I changed Jason Pierce's name to Nathan Pierce because I forgot I already had a Jason.

***

Clay tapped his pencil against his desk quickly. Everywhere he went, students were gossiping about it the article about Nathan Pierce.

"Who do you think did it? And why?"

"Do you think the article is even true? It goes against everything we know about Nathan."

Mrs. Henney, usually one of the "cooler" teachers, slammed her hand on the desk loudly. "Everybody, be quiet before I give you all a pop quiz!" she yelled. "Unless you are talking about gravitational laws, I do not want to hear it!"

The room quieted down instantly; not because of the threat, but because of what she had done.

What made Mrs. Henney act out like that? Clay thought as he droned out the lesson. She's the type of teacher to laugh and say she'll be excited to see us for Repeater Physics during the summer. . . .

"Clay Chen! What is the answer to question six?"

Clay snapped his head up to make eye contact with a fuming Mrs. Henney. "Uh . . ." Clay quickly looked down at his blank notebook. "Four?"

Mrs. Henney pointed a finger out the door. "Go to the principal's office with your stuff."

Clay's eyebrows shot up. "Sorry, what?"

"Are you deaf?" Mrs. Henney yelled, "get out of here now!"

Clay didn't have to hear it twice; not even bothering to place everything in his bag, he just grabbed everything on his desk and his bag and bolted out of there. He didn't stop running until he found himself in front of the principal's office, where he finally stopped to place everything in his bag, when he heard muffled shouting from the principal's office.

"What do you mean, you can't get this fixed?" Clay heard Mr. Travis yell. "I thought no article would  even get out in the first place! Fix this problem immediately!"

Frowning, Clay leaned his ear closer to the door. What was Travis so mad about it? Did it have to do with the article he had posted on the OBB website a few hours before Kieran had been caught? He had just done what the founder had told him to do, so he hadn't had time to really comprehend the article, but he thought he had the basic gist of it. The point, however, was that it told a different story than the one everybody had known for years. 

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Clay almost fell on top of Mr. Travis' shoes.

"Who are you? Why are you here? When did you get here? How much did you hear?"

Clay scrambled up to a standing position and tried to look innocent as he looked anywhere but at Mr. Travis' face. "Uh, I'm Clay Chen. I was sent by Mrs. Henney for something just now, and I didn't hear anything."

"Then why were you pressed against my door?"

Good question. "Um, I was only trying to tie my shoe and I was leaning against your door for balance." At this, Clay snuck a glance at Mr. Travis' face, and was relieved to see his hardened face loosening.

"Alright, I guess you can come in. You said Mrs. Henney sent you? Hm, I can see why . . ."

Clay entered the principal's office slowly, wondering what the principal meant by the last part.

"Anyways, come, come, sit." Mr. Travis pointed emphatically at a hard, uncomfortable-looking seat in front of the large desk with piles of paper scattered all over it. "Sorry for the mess, you must know about the current . . . technological problems we've been having lately."

"Oh, sure, yeah." I mean, I played a major role in causing that issue, so I think it would be sad if I didn't know.

Mr. Travis nodded. "Good, good." He sat down in the large, comfortable-looking chair. "Since you're here, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the issues going on recently, do you? What with the vandalism and hacking and spreading of fake rumors. . . ." Mr. Travis' eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his seat. "You do know the article on the OBB website was a lie, correct?"

Clay nodded quickly. "Yeah, definitely," he answered immediately. "And no, I don't really know about who's behind the pranks or stuff like that."

"Good." Mr. Travis glared at Clay with a weird glint in his eyes. "If you ever find out, though, you will report it, won't you? To me, most preferably. I assure you, you will be rewarded if you name someone."

Clay frowned. "Wait, I thought you gave Kieran ISS because you thought he was the one behind everything."

Mr. Travis leaned back in his seat with what looked like a disappointed face. "I have lived for a long time, Clay Chen. I don't believe I'm wrong when I think Kieran Devon is not the main culprit."

Clay was even more confused. "Then why did you punish him at all?"

In response, Mr. Travis pointed a finger at the door. "The bell will ring any minute, Clay. I suggest you get going."

According to the clock behind him, there were still ten minutes left in the period. "I guess," Clay said, standing up awkwardly. "Um, bye." He hightailed it out of there, wanting to be out of that room as quickly as possible. He had gone to the principal with unanswered questions and left with even more.

Shaking his head, Clay headed to his next class.