Saturday morning came quickly. The school was quiet, almost too quiet. Only the girls and a few teachers were present for extra classes. The rest of the school building felt empty and still.
Prajwal, Swara, Srushti, Akshada, Anushka, Rutuja, Akshara, Swarali, Apurva, and Niyati Sharma's name were now tied together by a mystery.
"Okay, the plan is simple," Swara said as the girls gathered behind the library building. "While Miss Renu is busy in the staff room, we'll sneak into the record room."
Srushti smirked. "Wow, we're actually doing this."
Anushka whispered, "Feels like we're in a Netflix drama."
Akshara giggled but quickly covered her mouth. "Shh, we don't want to get caught."
The girls tiptoed across the corridor and reached the locked record room. Luckily, Prajwal had already "borrowed" the key from the staff room earlier that morning while helping Miss Savita.
With a click, the door opened.
The record room smelled like dust and old files. Shelves lined every wall, filled with faded documents. The light flickered as they stepped inside.
Apurva pulled out an old attendance file from the year Niyati was in Class 9A. "Look here. Niyati Sharma. Regular attendance. Top marks."
"Next to her—Meenal Sirsat," Swarali said, pointing at another name. "She had a lot of absences before March that year."
Rutuja opened another file—one that recorded complaints and incidents. "There's something here… 'Verbal argument reported between N.S. and M.S. – resolved privately'."
"That's it!" Prajwal said. "She really had a fight with Niyati."
"Wait, it says here that Meenal's parents came to school the day before the 'accident'," Swara added.
The room fell silent.
"Something definitely happened," Akshada whispered.
As they turned to leave, Anushka noticed something shiny on the floor behind a shelf. She bent down and pulled out an old broken phone.
"Guys… this could be Niyati's," she said, wide-eyed.
Akshara's voice was barely a whisper. "Let's charge it… see if anything's on it."
They quickly locked the room and sneaked back out. The broken phone now held new hope. Maybe—just maybe—it contained the truth.
As they walked back to class, each girl's heart pounded with a mix of fear and excitement.
The pieces were coming together.
But the danger was growing too.
Because someone didn't want the truth to come out.
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