After some deliberation and thinking, chapter 15 has been rewritten. There will be a 16th chapter wrapping things up more conclusively.
Chapter 1 The news spread through the school efficiently and quickly, in the same way a wildfire or an outbreak of lice does. There was no real system to it, of course, but rumor and gossip do not need a system. It finds the most efficient vector of transmission and then simply transmits itself,...