Chapter 115: Operation catch the culprit

Lily and Ginnie jumped in front of Penny defensively, wearing their fierce front as if they would fight to death for Penny. Penny’s small figure quickly disappeared from the fans’ sight.

"Why are you here? Are you waiting here to ambush Penny!?" Lily raised his chin. "If you came here to cause trouble, then I’ll call the headmaster!"

"Li — Lily is ri — right!" Despite the apparent fear in Ginnie’s voice, she is forced to keep a stand for her first friend. "Try — try to hurt Penny, and I’ll tell — Ray!"

Ginnie quickly bit her tongue and covered her mouth when she mentioned Ray. She didn’t have a powerful backing and Lily already used the headmaster. She could only think of Ray to scare them off.

"What are you kids’ saying?" the five girls, who were kicked out of school because of "that" incident, frowned. "We didn’t come here to fight Penny, duh?"

Lily and Ginnie were still skeptical.

"Did you come here to apologize?" Lily asked, only to see them look at each other.

"No, we didn’t." the girl in the middle crossed her arms arrogantly. "We’re here to talk to Penny."

"We wouldn’t apologize to Penny because our actions are only retaliation for how she humiliated Ray." One of the girls added.

"It’s a cause and effect."

"Moreover, even if we pulled all those pranks, she was able to deflect them. So, in a way, our efforts were all in vain. It’s a draw."

"Piglet, come out of here and stop hiding behind your friends!"

Penny sighed as she glanced at Ginnie and Lily’s back. "I’m not hiding. I’m just small," she muttered, taking a step forward to face these girls.

"If you didn’t come here to apologize, then that’s alright. However, what do you mean by cause and effect?" she continued, scanning the faces before her. "Whether I rejected your male god or rode along with his silliness, I’m pretty sure you’ll still stir trouble for me."

The girls’ faces stiffened a little as they cleared their throats. That was right.

"Well, that’s not the point!" one of the girls chimed. "The point here is —"

"You crossed the line," Penny uttered coldly and fiercely, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I don’t mind the silly pranks you pulled on an innocent thirteen-year-old. I can indulge with you a lot longer — even for the rest of the school year. However, you crossed the line. Dropping a flower pot straight at someone can kill — that’s not a prank, but attempted murder."

"But we didn’t do that!" one of the girls harrumphed angrily.

Penny furrowed her brows. "Wasn’t there any evidence?"

"That’s right! I heard there’s solid evidence of you admitting what you did!" Lily yelled.

"It’s not an admittance!" the other girl also raised her voice.

"Girls, calm down." One of the girls stepped in before this argument strayed from their original intention. She then faced the three. "We didn’t come here to apologize, but we came here because we were accused wrongly and also punished unjustly."

"What — what do you mean by that?" Ginnie stuttered a little, but based on their grim expressions, it looked like they were telling them the truth.

"One of us was so upset at Ray for accusing us of crossing the line, so she ended up spewing a bunch of nonsense," the girl explained calmly. "We all admit about all the pranks we pulled, but none of us has the guts to try to kill someone for another. We might be jealous of Penny, but we’re not crazy enough to kill out of jealousy!"

"That’s right. All this time, our club’s agenda is to do all good causes!" another Ray fan joined in. "We might’ve been a bit over the top for pulling all these pranks on you, but that act is a crime!"

"Even if someone among us suggested such a diabolical plan, we will stop them at all costs!"

"None of our pranks are meant to hurt you physically. Matter of fact, if you were splashed with that bucket of dirty water on the first day, we would not do all those other stuff."

"That’s right."

"Yes. That’s true."

"In other words, we’re being framed by someone else! We would let it go if we weren’t expelled, but we can’t. As Ray’s fans, we still have our dignity and integrity to uphold! We also didn’t want Ray to hate us!"

After listening to their sentiments, Penny, Ginnie, and Lily looked at each other.

"But I saw it," Penny blurted out, watching the girls slowly shift their eyes to her. "A broken keychain — one of the fan club merchandise fell along with the flowerpot."

"A keychain? Ray’s merch?"

Penny nodded. "So, whoever did it is probably in your club. Still, it’s not my problem. You couldn’t control your members."

"Wait!" one girl waved in confusion. "Are you sure about this?"

"Why would I lie about it?"

"It’s impossible that it’s our members." the calm girl crossed her arms, deep in thought. "But when you were pursued by Ray, many actually applied to be part of the club."

"What?" Penny furrowed her brows while Ginnie and Lily frowned.

"There were newcomers — do you still have it?" the girl perked up and looked at Penny with determination. "The keychain. Do you still have it?"

"Uh... I don’t know?" Penny scratched her temple with her index. "Well, I guess I sort of took it home. Why?"

One of the girls quickly explained. "All our merch has different purposes. Sashes are for the members who have made great contributions to the club. Stickers and some customized notebooks and posters are available at our store, the pens are only gained as a reward and they have different designs every month. The pens are a collection to keep everyone active."

"What about the keychain?" Lily inquired out of pure curiosity, but more than her interest about who almost killed her, she thought Ray’s fans’ club system was built with more sophistication. As the leader of Penny’s fans club, Lily had to learn!

"Keychains are given after becoming a member of the club," they explained solemnly.

"In other words, all the members of the club have a keychain?" Penny replied. "What’s the point if we find the piece?"

The girls shook their heads and sighed. "It has a serial number in them. Or rather, a member count. If you still have it, then we’ll know who owned it."

"By then, we can prove our innocence."

Ginnie was hesitant, but she still spoke. "Even if you prove your innocence, I don’t think the school will take you back."

"Hah! We have thirty days to appeal our case!" one girl explained. "And even if they won’t take us back, we still have to prove our innocence to not have bad records!"

"Aside from bad records, we also have a reputation to uphold. We can’t just be deemed as attempted murderers!"

"This will also affect our families’ reputations!"

Penny stayed quiet and observed the girls. Earlier, she was skeptical about this. But after hearing everything, she nodded in understanding. They might be an unreasonable bunch, but it did seem this was something they wouldn’t lie about.

"I’ll find it. If I remember correctly, it’s in my room," said Penny with a smile. "If you didn’t do it, then I also want to know who is so wicked enough to try to harm us."

"Then we’ll check our records of who joined our club recently."

Lily raised a hand. "If you need help, I can."

"Me too. I’ll see what I can do." Ginnie offered.

"Good. Since there are only a few of us, we’ll definitely need help."

"This is operation: Catch the Culprit!"

Having said that, the fire in everyone’s eyes blazed while nodding. If earlier this week they were all at odds, now they seemed to unite just to catch the real culprit behind the flowerpot.