Gabriella is here, Riri and Hannah are both missing, Jennifer is gone, and who knows what’s going on with Sarah.

“This is my fault..” I thought telling the truth was the right thing to do. But, as usual, I was wrong.

As I was making my way towards the front gate, seemingly out of nowhere Ms.Marshall stepped in front of me. “Hello, Jeff. How are you?”

“I-“ A chill ran up my spine as Ms.Marshall placed a hand on my shoulder.

Ms.Marshall smiled broadly as she gazed into my eyes. “You don’t look too well?”

My forehead broke into a cold sweat. “I..I’m fine…”

Ms.Marshall lips curled into a light smile, and she stared at me for an uncomfortably long time. “If you have any problems, be sure to let me know, okay?”

I swallowed before answering, calming my raging heart in the process. “I will..”

“Great. Have a nice day.” Ms.Marshall quickly turned her heels and left without another word.

“Take care…” I mumbled as she walked away.

I arrived at the front gate in a slight daze. Going over everything that happened to me today with a fine tooth comb.

“Hey!” Saya’s cheerful voice brought me back to reality.

“He-“ Saya ran up to me and planted a firm kiss on my lips. She didn’t forget to force her tongue into my mouth and engage in a mock battle.

After a few minutes Saya finally separated her lips from mine. “What took you so long?”

“Yeah..sorry I was..” I don’t even want to talk about it. “Just busy with some stuff.”

Saya eyed me suspiciously, and I accidentally looked away. “What stuff? Was it fun?”

“It was.. interesting.” More like terrifying and stressful.

“You still don’t trust me.” I turned back to look at Saya. Her eyes trembled as she awaited my eyes.

“..” Silence. That’s all I could give her. I don’t trust her.

Saya took a deep breath as she started walking, cay idk got me to follow after her. “I already know your secret. Don’t you think it would be smart for me to help you?”

My eyes shot open, a thought that I never contemplated exploding within my consciousness.

I took a long hard look at Saya, contemplating her question. “..Do you actually want to help me? It didn’t seem like it this morning.”

Saya flashed me a quick smile. “I get jealous sometimes. Sorry.” She made a pensive face as she looked up at the sky. “I don’t want to help you. But..” She suddenly side eyed me, the look in her eyes causing my heart to skip a beat. “I want to be with you. So I don’t have a choice. Just like you, right?”

I nodded my head, not knowing what else to say.

“Jeff.” Saya stared at me, with an expectant look. “If.. you didn’t have to be with me, would you?”

Yes.

I opened my mouth to speak. But, nothing came out. I couldn’t say whether or not I would be with her if I didn’t have a choice. I believe I would, but I’m not sure.

There was a long stretch of silence as we walked. Both of us afraid to break the silence.

We arrived at the station and picked up Miyuki. She was already frowning and was angsty to get home.

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Saya suddenly whispered into my ear. “What’s your plan?”

“To get the rest of the girls?” I’m sure I knew what she meant, but I was just in disbelief and asked the question.

“So that’s a no.” Saya responded almost instantly, her voice flat with a hint of mockery.

I could feel my face turning red, and opened my mouth to make an excuse.

“That sounds like you.” Saya cut me off. “Don’t you think you’re being too lazy?”

“I.. it’s not..” I wouldn’t say that I’m lazy. It’s just a lot going on. It’s not like an actual video game with hints and breaks and stuff.

Saya raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you worried about another player taking away one of your girls? Like Jason?”

I briefly recalled Jason’s crying face as he clung to me and I shivered. “No. He wouldn’t.”

“That doesn’t mean someone else won’t. Marshall academy is a coed school now. Another guy could come along.” Saya looked at me questioningly, almost as if she was inspecting my person for an answer. “You hadn’t thought about it?”

At first I thought Jason was.. but…

I scratched my head awkwardly. “Well…”

“I’m not surprised.” Saya rolled her eyes as she interrupted. “You were a dumb virgin not too long ago.”

Against my better judgement, I asked a dumb question. “So what am I now?”

“Just dumb.” Saya replied coolly.

Saya’s words stung a little deep and I snapped back. “Fuck you.”

“When? Now?” Saya pointed to everyone around us as she spinned around in a circle.

People were watching us with weird looks and the second hand embarrassment was far too real.

“In front of all these people??” Saya covered her mouth as she gasped with a wide eyed expression. “That’s… kinda hot.”

“Just..” A small laugh escaped from my mouth, before more laughter ensued. “I can’t.. with you right now.”

Saya smiled as she resumed walking normally. “Oh yeah, you said Jason wouldn’t? Is that because-“

I already know where this is going. “I don’t swing both ways.”

“Are you sure? I won’t judge. I like girls too.” Saya replied with a laugh and a bright smile.

“I’m sure….” She likes girls…

Saya watched me intently with a smirk on her face. “Pervert.” I was going to deny her claims despite them being true, but she quickly cut me off when she whispered into my ear. “Maybe.”

Saya’s cheeks tinged a little red, and she flashed a lewd smile my way.

We finally made it home, and dinner was almost ready. I went upstairs with Saya in tow, as per usual.

I do spend a lot of time with her, don’t I?

We chilled on my bed for a bit, before she decided to take a shower. Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Since I was bored and didn’t want to think about my day, I started checking my phone. Which I haven’t done in a while.. I honestly forgot about it.

I frowned as soon as I opened my messages.

The first thing that greeted me was a seemingly endless storm of messages from Jason. His messages consisted of the most mundane things, like the food he was eating or a random meme that he saw that made him laugh. Then there was him checking up on me while I was in the hospital and wishing me well, offering to take me out once I got out of the hospital.

“Well. At least someone cared.”

My mind wandered and I found myself hovering over Riri’s contact. A part of me told me not to contact her. But… “Fuck that.”

I called her phone, it beeped a few times before going to voicemail. I tried again and then it went straight to voicemail. I then proceeded to message her.

What should I message her?

I agonized for god knows how long until I finally decided to send the very first thing that came to my mind.

“I miss you.”

After I hit send, I stared at the screen waiting to see if she would respond. Unfortunately, she didn’t. I saw the text next to my message that indicated that it was read, but nothing else happened.

I sighed in frustration before falling on my bed.

How can I fix this?

Saya finally came back from her shower. She was slick with water and her hair clung to her face. She smelled fresh like a bouquet of flowers. She had on a pair of pink shorts and a white t-shirt. Her casual clothes somehow managed to display her figure even better, and I found myself ogling her for a good amount of time.

Saya’s cheeks flushed a light tinge of pink and she threw me a suggestive look.

My breath started picking up and I could feel my heart pounding.

We were locked into a staring contest, waiting for the other to make the first move.

This wouldn’t last for too long due to Kenzie screaming to come down for dinner.

Dinner was relatively the same, except for Kenzie telling Saya that she needed to talk to her later and Saya wincing in response.

After I got out of the shower, Saya was sitting on my bed waiting for me. She had a complicated look on her face and was fidgeting badly.

“What’s up?” I felt a pit in my stomach and I was already starting to regret asking her.

Saya looked at me intently before taking a deep breath. “You should take a seat first.”

“Okay???” I sat down next to Saya as she played with her fingers.

“I wanted to be the one to tell you. That teacher you were looking for..” Saya quickly turned to face me, looking directly into my eyes. “She’s in the hospital.”