A few days later, at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon, Fina walked through the dark hallway of the school, her brow furrowed as she approached the large, wooden door. Her brows furrowed and she cast a furtive look over her shoulder before pulling her key out of her pocket, unlocking the office door. Placing one hand on the handle, she slipped into the room, closing the door behind her. The computer screen lit up as she logged on, illuminating her red curls as she opened the program. Typing in the password, her nails clicked against the keyboard, and the program accepted her password, flickering duly to life. She combed through the student files, biting her lower lip nervously. Her cursor landed on the name she was looking for, and she hesitated, casting one more glance over her shoulder before clicking it: Giddings, Everett. His grades had been edited several times over the past couple weeks since the murder; anytime a grade threatened to slip below the 93% that would give him an A-, Everett, it seemed, would meticulously shift his focus to that class. Fina respected that, in a strange way. It was an ambitious outlook. She scrolled down, finding names of teachers who had viewed his files. She went back to just before the murder. There was one name and Fina's eyes widened. A shadow fell over her and something hit her and suddenly everything hurt so badly. She cried out as she fell to the ground, gasping for breath. She tried to cast her eyes upwards at her attacker, but all she saw was a foot coming down to meet her. Everything went black.
* * * The next morning in homeroom, the loudspeaker crackled to life. "Good morning, students," the voice said, sounding solemn. "We regret to inform you that junior year student Serafina Geller was found seriously injured on school premises. This is not cause for alarm, as we have highly trained security workers here during school hours. Serafina is currently in the hospital and although she is stable, she has endured traumatic head injury and is in a coma as a result. We have set up fundraising boxes around the school to help Ms. Geller's family pay for the hospital bills. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated by her and her family. Thank you."
Theo looked over at Cassian, who looked terribly worried. He folded his hands tightly. "I'll go see her after school.."
Fina was lying in the hospital bed. Her face had been heavily bandaged and her hand had been broken. Her hair had been washed and brushed, and now it lay in damp curls on the pillow. She was breathing shallowly in her state, the heart monitor steadily beeping along.
A few hours passed and a woman entered the room. She had tears in her eyes and curly auburn hair and she blinked with a start, looking at Cassian. "Oh. Hello."
She folded her arms, sniffling. The woman was elegant, wearing a long black dress and rings on her finger. Pearls hung from her ears and she took a deep breath. "I... Thank you. Is she doing any better?"
