Chapter 379: A desperate teenager

Noah

Ethan’s group consisted of the most popular, confident boys in our grade. They walked through the school hallways like they owned the very air everyone else was breathing.

When they first brought me into their circle, I felt like I was finally waking up from a long nightmare. During the first week, it was small things.

We were hanging out behind the gym after hours, and Ethan tossed me a set of keys.

"Keep watch by the back door while we sneak back in to grab something," he said, flashing a warm smile.

I hesitated, my stomach turning with a sudden twist of anxiety because I had never broken a rule in my life. But Ethan just draped an arm over my shoulder and laughed. "Come on, Noah. You’re one of us now. Don’t be a drag."

So I went along with it. I stood by the door, my heart hammering against my ribs, because for the first time in my entire life, people actually wanted me around. They didn’t treat me like a charity case or a favor to my father. They just wanted me there.

Over the weeks that followed, the demands escalated so gradually that I didn’t even notice how steep the slope was becoming. I started crossing lines I never should have touched.

I covered for their absences, I copied old homework assignments for them, and I looked the other way when I saw small things disappearing into their pockets from the school store.

Deep down, I knew something was horribly wrong, but I never asked questions. I was too terrified that if I spoke up, the magic would disappear and I’d be thrown back into the dark corridor where nobody knew my name.

Then came the Friday afternoon that broke everything.

We were hanging out at our usual spot in the woods behind the school after the final bell had rung.

Someone had brought a couple of bottles of cheap alcohol, and they kept refilling my cup before I could even realize how much I was drinking. My head was spinning, my limbs felt heavy, and the world felt soft around the edges.

That was when Ethan brought up the idea, presenting it as if it were a joke. "The exam papers for next semester’s finals are already locked in the administration office," he said, leaning against a tree trunk.

"We’re not trying to steal them or anything. We just want to see if the rumor is true. We heard they’re already printed and sitting on the desk."

I shook my head, my vision swimming a little. "I don’t think that’s a good idea, guys. The office is off-limits."

Ethan let out a loud laugh, tossing an empty can into the brush. "But you have access, Noah. You’re the student helper. All the teachers trust you with the master ring. We’re not taking anything, I swear. We just want to look."

"No," I said, my voice steady for once. It was the very first time I had ever told them no.

The response was immediate. The easy laughter died out instantly, replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence. Ethan leaned forward, his warm expression completely vanishing into something cold and sharp.

"Seriously, Noah? After everything we’ve done for you this semester? You’re going to be like that over a little look?"

In my drunk, terrified brain, all I could hear was the implicit threat: You’re going to lose this. You’re going to be alone again, just like you lose everything else, because you can’t just go along with us for one night.

So I walked up to the school doors, found the key on the ring, and unlocked the admin office. That was the single biggest mistake of my life, the one I knew I would carry with me until the day I died.

What the boys were actually doing had nothing to do with a rumor. They weren’t there to look at papers; they already had buyers from the older classes lined up and waiting with cash.

The second the lock clicked open, they scrambled inside and started tearing the room apart.

They grabbed the exam packets, they smashed open the metal lockbox containing the cash from the recent school charity drive, and they snatched confidential student records off the shelves.

I stood in the middle of the dark office, the alcohol draining out of my system in a single second as horror took over. "Wait—what are you doing?" I stammered, reaching out to grab Ethan’s sleeve. "Stop, we have to leave—_"

Before the words could fully leave my mouth, a loud, piercing alarm began to blare through the hallways. Security had been alerted anonymously by a phone call from someone who knew the exact minute we were going to step through that door.

The boys didn’t hesitate. They sprinted out of the room instantly, moving with the fast, practiced speed of people who had already planned their exit route down to the second.

I didn’t run. The mix of the alcohol and the sheer, blinding panic combined into total paralysis. My boots felt like they were glued to the linoleum floor.

I just stood there in the middle of the ruined office, surrounded by torn folders and empty cash envelopes that I hadn’t touched, with absolutely no way to explain what I was doing there alone in the dark.

The aftermath was short and brutal. By Monday morning, the administration had collected written statements from every single member of Ethan’s group.

Every single one of them told the exact same lie: It was Noah’s idea. He convinced us to go with him. He had the keys, and he planned the whole thing from the start.

Nick’s contribution to the investigation was even worse because it wasn’t a direct lie. He walked into the principal’s office and gave a carefully worded statement that ruined me without him ever having to raise his voice.

"He’s always been a little unpredictable at home," Nick had murmured to the counselor, casting his eyes down in mock sorrow. "I tried to tell him this wasn’t worth it, but you know how it is with some people. They just get desperate for attention."