. This story is not too friendly for those who want to skip chapters.
I would strongly recommend any readers who are struggling to recall certain specifics to skim through the previous two parts. If any kind, dedicated fan would like to make a quick recap of each chapter along with a "who's who" it would be much appreciated. I dislike having recaps at the beginning of stories but I can make them available for those who need them, if enough people voice an interest.
. All characters are over 18.
. No characters are based on anyone real or fictional.
. I've run out of bullet points to make.
. Thanks for all the support! Please enjoy! (But not too much.)
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"Noah?"
"Here."
"James?"
"Here."
"Yasmine?"
"Here."
With a gentle flick the young teacher ticked off each name as she called them.
Standing at the front of the class, Miss Owens could already see she had a full house from the absence of empty desks. Today's register was a simple formality.
"Tom?"
"Here."
"Michelle?"
"Here."
"Liza?"
"Here Miss!"
She ticked off 3 more names.
By September Olivia Owens will have been teaching for 3 years and working at this particular school for the last 2 of them. By all other accounts she remained new to the game but in her head she felt as experienced as the most hardened veteran of the teacher's lounge.
She'd seen it all in the short time span she'd been working here; every ludicrous excuse for missed homework, every inane reason two school boys could find to fight, and every absurd rumour that could be invented at 9 in the morning and believed by the 400 teenagers it spread to by the final bell.
However, there was one thing that still spooked her; one thing that always chilled her to her very core...
A student replying cheerfully to their name during registration.
Olivia held back a shudder.
The start of her lessons had always been a chorus of "here", given to her with an enthusiasm that rivalled Eeyore or Marvin the manically depressed robot, but every now and then a student would appear who couldn't stop themselves from answering their name like it was rollcall for cheerleading auditions, giving Olivia the most joyful response she'd had to any question since she'd asked her nephews if they wanted ice cream.
Liza Laraway was one of these students.
The popular girl was a new fixture in her classroom, having only just transferred to her Physics block the other day.
Every lesson so far the pretty girl would stride into the classroom, giggling with whoever she chose to walk in with, take her seat with a big grin on her face, and eagerly yell "here!" as soon as her name was called.
And it wasn't just for registration either; it was every answer she gave.
Every. Single. One.
I thought popular kids were meant to be indifferent and unexcitable.
The girl had reasons to be happy she supposed. She was young, well liked, and absolutely beautiful. Olivia was hardly at the age to be jealous about that since she was only 28 and she knew she was still as good looking a woman now as she was at 20.
Despite this, the older she got the more afraid she was of age catching up with her.
It was irrational and she knew she was still young but 18 year old supermodels made her envious of how carefree they could afford to be about their fortunate genetics.
Olivia worked hard in the gym every week to keep herself in shape, spending hours trimming down fat, toning up her muscles, and keeping a strict diet.
At their age all she needed to do was keep away from too many burgers and doughnuts.
Still, she was more than satisfied with the body she hid under her smart skirt suit. Olivia put in blood, sweat, and tears to keep her figure in shape and when she caught herself naked in the mirror after a shower all the pain became worthwhile for that feeling of pride.
If anything she was tighter and healthier now than she was at 18!
Unfortunately, that fact didn't quell the slight resentment she held for the "Lizas" of this world.
"William?"
"Here."
"Tiffany?"
"Here."
"Annabel?"
...
Miss Owens frowned at the disturbance to her rhythm and scanned the room.
"Annabel?" She repeated louder.
Olivia saw her sitting near the back of the class, looking distractedly at the row of students to her right.
"Annabel!"
The girl looked up, startled, as if she was just pulled out of a spell.
"Here! Sorry Miss!"
"Are you joining us today or will you spend the lesson daydreaming?" The teacher asked, irritated.
Annabel stuttered and mumbled out an apology.
Miss Owens cut her off before she could finish. "Just stay awake if you could Miss Adams. Fred?"
"Here."
"Jack?"
She continued the register, though her mind had been dragged somewhere else.
Adams.
The name made Olivia shiver.
Of course, I always forget the two of them are siblings.
Anne and Brad Adams were not true siblings; they were step siblings, which is why Olivia always had a hard time imagining them as brother and sister.
The two were ice and fire, in both personality and looks.
That wasn't to say Anne was not as attractive as her step-brother, but simply that where she was cute he was hard.
Although maybe hard wasn't the word she should have used...
"Michael?"
"Here."
"Stephanie?"
"Here."
"Chris?"
"Here."
On the other side of the room Anne was allowing the paranoia to slowly consume her.
Her blackmailer was in her school.
She looked around her classmates with new intensity. No one was looking back at her or paying her any attention, and yet, every time she turned her head it felt as if there were intense eyes digging into the back of her.
Anne swung back around.
Greg frowned at her, noticing her weird behaviour and answered "here" as his name was called next.
One of these people could be the one controlling her, the one making her life into a living hell, but who?
"Kate?"
"Here."
"Luke?"
"Here."
"Aaron?"
"Here."
Maybe the blackmailer wasn't even someone in this class. It could be someone from any one of her classes.
Or none of them.
Every single one of her peers now looked suspicious to her, even the girls. Anne was becoming increasingly convinced that every person paying no attention to her was doing it intentionally, so she wouldn't be tipped off.
Of course, maybe that's what they wanted her to think!
You're being ridiculous.
She scolded herself.
Think, who in the school would actually be capable of this.
The obvious answer there was to look at the intelligent people, specifically the computer geeks. They would be the only ones with the knowledge to pull off such technological feats that her blackmailer had.
But on the other hand, perhaps she could consider that someone didn't need to have knowledge of whichever virus or program they had stuck into her computer. Maybe they simply had the instructions needed to use it and nothing else.
That would leave...
everyone
as a possibility.
Shit!
Okay what was the next line of thinking she should take? Who hated her the most? Who was the most perverted? Who had access to her laptop?
Anne's eyes widened.
There was one person who had easy access to her room, someone who effortlessly could have left the box of sex items on her doorstep without having to travel far and has the moral ambiguity and perverseness to be capable of abusing her like this.
Someone who hates her.
Someone who wants to see her brought down.
Someone who lives with her...
"Brad?" Miss Owens called, flat tone masking the memories flooding through her mind.
"Here."
Anne stared at her step brother, sitting nonchalantly across the room as if he didn't have a care in the world. The brother she never wanted; the last person she wished to ever be involved in her exchange of circumstances.
Was he her blackmailer?
 
                             
                         
                         
                         
                         
                         
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                