus," she said while catching her breath.
"Miss Morales, you're just in time, I was about to send a message to you," answered the Headmaster. "I need you and the Prom committee to set up a meeting later at three o'clock in the afternoon. We need to replace Miss Jimenez and Coach Bradley as the overseer as they're no longer connected to our school."
Libby nodded. "Okay Headmaster. I'll make an excuse letter as soon as possible then will drop by later at your office for the approval."
"The changes for the teacher's line up will be posted in the school website in a while." said Headmaster De Jesus as he can sense the hesitation on Libby's face. "You may go now Miss Morales," he smiled and turned away.
Libby bowed as a sign of respect then continue to walk towards their classroom. She's half running now because it's almost eight o'clock and their classroom is on the fourth floor. As soon as she reached their classroom door, the bell rang signalling the start of their first subject. She sat down while their teacher Mr. Alonzo entered for their first subject - Physics. She smiled at Mimi who is sitting beside her and Dan who smiled back at her. Kate waved. She looked around the room for Jon, Nikki, May and Ashley who also waved for her. They didn't have the time to talk since yesterday at Dan's house. They are still clueless what will happen today. As she reached for laptop, she reminded herself of the tasks that she needed to do immediately and thought of the excuse letter that the Headmaster need. She sat up straight, opened her laptop and while listening to Mr. Alonzo's lesson, started to type in their excuse letter. By eight thirty she's done with the draft, reviewed it for the last time then emailed it to Headmaster De Jesus.
"One down, more to go," she said to herself as she closed her laptop to focus on Mr. Alonzo's lesson. Physic's not her best subject so she needs to really focus on this. She jots down on her notebook important points of their lesson today. After a while, they heard the bell.
"Okay, class, that's for today," said Mr. Alonzo. "Thank you for listening and participating. See you on Thursday." And he heads out of the room.
Libby reached for her tumbler and hydrate. She saw Mimi walking towards her. They have twenty minutes before their next subject.
"You're almost late," Mimi said matter of factly.
Libby giggled. "Yeah, I overslept. I felt all the tiredness from the past two weeks last night."
"Hey, you two," Dan joined them. "Have you heard what happened to Coach Bradley yesterday?" he said while whispering.
Libby frowned. "What happened?"
"Nikki! Nikki!" Dan called her. When Nikki turned, he signalled for her to come over. "Tell them what happened yesterday."
"Oh, yes. This is juicy news," whispered Nikki. "You know that Mom (Nikki's mother is a security deputy officer at their school) and her boss stayed yesterday in the conference room together with the teachers and board members right? She said a commotion occured."
Libby gasped. She didn't saw Coach Bradley as a violent person. "My God, what happened? They are still calm when we went out of the conference room yesterday."
Dan nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually observing their reactions the whole time while the Headmaster and you are presenting."
"True," Nikki said. "The commotion happened when the police arrived. My mom said that Coach Bradley don't want to come with the police peacefully. He ran around the school and hid. They had to call all security personnel to help. He was shouting and everything while being forced to get in the police car."
"Good thing all of the students was advised to go home yesterday," said Mimi.
"Right," agreed Libby. "We can't know for sure what might had happened. How about Miss Jimenez and Wilson? How did they handled it?" She asked.
"Well, according to Mom. Miss Jimenez burst into tears and Wilson tried to denied everything, saying that he was forced to cooperate by Coach Bradley," said Nikki.
"I had no idea that Miss Jimenez was in on it." Dan said. "You know when Coach Bradley talked to me, I thought that it's only him. I wasn't even aware that Wilson is his accomplice."
"Headmaster said he will update us. Maybe in our meeting later for the Prom he will fill us in on the details." Libby said while browsing her laptop. She's checking the school's website to see if the latest news is already uploaded. "Here it is guys, it's uploaded already." she told her friends.
"Guys, the news is already at our website," Nikki announced to the class while heading towards her desk to get her laptop. In seconds, their classmates hurried towards their own desk to check the website.
Libby continued scrolling. She can see that they put it as a developing news since it is under investigation, but they've written that Miss Jimenez, Coach Bradley and the student teacher Wilson is no longer connected to St Paula Academy. It said that it's about an on going scheme and with the help of the school's Mystery Club, it was uncovered. New appointment has also been made. Miss Meneses, their History teacher is now the Head of High School Department and the class adviser of Grade 10 - Love. Coach Melissa now heads the Sports Team. Open recruitment for a new basketball coach is also posted. The bell rang signalling the start of their next class. They kept their laptops under their desk then got ready for their next lesson - Algebra.
The rest of their lesson is uneventful, day passed by without any hiccups. Soon, three o'clock came and it was time for their Prom Committee meeting. The students who are part of the committee was excused from their class and heads toward the conference room. When they arrived, Headmaster De Jesus and Mitzi from ME Events Coordination with her staffs, Miss Meneses (who now heads the High School Department) and Coach Melissa are already there. They started the meeting immediately going over the design theme - stage backdrop, stairs decorations, entrance facade. The sample invitations which is made by the Photography Club headed by Dan is shown for approval. They also talked about the schedule of the students who will assist with the decorating and other duties. The program is discussed by Libby. It is a fruitful meeting wherein most of the drafts are approved. After an hour, the meeting is adjourned. They set a meeting again after a week for the final details.
The Headmaster asked Libby, Mimi, Dan, Jon, Kate, Ashley, Nikki and May to stay.
"I supposed all of you have already read in our website the incident yesterday?" asked Headmaster De Jesus.
They nodded.
"We decided to not put what kind of scheme those three are involved. I thought I have to explained this to all of you since your group is the one that uncovered this." He paused to look at all of them. "You must also be aware that aside from those three, we interviewed a handful of students who they gave the test answers to. And sadly, most of them are from the Sports Team. So, as a penalty, I'm sorry to say but teams with students who was involved can no longer play for next week's school division meet."
Dan is too stunned to speak. As the boys basketball ex - team captain, he felt sorry and guilty for his team who he knows are always working hard.
"The teams that cannot play are - boys and girls basketball team, soccer team, cheerleading team and track team."
May is shocked. As head of the cheerleading team, she didn't know that any of her team can't possibly do this.
"Headmaster? Sir? As the captain of the cheerleading team, may I know who is involved?" asked May.
"Jacob," the Headmaster replied.
Libby looked at her friends' devastated faces and know that she had to do something. They've been working hard for next week. All of them.
"Headmaster.." she started. "Can't the punishment only applied to the specific person involved? Not the whole team?"
"Actually, that's why I also want to talk to all of you," answered Headmaster De Jesus. "I want to ask your opinion on this."
May sighed in relief. She looked at Libby thankfully.
"How about this Headmaster? If only one or two person is involved, let the other team members play. They can at least find replacement or function without those two members. But for three or more, the whole team can't play," Mimi asked.
"Hmm.. just and fair," said the Headmaster. "I'll talk to Coach Melissa later and will take your suggestions into consideration."
"Thank you Headmaster," Dan, Jon, Kate and May said in unison.
"By the way Headmaster, are Miss Jimenez, Coach Bradley and Wilson still in the police holding facility?" Libby is curious.
"They are not. They already post bail," said Headmaster. "That's the main reason I needed to talk to all of you. I want you to be careful. We don't know what those three can do. With their reputation gone, it's enough reason for someone to take revenge. They may be banned here at school, but outside, we cannot always know if they will follow you or not. So may I suggest a buddy system? Don't go home alone, understood?"
They nodded but you can see it in their faces. They are all scared.