Chapter 50: Chapter 49: Witch Hunting

Tess had a hard time focusing on anything, her mind drifting to topics like her future and freelancing in general whenever she tried. It was…weird, going from talking about potentially world-shatteringly important events in the morning to listening to a teacher talk about math in the evening. It was almost like a dream, where one sequence of events led into another in a way that made little sense.

“Alright everybody, pack up.” Her teacher said, snapping Tess back to attention. “It’s time to do yearbook signing. Get your stuff and then go out to the back of the school, we’ll be doing it outside until school would normally be over.”

Tess had entirely forgotten that was supposed to be today. She began to hurriedly put away her things, then turned to Ellie. “I totally forgot about this, how about you?”

“Same.” Ellie laughed. “Suppose we just…had other things on our minds, eh?”

The two chatted a bit more as they packed up, before heading to their lockers to grab the rest of their stuff and then finally out back, where a large line was beginning to form around a few folding tables that had been set up. Near each line a teacher held a sign that contained a range of letters, indicating which line should be used by people with a last name starting with one of the contained letters.

Tess and Ellie obediently lined up in the line for L, and in a few minutes, they were receiving a yearbook from the person manning that station. And, following that, they mingled with the other students, giving signatures and obtaining some in return.

And that was all well and good until one of the walls of the school was lit up by a powerful projector, and the music that had been playing over the football stadium’s speakers suddenly stopped.

“Ladies and gentlemen, do I have an announcement for you!” A voice said jovially, crackling to life over the speakers that had just moments before been playing the music. Tess looked up to the broadcaster’s room and saw, much to her displeasure, Aaron sitting in the windowsill with a microphone in hand, looking down at Tess with an infuriatingly smug smile.

When he saw that Tess was looking at him, he gave her a little wave, smile growing deeper before he turned to face the equipment he had set up in the room. “You see,” he began, pressing a button and causing a countdown to appear on the side of the building, “I had a little…beef with one of the students here. I’m sure many of you know her, a girl by the name of Tess Los, graduating here in a couple of weeks.

“I confronted her about leading me on, using my goodwill for her own gain before discarding me, and do you know what she did? Not only did she laugh in my face, she had the gall to threaten me. Me, of all people! She said that I would keep quiet about all of this if I knew what was good for me. I, of course, am not one to take such threats lying down.”

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The countdown edged its way closer to zero, but Tess’s attention was torn away by a window that appeared in front of her.

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