Monday, January 19 2026. Around afternoon.
The HHS Broadcasting Club was truly on its last legs. Meetings in the unoccupied classroom passed, and soon the hours started to feel like years. Without having had any luck with their current Alex Rivera story, the club was inactive, and desperately trying to gather people to stay afloat. It would have been easy, except for the fact that there were only three members, each holding their own like the pillars of an unbalanced tripod.
Their beloved club was bound to collapse without further action. AJ and Eli sat slumped on the plastic chairs in silence, letting the clock tick fill the space in the otherwise quiet room. It was almost the end of the meeting, and the head of their club, Micah, had still not arrived. With that, they were left to their own devices, but what much did they have to do anyway?
This is honestly so annoying. How are we supposed to know who this mystery girl is? These people had to have been hallucinating at this point to reach these wacky ahh conclusions.
On the table were scattered papers and opened binder clips that served little to no purpose with their lack of progress in research. AJ sighed before following after Eli and scanning the sparse notes. A few of which were just a list of names, and quickly scribbled concepts dominated by question marks and hashes.
Youâre right, dude. I just think itâs odd how everyone has such different answers. These parties are crazy, and people move on fast. The next thing you know, what weâve been trying to track could just disappear within the next few days due to decreasing interest.
Do we just give up? Itâd be better to follow another story we can actually get something out of. The club obviously needs it, and there are a ton of other ways we could be spending our time.
Eli turned to face the empty club room before massaging the bridge of his nose.
Plus, Micah isnât even here and weâre 5 minutes till closing.
I guess⌠A part of me thinks some of this is still weird though. I talked to Rae yesterday, or at least I tried talking to her.
Oh yeah! I saw that you had her name crossed out on the list. I donât think it couldâve been her, though. Sheâs known Alex for far too long for something like that to happen between them.
Yeah I figured, and it wasnât her. But it was worth a shot because when I spoke with her on behalf of the HHS Broadcasting Club, she was acting weird about the whole situation. Like she was hiding something and deliberately tried to avoid answering my questions?
You donât think sheâs actually the one who kissed Alex?
Nah, sheâs not the type of person to do that but the interaction felt super off. If anything, sheâs definitely sus.
AJ sighed before finally deciding to clean up the mess that somehow manifested itself.
Not to mention, I think she spiked the drinks again.
Eli snorted before stacking their chairs up to finish.
Yeahhh I donât think thatâs information we should be sharing on the Broadcast. But when are they not spiked?
As the two began to walk out of the classroom, the door suddenly sprung open. It was Micah. He looked like he had ran a marathon in the time that he was gone, from the amount he had been wheezing to catch his breath.
A little late to your own party, donât you think?
Micah, still hunched over with an arm to stabilize himself, attempted to wave Eli off with sheets of paper in his free handâa newfound determination that was almost inspiring.
Woah, Micah, are those posters for our club?
AJâs eyes widened before his smile dropped completely.
Wait. Are these the photos we took at JCPenneyâs?âŚ
AJ took one of the sheets before covering his mouth upon closer look. Poorly done photoshop over a clean slate background, with fonts that had to have been picked from a dice roll. That God-awful pose? It spoke for itself. And worst of all, the real cherry on top was the photo that Micah chose.
Out of all the photos they had taken at JCPenneyâs, Micah just had to choose the one that specifically had their feet out. Dogs bare, and barking.
Talk about garnering attention.
Eli took a breath before bursting out into a fit of laughter.
Micah, bro. This is? I donât even know what to say. Thank you? Iâm so sorry about your poor editing skills?
Câmon on Eli, itâs not that bad! Plus, thatâs not the point. I made posters because we actually have an interesting lead for the Alex Rivera story now! The club still has a chance.
Micah whipped out his notepad and began to recite the previous events.
I just interviewed this girl, Evelyn who monitors the big frat parties. Sheâs a trust-worthy gal, and doesnât take any risks. Most importantly, she told me how she was really confident that she knew who kissed Alex at that party.
The party monitor? I guess thatâs different, but honestly, what sets her apart? Weâve got a ton of people coming in here and telling us different things.
Just hear me out. Remember how the drinks keep getting spiked at the parties?
AJâs eyes lit up, and suddenly, it clicked for Eli, too.
Evelyn doesnât drink or take anything at them!
That matches up with what I got last night, too. Seemed to me that everyone was pretty wasted after a few sips of Sprite. Turns out, they were spiked with vodka.
Which makes sense why everyoneâs testimonies hadnât been matching up.
No one was sober⌠but Evelyn.
The three quickly rushed back into the classroom, and took down three chairs again to start writing as quickly as possible. They finally had a lead after endless tail-chasing.
So who did Evelyn end up seeing? Who was the girl?
Micahâs pen stopped mid-sentence before looking up at the both of them.
Thatâs the thing, Evelyn didnât see a girl. Alex was kissing a boy. Chase Jones.
The three looked at one another before retreating back into their seats. Suddenly, the years they felt had passed by had started to feel like hours, then minutes, then seconds again until it was 5:30 and the custodians yelled at them to leave.
They walked out of the room, winded from speculation, but had successfully formulated a new course of action.
The three boys had something to chase now. But where on earth would this lead them?
