#ictask004

“Can you talk about your time capsule video? Give us some context for the clip that was leaked?”

Jiwon's eyes were piercingly cold. She had a lot to say about the damn video, and she would. She just had to measure her words to come across the right way. "Well, first of all, I find it ridiculous that the police is asking me that. I've nothing to hide. I'll send you the full video, if you want. I'll submit it as evidence, or whatever." She arched an eyebrow and stole a glance at her lawyer. Being cooperative was good. It'd make her look less guilty. "I would like to know, though, why we're being interrogated about a privacy leak." The detective's eyes mirrorred hers. He didn't trust her, and she didn't trust him either.  

"Were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?”

Jiwon shrugged. "I'm sure we all imagined it. She might have mentioned it, even." Another glance at her lawyer. They'd talked about the possibility of this question being asked. Jiwon's answer came off as rehearsed, fake, but it was inconspicuous enough to fly under the radar. Or at least, she hoped so. "But if you're asking me if I knew she'd fly off the handle lke that, I didn't." That was true. She was as in the dark as everyone else.  

“Had you ever heard of anything regarding THE NAIVE NEWCOMER using steroids?”

She shook her head. "No. I know very little about him." She could see the office was gearing up to ask a question, but she answered it before he could have a chance. "Yes, I know him being Greer's boyfriend should mean he's close to the family. We didn't have anything in common, so we barely talked, if ever." The detective was running low on patience, she could tell. The lawyer's presence was not helping his opinion of her, but it didn't really matter. Her statement being airtight was.  

“Had Greer brought up breaking up with him ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?”

Jiwon shook her head again. "You're asking the wrong person. She wouldn't have told me about it, even if she was considering it." She shrugged. It was nice to have a break to tell the full truth. She had a feeling, though, that the detective didn't even believe that. 

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?”

The lawyer clearly considered intervening, but Jiwon answered before he could. "No." She said, simply. "She was adventurous. Maybe she just got bored." The officer seemed to buy that one, but there was o way to be sure.

"Were you aware of Greer planning to travel to Portugal this summer?"

Once again, she shook her head to say no. "I guess I knew she liked the idea of going to Portugal, but I don't know why she wouldn't just get her parents money to go." She shrugged, and the officer once again seemed ready to ask another question. "If I had known, I'd have said so during he first interviews. She's my cousin. I'd do anything to bring her back." That one was an obvious lie, but one that'd look good in a court room.

"Were you at the party on June 4th in the Hamptons that Greer is pictured attending on Riley Vanderford’s social media?"

She shook her head again. "I barely know Riley, and Greer rarely invited me to her stuff." Her lawyer watched attentively. Although he'd said more than once that she wasn't there, not even her parents fully believed her. No one was home that day to verify her alibi, though there was security camera outside her house to prove she hadn't left. She had, in fact, been tucked away in her studio, hands busy with melting metal.

"Is there anything you know that you’re not sharing?"

"No." Her voice was strong and confident, a subtle threat that she'd make a scene if they didn't let her go. "Can I go now? I have to study." The detective answered that she could, and in seconds, she had gotten her backpack and was stepping away with her lawyer. "Tell my parents that it went as expected." She said to him, still walking. "I have a feeling there's something off, so it's better to be prepared."

In normal circunstances, she'd never work with her parents to keep herself out of trouble, but there was more at stake here. She was genuinely terrified, even if her face only ever expressed boredom and neutrality.

“Sassa it is,” he said as he motioned towards the chair set for her, Sassa murmuring quiet greetings to the other two agents in the room. “If you wouldn’t mind, could we start by talking bout your time capsule video? Give us some context for the clip that was leaked?” 

Her hands clasped on the table in front of her, Sassa sheepishly glancing down at them as she pressed her lips together. “Oh, I’m...not sure where to begin with that. It was just a clip, of course. I could give you the whole thing if you wanted?” she offered, looking back up at them with raised eyebrows. Though of course, she’d really rather they didn’t look into it. And if they were suspicious of her, they had access to it through the school anyways. But offering it up of her own free will took the power out of them demanding to see it. She let her expression turn contemplative, lapsing into silence for a few moments. “It was a harsh thing to say, but it was...a performance, I suppose. It felt more like a school project than something I seriously considered as, like, my message? I’m studying film, you see,” she explained, shrugging up her shoulders, the very corners of her lips turning up ever so slightly to emphasize the small dimples in her cheeks. “If I had known it would be broadcast to my own classmates, that’s not at all how I would want them to think of me. Distrustful like that? Certainly not me,” she added, a sigh perfectly placed at the end of her sentence. 

When Sassa turned her eyes up to the agents expectantly, Agent Choi nodded, reaching up to rub at his temple with one finger. “Of course,” he said, though Sassa could tell she had caught him slightly off guard with the supposed vulnerability in her statement. She was sure most students had come in here, abrasive and shut down. She intended to do the exact opposite. “And were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?” 

Sassa swallowed, her eyebrows turning up in the middle ever so slightly before she shook her head. “No. Not at all,” she said. “Greer and I...we grew up in the same circles. But we were never that close. She was always so bright, the center of everything. And me...” she let her voice trail off, this time turning her eyes towards Agent Murray, waiting for her to look up from the notes she was scrawling before she looked up. “You know how it is, for girls like us. Never quite fitting in with one group or the other. It’s no one’s fault,” she said, smoothly turning to look back at Agent Choi. “Just the way things are.” 

She had caught the expression on Agent Murray’s face softening somewhat, appealing to the loneliness of being mixed race in a society that loved to fit people into boxes. That had been truthful. Of course, everything she said after that had been a lie. There were people at fault, and people like Greer, who helped uphold such things...well, Sassa would certainly point a finger at her. 

“I can see how that must’ve been hard growing up,” Agent Choi said. “Your family was in the same circle as the Morrison’s, though - correct?” Sassa nodded. “Were you at the party on June 4th in the Hamptons that Greer is pictured attending on Riley Vanderford’s social media?” 

“Oh, no. I don’t know Riley personally, or anything, but...I’ve seen the posts of that type of party. It’s not my thing in the slightest,” she said, letting herself grimace slightly at the end of her sentence. In reality, Greer had often made sure that Sassa wasn’t invited to parties her friends were throwing, though she wasn’t sure of the exact circumstance behind this particular party, even though she had - of course - poured over the posts she could find regarding it, even the ones that didn’t include Greer. Which was all of them, really, except for the one from Riley. All the more bizarre. 

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?” Agent Choi asked, his eyes not leaving Sassa’s face.

Sassa made sure to make eye contact, meet his gaze with one of her own, eyes widened ever so slightly, lips pouted out nearly imperceptibly, doing her best to appeal to whatever instinct he may have that would make her appear trustworthy. “Not that I know of. But like I said...we were never close. There are probably many other people who would have a better insight into what she was thinking than me.” 

A small smile flickered over Agent Choi’s face, Agent Murray scrawling something down, Sassa feeling her first pang of nerves. Fuck. Did she say something wrong? Was he smiling because he had gotten what he had wanted from her? “What do you know a student named...Malik Wright?”

“Um...” Sassa started, letting herself appear confused for a moment - she was, in fact, a bit confused that they’d bring up Leaky of all people. There were plenty she’d consider throwing under the bus (Link, came to mind, for instance), but...Leaky?. “Leaky? He transferred in, last year. He’s in Greek life, a football player. I believe he’s fairly friendly with Sebastian, Greer’s brother...Honestly?” she paused, biting her lower lip, eyes darting between the agents as if she was about to confess something, pausing for dramatic affect. “This is...so embarrassing. But he actually invited me and another girl to his fraternity semi-formal this fall,” she said, her voice keying up in pitch slightly, leaning into the scorned sorority girl. “It was the worst. I don’t know if he thought...I don’t know. But...sorry. That’s totally irrelevant,” she said, cutting herself off with a roll of her eyes. “What was the question again?” Sassa asked, letting a hint of embarrassement become visible on her face.  

“Uh...Malik Wright’s relationship with Greer.” 

“Oh,” Sassa said, her head pulling back slightly. “I don’t...think he had much of one? Like I said, I think he is friendly with Sebastian, but...I only say that because they’re both on the football team. And I’m a cheerleader so...I only really see them interacting in that circumstance,” she said, shrugging up her shoulders. As...frustrated as Sebastian made her, Sassa didn’t want to throw him under the bus. Nor Leaky. It was easier to play clueless, as far as they went. 

“Right. How about Milo Navarro, and his relationship with Greer?” 

That one was harder to act clueless about. Sassa blinked once, twice, before her lips twisted to one side, letting out another sigh. “Milo is Greer’s tennis partner. Or...was, I guess I should say,” she said, frowning as she looked back to her hands on the table. “Wow. That’s...weird to say. But, um...I’ve been playing with him this year, at our coach’s request. I’m not as good of a player as Greer, and I don’t think Milo is very impressed with me because of that. You should’ve seen them playing together. Remarkable,” she said, a wistful tone to her voice as she shook her head. “They had chemistry on the court, that’s for sure. Milo and I...we just bicker. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled if Greer comes back,” Sassa continued, leaning forward a little as if speaking conspiratorially with the agents, a roll of her eyes accompanying the words. “Honestly, I’d be happy to go back to my old partner as well. Hell of a lot less pressure.” 

Agent Choi’s eyebrows arched up on his forehead, nodding a few times as Agent Murray took more notes, Sassa not letting her gaze waver. She certainly wouldn’t give in to any attempts to make her uneasy - it was so transparent. “Regarding Greer’s other relationships...had Greer ever brought up breaking up with THE NAIVE NEWCOMER ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?”

Sassa’s eyebrows rose, her expression nearly mirroring Agent Choi’s. “I’m surprised you’re asking me that,” she said bluntly. Acting as if there was nothing of note to say would just bite her in the ass if it came out later. Or maybe they were already aware, and wanted to catch her in some sort of omission. Better to put it all out on the table. Well...mostly. “Perhaps no one brought it up. Kit and I...briefly were seeing each other last year, before he ended up dating Greer. So, no. She definitely didn’t mention anything of the sort to me. And he never said anything to me. Granted, he never said much after that. Things were a bit awkward, as I’m sure you can imagine,” she said. “I thought they were good together,” she lied. “But I didn’t pay too much attention to their relationship outside of that. 

“Well, if you dated him, perhaps you can help us out here,” Agent Brown said from the back of the room, finally speaking up. “Had you ever heard of anything regarding him using steroids?”

At that, Sassa actually blanched. “Kit?” she asked, the agent staring her down as his only form of confirmation. “No. But, uh...we also didn’t really date. It’s college, you know. We were both freshman. It was a super casual, quick thing. He definitely wouldn’t have shared any....steroid use with me. That’s....” she let her voice trail off, head tipping to one side, lips parting, as if some realization had just hit her. While she hadn’t been aware of any steroid use from Kit, she thought of his attack on Jesse at the beginning of the year. “You know, he did get into a huge fight with Jesse Hart at a party. It seemed so unlike him. Isn’t, like...roid rage a thing?” she asked, concern - perhaps even fear - leaking into her voice.

Agent Brown just leaned back in his seat, looking at Agent Choi as some sort of signal for him to take over again, Agent Murray making another note - Sassa having to hold back any sort of gleeful grin. “That’s definitely something we’ll look into,” Agent Choi said. “Thank you, Sassa. You’re free to go....unless there’s anything else you want to share?” 

A long moment stretched between them, Sassa considering for a moment - if they were prompting her to see if there was something she would admit that she hadn’t thus far, something they knew they were hoping to use against her. But there was nothing else she could think of...that would allow her to walk out of this room leaving a positive impression. She just shook her head, pushing her seat back before she froze in place, as if it just occurred to her. “Um, yeah, actually. I had...I heard Monty Richler talking about, um...he heard about a supposed suspect. It was forever ago, and I didn’t think anything of it at the time - I don’t even remember who he said,” she lied. “But now I’m just wondering - maybe he had seen the videos. Before they were released. Or, you know, something like that. If there was something about Kit or...anyone else that would make them look suspicious. Maybe that’s how he knew?” she said. Of course, she had heard this forever ago - and it had been shortly after the notes had been stolen from the last round of interviews. But Sassa didn’t want to lead them there. She just wanted to point them in that direction, and if there was something to be found...well, hopefully they could find it. They were FBI agents, for gods sake. 

“Interesting,” Agent Murray said. “Thank you for letting us know, Sassa.” 

It was a clear dismissal, and Sassa’s lips pressed together in a shaky smile, nodding before she stood up, exiting out of the room. She was pleased enough with how that went - and though she had nothing against Monty, she hoped dangling a name in front of them would be enough to trust her, to believe she might share anything she heard otherwise. Which...she would. If it was convenient for her. 

As she was walking down the hallway away from the room, she felt her phone buzz, Sassa reaching into her pocket to pull it out. Unlocking it, her steps stuttered, reading over the texts once, twice, thrice before she began walking again, eyes still on the screen. 

g: well, it looks like the cops sure trust you. let’s not get into the merits of whether or not they should, and instead let’s figure if i should. or if greer morrison should.  g: did you ever hear anything about greer going into the planned parenthood in town? g: think about it. even try to figure it out. what you do with that info? well, i guess that’ll let us know if the cops were right for believing what you said. 

It wasn’t the greatest omen. Court was aware that gender was...complicated, and was perfectly fine with going by he/him pronouns - preferred it even, most of the time! Though he did have to wonder how much of that was due to his constant desire to not rock the boat. But he definitely wasn’t going to examine that with FBI agents - they could call him whatever the fuck they wanted.

But anyways. 

He followed the tall (attractivelikeholyshitwhydidhelooklikethat) agent into the office they had commandeered to interview people out of, gulping as the door shut behind him, sitting into the chair Agent Choi motioned towards, eyes darting between the three agents in the room. 

“So, Courtney,” Choi began as he sat down opposite them, leaning back relaxed in his seat, the exact opposite of Coco’s ramrod straight spine, knee bouncing up and down underneath the table. 

“Court’s fine,” he said, attempting to offer a smile - again, anyone who really knew how freely the smiles on his face usually came would recognize that it was strained. 

The agent paused, glancing over at the dark haired woman, who scrawled something down on her notepad (probably just his name, right? It had to just be his name, there’s no way he had already fucked up in his first two words, like that was impossible...right?) before looking back at him. “Right. Court,” Choi said. “To start, can you talk about your time capsule video? Give us some context for the clip that was leaked?”

That was not the direction they had been expecting them to start in. Court’s head angled to one side, his smile faltering for a second. It’s not that he had anything to be guilty over. Sure, he had been in a weird head space, but it was just...ranting in a state of vulnerability. Not that that made it any easier to talk about. “It’s a bit out of context, to be honest,” he said. 

Court paused, letting out a deep breath. “Honestly, I was sorta, like...it gets better-ing. Talking about how things had changed for me since high school. I wasn’t the most popular, you know-” at that, the female agent’s eyebrows raised, Courtney catching it out of the corner of his eyes, a flush coming to his cheeks. “But changes like that are hard to get used to, you know?”

Agent Choi nodded. “So do you...consider yourself popular at Ogden?” 

The heat on his cheeks only deepened, Court glancing down at the table. Was that a loaded question or what. “I...guess? I don’t know. I have a lot of friends, I guess, but I’m not like...part of the popular crowd,” he murmured. He had a lot of casual friends. But sometimes it seemed like no one really knew him - but that was something to unpack with a therapist, not with FBI agents. And...well, awfully close to what Greer had said in her video, which couldn’t be a good thing to admit that he related to. 

“Like Greer.” 

Court’s eyes just darted back up to Agent Choi, glancing between him, over to Agent Murray, and to Agent Brown sitting in the back, eyebrows furrowing so a crease appeared between his eyebrows, missing where the question was in that. As a few seconds ticked by, he just nodded, unsure of what else he could offer them. 

"Were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?”

Lips parted, tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth, confusion only deepening. “No?” he said. Why would he know that? How would he know that? “No,” he said, more firmly. “I, uh...I didn’t really talk about anyone’s videos with them.” 

The agents nodded, a few notes scrawled, Court’s blue eyes widening as he waited in the silence, a nearly audible swallow as he tried to beat down his nerves. 

“Some other students have brought up your relationship with Greer’s boyfriend. Why do you think they thought it was relevant?”

His eyes got so round, the whites were nearly visible around the entire bright blue iris. Shit. Were people talking about him? Oh, no, why would they do that? What he had done...

“Uh, um...” he stammered, shrugging up his shoulders. “Kit’s one of my best friends, you know? And he was, uh...Greer’s boyfriend? So that’s probably why people...thought it was relevant?” Coco said, his voice rising into a question with the end of every sentence. 

Agent Murray finally spoke, her dark eyes inscrutable as she leaned forward, her demeanor nowhere near the easy-going one of Agent Choi. “Had Greer brought up breaking up with him ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?” she asked.

Coco’s eyebrows turned upwards in the middle, his lower lip ever so slightly jutting out. “Not, uh...no. I mean, not to me,” he said softly, shaking his head. That had made him sad - thinking that it had probably made Kit sad. And he hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to him about it before he had been kicked out of school. Which was even sadder. 

Agent Choi glanced over at Agent Murray, some sort of communication apparently going on between them with just a few glances, something Court would’ve noticed if he had looked up from where his hands were clasped on the table, though he was still wallowing in the reminder of his best friend. “And...did you ever hear of anything regarding THE NAIVE NEWCOMER using steroids? You’re on the same team, correct?” Agent Choi asked.

 That had Courtney’s head snapping back up right, mouth hanging open. “No! No,” he said. “Absolutely not. He...he wouldn’t. There’s no way,” he said - no, insisted. He knew he had things he didn’t talk about, things he hid from his teammates to be able to play, things people wouldn’t suspect of him - but Kit wouldn’t have. There was no way it was true. 

The scrawling of a pen has their eyes shifting back towards Agent Murray, who didn’t look up from her notes, causing Coco to swallow again, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. 

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?”

Court just shook his head, curls bouncing. “No,” he said in a whisper. He couldn’t exactly admit the truth, could he. That no matter how good things seemed...there was always a reason.

When it became clear that was all he was going to say, even with the silence the agents let drag out for a few moments longer than were comfortable, Agent Choi spoke up again. “Were you aware of Greer planning to travel to Portugal this summer?”

What? Where did they keep getting these questions from? How were they all related? Coco felt like they were jumping around from question to question just to get his head spinning, wondering if everyone’s questionings had seemed this disjointed, or if he was missing something. “No. Did she go to Portugal?” he asked, nose slightly scrunched up.

Agent Choi offered him a small smile, giving his head a shake. “We can’t disclose that,” he said, leaving Courtney’s lips parted, looking at the agent in ever deepening confusion. “Is there anything you know that you’re not sharing, Mr. Mills?” 

"So, Miss Shinwara. It says here that you got released after a brief period of questioning beforehand. Why is that?"

Dav looked down at her hands, naturally enough, then looked up. Making eye contact was important, and she made sure her eyes met the officer's. "I have no connection to Greer. We bumped a couple of times, but that was it." She shrugged. "There was simply no reason to talk about anything in depth." He didn't look convinced, which worried Davika. She had repeated that line pretty frequently.

"Some other students have brought up your relationship with Greer. Why do you think they thought it was relevant?"

She froze. Who had even brought that up? Dav was nothing. No one. She was a fly in the wall, at least as far as Greer and her posse were concerned. She cocked her head and wore a concerned, confused look. "I... I don't know?" She pretended to think long and hard about it. "Maybe they misinterpreted something. We did bump into each other a couple of times, but I don't think she liked me very much." She pretended to let that slip, hoping they'd buy the small information she gave them as the entirety of what she was hiding. They didn't seem to.

"How could she not like you if you didn't know her?"

Once again, Davika shrugged. Although she pretended to not really give it a second thought, the follow-up question made her think that maybe, just maybe, they had more intel on her than she thought. "I- I- Maybe she- I don't know that." Oh no. She was losing composure. "How would I know that? Maybe she just didn't like me. I don't know." As she felt control slipping, the words escaped her lips before she could think about it. "She was bullying that girl, Mimi, for no reason. She has a history of being like that." Dav cursed herself. Throwing people under the bus would not look good. And she could tell that they agreed. Fortunately, they moved on to the next subject.

"Were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?” 

Dav's eyes widened. "Why am I being questioned about that? I wasn't even involved. I didn't send a video." Their cold eyes conveyed that avoiding the question would only make her look worse. "I didn't know, but I would've guessed. So would everyone else on campus." Again, she felt like crumbling under their uncaring eyes.

“Had you ever heard of anything regarding THE NAIVE NEWCOMER using steroids?” 

She shook her head profusely. "I didn't even know him. I knew of him, because of Greer, but I didn't know anything about him." She sighed deeply. Was there anything weird about what she just said? Was she crumbling even more?

"I thought you didn't know Greer. How would you know him through her?"

"I- I-" She had to keep her composure. Dav was a much better liar than this. What was happening to her? Was this her guilt eating her up? "She was popular. Everything she did and said always ended up as gossip. He was good-looking, too, I heard." Was she playing too dumb?

“Well, then, had Greer brought up breaking up with him ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?” 

She shook her head. "Like I said, we weren't close." This time, she held her tongue. She shouldn't say anything else, and she shouldn't know anything else.

"What about the gossip? Were there any rumors that she was considering breaking up with him?"

Dav could hear it in his voice. They didn't buy it. They knew, or suspected, that... "No. I mean, yes, there were some rumors that she was cheating on him." She shut up after this, now slowly regaining control over herself. It was too late, though. She could see the look in their eyes. The distrust.

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?” 

She slowly shook her head to say no again. "Again, we weren't close. I'm sure she'd have reasons," she stopped herself. It was time to be brief. "but I can't imagine the specific reason. Maybe she was just tired." She took a deep breath. That was good. Finally, she was able to stop herself before spilling all the information she had.

"Were you aware of Greer planning to travel to Portugal this summer?"

She could see in their eyes that they expected an answer from her. They already had a guess that she knew. Giving an answer felt like locking herself into a lie that they'd eventually find out. She shook her head again, feeling defeated. Davika was scared. Terrified. They were onto her, somehow, and she had to be smarter than she was here. No more panicking. "No. I thought she just left." They had to at least believe that.

"Is there anything you know that you’re not sharing?"

One last time, she shook her head to signify that she didn't. It felt hopeless. They didn't believe her, and she didn't know why. Was there something that she said that hadn't matched the information they had? Who had thrown her under the bus? A handful of names appeared in her head. Mari. Link. Maybe Alethea. Maybe it was someone else entirely, who had picked up on the vibe between them. "Can- Can I go now?" She asked, trying to remove herself from that situation as fast as she could.

Davika was close to tears, and although the officer looked as if he was containing himself not to scoff, it was genuine. She didn't know when the tears started to flow, all she knew was that she was scared, and that her feelings were very clear on her face. The little control she found at the end of the interview could never be enough. She'd have to work harder to appear as inconspicuous as possible from now on. Most importantly, though, she had to find out what they knew. Soon.

“so ida, how’s it going? you’re a…” choi looks down at his notebook, “senior right? so almost graduating? what’s next for you?” ida cocks her head to the side as she thinks. do they all have notes on the students? keeping track of them for a case? 

she should have a lawyer here. but she sure as shit can’t afford one. maybe she should have seen if she could have borrowed someone’s family lawyer for the time being. 

“yes sir that’s right, in my senior year, tryin’ to fight off that senioritis.” she laughs, but is met with only still silence. tough crowd. “but i’m applyin’ to graduate and phd programs. apparently i actually do like school.” they only nodded, with brown clasping his hands together as he watched ida. “school’s a good thing to like.” he mumbled. 

“so ida, can you tell us about your time capsule video? your clip kicked off that whole leaked tape. wanna give us some context?” choi asked easily, smoothly, as if it was nothing. as if the leak wasn’t a total violation of privacy. 

and as if the leaked part of her video was the most interesting part. which was what annoyed her the most. it didn’t even make her seem fun. “well, what can i say?” she shrugged, leaning back into the chair. these were far more comfortable than the metal ones during the last interrogation. “this place ain’t always your friend.” they gave her a quizzical look. “can you elaborate on that?” 

she sighed, people didn’t just get it did they? “look, i’m from a small town in eastern tennessee. i grew up on a farm, it’s a miracle my parents had more than one child go to college. institutions like these? ain’t always kind or meant for people like me. and there’s actually a lot of students here like that. but it goes ignored. and really…” she pointed her finger, now on a roll. “institutions like ogden, don’t wanna be anybodies friend. these institutions are built to uplift the already rich and privileged, pour money back into their own pockets, and have a miracle student every now and then so they can pretend like they do a good job. so no, this place ain’t your friend. but that don’t mean you can’t make the most of it. which is what my entire video was about.” 

there was another pause of silence as one of them scribbled away, and brown just looked at her. maybe it was confusion, but she thought she saw some admiration in his gaze. “sounds like you’ve got some strong feelings there ida.” he finally noted. “it runs in my family.” 

“speaking of the time capsule, were you aware that greer morrison submitted a video at the end of last year?” brown glanced back at his notes. 

“now agent brown…why would i know that?” she looked at him quizzically, meeting his stare. “i honestly didn’t know nobody was submittin’ anythin’. i thought i might just be the only one doin’ it so…it was a bit of a surprise.” that was the truth, a shock across campus it seemed. ida hadn’t been immune to that. and the little threat against her boyfriend…it was an interesting twist. ida liked it. but she wasn’t going to admit that much. 

“so…had greer brought up breaking up with her boyfriend before? or anything like she mentioned in the video?” he carried on, barely giving ida the attention she deserved. 

“not to me. we weren’t best friends or anything. maybe she told some strangers in a bar? you know like you do when you’re contemplating somethin’, spillin’ all your secrets to a stranger so that they can’t actually get back to you. but no, greer didn’t tell me anythin’, sorry i’m not much help.” there wasn’t much response, and ida leaned forward. “is that what you do ida? spill your secrets to strangers? what kind of secrets do you have?” agent brown continued, eyebrow quirking at her. 

“i mean, have you ever met drunk women in a bathroom? it’s all ‘break up with your boyfriend’, and ‘should i quit my job?” and ‘i think my boyfriend is a cheatin’ sonofabitch’. those kinda things officers - agents.” she corrected herself with a nod, clasping her hands together. “and i don’t got any secrets agent brown. my momma taught me better than that. i’m a good christian woman.” brown just shook his head, hiding a chuckle. “yea, okay there.” briefly she narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her legs now and leaning back into the chair. 

“on the subject of secrets, were you aware of anything regarding the naive newcomer and steroids?” 

“holy shit? he was usin’ steroids?” her jaw dropped, in actual disbelief. this was definitely a ripple in the water cause damn, she hadn’t seen that coming. but should she actually be surprised? considering where she was? shit people did that stuff at home because they had nothin’ better to do. and here? the money and pressure was insurmountable. no worries. 

“so did you know anything?” 

“no, nothin’, kinda wish i did though. makes life more excitin’.” the last part slipped out and she shrugged, the coke definitely lifting her spirits now. it didn’t matter right? she’d get out of this scotch-free. 

“mhm…alright then.” brown just nodded, glancing over at the other agents as they jotted some things down. that had to be good right? “some other students have brought up your relationship with greer, why do you think they thought it was relevant?” 

now this was interesting. ida made sure to glance upwards as she thought, biting her bottom lip. why would it be relevant? “honestly, i don’t know.” not that it really mattered to people, or others, what her relationship with greer had been like. no one actually knew the truth. “i don’t know why they would have thought it was relevant. we were friends her freshman year, my sophomore year, but it fizzled out as things go. we had some other friends in common too, so we weren’t totally isolated from each other. there’s not much more to add there.” 

another scribble into the notepad and ida shifted yet again in her seat. she was getting antsy now. “were you aware of greer planning to visit portugal this summer?” 

“and she couldn’t have packed me with her?” ida gave a small laugh that was met with silence. so she cleared her throat and nodded, straightening up. “no, i didn’t. but her goin’, me not knowin’, neither is very surprisin’ ain’t it?” her pointer finger flicked back and forth to emphasize her point. choi just nodded, but offered not much more to comment. which was disappointing to ida. 

“do you have any reason to believe that the golden girl would want to leave ogden college?” brown jutted in again, pulling her attention back to him. 

of course there was reasons. and ida was happy for it. ogden was better for it. “i mean…can you imagine the kinda pressure she was under? she’s a morrison, her name means somethin’. people looked to her for guidance, for friendship, out of jealousy. all of that hog shit sorta thing. wouldn’t you wanna break from this?” she waved her hand her hand, looking between choi and brown seriously. “not sayin’ that’s why she’s gone. but bein’ a young woman ain’t easy. not like you two would have any idea.” she nodded her head, turning to meet the woman’s eyes with an easy smile. once again she was met with stares and silence. fine, they definitely aren’t as easy to please as her hometown cops. 

“right, thanks for the ida. one last question and then you’re free.” brown spoke again, leaning back in his chair to look over at her, studying her. she met his gaze with a raised eyebrow and small smirk. “fire away agent.” 

“is there anything you know you’re not sharing with us?” 

“absolutely not.” she answered a little too quickly, placing a hand on her chest in feign offense. “i respect the work y’all do, and i worry about greer. i want to give you all,” her eyes panned across the agents faces, “the information you may need, and to help you in any way that i can.” her eyes settled back on choi, and then to brown as she spoke. 

“ah, yes we have that note here. leaky. did that nickname give you a hard time growing up?” the man leaned forward and smiled, leaky just shrugged. “no, not really.” he nodded and leaned back. 

“well, i’m agent choi, this is officer contreras, and agent murray. we’ve only got a few questions for you today so it shouldn’t be too painful.” he smiled again, but leaky just let his gaze drop instead, it was harder to look people in the eyes as the winter months neared. he knew he should have a lawyer, don’t trust cops, don’t talk to them without representation. he’d been taught it all his life. experienced it first hand from time to time, seen his friends get fucked over by the judicial system. but the thing is he couldn’t afford an attorney, a lawyer to come in during interviews, and it was certainly difficult to come by one from the public defender's office, especially when nothing was technically happening. 

so leaky just stared at the table instead. 

“can you talk about your time capsule video? give us some context for the clip that was leaked?” leaky just shrugged. “ha, wait, leaky was leaked. nice play on words.” officer contreras spoke up with a low chuckle, which only caused leaky to look at him with confusion. he’d heard it all before. 

“i mean what is there to explain? it was just a dumb way to end my video. did dean zuko ask you to berate me about it? being one of the faces of the school and all?” he huffed with a roll of his eyes, bringing his hands out of his pockets to now cross them over his chest. “it’s a common saying, meant in good faith honestly. and completely different from the rest of my video so, it seems irrelevant.” he didn’t have time for this stupidity, he didn’t want to be here. “the rest of your video? what do you mean?” 

“i mean like…most of my video is good. just talkin’ bout life at ogden. nothing crazy at all. and i thought it was a funny outro i meant to cut out.” besides leaky was most definitely not fucking bitches nor getting money. he thought that was pretty obvious. “besides it seems others had more to say than me.” he shrugged with a huff. 

“others? like greer? were you aware of her submitting a video?” contreras looked up, eyes meeting leaky’s with a level of suspicion. something burned inside of his chest. 

“no, we weren’t best friends or anything. why would i know that?” contreras shrugged, leaning back in his seat before looking over at choi. “just trying to figure all this out leaky.” 

he huffed, “well you’re doing a shit job.” he mumbled, and immediately winced at the words. he definitely shouldn’t have said that. choi looked back over at contreras who only snorted in response. 

“alright there buddy. what do you know about the naive newcomer using steroids?” contreras asked, giving leaky a nod as if he would know anything. 

but the dude was using steroids? what the fuck? “huh?” eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked between the three agents, eyes finally settling on murray’s. she made no indication of her thoughts. “steroids? i didn’t know about that…shit.” should he have known? “listen we were friends but i had no clue. he didn’t seem like the type…though there are others who definitely seem like it.” he paused, with a shake of his head. “others? like who leaky?” there was a pause. “like you?” 

now this got under his skin, all the emotions he held tightly within himself bubbling under his skin. “no, what the fuck. do you think i could afford steroids? why do you think i would even want them huh? i got here on my own talent and merit. i don’t need some bullshit…besides these kids here can get away with that kind of shit. i can’t.” which for the most part was true, leaky had already used up all the luck he’d been given in life. if you would even call it luck. “what kids?” 

“you know the kind of kid who comes here. rich, hot, showing up with the family attorney. barely having consequences, thinking they’re hot shit. people like greer, and milo, and sebastian.” the names trickled out without much thought and leaky was already kicking himself. “what about them leaky? that they’re doing steroids? drugs?” but all leaky could do was shake his head. he was in deep shit now and for some reason he couldn’t get his mouth to stop, to think clearly and just answer and leave. “no, no. not like that. they’re good people, i just…there are just students here who are clearly more privileged than others. that’s all.” murray was scribbling furiously, which only sent his heart rate up. god, he was so fucked wasn’t he? 

“you transferred here didn’t you leaky? from…alabama? how was that?” agent choi seemed to soften just a touch, as if working to empathize with leaky. which was impossible. no one knew what it was like to be him, and even if they did they certainly wouldn’t empathize, he was sure of it. 

“it was fine. ogden had tried to recruit me during high school but i had my heart set on alabama. and well, didn’t get to play my first season and things weren’t looking good. so when transfer portal opened i put my name out there and ogden came back with a better deal. and better education. can you blame me?” murray was writing again and choi gave a nod. it was sensible enough. not that alabama was a bad school, but there was something to be said about ogden. 

“and it must have been hard, losing your best friend and girlfriend too.” the voice was sympathetic. instantly the tears welled up in leaky’s eyes and he ran his hands across his face, trying to will them away and calm himself down. “yea, i…it was easier to move away.” he answered honestly, wiping the tears from his eyes at the memories of jackson and iona. murray kept writing, and contreras cleared his throat, looking back at leaky. “sorry for you loss man.” he only nodded in response, closing in on himself now. 

“so back to the naive newcomer, did greer ever talk about breaking up with him? or anything like she did in her video?” choi asked, his look turning neutral again, fingers tapping on the table. 

leaky just shrugged. “not to me.” greer definitely wouldn’t have told him anything like that. 

“were you aware of greer planning to visit portugal this summer?” 

leaky couldn’t help the snort that left him, his hand going to wipe his nose again. his heart rate still hadn’t settled down, and he was glad they weren’t hooked up to lie detectors. because his readings would be off the charts. “no, but that’s not surprising. isn’t that the privilege of people like her?” fuck his anger was seeping through and he was fumbling this. and the thing was that leaky hadn’t actually resented greer or the other students like her when he first arrived to ogden. there were rich kids at alabama, those who were bought in because of their parents. but it didn’t take long for leaky to realize just how different it was here. 

“and why wouldn’t you? some other students have brought up your relationship with greer. why do you think they thought it was relevant leaky?” officer contreras leaned forward again, eyes boring into leaky in a way that made his skin itch. he shifted in his seat and shrugged. 

“i don’t know man, why don’t you ask them?” though it was puzzling, why would anyone really care about his relationship with greer? they hadn’t been enemies, they hadn’t been best friends, or secret lovers. why did their relationship matter to anyone else? 

“why don’t you elaborate on that relationship then?” he prodded, pointing a leaky before his heavy hand tapped against the table, palm flat to it. leaky winced again at the sound, more startled than he liked to be. 

this was not going well, and guilt was eating him alive. “look, there’s not much to our relationship okay?” despite leaky’s relief with her being gone. “we hung out with some of the same people, ran in the same circle and all that. but there was nothing really there. not of like substance anyway. i wasn’t like…secretly sleeping with her while she had boyfriend like others. or had some weird jealous rivalry or something. it was just normal. though that may be hard for y’all to wrap your heads around.” he chuckled again, not out of humor, more of a protection of himself. murray was writing again, while choi and contreras traded looks. looks that leaky didn’t like. 

“do you have reason to believe that the golden girl wanted to leave ogden college?” choi asked sincerely. making leaky’s stomach tighten as he shifted, yet again, in the chair that was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. 

“i don’t know. we all have reasons to leave right?” he tried to smile, but it fell flat and he broke his gaze again. whatever the reason was, it was good enough for leaky. “but no, i thought she had it all here. but apparently i was wrong. wasn’t like we were super close you know?” he didn’t mention that he thought ogden might be a bit better without her. 

with a final hum of acknowledgement, choi leaned back and nodded at leaky. as if he was thinking through everything that he’d said, and leaky wondered if he believed him. if his truth was enough to be the truth. “well that’s about it for us leaky, hope finals don’t treat you too badly.” he smiled and leaky nodded back before pushing out of the chair, heading toward the door. and when he was about two steps away from escaping, he was interrupted. 

“oh, one last question before you leave leaky. is there anything you know you’re not sharing?” 

he paused, back still turned, eyes on the door. he could not answer, just keep walking and disappear down the hallway. but he swallowed, turning to look at the three officers who were staring quite expectantly at him, waiting for an answer. 

“alethea, you can come in, thanks for waiting. i’m agent choi.” a handsome man with a surprising smile stepped out from behind the door. their mother would certainly smile back and say something kind or flirtatious to break the ice. alethea just nodded, rolling her hands under her sleeves before tucking them under her armpits as she stepped inside. 

the other agents just gave her a small nod, the woman leaned up in the back, the other shuffling through some papers. agent choi introduced them as agents brown and murray. alethea made no effort at small talk. 

“so uh, alethea, how are you today? you hanging in there? i know finals are a rough time, boy i don’t miss them.” agent choi laughed as he settled into his seat. all words were lost in her mouth as she opened it and nothing came out. so she just shrugged and the agents looked at each other. 

“well let’s just get right into it then. were you aware that greer morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?” agent brown looked up at her expectantly. 

they had never been the particularly talkative type. it was easier to skate by when you were quiet. and the shitty thing was, most people in their quietness and smallness learned to observe and pick up on everyone else. to notice them. alethea had missed the memo, all too caught up in her own self it seemed. “no.” is all they could answer, taking a deep breath. the first interview had gone fairly well it seemed, but now alethea was grasping for anything to bring her back down. to place them back in reality. a struggle for them these days. 

“just no? okay then...” choi sighed, giving them a small reassuring smile. it did nothing to open them up. maybe they should have called their dad after all. “can you talk about your time capsule video? give us some context for the clip that was leaked?” 

their first instinct was to go ahead and say no again. but instead she sighed, moving to place her hands under her thighs now, anything to keep her from picking at them again. “uh, i don’t think there’s much to add.” her voice was soft, and she felt like a child again. getting lectured by her father, investigated by her mother for something she couldn’t even remember. there were few things alethea came to resent more than feeling so small in such a way. and it was overwhelming all over again. “just that everyone is going through something, and maybe we should all be a bit more mindful about it.” what else was there to add? that she was thinking of her missing best friend? that maybe if alethea had been more attentive, they could have seen it? that greer wouldn’t have betrayed them in such a way? 

they didn’t seem to love the answer, but accepted it with a small sigh and shrug. “you’re not giving us much here alethea and i...” 

“there’s not much to give you.” 

“alright, alright. had you ever heard of anything regarding the naive newcomer using steroids?” they all looked at her expectantly. 

alethea’s mouth went dry with realization. was that why he’d been kicked out? escorted off campus? that seemed like a dramatic show and completely unnecessary for something so...almost trivial? he wasn’t the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last. “no? i...wait what the fuck?” the words sputtered out in confusion. “he was doing steroids?” there was no answer to her question, just another glance across the table, the soft scribble of a pen and a nod to confirm her. just ever so slightly. “so you know nothing?” 

“why the fuck would i know if he had been doing steroids? he wasn’t my boyfriend.” and despite him being greer’s, alethea hadn’t known him well. another realization for them over the past few months. how little alethea knew of not only greer, but her people too. just how little alethea knew altogether. this drew a raised eyebrow from agent brown who now looked at her more directly than before. 

“had greer brought up breaking up with him ever? or anything of the sort like she did in her video?” he asked, a bit sternly. it seemed to contradict agent choi’s smile. 

she shifted in her seat again, fingers now gripping the back of her thighs. “no.” it came out slowly, softly, her gaze shifting away from them as she chewed on her bottom lip, willing the tears to stop. how stupid right? to start crying over the idea of your best friend breaking up with her boyfriend? but greer never mentioned it, and in fact despite the times alethea asked, never offered nothing more than a single sentence and her knowing smile. it was all so fucking stupid that alethea didn’t know what to feel. “she didn’t tell me a lot apparently.” that felt like an understatement. everyone always leaving poor little alethea in the dark. 

“really? weren’t the two of you close? in fact…” agent brown check his notes again with a tsking sound. “some other students have brought up your relationship with greer. why do you think they thought it was relevant?” 

now alethea turned her attention away from them, watching the corner of the table dig into the carpet. she briefly wondered if the table had always been there, creating a space for itself among the threads of fibers to call home. or if it had been dragged into a new position, disrupted by the fbi’s presence like most of campus was. “alethea?” agent choi called again, leaning in to place a hand across the table and near her. her eyes cut to it, trailing over the way his knuckles protruded from his skin, the soft tan line of a ring on his finger. was he married? divorced? did it matter? “she was one of my best friends, so i’m not surprised someone thought it was relevant.” she answered to his hand before looking up at them both. in the back of the room the other agent shifted, alethea had forgotten she was there. “i didn’t see her all summer, so i don’t know anything. but i like to think were significant parts of each other’s lives which is maybe why…” her voice broke and she bit down on her lip again, trying desperately to keep it all inside. her hands freed themselves from under her to then cover her eyes. she wasn’t even really sad in that moment, just embarrassed for her own stupidity and lack of attention. 

“it’s okay you can cry.” alethea didn’t even pay attention to who spoke that time. instead she breathed in deeply, counted to five as she held her breath, and then let it out slowly. she repeated this motion a few more times until she dropped her hands back to her lap and looked up at the agents. it was a few more moments before anyone spoke again. 

agent choi opened his mouth, and then closed it, eyes studying alethea intensely. they didn’t move, just stared blankly back. “were you aware of greer planning to travel to portugal this summer?” he finally asked. 

portugal? what the fuck. “what do you think i’m gonna say?” she mumbled, feeling more than defeated in that moment. their right hand slipped into their left sleeve, picking at their thumb again, flicking the hangnail back and forth. a small spark of pain with each movement. “you have to answer the question alethea, only you can.” he nodded, as if trying to coax the truth out of them. it only made them want to retreat further inside of themselves, to quiver away from the world and sneer at anyone who came too close. “no, i wasn’t. i don’t know what portugal would have there for her.” 

“do you have any reason to believe the golden girl would want to leave ogden college?” 

yes. their mind flashed to that night in spring semester. everything they had thrown out, words frantic and desperate. greer remained so calm and collected, direct with alethea in a way that felt harsh. and now look at them. “no. i thought she might have it all here but…” they shrugged again. “like i said, you don’t know what people have got going on inside of them. even the people you think you know better than yourself.” 

both agents nodded thoughtfully to this, brown leaning back with a sigh as he glanced back at the stack of papers and then straight back to alethea. his eyes bore into hers, like lasers, like they were trying to read her mind. they shifted in their seat uncomfortably, finally picking off the hangnail completely with a sudden poke of pain. “is there anything you know that you’re not sharing? you can trust us alethea.” 

alethea looked up as he stated her name. something felt like it could rupture inside of them, and they weren’t sure what it was, or what the consequence would be if they investigated it. “no, i don’t know much of anything apparently.”