CHAPTER 3
THE SELLOUT
Reighley closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He wasn’t looking forward to spending the rest of the semester at school with Freya. He knew that their interaction would most likely bite him in the butt, but he needed to stand his ground. Reighley finished packing his things when he noticed a familiar person hovering over him.
“Looks like you’re in for some trouble,” Ash said sarcastically.
“Oh, hi,” Reighley said, surprised to see her.
“I saw what happened, and you have quite the pair on you for telling that girl no,” she said.
“She’s pretty important around here I’m guessing?” He asked.
“You could say that.” Ash crossed her arms.
“What do you mean?” Reighley questioned.
“Her dad helps pay for this place. He is some bigshot that gives his daughter everything that she wants. The principal kind of lets her get away with anything. Everyone in the school just does whatever she asks in fear that they might get expelled for defying her.” Ash explained.
“You mean I might be expelled?” Reighley shuddered at the thought of getting expelled after all his hard work.
“Possibly. I doubt it though. I would be careful. Her fanboys are vicious dogs.” Reighley was surprised to see Ash talk to him, but deep down inside it made him quite happy. He worried about his first impressions at school. He didn’t need the entire school to like him, but having a few friends wouldn’t hurt. Not to mention Ash’s aura felt refreshing to be around. It was as if he had been at a coral reef in the ocean swimming on a perfect summer day.
“Fanboys?” Reighley asked.
“You live under a rock or something? Freya Young is extremely famous on a lot of social media. She has an army of trolls that she sends on anyone she doesn’t like.” Reighley laughed at the comment and then pulled out his flip phone showing it to Ash.
“I don’t have any social media. My phone is too old.” Ash looked shocked by what she had seen.
“Oh my! You found ancient technology under that rock you live at. Tell the dinosaurs I said hello.” Ash joked. “But seriously, I wouldn’t let anyone see you have that old brick or you would become the laughingstock of the school. Let's keep it between us.” Reighley thanked her for the advice and the two went their separate ways.
While storming off in an embarrassed rage, Freya somehow ended up on the roof level of the school. Attached to her hand was a bruised and battered Destiny barely hanging on for dear life.
“I cannot believe the gall of that boy. He had the nerve to turn me down in front of our entire class.” Freya complained while stomping back and forth.
“Freya… Let go please…” Destiny said with a whimper. When Freya stopped and looked at Destiny she instantly felt guilty and let go of her hand. She was the one who dragged her all the way up to the rooftop.
“Hang on Destiny. I’ll have my private doctor come in and take a look at you later. For now, we have a real problem to deal with.” Freya sent a text out to her maid Lily and had her make arrangements for her friend. Meanwhile, Destiny threw up a thumbs-up and a weak smile. “I need to get that boy to fall in love with me before rumors start to spread.” Freya still couldn’t believe what had just happened. Never in her life had anyone said no to her. She always got what she wanted. So, to better prepare herself for her next encounter with Reighley, she decided to do some light stalking on his social media account. She decided she wanted to learn more about him to gain the upper hand. While on her phone she went to her main social media application SocialLight. After it loaded she looked up Reighley Summers on the website. She was surprised to find nothing. She then looked at all the other applications she would use and still found nothing. Did she imagine it all? How could someone not exist on the internet?
“Is something the matter?” Destiny said after standing up and dusting herself off.
“I can’t find him anywhere. It’s like he doesn’t exist.”
“What? Are you talking about Summers? He's just downstairs.”
“I mean on SocialLight or any website to be precise.”
“Well, Maybe he's like a secret agent or something sent here to spy on the school. Maybe that’s why he looked all beat up. He got into a gunfight before school.” Destiny said, making her fingers look like pistols and accompanying them with sound effects.
“Don’t be foolish. That happened because Reighley Summers is the boy who saved the cat.” Freya explained. Destiny froze in disappointment and placed her finger guns back into her imaginary holsters. Freya was even more curious about him than before. He must have not known who she was when she asked him out. For now, she would see how things go, until she came up with a plan to get him to date her. After a discussion about what the plan could be between her and Destiny, the school bell rang signaling for them to return to class.
Reighley, while doing a bit of exploring, after tidying himself up, found a vending machine on a skywalk connecting two sections of the building. The school bell had just rang so he needed to hurry and buy something and then get back to class. He walked over to it and pulled out his wallet, only to see it empty. Although, it didn't surprise him. He spent all of his savings either on things for his room, or his younger sister's tuition. Though, it barely made a dent in her school debt. He told himself that he would help pay Isabelle's debt off first before his own. His mom was barely getting by with the rent and other house utilities, so it was the least he could do for his family. The drinks on the vending machine were ridiculously overpriced as well. Each beverage costs roughly 2800 yen. Which was about 21 US dollars. When Reighley turned back and walked towards his classroom he saw two people standing at the end of the hall. He was being spied on by Freya Young with a still arrow-like aura, and her friend she dragged along with her. Her friend had pink hair and was roughly the same height as his younger sister around 5’2. When he looked her in the eyes, he saw a pure white-as-snow aura coming from the girl. The aura had somewhat of a shape. It was as if a cloud had become a solid keeping its fluff and buoyancy. It shocked him that a girl like her would hang out with someone whose aura was almost the complete opposite. White auras usually meant that person was lighthearted, carefree, and honest.
Freya didn’t expect to see Reighley again before class. The plan she had discussed beforehand was to send Destiny out to follow him after their next class. However, that was no longer needed as she found out something about him that she could use. He was broke.
“Short on cash?” Freya said followed by a chuckle. She figured he was poor, but didn’t think he would be barely scraping by. An idea came into her head. A way to let her have her way.
“That’s none of your business,” Reighley said begrudgingly. He attempted to walk past the two girls only to be stopped by Freya standing in his way. She pulled out a stack of what looked like fifty bills each worth 10,000 yen out of the side of her bag. She held it right in front of him and Reighley was completely stunned. He had never seen that much money before. Each bill was roughly $74.00. It was more money than he had earned during his entire time working his summer job.
“Look Reighley, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I admit I was a little too aggressive. I mean you had no idea who I was right? So let's make a deal that would help both of us.” Reighley felt a bit insulted by her statement, but it was true. He didn’t know who she was nor did he care in all honesty. It was clear to Reighley that she wanted to control him and appeal to his greed.
“Are you trying to buy me?” Reighley asked. He was filled with a bit of disgust at the thought of being paid for. He was going to tell her no outright until the thought of his younger sister buried in a mountain of debt came to mind. He considered it. Swallowing his pride for his sister's best interest was something he was already quite good at.
“Don’t make it sound weird. I am simply wanting to pay you to be my boyfriend.” Freya said with a smirk. That was only half true. She also wanted to silence any of the rumors that she got rejected. “I’ll give you a stack just like the one I’m holding for each week you spend with me.”
“Sorry, but I am not for sale,” Reighley said as he walked past Freya. He never would have thought those words would have come out of his mouth but he was glad they did. Reighley continued onward, not looking back at the two. He only thought about how awkward the rest of the day was since he had to sit next to her.
“Shouldn’t you stop him?” Destiny mentioned seemingly confused.
“Just give him some time to think it over.” Freya’s face had turned red once again. She saw the look in his eye when she showed him the money. If he didn’t accept her offer she would just increase the pay. Freya knew that everyone had a price, so it was just a matter of time before he would consider it.
“There is something odd about him,” Destiny stated.
“How so?” Freya asked.
“He seemed pretty cold towards us both until he looked me in the eyes. Maybe he likes me?” When Freya heard this she became slightly jealous. Destiny was not one to lie. Her intuition was usually right. However, Freya knew she was the prettier one of the two so after some thought Freya decided to up the ante the next time she would see Reighley after class.
“We’ll just have to wait and see. Everybody has a price.” Freya said with a smirk. The two then hurried towards class.
Reighley sat down at his desk shortly after returning. Not even a minute later Freya and Destiny followed through the door and made their way to their seats. Reighley didn’t bother looking at the two. He decided to focus his energy on school instead of being annoyed. After their English class had ended Reighley got up and attempted to walk out of the room.
“So have you considered-” Freya was caught off guard by an abrupt glare from Reighley when he had passed by. He completely ignored her and walked out the door. Every time Reighley would see Freya he would do the same thing. He refused to give her the time of day. Until finally school was over and it was time to go home. Reighley got up from his desk for the last time of the day when he heard the voice of Freya once again.
“Please! Would you just hear me out?” She asked. Reighley paused and looked back at her, not with a glare but with a sigh. The rest of the class, including the teacher, was watching with anticipation.
“Fine, what do you want?” Reighley asked. ”I’m tired of this game of cat and mouse.”
“Can we just talk in private?” She asked. The crowd looked confused and disappointed by her choice of words.
“Fine. Tomorrow after school. ” Freya looked genuinely surprised that he said yes. She was feeling pretty defeated after being ignored so many times by him. It irritated her. So many people would do just about anything just to spend a single day with her but he wanted nothing to do with her. The crowd seemed completely engaged in their conversation.
“Okay.” She replied. Afterward, Reighley stepped out of the class and headed towards the Nurse’s Office. When he arrived he could hear a sneeze coming from the other side of the door. He opened the door only to see Kaede with a runny nose and his cat in her hands.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“It’s finally growing on you huh?” Reighley said with a smile. Kaede was caught off guard. She was sitting at her desk. The trash next to it was filled to the brim with tissues. When she had seen who had entered her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Welcome back!” she said, immediately standing up and handing the black cat back to Reighley. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to breathe with that thing in here?”
“I didn’t know I made you feel that way Kaede,” Reighley said jokingly.
“That’s- you know what I mean.” Kaede turned red from embarrassment. Reighley knew Kaede couldn’t handle the slightest comment about romance without turning red. So, he would tease her from time to time. Reighley was exhausted from his first day of school. So much had happened to him. He walked over to a bed in the center of the room and laid on his back letting out a deep breath.
“Today sucked buddy.” He said while looking up at the cat he was holding. The cat meowed back at him. “You must be hungry.”
“Have you thought of a name yet? If you need help, the cat is a boy.” Kaede asked, still blowing her nose with tissues.
“Yes, yes I have. Right Morgana?” He decided to name the cat Morgana, based on one of his favorite game series. Morgana replied with a meow once more while Reighley petted its head.
“How was your first day of school?” Kaede asked.
“Well, I became the target of some crazy rich girl named Freya.” When Reighley said this Kaede’s jaw dropped from shock.
“Freya as in Freya Young?” Kaede couldn't believe her ears.
“Yep, that’s the one.” Reighley said while petting his new found friend.
“Well, what did she want?” Kaede questioned.
“She wanted to pay me to be her boyfriend.” Reighley sighed.
“That’s not that surprising. That girl is-” Kaede was cut off by Reighley.
“Yeah, Yeah, I know. I’ve heard it about ten times today. Look, as far as I am concerned, that girl is nothing special. She just has good looks and a lot of money.” Reighley had heard enough about Freya for one day.
“Sounds pretty special to me. Well… what did you say?” Kaede asked.
“I told her no, obviously. Though honestly, she offered 500,000 yen a week so I can’t say I wasn’t tempted.” Reighley said.
“500,000 yen!?” Kaede shouted. “That’s more than what I make…” She whispered with a hint of jealousy.
“Yeah, I’m not completely sure why. It's not like I'm particularly special or anything.”
“You are extraordinary to me. Well, whatever you decide to do make sure you're careful okay? I worry about you, you know?” Kaede said with concern.
“Stop being such a worry wart. I’ll be fine. Besides, I already made a friend.” Reighley grumbled.
“Well, if you say so. If you ever need anything just let me know. Now, can you help me clean all this cat hair up off the floor?” Kaede sneezed once again.
Reighley put Morgana back into his backpack after helping Kaede clean up as much cat hair as they could. The two caught up on how things were since they had last seen each other while they cleaned. Five minutes later they finished.
“Hey, how about you come to visit next weekend? I’m sure Isabelle and Mom would be happy to see you.” Reighley asked.
“Sure, I can come over for dinner. It’s not like I have anything better to do.” She said with a sigh. Reighley knew that Kaede would usually indulge in wine on the weekends since she was a single woman who lived alone. He felt kind of bad for her, so he invited her so she wouldn’t feel lonely.
“Well, I need to head home. Thanks again for helping me out.”
“Anytime!” Kaede said with a wink. Soon after Reighley headed back out towards the school gates to make his commute home. It was already 5:30 PM. He had quite the walk before he would make it home.
Meanwhile, Destiny was panicking. She had lost something very important to her. It was a friendship bracelet Freya had made. The two girls made a matching pair of them. One for her and the other for Freya. She thought she must have lost it when she was being dragged about by Freya. She went to ask Freya for help, but it was too late. She had already left after Destiny realized she was missing the bracelet.
Destiny: Hey I lost my bracelet I need help finding it.
Freya: *Thumbs up Emoji*
Destiny was on her hands and knees in the second-floor hallway searching desperately when she noticed someone leave the Nurse’s Office. It was the new guy Freya was currently obsessed with. Destiny looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Reighley asked.
“I can’t find it anywhere,” Destiny replied.
“Find what?” Reighley questioned.
“My friendship bracelet. I’ve had it ever since I was seven.”
“Well, do you know where you had it last?” Reighley felt bad for the girl. Destiny explained that she thought she may have lost it when she was dragged up to the rooftop by Freya. Reighley felt a bit guilty since he had some part to do with that, even though it was Freya’s fault. “All right. I’ll help you look for it.”
“You will? You’re so nice! No wonder Freya wants you to date her.” Destiny said with a smile. Reighley looked a little confused by the girl's response but shrugged it off and started looking.
“So… I don’t think the two of us have ever been properly introduced. I am Reighley.”
“I’m Destiny! Nice to meet you.” When Reighley heard what her name was he almost laughed, but made sure not to. He thought it sounded like a pole dancer's name which was too ironic considering how pure of a soul she had. He had thought that her parents must have been the type to name their children something like that because they thought their child would be some special angel. They were half right but it was still a terrible name in his opinion.
After searching the first two floors of the building, the two had no luck finding her missing bracelet.
“So Destiny, why do you hang out with Freya anyway? Did she pay you to be her best friend or something?” He didn't understand why anyone would be friends with her without monetary compensation.
“No Freya and I grew up together. She’s been a good friend of mine my whole life. Actually, the reason I’m looking for this bracelet is because she has the other half.” Reighley was astonished by her answer. Never would he have imagined that Destiny would hang out with Freya on her own free will. Either Destiny was too nice or Freya wasn't as bad as he had made her out to be. After a while, the two found themselves outside of the hall of class 3-A. Through the window, Reighley could see someone very large standing by an open window. He saw a flicker of light come from the stranger. Destiny, however, couldn’t see as she was too short.
“What is it?” Destiny asked.
“It’s just some student.” He explained.
“Let me see. Let me see!” Destiny started jumping in order to peek through the window but after no luck, she decided to open the door. When she did, the student looked like he was caught with his pants down as he attempted to cover up something in his hand.
“Hey! What's the deal?” The male stranger exclaimed.
“Sorry! We were just looking for something.” Reighley answered immediately. Reighley looked into the young man’s eyes and saw a blazing fiery red aura. He was surprised because on closer inspection it was a bright red aura. When he realized it, his worries quickly swept away. The stranger was incredibly well-built. He looked like he weighed well over 90kg. He had his blonde hair slicked back with a headband holding it down. Reighley guessed his stature was roughly 200cm tall.
“Oh… well do you need help?” The stranger asked politely. Reighley could tell he was an overall good guy. Red didn’t just mean the person was passionate or had a desire of sorts, it also meant that the person was serious and straightforward.
“Yes! We lost something very important to me.”
“Important? Very well... I will not rest until we find it. We will find it, for if my name isn’t Ulysses Cinder. (You-Liss-Sees Sin-Dur)” He said with a nervous laugh.
“Right…” Destiny and Reighley said in unison. The three went on for the next ten minutes looking at each floor. Unable to find it, the three ended up on the rooftop.
“I don’t think it’s going to show up. We’ve checked everywhere.” Reighley said with a sigh. “Maybe someone already found it and turned it in. You’ll have to check tomorrow.” Destiny looked truly disappointed almost to the point of tears, Until she got a notification from her phone.
Freya: Look up.
Destiny was confused by the text but after half a minute passed, off in the distance were three helicopters heading straight towards the school.
“What in the world?” Ulysses said with a dropped jaw. Soon after, the three choppers arrived. One of them went towards the entrance of the school, while the other two hovered over the school’s rooftop. Freya was sticking her head out of the helicopter side looking down at the three. Immediately after, men began to pour out of the sides of each chopper. The men were in full swat suits. They looked like they were about to storm a hostage scenario. Freya grabbed the helicopter's intercom and spoke through it.
“They’ll take it from here.” Freya was attempting to save face. She wanted to impress Reighley and this was her best shot at turning the tables. However, she would have done it either way, since Destiny asked her for a favor for once in her life. Freya knew it must have been that important because Destiny was usually pretty stubborn and tried to do everything by herself. For her to ask for help was very unlike her.
“She’s an angel!” Ulysses said. His eyes were fixated on Freya. He looked at her like she descended heaven itself. Reighley thought to himself that he was the only sane person present at the moment. He wondered why Freya would go to such lengths for a bracelet. Finally, Freya’s subordinates finished landing on the property using a rope connected to the chopper. Destiny was ecstatic, but Reighley wasn’t fooled so easily. He figured this was all some ploy to show off to him. However, when he looked at Freya and saw her eyes he was shocked to see that her aura was not pointing at him, but at the building itself.
“She really did this for her friend…” Reighley whispered under the loud noises of the helicopter. Soon, Freya hooked onto the rope and descended to see the group face to face. Once she had landed, with the snap of her finger, all of her men stormed the building in search of the bracelet. Soon, after the helicopters flew south, just far enough so that they could hear themselves speak.
Reighley was impressed. He didn’t think she had it in her to swoop down from the heavens, then all of that quickly faded away as he saw that she was recording the whole thing from an ActionPro hooked onto her shoulder. It was a video recorder that people who did extreme sports would use due to its durability. Destiny jumped into Freya’s arms squeezing her tight.
“You really came through!” Destiny shouted with excitement.
“Of course. I wouldn’t abandon a friend in need.” Freya replied. When she said this Destiny burst into tears. Freya was quite embarrassed by the hug. She wasn’t appreciated often and to this degree before and found it to be quite nice. It was different from her fans praising her or even her family. “Now, now, don’t be crying on me Ms. Detective,” Freya said jokingly.
“Okay,” Destiny said sobbing. Reighley found it kind of sweet however he hid his face from the camera pointing at him from Freya. He didn’t care for fame, nor did he want any part in helping Freya in her attempts to improve her status either.
“Can you turn that thing off?” Reighley said while looking the other way. Freya complied. She turned off the ActionPro after letting go of Destiny and then proceeded to walk to Reighley.
“One month.” She said while looking at him intently.
“What?” Reighley asked.
“If you’re not in love with me after one month, then I’ll leave you alone. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll pay you weekly as promised.” Freya stated. Reighley was surprised that she was willing to compromise. He would have thought that she would have rather died than do that. She kept on surprising him. Whenever he would make an assumption about her, he ended up being wrong. So, Reighley decided he would give her a shot. Mainly for a paycheck since he needed the money. He thought that a month of his life surely would be worth that amount of money. All he needed to do was put up with someone.
“It’s a deal”. Reighley said. Freya was ecstatic. She finally had a shot to prove to him why she was amazing. She couldn’t wait to restore balance to her universe. Now that she had him for a week, she could make him fall in love way easier.
Reighley didn’t forget about the cat in his bag during the entire search. It had only been eighteen minutes of searching, but that was too long and Reighley began to worry. Freya was about to ask Reighley a question when he suddenly took off downstairs.
“I hope you find the bracelet!” He shouted on his way out the door. Even though she had gotten her way Freya couldn’t help but feel annoyed that he didn’t even say goodbye. It left her feeling like she didn’t win. Regardless, the two would begin dating the next day so it was fine. It would all be the same in the end, according to her.
When Reighley finally reached the second floor, he went back towards the overpriced vending machine located on the skywalk. He looked over towards the spot and saw a purple bracelet on the floor near the wall. He had found it. He felt it quite ironic that the bracelet was purple but proceeded to pick it up and give it to a security team member that was nearby. The guard thanked him, and then Reighley quickly made his way home. Once he had left the school grounds he pulled Morgana out of his bag. It looked like it was going crazy because it was all cramped inside his backpack for so long.
“Sorry, Morgana. It won’t happen again, buddy.” Reighley said. When the cat heard him call it a name its wild nature calmed and turned into confusion, as it tilted its head 45 degrees. Reighley carried Morgana in his arms the rest of the way back home. Once they arrived, his sister Isabelle was pleasantly surprised by what he was holding. His mother, however, was very upset that he was late home.
“Hey, guys. I brought home a new member of the family.” Reighley said. “His name is Morgana.” The two girls became ecstatic as Reighley held up Morgana for the two to see.
“He’s so cute!” the two girls said together. Morgana held his head up high almost like it was proud that the two ladies were all over him. After introductions were complete, Reighley let Morgana roam the floor for some time to help him get accommodated with the house while he had dinner with his family. When he had finished eating he then got ready and went to bed. He climbed up into his top bunk bed in his garage and brought Morgana along with him.
“This is your new home now,” Reighley said. He ended up snuggling with the cat. He couldn’t have been happier with what he had.