Winter smiled innocently, "You guys are right. Maybe we should call it a day." The muscles in their faces relaxed simultaneously. Mandy linked her arm in Winter's and said with a laugh in her voice, "We should go tend to your injuries." Jax scoffed, "Just wash it off. No one will be able to tell the difference." Layla shot Jax a look. "Were we not believable?" Winter narrowed her eyes. Jax shook his head quickly, "Not really. Maybe to others, but I could tell it was staged." Winter attempted to hide her skepticism and scratched the back of her neck. Winter considered them, "Let's just wash it off. It doesn't matter if they believed us or not. What's done is done. Our plan didn't work either way." "Okay," Layla said. Mandy nodded in agreement and understanding.
Layla and Mandy were carrying on loudly among themselves. As they headed towards the bathroom, leaving Jax behind, Winter's overactive mind did not stop spouting ideas on her next move. She had to get angry, angry beyond reason. Usually she tried to remain level headed and rational in order to be able to continue looking at things from an objective point of view. Winter quirked her head to the side considering the things that upset her. She sighed audibly, catching her friends' attention. Mandy squeezed her hand, "It didn't work this time Winter, but we can try looking into other things." Layla smirked, "Yeah. Things like why everyone is so obsessed with Sam Tudor." A delighted expression sprung on Mandy's face as she added, "And why Jax is so nice to you." Winter laughed, "The answers to those questions are all too easy to find." Layla flipped her hair, "Well excuse us if we aren't as observantly inclined as the great Winter Knight." She smiled smugly at Winter as she wrapped her arms around her, "We will help you figure out the answers to all your hardest questions." Mandy joined in on the hug, "That's right. Us three against the world." Winter embraced her friends and mumbled, "And whatever else there is to fight against."
In the bathroom, Mandy began helping Layla remove the makeup right away. Winter stared at her seemingly bloody face in the mirror before running the faucet. She ran her hands underneath it, splashing water on her face. She glanced at her reflection again, watching the injuries run down her face, fading. Mandy pulled out makeup remover from her bag and passed it to Winter. Absentmindedly, Winter grabbed it and continued staring at herself, squinting her eyes. She wouldn't give up, she couldn't. Winter resolved to reveal all the secrets at this school. Once her mind was made up, it was like a fort. She watched the blues and blacks from her eye mix with the fake blood caked on her cheek. Mandy and Layla were giggling about something Winter didn't hear. Winter was lost in thought when she said, "You guys can go on without me." Winter could hear the concern in Mandy's voice, "Are you sure?" Winter nodded. Layla neared Winter and said, "Okay then. We're going to head back to the gym. Come when you're done."
Alone, Winter scrubbed the makeup off her face. Her mind wandered again to reiterate the parts of the plan she had already completed. "Teachers are lax at this school," she thought, "Because there are no rules." She splashed her hand under the running water, "Well if there are no rules then how am I suppose to know how far is too far?" She grabbed a luxury hand towel from the neatly arranged stack in front of her and wiped off the remnants of makeup. Winter smirked to herself, "I guess I'll just have to keep toeing the line 'til I've already gone too far."
Winter walked out of the bathroom and noticed Sam Tudor, preoccupied, standing just outside of the gym. She couldn't tell what he was doing but she noticed that he was fixated on something in his hands. Before she got any closer, he turned and entered the gym. Winter followed. Brenna bumped into her roughly. Winter did not pay any attention to her before she glanced over to where Lucas, Jax, Mandy, and Layla were stretching. She headed in their direction before the intercom went off for the first time since she arrived at Golden Academy High. A voice, muffled by the speaker, echoed throughout the gym, "Winter Knight, your presence is requested in room five sixty seven. Winter Knight, to the conference room." All the eyes in the gymnasium were suddenly on her. A murmur rose among the students. "The conference room?" "That's never good news." "I wonder what's going on." "Wasn't she just in a fight?" Her friends caught her eye as they all had the same general look of worry written on their faces. Winter kept her head up. She turned on her heels and walked out.
Winter scanned the numbers on the doors to find the conference room. "Where is room five sixty seven anyway?" she mumbled. The numbers on the doors were all in the two hundreds. She realized that she was going to have to do a lot of searching before being able to find it. She kept walking down the long hallways before she noticed a door that was different from the rest. It was a large, black door with foreign script etched decoratively on its surface. She examined the area surrounding it and noted that it seemed relatively out of place. Winter had walked down this hallway many times yet she had never seen the door before. She scrutinized it further before she saw it. There, in the top left corner, were the numbers five six seven.