"Hello there Ms. S" one of the girls say rudely to Sabine.
"You can just call me Sabine you know" Sabine says, "…there's no need to shorten it to an 'S'", she continues.
"Oh no, the 'S' is not for Sabine, its for simultaneous"
"Wha..."
The girl giggles and walks away.
"Hey there Ms. Simultaneous" Margot calls out to Sabine.
"Stop calling me that!" she lashes out.
"Aww are you gonna 'cwy'" she giggles, acting sarcastically like a baby, "...like you always do, running back to poor old mummy in the end"
Sabine just walks away. She didn't have time for this. There was enough time to torture only one person and that was Anthemon and she had her reasons. Sabine notices how quiet Henry had been ever since that incident. The bullying died down significantly. However, she didn't understand why she was suddenly being called Ms. Simultaneous by the Gossip girls of the classroom.
"Hello?" Margot asks on a phone call with an anonymous number.
"Thank you for helping me find out more about Sabine. You know I didn't tell you my name because of security reasons but your reward will be given to you" the voice on the other end says.
"Oh God! Thank you, thank you so much. You have no idea as to how much you've helped me. It's just been so hard, living a flashy life whilst you know that deep down, that's not how you really are. My parents and I have really been struggling these past few weeks"
"Heyyy… I don't need your whole life's story okay. I just wanted to meet my end of the deal. Okay?"
"Okay. Bye then. Wait! But what about the other girls who wanted to come see you?"
"Cut the call, make a sad face and cry if possible. They'll come to you and you are going to tell them that I died in a car crash"
"Okay good"
"Bye Margot"
"Bye strange guy who's name I don't know"
Margot cuts the call and did as told. She made a sad face and tried to get her eyes teary. Her followers saw this and came to ask her what was wrong. She told them that the man was dead. The girls immediately felt sad. Elaine felt like something was off. Some complications however, were present. Margot had to return all the money the other girls gave to her. Unfortunately, Ava brought that topic up and Margot said she would return it. She began searching through her bag and took out the envelope in which the monies were in.
Margot gasps as she looks inside.
"Guys… it's… it's empty" Margot says sadly.
"WHAT!?" one of the girls exclaimed.
"Margot what do you mean?" another asked.
Margot looked down sadly. When she got the money from the girls, she never had any plan to give it to them back but everything had backfired. Each girl had paid fifteen dollars and they were seven in number. Margot wondered how she would pay a hundred and five dollars to these rich damsels. Her wardrobe was a mess and she wanted to change up her clothes, hence the idea of shopping rooted deeply in her mind. But she wanted to gather about a thousand dollars before she would start shopping. She had a lot in her mind, from earrings to bracelets and fancy dresses to wigs and colourful makeup kits. However, she didn't touch the money because it wasn't even enough to cover all that. The girls slowly began to leave in silence some sighing in frustration, because they didn't want to put pressure on their dear mother.
Soon, Margot was just sitting in class all alone. She had done absolutely nothing to deserve this but a part of her knew she deserved it after all. She was mostly in class during breaks because unlike the others, she really didn't have that much to spend on food. A scene played in her mind and it was from when she had a fight with Henry over the whole juice of the day matter. Usually, Margot would be the one to always deliver the informal juice of the day but when Henry came to take her spot she got pissed and had a fight with Henry. It wasn't that big of a deal but for some reason Margot suspected Henry but her suspicions died down when she realized that Henry was now being quiet in class than usual. She didn't want to disturb the poor boy but she still had her doubts.
Outside the classroom, in the school cafeteria Anthemon and Magnus try to settle down to eat. The whole place was bustling with noise and Magnus and Anthemon find almost nowhere to sit. They hold in their hands a packed tray of rice, stew, some chicken and a box of fruit juice. Magnus had paid for the meal. Anthemon spots an empty bench and sees Sabine sitting on the far end with Henry sitting opposite her. Magnus sees this as well and says that they have no other choice. Anthemon whimpers a bit and Magnus chuckles. They go to sit beside Henry and Sabine. Sabine greets Anthemon cheerfully, almost too cheerfully. "Hey Anthemon!"
Anthemon smiles but there's a hint of discomfort in her smile.
"Are you okay?" Magnus whispers to Anthemon.
"Honestly, no. Sabine has been acting all weird and I don't know why" Anthemon replies, whispering back.
"Do you think something's up?" Magnus whispers again.
"Yeah but I don't know what"
Magnus, even though he spoke with Anthemon normally, wanted to confront her about the new piece of information he had heard from the gossip girls but he didn't want to damage their relationship or anything. He felt safe with her and he didn't want to put that safety and comfort at risk because of some girl's information she got from a strange man's deduction.
"Hey Magnus", Henry says to Magnus after feeling insanely uncomfortable when he and his girlfriend came to sit with him and Sabine. He already saw the table was occupied by only Sabine and since he wanted some peace and quiet he chose to sit with her. However, he noticed her acting a bit weird. He wasn't able to explain what he saw but if he could, he would say Sabine was blushing. He didn't know how to take that so he just decided to stay quiet throughout.
"What do you want?", Magnus replies sharply, looking at Henry angrily. Anthemon notices some anger building up and she holds Magnus' hand tightly beneath the table.
"I just wanted to say sorry about the last time", Henry replies.
"Oh yeah? Well, are you aware of the amount of people that you've hurt… huh! Are you!" Magnus was raising his voice quite a bit and Anthemon stuck out her thumb, rubbing it on the back of Magnus' palm. The noise in the cafeteria died down a bit, some heads turning to Magnus' direction. He felt a bit calm now. Magnus was really pissed at Henry but he didn't want to make a scene.
Suddenly, Henry got up to leave but a couple of dollars flew out of his shorts and fell to the ground.
Sabine wonders how Henry got that much money since he didn't have a job or anything and also his parents wouldn't give him that much to bring to school. But there was something else, that feeling she had for both Magnus and Henry was dying and she was slightly happy.
"Hello Ms. S", a girl whispers in Sabine's ear. No one else hears and no one else cares to know what the girl said to Sabine but whatever it was, it did not bring joy to Sabine. She looked angry and she wondered why the name 'Ms. S' was spreading. Just then, it hit her, she liked Magnus and Henry simultaneously and no one but Elaine knew that since they were kids and since Elaine had officially joined the gossip girls, it could only be her who told these mean people about her abnormal love web.
But, after Julia, the girl who whispered into Sabine's ear, was leaving she saw at Henry and Magnus' feet, a couple of dollars and she gasps. The table they were seated on was such that Sabine sat at the far end and Henry sat opposite her, on the other end. Magnus sat beside Henry and Anthemon sat beside Magnus. The couple had some distance between them and Henry, leaving Sabine alone on the other side of the table. Julia keeps this shocking money discovery to herself temporarily as she heads to the classroom, the gossip girls' headquarters, to spill.
"Excuse me", Henry says, picking the money up in a haste and into his pocket. Everyone on the table that was, Sabine, Anthemon and Magnus, looked at him questionably but Henry doesn't realize he might have been spotted by Julia.
Henry leaves in shame. At least he had apologized to Magnus, that's all he wanted to do anyway but he didn't know how to. He bumps into the school janitor who was walking out of the cafeteria. He apologizes, heads to the washroom and eats his lunch, a bread bun, over there. Henry was a mess and ever since he stopped bullying, he realized the hard way that he had no one to turn to in a time of need. He had no friends and he officially found a way to pay the loan he owed Amanda, a mysterious woman he met online at a loan related website. He had never met her before and she was always sending these weird people, who looked almost superhuman, to let Henry know, painfully, that the time for him to pay his loan was past due. Henry borrowed money from her in order to pay his school fees because his parents hardly cared about those kind of stuff. He had borrowed a hundred dollars, but three hundred more was left for a five-year course to be fully paid. He basically decided to pay his fees for the next five years so he wouldn't have to worry about it. However, he had found a way to pay Amanda back but that path he took weighed him down. As he ate in the washroom, he texted Amanda on the website that he had her money. Amanda said she would send one of her guys over to his place to pick up the money after school or before nightfall. Henry closes the website and goes back to eating. A minute later, he realizes that he didn't really know Amanda and he wanted to thank her in person. He opens the website again and it was gone, non-existent in the world of the internet.
The school janitor steps into the classroom and sees Margot with her head down and her bag open beside her. The man was just taking a look into all the classrooms to see whether or not they were dirty so he would see how his cleaning routine would go. He takes a look at the bag and asks,
"What are you doing with a boy's bag? Or is he your boyfriend?"
Margot lifts her head up and looks at the janitor.
"What?", she sniffles, "What are you even talking about? Boyfriend? I have no boyfriend"
"But I saw that same bag in the boy's washroom with a boy searching through it"
"Really? Thank you so much for telling me this Sir" Margot says gratefully, leaving the janitor confused.
He leaves.
"Henry stole the money. I knew it!" Margot whispers to herself.
Julia enters the classroom.
"Heyyy where's everyone?" she asks Margot.
"Take a guess, they all left angrily after I told them about the missing money", Margot says, upset.
"But I didn't"
"Aww thanks. I think I know who stole it… it's Henry", Margot says with pure certainty.
"No! Not likely but there's a chance"
"What do you mean?"
"It might be Henry… or Magnus"
"Oh yeah, well the janitor did just say a boy. He didn't really specify. And how do you know?"
"Well, when you suddenly see an abnormal amount of dollars scattered at the feet of the two, wouldn't you take a hint?" Julia, asks.
Margot gasps, her eyes widening with shock. "Whoa"
"Don't worry, we'll hunt them down", Julia says.
"Yes, but let's confront Henry first, right after class" Margot says with an evilness growing inside her.