Chapter 43: You have to do something

Mrs. Jones stormed into the Chancellor's office violently and filled with rage. Not only did she blame Chelan college for being responsible for the illness Alyssa was experiencing, but its students also had crazy videos of Alyssa flying about the internet, and she did not in any way appreciate it.
She had no idea of the emotional pain Alyssa was going through until she went to check on her, while she was sleeping, and saw her phone on, with Alyssa's pictures everywhere. She looked closer at the sleeping Alyssa and saw a few dried tears streaks that ran through her cheeks and she felt bad.
Mrs. Jones knew the Chancellor was not responsible, but with all indications whoever made Alyssa come in contact with the poison ivy did it intentionally. Not just that, the person was promoting pictures of her passing out the wrong pieces of information.
"Sir, I don't understand what you are saying but you have to fish out the perpetrator if not I'm going to file a suit against your school," Mrs. Jones voiced out after receiving long explanations from the Chancellor of how they were addressing the issue.
"We've heard you, Ma'am, we are going to drop feedback soon. We apologize for every inconvenience we may have caused you. Please forgive us," the Chancellor said, hoping that he was finally going to convince Alyssa's mom.
"You should," she declared as she rose to her feet, and walked away, out of the office and the college she was vexed at.
The Chancellor was in confusion, as he tried thinking of how to handle the situation. He needed an answer desperately, and the only person that could give him the answer was Mr. Tom. The Chancellor picked up his phone and informed his secretary to send for Mr. Tom. After the call, he waited patiently, deep in thoughts and with furrowed brows.
"Mr. Tom, the report you brought is still not satisfying enough. I need you to give us something well detailed, how is it possible that it happened under your nose and you can't do anything about it?" The chancellor said as he leaned forward and tapped his fingers on his desk.
"Sir, I have tried my best. Whoever the culprit is, did careful planning."
"I'm not going to take that, you have to do something. And why did you allow the students to take those videos in such an incidence?" He asked furiously while banging his fist on his desk.
"Sir, I am sorry. Everything was happening so fast, that I forgot the things I was supposed to do. All of it was beyond my control and I'm sorry." Mr. Tom apologized as he was jolted by the sudden bang. "I've informed the ICT guys, and they are trying their possible best to block the account that is strongly propagating the nuisance on the internet. Everything will be fine soon, I promise." He added.
"You have to do something please." The chancellor leaned back on his chair and shut his eyes in frustration.
*****
The sun seeped through the window of Jessie's curtain, and she had to wake up after several turns. The incessant rings of the alarm did no good to her, as it only added to the head pains she had the previous night that strangely wasn't over.
Jessie massaged her temples as she turned her eyes away from the penetrating light of the sun. The previous school day was hectic for her, as she did not only handle her assignments and practicals, but she did Alyssa's own also.
She picked up her phone and was greeted with a message notification. Her lips parted into a quick smile, as she saw who the message was from. Not like there was anything special about her receiving messages in the morning. But it did not occur to her that she was going to get a message from that particular person.
Reading through the contents, another message popped in,
"Don't tell me you are still sleeping. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Send a reply when you get this. XOXO"
Did he send a message caring about her that much? She was so excited to read it. Jessie just could not believe the message came from Charles, so she decided to check again to confirm. There it was, Charles just sent her a morning message out of the ordinary.
Jessie's face lit up in excitement, as she said it out loud, confirming it to herself.
Jessie's cheeks colored crimson from reading the message over and over again. If someone had walked in, they definitely will have found her behavior weird, as she was smiling even when no one was physically present, teasing her.
Tapping on the messaging app, she typed, "I have no plans for today." Jessie read it out loud, and it did not sound okay to her, even after multiple readings. She deleted it, and retyped, "Good morning, I hope you slept well? I don't think I will be busy, as I and Luciana have no plans for the day yet. Why are you asking?"
Feeling satisfied with the new message she typed, she sent it and inhaled a deep breath while closing her eyes, trying to picture how Charles was going to respond to her message.
After waiting on the bed for quite some time, and no new message had popped in, Jessie stood up from the bed and moved to the bathroom to freshen up for the day, hoping that it turns out good, as she was already feeling butterflies in her belly quite early.
She stared at the mirror continuously while she brushed, smiling unnecessarily and recalling Charles's text. Jessie was so lost in her world, that the running water from the tap that had begun to fill up the wash hand basin, was what called her out of her reverie. She did a low laugh at her behavior and went on with brushing.
Picking up her phone, as she was done brushing and washing up, Jessie opened her message while she moved towards the closet to get something to wear. The towel that was wrapped loosely around her, was beginning to drop and her wet hair which she could not dry as a result of her distracted mind was beeping water all around.
A beep from her phone took her eyes back to the screen in a hurry and she was slightly disappointed noticing it was from social media. Smiling at her foolish her reaction was, "Is this what love feels like?" Jessie giggled in a low tone.
She finally decided to dry her hair and took out the hair dryer that was placed just inside her closet, and started the drying process. While she did all of it, her phone was placed on the table next to her, with her still wrapped up in the towel.
Jessie was already losing hope from getting beeps on her phone, as she waited for one from Charles. And then another beep came which she languidly checked, and lo and behold, it was a message from Charles.
"How about we see a movie together or even go to the beach, many things we could do today if you would permit. Since you don't have any plans today, I hope you permit. Another thing we could do that interests me is just me and you laying inside, staring at the ceiling and doing whatever goes with ourselves. What do you think about it? Nice Idea, right?" Jessie read out Charles's message and was a little slack-jawed after reading it.
She was surprised at how naughty he was, not only that, the way he tried to put a drop of it every single time. She enjoyed the fact that he was that way, her only fear being that there was a high possiblity he relates that way to everyone, and she was the person getting all of it wrong.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello Readers, I hope you are doing good. Please rate the book, drop a comment, and review it. Thank you as you do.