Chapter 243. The Valentine’s Day School Dance: What’s Troubling Alicia. (3/5)

“What was the content of that conversation? That is the mystery here. A simple prank? Or something more than that. Your actions insisting you are a criminal lead me to believe it is the latter. If I draw this conclusion, with everything I know about the people involved, I can recreate the scenario in my mind.” I was an author after all.

“The topic of the conversation no doubt sparked from Valentine’s Day. It eventually wandered in the direction of confessions of love. Perhaps gossip among girls about guys who’d confessed to each of you in the past. The student council president was one of those people, one of those who’d confessed to you. And not a long time ago, it was probably that day itself so it was fresh in your mind and the one that stuck out the most.”

“Rosa very likely probed into things further and dug up more information about him than just the fact he’d confessed to you though. The information she uncovered led her to take countermeasures. I’m certain she was the one who suggested the prank. Wisteria wouldn’t have, it could only be Rosa.”

“Rosa is innocent.”

“Too bad for you, Rosa already declared herself guilty. She confessed your current troubles were because of her, so even if you want to try and say I’m wrong, you can’t convince me as the accused herself has claimed to be the guilty party in this case. I’ve done my side of the groundwork, Alicia, now have you come prepared as part of the prosecution? Have you thought of a way to convict yourself of the crime, prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that your friend is innocent?”

“Why am I the prosecution trying to convict myself? And why are you, the defense, defending the prosecution who’s trying to convict themself? Ahhhh! None of this makes sense.” The way she was seriously trying to wrap her head around the situation was kind of cute. 

“Who cares?”

“I’m invoking my right to remain silent,” Alicia grumbled stubbornly.

“Oh? Then shall I speculate even further?”

“Go ahead. There’s no way you know everything or can guess everything.”

“Then, we shall turn our attention to the student council president, what I know about him, and the facts, to try and establish Rosa’s motive and intent.”

“His parents are pretty rich and well off. His father is a doctor, his mother is a lawyer. He’s very athletic and involved in many sports teams. Many girls are crazy about him. He’s very attractive and well-liked by others. He volunteers at a hospital and as a tutor. He’s a very social person. He’ll likely aim to become a doctor like his father and will probably attend med school in university. Overall, he’s the type of guy any girl would fall head over heels for and want to date.”

“Now, the irrefutable facts I’ve gathered. Since the very beginning of your first year in this school, you’ve been active on the school's sports teams for girls all the way up until you quit this semester. You’ve actually been acquainted, to a degree, with the student council president since you first entered this school because of sports.”

“But it was only after the first semester that you got much closer to him though. In the second semester of your first year, in one of the second-year elective courses you took, that’s where things turned into something more than being simple acquaintances. Friends, that’s exactly what someone like you would call it. Just friends, that’s the type of girl you are. As for why you were in a second-year elective course at that time, you were able to do so because you’d taken an advanced placement course in your final year of middle school.”

“In the first semester of your second year, though you didn’t have a course together with him, the two of you still interacted a lot because of the sports teams you were on. In a way, the relationship could have potentially deepened with this sort of obstacle. Perhaps at some point in time, you might have unknowingly developed a small crush on him you weren’t aware of yourself. But something unexpected happened that year. You encountered a strange boy on the school roof. Perhaps it was a fateful encounter of some kind.”

“Your thoughts were suddenly pulled more toward the aloof friendless boy, subconsciously diverted away from the student council president. This single chance encounter changed your entire future. A future where you would have very likely ended up together with the student council president in the end.”

“But let’s forget about that for now. You inevitably wound up in third-year physics this semester after diligently taking a summer course in your first year. Meaning, you are still together with him every day in at least one course still. Not only that, he sits beside you in that class. There are plenty of chances for the two of you to talk. Thus, he’s likely figured out your situation after you quit the school's sports teams. The rumor of you getting a part-time job spread and he pieced it together.”

“Financially, your family must not have been in a good situation. After he pieced it together, he likely confronted you in class and confirmed it with you. That led... to a conversation between the two of you.”

“I’m sure he’d use this sort of approach. To resolve all your financial worries. Your mother wouldn’t have to work so hard, nor would you. You could rejoin those sports teams as well. All you needed to do was cling to him. To become… his girlfriend and marry him in the future.”

“You were tempted by his offer. You thought if you got together with him you could make my life easier as well. Rosa wouldn’t have to work either. All you had to do was sacrifice yourself. Become a sacrificial lamb and life for everyone else would become easy. However, the fact that you were tempted by the allure of money was something that made you feel dirty and disgusting though. Like you would be using him for his money despite him not being the one you loved.”

“You explained things to Rosa and Wisteria that night in the conversation you had. It led to Rosa taking up countermeasures. Countermeasures to ensure you wouldn’t go and do something like offer yourself up to the student council president.”

“Her plan was simple. To make you feel dirty. She’d force you to commit an act that made you feel like you couldn’t marry another guy. You’re the type of good girl that naively thinks that way after all. Thus, she took advantage of that. Rosa would attach you to me by making you feel guiltiest toward me. She’d simultaneously put you into a situation where you’d feel even guiltier if you did attach yourself to the student council president.”

“That is why, Rosa is the mastermind who orchestrated everything. For her foolish, overly kind friend who’d go so far as to give up her own happiness to try and make everyone else happy. That’s the type of person you are. You are innocent. Rosa’s intent was not to harm her friend, rather, to ensure she didn’t make a decision she’d regret later on. Rosa too is innocent. There was no intent to harm here.”

“If anyone is guilty of anything, it would be the student council president for not minding his own business and flaunting his money around in your face to try and acquire you. Rosa says he’s the type to neither reject nor accept girls. It’s like he keeps them as backup plans, that’s what she said. She despises him. She did not wish for you to end up with such a guy. A guy who thinks he can buy your love.”

I released Alicia’s left hand and wrapped both my arms around her to pull her closer.

With both her arms bent up between our bodies, she alternated hitting my chest lightly with both. She was obviously frustrated that I exposed everything.

“Well? How was my deduction? Is it right or wrong?”

“It’s wrong. All of it.” She was pouting.

“Your reaction suggests otherwise.”

“I’m a bad girl, a real criminal.”

“Please call me in a few years when you really learn how to be a bad girl and perform an actual crime. But let’s be real, you don’t have a bad bone in your body or the ability to execute a crime even if you wanted to.”

Irritated, she tiptoed, wrapped her arms around my head, and kissed me.

When she moved her head back she rebutted, “I’m tempting my best friend’s boyfriend right now.”

“When you’re already my girlfriend? If anyone’s the bad guy… it’d be me who has two girlfriends.” Well… three for Irene… Angela… made it four? Did Wisteria count? No… probably not… she’s an editor/proofreader I’m teaching… long-distance… so yeah… let’s go with four. I had a headache as I did my best to minimize the numbers.

“This is unreasonable. You always go and do this. Go play detective someplace else that actually needs one. Rosa too, play mastermind somewhere else. I feel dumb now. Why did I even worry so much over all of this?”

Alicia grumbled out a string of endless complaints.

“I’ve said it before, but we’re enemies. Don’t show mercy to your enemy. You want to not trouble your enemy? To make their life easier by acting like some sort of sacrificial piece by getting together with the student council president? Are you dumb? Cause as much trouble for your enemy as you can. That’s what enemies are for. To cause trouble for each other.”

“Screw that guy's money, who needs it? I wouldn’t want free handouts from some guy who just wants to stroke his own ego. I’m sure your mother wouldn’t want them either. In fact, she’d probably beat your ass if you gave up your own happiness to make her life easier. What your mother cares about the most in the world is whether you’re happy or not.”

Alicia’s arms powerlessly slid down my chest around my sides and wrapped around my back. She buried her face in my chest and took a long deep breath in.

“Haaaaah. You really are the worst type of enemy. The enemy I can’t help but love.” After she let out the breath of air she’d held in, at ease, she mumbled those words quietly to herself.