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| Ruby
Dunne wasn’t new to running away. She’d done it plenty of times in her head, away from awkward family dinners, the suffocating quiet of her old town, and most of all, away from that one terrifying secret. But this time, she was running for real. Seventeen, new school, new people, new rules. No one knew her here, which was exactly the point. All she needed was to keep her head down, ace her exams, and not mess it up like she always did. Clutching her new school timetable like it was a treasure map, Ruby dodged a group of fashionistas whose heels clacked like the countdown of her anxiety. The hallways were alive with the usual suspects, jocks tossing footballs, band geeks wielding their flutes like swords, and drama kids acting like every sentence was their big break on Broadway. Ruby found her locker, number 314, sandwiched between a kid sketching dragons in the margins of his math book and a girl typing faster than a courtroom stenographer on her laptop. She opened the locker door with a sigh of relief, staring at the blank metal interior as if it was her clean slate. But when she closed it, her breath hitched. There it was, a sticky note slapped onto the front. It was written in bright, bold letters that screamed louder than a fire alarm: "I KNOW YOU DID IT." Ruby’s heart did a backflip into a split. Someone knew. Someone had to be messing with her. She glanced around, hoping for a smirk, a sly glance, anything that would give away the note’s author. But the crowd moved like a swarm of bees, buzzing and uninterested. She ripped the note off, stuffing it into her backpack, hoping she could crumple the memory of what she’d done along with it. The bell rang, and Ruby bolted to her first class. Her mind was a messy cocktail of panic and questions. Who could possibly know what happened that summer nine years ago? The woods, the dare, the fall. Ruby shook her head, shoving the thought away. No one was supposed to remember. No one even knew she was there that day. She was just eight, and it was supposed to be an accident. Chapter 1: The Breakfast Club, but Worse First period was a nightmare in slow motion. Mr. Grimshaw, the English teacher, was talking about metaphors, but Ruby’s mind was elsewhere, trapped between flashbacks of her past and the burn of the note still hidden in her bag. She glanced around the room. There was Clara, the queen bee with more followers than brains; Dex, the moody artist who looked like he spent every evening brooding in coffee shops; and Jasper, the overachiever whose hobbies included ruining the class curve and making everyone else look bad. “Dunne, any thoughts on why the raven is like a writing desk?” Mr. Grimshaw’s voice cut through her daydream. Ruby blinked. “Um…because they both give people headaches?” The class snickered, and Mr. Grimshaw sighed as if Ruby had just personally ruined his day. Ruby sank lower in her seat, feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes, but none of them were looking close enough. None of them knew her secret. Not yet. Chapter 2: Cafeteria Conspiracies Lunch was even worse. Ruby picked at her tray of mystery meat while pretending to read a textbook. Her eyes darted to the groups around her, the jocks, the goths, the anime enthusiasts plotting their next cosplay. Everyone had a tribe, but Ruby felt like she was stranded on a deserted island. She pulled out the note, reading it again as if the letters would rearrange themselves into something less terrifying. “Hey, new girl. Earth to Ruby.” A voice cut through her thoughts. Ruby looked up to see Ellie, a bubbly brunette with enough energy to power the entire school. Ellie was the only one who’d bothered to sit next to Ruby since the first day, chattering about everything from TikTok trends to why she thought aliens were definitely real. “What’s that?” Ellie pointed to the note. Ruby quickly folded it away, but Ellie had already seen the words. “Whoa, drama alert. Are we talking secret admirer or secret psycho?” “Neither,” Ruby said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Just a dumb prank.” Ellie grinned. “Well, welcome to Roosevelt High, where drama is our main export. If you think that’s bad, wait until you meet the Drama Llamas.” “The Drama Llamas?” Ellie nodded, pointing to a group of theatre kids who were currently staging a loud reenactment of some historical tragedy. “The most dramatic people you’ll ever meet. They’d turn a papercut into a three-act play.” Ruby tried to laugh, but her mind was still reeling. Someone here knew her secret, and she was going to find out who. Chapter 3: Hallway Whispers After school, Ruby's locker felt like a crime scene. She glanced over her shoulder as if expecting to see someone watching, but the halls were filled with the usual after-school chaos. Yet the note she found that morning was burned into her memory: “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.” Her hands trembled as she rummaged through her locker, searching for something, anything, to ease the knot in her chest. But before she could close the door, Dex appeared beside her, his sketchbook tucked under one arm. “Hey, you got a sec?” he asked casually, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Ruby froze. Dex wasn’t exactly a friend. She barely knew him, except for his quiet sarcasm in biology and his reputation for doodling instead of taking notes. So why was he here? And why now? “Uh, yeah, sure.” She forced the words out, her voice barely steady. Dex glanced around before speaking. His next words came out in a low whisper, almost drowned out by the sound of lockers slamming and people laughing down the hall. “I saw you this morning. The note.” Ruby’s stomach dropped. Her body went cold. She turned to him, eyes wide. “You saw it?” Dex nodded, his expression unreadable. “It’s not just you, Ruby. Notes like that have been popping up all over the school.” She blinked, trying to process. “What do you mean ‘all over’?” Dex leaned closer, lowering his voice further. “Last week, I found one on my locker that said, 'I KNOW YOU’RE LYING.' Clara got one this morning, too. It's like someone’s messing with everyone.” Ruby's heart pounded in her ears. It wasn’t just her. Her secret wasn’t the only one out there. She looked at Dex, his calm exterior masking the same uncertainty she felt. Whoever was behind these notes was targeting the entire school, and no one was safe. “Why would someone do this?” Ruby asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer. Dex shrugged. “Maybe they like watching everyone squirm. Maybe they just want to see us fall apart.” Chapter 4: Truth and Dares By the next morning, it was clear that Dex was right. No one was safe. Clara, the queen bee of Roosevelt High, was crying in the bathroom, surrounded by her friends. Her note accused her of cheating on her boyfriend, and though she denied it, the rumor mill was already in full swing. Jasper, the school’s academic golden boy, had received one too: "I KNOW YOU PAID FOR THOSE GRADES." Even Ellie, Ruby’s quiet, studious friend, had been targeted. Her note suggested she’d stolen money from a school fundraiser. Roosevelt High had turned into a battlefield of suspicion and whispers. Everyone looked over their shoulder, wondering who would be next. Ruby, Dex, and Ellie quickly formed a team, spending their afternoons searching for clues about who was behind it all. They even roped in the Drama Llamas, the eccentric theater group always eager for a good mystery. But no matter how hard they looked, every lead ended in a dead end. The notes kept coming, but the culprit remained invisible, a ghost haunting the halls. As the days passed, tensions rose. The school’s atmosphere, once alive with chatter and laughter, was now thick with fear. Every note tore down someone’s reputation, turning private lives into public scandals. And then, on Friday afternoon, the ultimate note appeared. Taped to the principal’s office door, in bold, black letters: "I KNOW YOU’RE ALL HIDING SOMETHING." Ruby stood frozen in front of the door, staring at the words that summed up everything the week had been building toward. Whoever was behind this wasn’t just after one person. They wanted the entire school to crumble. Dex appeared beside her, as calm as ever. “Well, that’s... dramatic,” he muttered. Ruby felt a strange calm wash over her. For days, she’d been terrified—scared of what might come next, scared of her own secret being revealed. But now, as she read the words on the door, she realized that everyone was in the same boat. Whoever this was wanted power, control, but she wasn’t going to give it to them. Not anymore. “I’m done playing their game,” Ruby said, her voice steady for the first time in days. Dex raised an eyebrow, glancing at her. “You’re not curious? Don’t want to know who’s behind it all?” “I am curious,” Ruby admitted. “But not afraid. Whoever they are, they want us to fall apart. I’m not giving them that satisfaction.” Epilogue: The Real Secret In the end, the mystery was never solved. The notes stopped as suddenly as they had started, and whoever had been behind them faded into the background like a shadow. No one knew if it was a student, a teacher, or some anonymous prankster watching it all from afar. But it didn’t matter. Ruby stood at the school gates, looking back at the building that had been her prison and battleground for the past week. She pulled the final note from her pocket, the one she'd found in her locker on the first day: "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID." It had haunted her, dragged her through sleepless nights. But now, the words seemed hollow, powerless. Secrets were part of life. Everyone had them. She crumpled the note in her hand, letting out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. There was no need to be afraid anymore. Whoever had written the notes had failed. Instead of breaking them, they had brought people together. Dex walked up beside her, tossing his own crumpled note into the trash. “You ready to go?” Ruby smiled. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” The mystery notes, the whispered secrets, the paranoia—it had all been a strange, chaotic ride. But now, with the truth out there and the fear gone, Ruby felt lighter, freer. Maybe a new start wasn’t so bad after all. |
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