Sometimes the correct answer, is the one that makes the least sense.
That memory will come back to me when I need it the most, I have complete faith in myself.
If it doesn't, then it means I've not become perfect, and I deserve to lose.
I looked back over at Bob, who was still writhing around, gazing at me with a look found in a man who just lost his dignity, his entire purpose to live.
A look of utter defeat.
"Well, well, well. What a little cheater we have here. How'd you do it, Bob? This happened very suspiciously after you took a restroom break."
Bob looked around, for an escape. He was trapped, like a prisoner in his cell. Now, his eyes, filled with desperation, darted around the room, scanning everything for anything he could use in this dire situation.
"I… uh…"
He fumbled over his words, clearly, he didn't anticipate this outcome. If I kept pressing him, he'd break. I really want to see what's going to happen when that occurs.
"You what? Thought we wouldn't catch it? Come on, Bob. We aren't that dumb. Do you really think that would work?"
He was close to breaking, he collapsed on the ground. His body broke out into a sweat, water dripping down his face onto the group he desperately searched for a solution in.
I shook my head.
"Disgraceful. You should be ashamed. Now sit here and think about your actions. You lying sack of shit."
I walked out the computer room with Emma in tow.
"Is this guy really someone you want to have as a part of the student council?"
Getting Bob off my tail would be huge, this guy's such a pain in the ass.
Before Emma could respond, Bob burst out of the computer room, sending the sound resounding through the halls, echoing in my eardrums.
"Wait! I have something to say."
I turned and looked over my shoulder at him. Whatever he was about to say, it's likely a lie.
"Spit it out."
"There's a reason for all this, I'm being manipulated."
I had to stop myself from laughing.
"Oh, yeah? By who?"
What was this brilliant counterattack he had? Playing the sympathy card?
Pathetic. I can see right through him.
"Jeffrey is pulling my strings, but I'm tired of being his puppet. I'm going to help you find him, Fredrick."
A mad smile appeared on my face, and my eyes turned into that of a wild beast that had just seen their prey.
This is exactly what I wanted to happen! Now, time to figure out how truthful this all is.
"Is that so?"
Bob nodded, his eyes gleaming.
"Yes, I can prove it! I know what Jeffrey's going to do next."
I nodded.
"Go on."
"It's… something we should discuss in private."
Interesting, something about the Arcane Syndicate, most likely. How did he know then? Jeffrey probably told him. That also means…
Everything he's doing right now might be a part of Jeffrey's trap.
I have to make him believe I haven't figured it out yet.
"Emma, could you leave us alone for a bit, I'll let you know when it's alright to come back."
Emma sighed then walked away.
"Okay, but you're filling me in on everything afterward."
I nodded.
Once Bob and I were alone, I turned towards him fully, towering over him.
"So. What is it you want to talk about?"
"Well, Jeffrey is planning to break into the Arcane Syndicate headquarters, the main one in New York."
I already knew about that, but he doesn't have to know that.
I raised my eyebrows.
"Really? What does he want to do?"
Bob shook his head quickly.
"Cut the shit, you already knew that. What you don't know is that he is already breaking in as we speak."
I froze. Right now? What was his plan?
I scanned through all the possible scenarios in my head. What was the possibility that he and Bob are plotting together right now? But at the same time… why would he want to be caught?
Then it hit me. This is what he wanted. It's likely he contacted Bob while I wasn't looking, and Bob told him about what was going on. Jeffrey might've even predicted my own actions, in hopes I'd tell Mark. He likely set some kind of trap that involves Mark getting to him before he leaves on his own.
This leaves only one thing left…
He has blackmail that he's going to use to force Mark to let him go. I have to tell him, but I can't let Bob know that I know what Jeffrey wants.
"Like… right now?"
I asked, my voice shaking. My eyes were wide with surprise, and my body was completely frozen.
Bob nodded, suppressing a grin.
This meant I was right, he thinks he's winning.
"Yes. Right now. Now, I want in on your plan."
I finally chose to move, scratching my head. I approached Bob, calmly. My moves swift, and deliberate. Everything I do is calculated to have a certain effect on him.
"My plan?"
I asked in a calm and simple voice, placing a hand on his shoulder, peering endlessly into his eyes.
Bob nodded, eager.
"Yes, what's your game plan? How are you going to counter Jeffrey?"
I nodded, standing straight, then leaning against a locker.
"Well, it's quite simple. I am going to find the magic items before him. The clues he's attempting to steal right now are clues I've had for years now, and I've figured them out a long time ago. All that's left is to see where he goes next. Wherever he goes, I'll be right behind him and get to the magic items first. Whatever happens, I'll win."
Bob nodded.
"I see, that does make sense."
I wonder what Bob will report to Jeffrey? Will he see through this? Or will he buy my lie, and set up my trap for Jeffrey?
"Exactly, Jeffrey won't see it coming. Now, for your part."
Bob froze and I leaned in closer to him.
"My part..?"
"Yes, what's Jeffrey's game plan after that? I need to know so that way I can counter him if I need to."
"Right. Jeffrey's plan."
Bob didn't press Jeffrey for details, it seemed. Nonetheless, any information would be useful.
"Tell me about it. What is he going to do with the information he's stealing from the Arcane Syndicate?"
I leaned in even closer, closing the space between us rapidly. Bob noticed this and got very nervous, and started to squirm under the pressure.
"Well, he's going after the clues. He plans to continue using planes to deceive you and Mark. Like when he bought all the tickets last time."
I nodded then stood up.
"I see, makes sense. Well then, we'd better make our way back. I'll go ahead and tell Mark to hurry up."
Bob relaxed then scurried down the hallway, out of my sight.
I sighed, then turned around, to face the other path down the hallway.
"Emma, you can come out, now. I know you're there."
Emma sheepishly pulled herself around the corner and approached me.
"Was it that obvious?"
I sighed.
"Outside your loud footsteps, I know you. I knew you'd try to eavesdrop on the conversation, since you don't trust me enough to tell you the truth."
She pursed her lips together and crossed her arms.
"Well, can you blame me? It really does feel like we're strangers. And… what the fuck were you and Bob talking about? Jeffrey's plan? Magic items? The accolade system or whatever? Is this some weird ass nerd shit I don't know about? Is that why you sent me away? You were afraid to geek in front of a girl?"
I purposefully worded everything to sound like some kind of game when talking with Bob, seems like it paid off. I knew she'd eavesdrop. Her shoes were the only background noise, and it was obvious when I heard them pass by what would be the student council room without stopping. Even then, I predicted she'd walk around to the other end of the hall to eavesdrop, so I had to improvise.
I slumped my shoulders over in defeat.
"You caught me, Bob, and I are part of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with Jeffrey. I was trying to figure out what Jeffrey planned to do in the next meeting, since we're all fighting over who gets the next magic item."
She sighed and shifted her weight to her left hip, clearly annoyed.
"Oh my God, Fredrick, you didn't have to treat me like a child over that. I can geek too, you know!"
I stood back up straight and looked over at her. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she still gave me the death stare.
"My bad! I thought it was embarrassing and that you'd find it annoying."
She sighed, then stood straight and walked over to me.
"Fredrick, seriously? We aren't 4 anymore, you don't have to act like that around me."
I nodded, suppressing the grin I wanted to have.
"Understood."
She nodded, relaxing her body.
"You said you don't think you know me?" I asked, perking up.
She nodded.
Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first period.
Emma turned, then ran off down the hall, waving her hand.
"See you around, Fredrick!"
I waved back, then turned towards my next period.
"See you."
I quickly pulled out my phone and threw myself into the nearest restroom, texting Mark.
F: Yo, Jeffrey set a trap. Don't pursue him, let the boss know and have guards ready to shoot him.
After that, I pocketed my phone and quickly made my way back to class, weaving through crowds of bumbling students.
When I sat down, I saw Mark had texted me back.
M: Too late. He got me.
F: What do you mean, 'he got you'?
M: It worked. He has blackmail and I had to let him go.
If I wasn't in school, I would've screamed, started throwing things, maybe even said a few words only I could say. But, I had to bottle up my anger, and throw it out.
Jeffrey won again, I was too late.
F: Dammit, he got us. Try to follow him.
Mark responded immediately.
M: Can't he's already long gone.
F: You at least got a tracker on him, right?
M: Yeah, we can track his phone. Except, it's off. There's nothing we can do about it.
F: Track Rebecca or TJ, anyone, just get a fucking lead on him. They all need a phone, you can't live in this world without the internet.
M: I'll try, but neither of them have any phones we could find.
The bell rang, signaling the start of class, and my teacher snapped at me, telling me to put my phone up.
"Yes, miss. My apologies." I texted Mark that I had to go and put my phone back in my pocket. After stumbling through the day, my head lost in thought, the bell finally rang letting us out. I pulled myself through the door, still thinking about what I should do to counter Jeffrey, maybe start setting up counter traps through Bob. I'd have to ask Mark about what I could do to bug his phone, see what he and Jeffrey have been talking about.
As I was walking out of the school, I heard someone call my name.
"Fredrick! Wait up!"
I turned to find Emma running up behind me.
"Oh, hey Emma. You still ready to head to the gym?"
She nodded then and flashed me a smile.
"Yeah, but I'll probably have to change once we get there. This outfit isn't very fit for working out."
I nodded.
"Yeah, it looks good, but definitely not something you should wear to the gym."
She looked away.
"You think so? That it looks good?"
"Yeah, you have good fashion sense."
She blushed.
"Thanks, Fredrick. People don't usually look at my outfits, just my body. It gets annoying after a while."
I wanted to respond, but my first thought was that with these outfits, was she not trying to show off her body? I don't understand women and romance to understand her intentions, so I just kept my mouth shut.
We made our way to the gym. When we got there, Emma went to the locker rooms to change her outfit. I checked myself out. Jeans and a t-shirt. Nothing special. It'd be fine.
When she finally left the changing rooms, she showed me around the gym. I took note of all these machines, very different from the equipment I was used to from the Arcane Syndicate. She showed me how to use the machines, and was surprised that I didn't know how to use most of them. One of the things I wished the Arcane Syndicate would've taught or at least informed us about so we could do research was things like these. Normal things that everyday people have that we do not.
The tension in the air was hard to miss, with both of us standing around, looking for something to say after I said that I've never seen a bowflex machine before. I coughed, then turned my attention to the bench. I put on about 700lbs on the weights and then started lifting it up. This was my usual warm up back in the Arcane Syndicate, and if I did well enough, ~1700 lbs wasn't impossible for me back then.
However, since I was not in my perfect form, 700 took me a bit, but wasn't anything crazy. Emma seemed to disagree, she pestered me a lot about 700, saying it was dangerous. I shrugged it off since this felt like something a lot of people could do, but everyone else in the gym was giving me a look like I had just turned into the hulk.
I just shrugged and turned the weight up to 800. After I successfully did a few reps with that, Emma told me that the gym record was 600. Which was also the record for the state, set by a powerlifter a couple years back. That's when I realized, I just showed off my superhuman strength without as much of a second thought.
After that, Emma kept showing me around, but she kept asking me questions about how I just did that, and how I didn't know how to use other machines. I told her that my training never used any of them, then shrugged her off. Having a conversation was harder than I thought.
My mind kept wandering back. Back to Jeffrey. Right now, I need to calculate my next move. If the plan I made for myself worked, then there's nothing I need to worry about, but his next move is in the air. He has the clues, and Rebecca. Can he figure them out, though?
I don't know the clues yet, that was a bluff. I'd have to ask the boss for the clues, figure out what's next.
All of a sudden, I had a brilliant idea.