CHAPTER 38: DISAPPEARED.

Back at Brookside High, Principal Morris had just sat down with his second coffee of the morning when his office phone buzzed. He sighed, glancing at the caller ID. It was Ms. Angela, one of the most diligent but also one of the most persistent members of the staff. If she was calling before the morning bell, it was definitely going to be something serious.

He picked up.

"Morning, Angela. What’s—"

"Sir, we need to talk. Now." Her voice was urgent.

He straightened in his chair. "What’s happened?"

"I’d rather say it in person. Are you in your office?"

"Yes, but—"

"I’ll be there in two minutes." She hung up before he could ask anything else.

He stared at the receiver for a second, then pushed his coffee aside. He expected her to barge into the room any moment now.

Sure enough, she was knocking on his door before he had time to stand up. She stepped in, closed it behind her, and refused his offer to sit when he gestured toward the chair. She was holding a folder clutched tightly to her side.

"What’s going on?"

"It’s about Bella," she said without preamble.

Principal Morris’s brow furrowed. "Bella... the same Bella we expelled some weeks ago?"

"Yes. And before you ask, no, I’m not here to argue about that decision. I know it’s final. But I’ve been speaking to some of the students from her class, and..." She glanced around the office, lowering her voice as she stepped closer to his desk. "I think we made a mistake about who the real culprits were."

He frowned. "Angela—"

She put the folder down on his desk and opened it. "Bella’s nudes weren’t leaked by some anonymous account like we thought. I’ve got three separate statements here, from different students, who are not even friends with each other, that point to Liam. Apparently, he got the nudes from Bella and leaked it, making sure it got to the school WhatsApp group. It was an intentional act to spite her."

That got his attention. "Liam Kenner?"

"Yes. And this is where it gets interesting. Mira Koker was in on this too. It wasn’t just the leak, they also tried to blackmail her with more of her nude pictures. Bella showed me the blackmail message and I traced it myself. They even did it from the school’s computer here in our ICT unit.

"My God," principal Morris exclaimed.

Angela nodded. "Mira also recruited her cousin Raquel for the blackmailing. So all three of them were involved in this."

Morris leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "So You’re telling me that after expelling Bella, we’ve been letting the actual offenders walk around school freely?"

"That’s exactly what I’m telling you."

He exhaled sharply, then reached for the phone on his desk. "Alright. Let’s get them in here. Mira, Liam, and Raquel. Now."

Angela hesitated. "That’s the other problem."

He paused with his hand on the receiver. "What?"

"They’re not here."

"Not here? What do you mean not here?"

She shook her head. "No one has seen them, Principal Morris. I checked their attendance records, they haven’t been in school since last Thursday. No calls from their parents, no sick notes, nothing."

Morris sat up straighter. "So they’ve been skipping classes for almost a week and no one told me?"

"I thought it was odd, so I went to the attendance officer. She assumed it was an excused leave, she thought maybe you’d authorised it."

"An excused leave for all three students at once? I haven’t authorised anything this past week."

Angela leaned forward, lowering her voice again. "Sir... I think they’ve disappeared."

The principal’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, ’disappeared’?"

"I mean I called their parents this morning after I got those statements. That’s when it all came out."

"Go on."

"Liam’s mother was under the impression he was on a school excursion, with some Minister of Youth and Culture, something he told her the school had organised. Obviously, we’ve had no such trip. Then I asked why she didn’t bother calling the school to confirm. She said she did. And a lady answered, confirming the excursion trip for a week.

"Jesus Christ! What are these children doing?"

"If I didn’t hear directly from Mrs Kenner, I never would have believed any of this," Angela replied, shaking her head. "I’m guessing one of them, either Mira or Raquel, took the call, claiming to be one of our school’s officials in order to cover up their plan and make it seem real.

Raquel, on the other hand, told her parents she was staying at Mira’s house for a week-long sleepover, which her mother didn’t approve of, but she ran away from the house. When she left, her mum didn’t bother to check back with the school, hoping that her daughter was indeed at Mira’s place.

Then Mira herself? I called home and they said she suddenly showed up one day at the estate with two schoolmates but nobody questioned her. They stayed for about two days and left again. That’s all I could gather from the housekeeper who picked the call. I don’t even know if her father is aware of her whereabouts currently."

Morris stared at her for a moment. "So... all three have been lying to their parents and guardians. For days. And now no one knows where they are."

Angela nodded grimly. "Exactly."

For a long moment, the room was quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioner. Then Morris said, "Alright. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Maybe they’re together somewhere, but this could be nothing—"

"Nothing?" Angela’s voice rose slightly, incredulous. "Three students vanish without telling their parents, after leaking and blackmailing another student, and you think it could be nothing?"

"I didn’t say it is nothing," Morris replied, his tone firm. "I said let’s not assume the worst until we’ve checked the facts."

Angela folded her arms. "Fine. How do you want to ’check the facts’?"

"Watch your tone with me, Angela," he warned.

She flinched a bit.

"Look, I understand you really care about your niece, Bella and that is why this could be really personal—"

"With all due respect, Principal Morris," Angela said, her voice steady now, "I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. This isn’t about Bella anymore. This is about three students who think they can ruin someone’s life and just... vanish. And we don’t even know what they’re doing right now. You keep saying ’check the facts,’ but how long are we going to keep checking before it’s too late?"

Morris leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands together. "Angela, I hear you. I’m not dismissing the seriousness of this. But as principal, I can’t just sound an alarm without due process. The first thing we need is an official record of their absence, from the day they stopped coming until now. Then, we call in their parents for a meeting."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Call them in? the parents don’t even know where their children are. They’ve been lied to for nearly a week. What kind of meeting do you think we’re going to have?"

"An urgent one," he simply replied.

Angela shook her head. "You’re still underestimating this. Do you realise that if they’ve been lying this elaborately, staging calls, disappearing without a trace... they’ve probably planned whatever they’re doing for weeks?"

He sighed. "Which is why I need more than suspicion before I involve the police."

"Suspicion?" Angela’s voice trembled slightly with frustration. "You have statements from three different students confirming their involvement in Bella’s case. You have parents admitting they were lied to. You have a week of unexplained absence. If this were any other set of kids, we’d already be on the phone with the authorities."

Morris rubbed his temple. "Angela—"

"No, Sir. I’m telling you, this is bigger than you think. These aren’t just rebellious teenagers skipping classes. There’s intent here. Malice. They’ve done this before—"

"What do you mean ’before’?" he asked sharply.

Angela hesitated. "I mean... I’ve heard reports of several cases. Not like Bella’s, but small incidents like nasty pranks, bullying that didn’t get reported officially. Mira especially... she is always in the middle of things like this and she knows how to hide her tracks while others take the blame for what she’s done."

Morris frowned, leaning forward. "If you knew they had a history—"

"We took them as minor cases we could settle in the classroom. No point involving you, when it’s something we could clearly handle. You have enough on your hands already."

He stared at her for a moment. "Alright. Since you’ve brought this case to my table, here’s exactly what we’re going to do"

"First, I want every teacher who’s had them in class this term to tell me when they last saw them and what their behaviour was like. Then, I’m going to call their parents myself to get clear timelines."

"One more thing I think you should add," Angela said firmly.

"What’s that?"

"In the meantime, I suggest we lock down any access they have to school systems, email, student portals, even the school groups. If they’re planning something else, I don’t want them using our resources to do it."

Morris was quiet for a long beat. Then, finally, he nodded. "Fine. I’ll have the admin team pull their digital activity records. You get the attendance booklet. I’ll call the parents personally before lunch.

But, Angela..."

"Yes?"

"If this blows up, it’s going to get very messy. For the school, for the board, for everyone involved. And I don’t want rumours flying around the corridors before we get the full picture. So for now, you and I keep this contained here. Understood?"

Angela gave a reluctant nod. "Understood."

He gave her a look. "I know you really want to get justice for Bella..."

"This isn’t just Bella anymore," Angela interrupted. "They need to be found. First, for their own safety and then to be treated according to the severity of their offences. That’s the only way we can prevent this from happening in the future.

"Angela," Morris cut in, his voice quiet but firm. "Let’s handle this step by step."

She stared at him for a moment, then gave a tight nod and turned toward the door.