Chapter 6

When Marco heard the voice, he was terrified at first but then, calmed himself down. He stayed still as his eyes spark with recognition of the voice. "Hello Marco, I have something to say." The voice repeated and paused for a moment. It made Marco nervous, a lump was growing in his throat every second, his legs started shaking and bullets of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"What you did yesterday was very disappointing. I thought we had a deal: you'll follow your master's orders and I won't publicize your secret." The voice said with displeasure evident in his tone. Marco tried to remain calm and hide his fear as best as he could but failed to no avail. He started to bit his nails to relieve some stress, although it just gave him away. "There's no point hiding it from me. You do know very well that I have eyes and ears everywhere— even in the student council room." This time, the voice's tone turned sinister. It made Marco jump in fright. His eyes began to water as he begged for forgiveness.

"Please, p– please don't. Forgive me, what I did was wrong. I– I– I pro– promise to never report him again. I promise to follow my master all the way through, just please, please. Don't leak out my secret. I can't bear to live if that happens." Marco begged and even kneeled down to the floor, his tears flowing down his cheeks. The voice giggled softly and said, "Oh, how I love when you do that. Being a bad guy really is fun. But enough of it, if you really want me to forgive you then I have something for you to do."

"Anything, anything just don't publish my secret out," Marco said as he raised his head and clasped his hands together. He waited for the voice's orders while wiping his tears away and sniffing his nose. The voice hummed as if thinking about what Marco will do. "Well, here what you have to do: take back your report from the student council. It's up to you on how and what reason you're going to use, I just want no record of any bullying related to you. You already know what I can do, Marco. This time, make sure you really follow the orders." The voice said and the line got cut off. Marco quickly dashed to the door and left.

Behind the water tank at the rooftop, Hestia was just listening as the conversation unfold. When she arrived at Marco's locker that morning, she saw a pink piece of paper tucked at the mail slot of the locker door. She picked it up and read the note. At first, she thought it was a real confession letter but turns out wrong; behind the pink-colored paper is a word written in red ink with a sinister font: ROOFTOP. She was baffled as to why a letter like this exists, a pink paper with a sinister note saying 'rooftop'. She was about to dismiss the thought and proceed to her plan when she had a gut feeling. 'Why would a letter like this be in Marco's locker? Could it be a threat? Was the rooftop a meeting place for Marco and Aaron? Is it where Aaron blackmail him?' Hestia thought and tried to make sense of the puzzle piece that she has right now.

Her mission was to eliminate Aaron and the source that he uses for blackmailing. She first proceeded to observe Aaron and his surroundings for any suspicious acts or persons but the effort was somehow fruitless. She focused on one angle that she forgot about the different possibilities. 'What if Aaron wasn't blackmailing his victims face to face, but uses another method?' She returned the letter to the locker and quickly left. She racked her brain for countless methods that Aaron might use as she sprinted up the staircase leading to the rooftop. When she arrived at the rooftop, she was delighted that Marco wasn't still there; this means she has time to put some bugs and inspect the surroundings. When she confirmed that no other listening device or surveillance camera other than the schools' CCTV is present, she hid behind the water tank where the blind spot is located and waited for Marco.

While waiting, she passed over the methods that she knows that Aaron might use.

1. Letter: just like what he put in Marco's locker

2. Concealment: Aaron might conceal a message or a device containing his message to Marco that only the two of them know the location.

3. Cut out: instead of appearing himself, Aaron might have someone else deliver his message to Marco.

4. Steganography: Aaron might just send a file or give a file to Marco and inside the file is his message for Marco.

As she waited, she thought she can hack to the school's surveillance network— watch and record the conversation unfold while keeping a listening device just in case. But when she tried to open the network, she was denied access even though she already hacked it. She tested if the password was changed, yet it's not; she also tried to see if it's because of a firewall, but then again it's not. She was simply denied access— blocked from the system, 'Or blocked by someone— possibly a third party.' She thought and closed her phone when she heard the door swung open and Marco appeared.

As soon as Marco left, Hestia waited a few minutes and tried again if she can connect to the surveillance network, she thought she will be denied of access again when her screen flashed the number of CCTV cameras around the school. 'Right, a third party's involved.' She quickly disconnected and closed her phone, she retrieved the bugs she put and left. She tried to listen to the recording from the bug but all she can hear is buzzing sounds, switching frequencies, and a long silence. 'Even a jammer is placed and I didn't see anything. Come to think of it, when I tried to track where the voice is coming from, I don't have any signal and my phone started to glitch. This third party is a very meticulous one.'

Hestia thought this would be another failed step but now, she has another piece of the puzzle to fit. A third party is involved and she's sure that that third party is Aaron's source of information. 'Of course, it can't be Aaron. He's always at the gymnasium and he's not even a little bit techy at all. There's no way he can do all those by himself.' Hestia smiled to herself. Bit by bit, she's making progress and even though it's bit by bit, she's sure that she can finish this mission swiftly. She was about to turn left to the student council room when she bumped into someone.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. Are you hurt?" The voice said and handed out a hand. Hestia was still collecting herself when her eyes widened as she recognized the voice. She lifted her head and— it's him! Aaron Wysickle Antonio Torento, he's the one she bumped into. 'My, what fate.' She thought but quickly gathered herself and acted like a fan of him. She grabbed his hand and said, "No, not really. I should be the one sorry for not looking where I'm going. It's nice to meet you, Aaron! Oh my, gosh, I'm a big fan! Meeting you is a dream come true." Hestia flashed her cutest smile in hopes that she can reel him in. Yet, it seems that it has no effect on Aaron at all. He just retrieved his hand and rubbed his nape with an awkward smile. "Wow, thanks... u– u– um, if you're fine then, I should take my leave. Hehe! Still have some practice to do." He backed away slowly still wearing an awkward smile and turned around. "Pl– Please continue your support!" He said with a goodbye wave and swiftly ran away.

Hestia was left there, standing still— frozen like she's covered in ice; her face— an eyebrow raised, eyes glinting with confusion and her mouth slightly open due to muddle; her mind— swirling with thousands of questions–

'What just happened? What's that? What happened? What's going on?' her mind circled through those thoughts over and over again. Then, far away, she heard footsteps— fast and many ones. 'It's break time.' Hestia quickly collected herself and acted as if she just got outside too. She matched the students' march as they flooded the hallways to the cafeteria, conversations overlapping with each other, and laughing voices surround her. She smiled whenever a student would greet her but, that's all. Before turning to the hall where the cafeteria leads to, she parted herself from the crowd and goes along to the students headed to the library.

Right now, the thing she needed the most is silence— she needs silence to think over the things that just happened. First, she saw the door from the 'Radio Room' swinging in unison with her bumping to him— 'It just seems suspicious.' Second, how he acted towards her was different from how she saw him interact with the others— 'When he's with the others, especially out in the public– he's so friendly to others and flirty towards girls.' But when he bumped into her, he's so distant and uncomfortable, like he's not used interacting with the opposite sex. To Hestia, it felt like he doesn't want to intermingle at all. 'Do I look dirty? Is there something in my face when we bumped?' she looked through the full-body mirror inside the library and saw that she's fine— and pretty.

She's about to dismiss the idea of her appearance being the reason when she saw Excami through the mirror walking towards her. She rolled her eyes at the sight of Excami, to Hestia, she's a lot of pain in the brain. She's sure about it because every time she and Excami meets, she would always bother her: asking random questions, trying to start a conversation, sharing gossip, and even loom their faces each time she would look to her cellphone or laptop. Excami irritated her to the core. She's about to run as quietly as possible but was interrupted when he saw Arthur at the far side of the library— staring at her intently with a smirk on his face. Hestia felt a shiver down her spine as she stared as Arthur's eyes; it seemed like he was studying her, observing her from afar. She was taken out of her thinking when Excami grabbed her left shoulder. She immediately looked at Excami with a poker face and said in a hushed voice, "What?!" It was evident that she doesn't like her one bit, but the latter never seemed to care or stop. When Hestia analyzed Excami's expression it's not the same— it's not the same cheerful, sweet, and loud girl who always bothered her. This time, her forehead was creased, her glabella wrinkled, and her lips formed a frown. This could mean one thing: 'Something happened.'

Excami didn't say a word and just dragged her out of the library and to the student council room. When they entered, she saw Damian sitting at his desk wearing the same expression as Excami. This made Hestia more confused. Excami motioned her to sit on one of the sofas while Damian stood from his table with a paper in his hands.

"Marco came here this morning and said that his report wasn't true, that his friend isn't actually bullied, he just misunderstood and left just like that," Damian explained and handed me the paper. "However, I doubt that too. My sister here, Excami, even though just an audi—" Damian continued but was cut off by his sister.

"Hey, I'm not just an auditor. I'm also the president of the Archery Club and good at Math!" Excami argued with her brother who just gave out a deep sigh. "Fine, yeah. Anyways, let's continue. When Marco first came here with his report, I quickly asked her to gather info about Marco since she's a social butterfly— she knows everyone and everything. In that paper is what she got while collecting data."

Hestia read what's in the paper and some of it just added answers and questions as well in her puzzle. "Doesn't have any friends actually; although has brains, doesn't have any strength to fight back at the bullies; part of the New Technology Club, a delivery boy of Aaron and a complete wimp." Hestia summarized the content of the file and looked at the siblings. She gets what these two are thinking. As a Montague: a family of soldiers and polices— they have a strong sense of justice and they're serious about it. She wasn't against it, not at all. In actuality, she's grateful that students like them still exist in this school.

Yet, she doesn't want them to get involved in this as they might discover her true identity or might get caught with her mission with Aaron.

"You want to investigate this more and I assume that both of you are determined to help Marco and catch the bully," Hestia said to them while contemplating the choice of sharing what she knew or not.

"Yes, we are. We're children of a family of soldiers and polices. O' course, we'd want to be like them, even if just in this school." Damian said with confidence. Hestia exactly knew where this conversation is going. She knew what they're planning.

"Vice President, help us in this," Excami begged her with puppy eyes. For the first time, she saw the rumored cold yet firm side of the Archery Club president.

Hestia snapped out of her contemplation and made her choice. They have the same goal after all. This will also help her. "Fine, my duty as Vice President is to also keep peace in school." She said with a smile.

"Great! Here's what we're going to do." Excami said while brushing her hands to each other. "But before anything else. I have something to say." Hestia cut her off with what she said. Both the siblings fell silent and so does the room. They waited on what Hestia was going to say. They waited in anticipation yet nervously.

"I– I, I'm ac– actually, I'm—"