The end of the school day would come. As students were dismissed, some assembled outside the school at the bus stop waiting for their transport, when a few kids began to gossip. “Did you hear what Nick did? I always knew something was up with him,” one girl snickered. The hushed ramblings caught the ear of a boy standing by the bench at the stop.

“What did you say? What happened to Nick?” he asked the girls. They didn’t answer and just giggled as they walked away. The boy was confused as he turned around and boarded the bus. While on the bus, the boy walked down the aisle, looking for an open seat, seeing more and more people talking about what Nicholas had done.

“I heard he tore it to shreds because he saw he wasn’t on the list!” one kid said.

 “I heard Nick snuck into the principal’s office and took his car keys!” another chimed. The boy sat down with a confused look, and for the rest of the ride home, he could hear nothing but his peers’ rumors and hushed whispers.

As the bus reached his stop, he stepped off and was patted on the back, “It’s okay, Thomas, I don’t think he did it,” a random student said. The encounter heightened Thomas’ confusion, but he hopped off the bus and began walking home, stewing in his thoughts. On his way home, he saw a classmate and walked up to him to ask what had happened.

 “Bruce, why has everyone been talking about Nicholas? Did something happen?” he asked.

“You haven’t heard? Nick got caught stealing something from the teacher’s lounge, they’re going to make him give it back, or else they cancel the party at the end of the week,” Bruce replied. Thomas was in disbelief, as Nicholas was his good friend, and he knew him very well. Taking this new information, Thomas knew he had to do something about it.

The next day, while at school, Thomas saw Nick walking to his homeroom and stopped him. “Hey, Nick, how’s it going? I didn’t see you on the bus yesterday,” he said.

Nick became nervous from his friend’s line of questioning. “I-I was picked up by my mom,” Nicholas replied.

Thomas wrapped his arm around Nicholas’ shoulder, “Nick, I heard some crazy rumors about you yesterday, but I hope you know I don’t believe any of them. Someone is out to get you; we just need to find out who,” he said. The first bell rang, and Nicholas and Thomas had to get to their respective classes. The day would continue until it was once more recess time. Victor realized he would never get to enact his plan to revise the sheet, so he stashed it in his desk to somehow return it. Before the class left for recess, Victor sneakily planted the sheet inside Nicholas’ desk while no one was looking. During recess, Thomas watched the various groups of children playing and running. He noticed his friend Nicholas was not present. He approached one of the teachers and asked why Nicholas was missing.

“He is currently in detention until he gives up the sheet,” the teacher responded. “Did he really steal it?” Thomas asked.

 “He was one of the only students yesterday who was not present for recess, and he didn’t provide a good reason,” the teacher responded. Thomas gained a new determination after hearing this; he knew Nicholas would never steal anything from a teacher, and he knew something suspicious was afoot.

Later in the day, near dismissal time, Thomas was excused from his homeroom and made his way into Nicholas’ class. “Excuse me, everyone, before you leave, I just want to get your attention,” he said from the classroom doorway. The whole class turned their heads to look at Thomas. “It has come to my attention that Nicholas is accused of stealing an important document from the teacher’s lounge. “I know there is no way he could have done it, and I want to prove how,” Thomas announced. The teacher put her clipboard down and leaned on her desk.

“Young man, it is very rude to barge into a classroom like this. Do you want me to write you up?” she said. Thomas was undeterred as he stepped into the classroom and closed the door behind him.

“Ma'am, I apologize for the interruption, but you have mistakenly punished Nicholas without proving his guilt. As you see, Nicholas could not have stolen that sheet simply because he had no reason! Nicholas will not make it to the party anyways because he is leaving early on Friday! There would have had no reason to take that sheet because it would not have involved him regardless," Thomas argued.

 "Well then, if that is the case, why didn't he say where he was during recess yesterday?" the teacher said, folding her arms. Thomas didn't have an answer to that question, but the students began thinking about the situation.

"You were very quick to condemn him, and the other students even ostracized him due to the nasty rumors. Has anyone actually seen him with the paper? Did anyone else see him walking through the halls with it? Innocent until proven guilty should be the way things go!" Thomas said.

The students started to murmur in agreement and began to realize the treatment of Nicholas was a bit harsh. No one had seen him steal the paper or even have it with him. Seeing this, Victor became nervous. "Uh, hey! What's that sticking out of Nicholas' desk?" he yelled from the back of the class. The teacher approached Nicholas' desk and noticed a paper sticking out. She pulled it out and noticed it was the missing sheet.

 "That is it! Nicholas had the paper inside his desk the whole time! Thomas, your friend was the thief the whole time," she said, holding up the paper. Thomas was stunned for a brief moment, but he recollected himself.

 "Wait, that's not right. Nicholas hates having loose pieces of paper inside his desk. He always puts his papers in a folder or a binder. Also, why would he have kept it in plain view this whole time if he wanted to keep it a secret," Thomas inquired. Victor became even more nervous as he started to look around the classroom. "Furthermore, Victor, I don't remember seeing you on the field yesterday. Your friend was throwing up, and you were nowhere to be seen. Isn't that right?" Thomas said. The other students agreed again, realizing Victor was not outside for very long the previous day.

 "That's nonsense, of course; I was outside. You weren't paying attention," Victor replied.

"Now that I think about it, I think I saw Victor running out of the class hallway when I returned from the band room," Lauren chimed in. Victor was becoming increasingly nervous as the class began to turn on him.

"Victor was there when we did recess attendance; he was accounted for when we left and when we got there," the teacher said.

 "Don't you think it's odd that he wasn't near Bobby when he was throwing up? Those two are usually inseparable," Thomas said. The pieces were falling into place, and the illusion set up by victor was slowly disappearing.

 Nicholas broke his silence and spoke up for the first time since the previous day, "Hey, wait a minute, this paper couldn't have been in my desk either. I cleaned it out two days ago because I spilled glue in it," he said. Sure enough, when the teacher checked his desk, it was empty save for a few splotches of dried glue.

"Okay, what's the meaning of this? Someone is lying," the teacher said.

"Victor, why don't you tell everyone what you were doing yesterday," Thomas said triumphantly. Victor knew he was backed into a corner. He had no choice but to fess up.

"Alright, fine, it was me. I did it. I took the paper during recess and snuck away when Bobby was barfing. I got him to chug three jugs of milk from the cafeteria before we went outside, and I slipped away after recess started. I was going to look at the paper and maybe fix it up, but my plan didn't work," Victor confessed. Thomas was vindicated, and Nicholas' name was cleared.

The teacher glared at Victor while apologizing to Nicholas. "Nicholas, if Victor is the one that took it, why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell us where you were during recess?" she asked.

"Well, that's the thing; I snuck away from recess to go to the library to use the computers," Nicholas said sheepishly. The class laughed well, and Thomas was relieved he could clear his friend's name. Victor was embarrassed and ashamed, more ashamed that he got caught than he did it. But now everyone knew Victor was a very tricky student.

Author of the short story Victor’s Scheme, Ra Khem Young, is an aspiring story writer making his first foray into published media. Ra Khem typically writes action scenes and stories, tragedy, and comedy; however, he has made his first foray into the mystery and thriller genres with Victor’s Scheme.