A Warning

A Warning is the fifth chapter of Stranger in a Strange School.

Chapter
Tina sat in the studio alone. Normally, she would be on her way home but today was different. She sat there, trying to wrap her head around Basil's arrival. Was he a part of the Coral Grove cult? Why didn't he hurt her any more than shoving her into a locker? The more she thought about it the more Tina kept drawing a blank.

There were other thoughts on her mind. She thought about Lee. He was avoiding sometimes, he had a relationship with Brandy it all told Tina that Lee didn't like her. But that couldn't have been true could it? Brandy was a horrible person Tina simply couldn't believe that Lee, the boy that she had known for so long, would be dating Brandy.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door! Tina jumped a bit. The knock was loud and Tina had not expected it. She walked toward the door but stopped within a few feet.

"Yes?" Tina's voice was nervous. She was afraid that it would have been Brandy come to taunt her, Chaz to argue with her or Barrage to berate her for something.

"T-Tina, y-y-you in there?" The voice had a stutter but it was unmistakably Basil. Two questions came to Tina's mind, the first was why was Basil stuttering the second was why had he ask for her specifically?

"Uh, yes." Tina thought that would have been answer. Who else would Basil had expected to find? "Basil, why are you stuttering?"

"No reason." Tina rolled her eyes. Basil had a reason but he simply didn't want to say. "You know, you better avoid Principal Barrage."

"I know, he's been on my case as much as he's been on…" Tina stopped for moment. How did Basil know that she had been snooping around? "… Basil?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you say to-"

"I may have told Principal Barrage to beware of escaped detentionaires and snooping girl reporters." There was a short silence. Tina thought for a moment. 'Escaped detentionaires' meant Lee but she never told Basil that Lee had gotten yearlong detention for the big prank. He must have worked thought out himself, but then how did he know that she was looking into the mysterious Coral Grove?

"Why would you do that?" This was surprising because Tina didn't think of Basil as the sort of person who would side with as brutal a person as Barrage. "Why would you tip off Barrage about Lee constantly leaving detention and me investigating the disappearances of two staff members?"

"I never said Lee." Basil's quickness told Tina that it was Lee that Basil had indirectly mentioned. "Wait, he's been leaving detention before?"

"I figured it out and yeah, he's been sneaking out of detention a few times now." Tina still needed one thing answered. "Why did you turn on your-"

"My what?" Tina backed away from the aggressive sound in Basil's voice. He hadn't come into the newsroom he hadn't even opened the door. "My classmates? My friends? Let me tell you something, I've got no friends and that's because no one has ever treated me with kindness. Because of problems with my voice and the shape of my head and treated like a freak."

"But I don't—" Tina was hurt. Basil was practically accusing her of treating him the way others did.

"You were with Chaz earlier, the way I see it anyone who works with a jerk like him can't be too different." Tina heard a long sigh from Basil. She shuddered to think about what he was going to say next. "This conversation is over, I'll see you tomorrow." Tina heard Basil walk away. She collapsed to the floor, extremely hurt by his words. Tina didn't view Basil the same way Chaz did, why couldn't he see that?