He should try to get to the bottom of things

“Hey, man, I gotta hit the bathroom real quick,” Jaden lied. “Catch you in bio?”

Rick shrugged, still rubbing his bruised ego. “Yeah, whatever. See you.”

Jaden waited until Rick’s footsteps faded down the corridor. Then he leaned against the wall opposite the principal’s door, arms crossed, pretending to scroll on his phone. Minutes ticked by. Five. Ten.

The door finally opened.

Elena stepped out, blazer buttoned, phone in hand, expression unreadable. She didn’t glance around, just strode purposefully down the hall toward the east wing. Toward the library.

Jaden’s pulse kicked up. He followed at a distance, keeping to the shadows of the hallway corners, heart hammering loud.

She reached the Mother’s Comic Book Club door, knocked once, sharp and authoritative then pushed inside without waiting for an answer. The door clicked shut behind her.

Jaden crept closer, pressing his ear to the wood.

Nothing.

No yelling. No raised voices. No sound of Elena tearing into Zack and his goons. Just… silence. Thick, heavy silence that stretched on for what felt like forever.

He waited another ten minutes. Still nothing.

Suspicion crawled up his spine.

He backtracked fast, slipping into the principal’s office before anyone could spot him. The door was unlocked, careless, totally unlike the Dr Moreno he knew. Her computer screen was still on, browser window open to the campus club database, login session active.

Jaden slid into her chair, the leather still warm from her body. He typed fast.

‘Mother’s Comic Book Club’

The page loaded after a couple of seconds.

Active status: Approved.

Faculty advisor: None listed.

Member count: 3

Members:

Zachary Hargrove (President)

Marcus Tate

Devon Ruiz

Meeting schedule: Daily, 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM (after-hours library access granted).

Three members. Just the three assholes they’d seen earlier. No one else. And the meetings didn’t start until eight, hours after classes ended, when the campus was mostly dead.

Jaden stared at the screen, mind racing.

Why would the principal approve a club with only three delinquent seniors? Why call it Mother’s Comic Book Club? Why did she go straight there after promising to “chastise” them and then go silent?

He logged out, wiped the keyboard with his sleeve like some professional criminal and slipped back into the hallway.

Eight o’clock was still a few hours away.

But Jaden Hayes had already made up his mind.

He was staying late tonight.

He was going to see exactly what the hell happened in that room when the lights went low.

It had been damn near impossible to focus on anything all day. Professors droned on about lecture slides, classmates whispered about weekend plans, but Jaden’s brain was stuck in a loop: that locked door, the three-member roster, the principal’s sudden silence, the heavy perfume smell that had lingered in the hallway. Every time he tried to take notes, his pen just doodled random shapes instead.

He needed to be smart about this. Campus security did random sweeps after official hours, and getting caught loitering could mean a quick escort off grounds or worse, a call home to his mom asking why her son was sneaking around the library at night. So he had to play it safe.

Five minutes before the final lecture bell, Jaden slipped his backpack over one shoulder, muttered something about feeling sick to the guy next to him and ducked out the side door of the lecture hall. The corridors were already thinning out, students heading to dorms or the parking lot. He moved fast but casual, hood up, eyes forward like he had somewhere to be.

He found his spot in the east wing stacks: a quiet alcove between towering shelves of dusty reference books, maybe ten feet from the comic book club door. Perfect sightline, partial cover. He pulled a couple of thick volumes off the shelf, some ancient psychology texts his mom would’ve loved and stacked them on the desk to further hide his presence. Then he sat cross-legged behind the desk, phone in hand.

First, the alibi. He opened messages and typed to his mom:

Hey Mom, staying late at a friend’s house to finish a group project thing. Might grab food with Rick after. Home by 10ish. Love you.

He hit send before he could second-guess the lie. Her reply came almost instantly:

Okay, sweetheart. Be safe. Text when you’re on your way!

Guilt twisted in his gut for half a second. Then he shoved it down. This wasn’t about her. He had to know.

He waited.

The clock on his phone ticked past 7:55. 7:58. 8:00 sharp.

He heard footsteps.