Chapter 42: Awkward Situation

“So, how did your trip to the gaming company go?” Mrs. Stewart asked while sorting the papers that were cluttered on the dining table. She placed the stack of papers she had gathered to her right side.

It was almost eight in the evening when both Avegaille and Jane got back home. Mr. Rustford dropped both of them along the way before he went back home with his daughter. Mrs. Stewart noticed the paper bag Avegaille was carrying and looked at it curiously. Jane, on the other hand, sat down on one of the seats, in front of her mother and looked exhausted.

“It was amazing, Mom!” Avegaille exclaimed happily and quickly placed the paper bag she was carrying on the table. “They showed us how they develop games, like from rough sketches, then, how they slowly program it into a code until it becomes a game that we can play. They also gave me this as a sort of souvenir for visiting!”

“What… exactly is it?”

Perplexed, Mrs. Stewart stared at the paper bag while Avegaille took out the boxes in it. One box was bigger than the other. Avegaille opened the bigger box and placed the contents on the table. Jane reached out for the orange colored device and opened it, revealing a dual screen, along with some buttons. Then, Avegaille opened the smaller box, took out a cartridge and inserted it in the slot of the orange console.

“The shrimp here was originally saving up for this console but after they heard how much she liked their games, they gave her this plus one of their games,” Jane explained and then, she pushed the power button on the console.

“Also, not only that, they said this console’s color is unique ‘cause they don’t sell them in this color in the stores,” Avegaille added and took the console from her sister’s hand. She started pushing on the buttons, staring happily on the screen.

Mrs. Stewart sighed with exasperation and shook her head. She was happy for her daughter yet at the same time was also worried about her possibly neglecting her studies due to playing video games.

“Oh yeah, Mom, I just learned something interesting today,” Avegaille said while continuously pushing on the buttons of the console. Jane looked uneasy and quickly stood up before her little sister could say anything. Then, Avegaille put down the gaming console back on the table.

“What is it honey?” Mrs. Stewart asked.

“Well it’s about—”

“Oh no, you don’t! You’re not gonna say another word!” Jane interrupted as she quickly covered Avegaille’s mouth with her hands and dragged her to one corner of the room, away from their mother. Mrs. Stewart looked even more confused and was surprised from what she was seeing.

“Mppft?!” Avegaille tried to talk but with her sister covering her mouth, it was hard for anyone to understand what she was trying to say.

“You can’t tell Mom about Dad being in that company, you understand?” Jane whispered while staring at Avegaille seriously.

Avegaille slowly nodded and Jane quickly released her. Both of them walked back to the dining table where their mother was and sat down on the chairs. Mrs. Stewart slightly sweat-dropped, still confused at what was going on.

“Mom, like what I was saying… it’s about Jane!” Avegaille exclaimed and Jane stared at her surprisingly. Jane wasn’t sure if Avegaille was doing this on purpose or she was simply trying to change the subject. “Some of the newer employees were flirting with her and that made me curious about what it really means to have sex appeal…”

“Avegaille!” Jane screamed furiously as she quickly stood up and went behind her sister, about to headlock her. Then, Mrs. Stewart started laughing and both sisters looked at each other wearily.

“I couldn’t help it, it was me who asked your little sister to see to it that you’re not dating anyone until you reach high school,” Mrs. Stewart said to Jane, after she regained her composure. She rubbed the tears off her eyes with her hand. “I didn’t think she’d take it too seriously.”

“Mom, please…” Jane sighed exasperatedly and shook her head. Then, Avegaille lightly chuckled while Jane started ruffling her little sister’s hair. “There’s never a dull day with you guys…”

.-.-.-.-.-

Weekend had passed by quickly and it was now a new week of school. Nicole May was struggling with carrying not only her shoulder bag that had her laptop and some books in it, but also a backpack filled with costumes for a play. Their English teacher had assigned the class to perform a play this week, at the auditorium. Nicole May wasn’t around when Miss Read announced it, due to her breaking down and running out of the classroom that time. Miss Read just assigned her to the costume committee, along with Avegaille and Emily. Even though there were three of them assigned to handle the costumes, Nicole May volunteered in getting the costumes ready for the play. Avegaille and Emily were in charge of putting the costumes on their classmates acting on stage.

It was still an hour early before the first class. Nicole May went to the old location of the newspaper room. The new room they would move into soon was still under construction. As she got inside, she saw Elizabeth looking through one of the drafts they printed for the next issue of the school paper and Emily pasting some snippets of newspaper articles on letter sized papers. Both of them turned to her, in which Nicole May smiled weakly while waving at them. Emily noticed the bulky bag behind Nicole May’s back. She quickly stood up and approached her.

“Whoa, you actually got the costumes!” Emily exclaimed happily and looked closer at the bag on Nicole May’s back, which did not please her. Then, she noticed the bag was slightly moving from the inside and stepped back. “Is it me or is there something crazy going on inside that bag?”

“What?” Nicole May looked at Emily perplexedly and quickly took off the backpack straps off her shoulder. Then, she placed it on the table.

Elizabeth stood up from her seat to get a better view of what was in the bag. Nicole May unzipped the bag and saw a black fluff that was moving. Then, it quickly jumped out of the bag. The thing landed on the table and started meowing. It was Kuroko, the kitten that Nicole May was forced to take care of.

“Aaah! Kuroko, just how did you get in there?!” Nicole May exclaimed surprisingly and quickly stepped back, blocking the entrance of the room.

“Haha, good one, Rustford! Sneaking in a cat to school like that,” Emily remarked and went close to the kitten, slightly stroking his fur with her right hand.

“I didn’t know he was in there or how he got in there in the first place!” Nicole May protested and was shaking nervously. “If Avegaille comes close to this cat, we’ll be in trouble here… well, more on her part, especially with those allergies.”

The kitten meowed happily at Emily and then, gazed at Elizabeth for a bit. Afterwards, the kitten looked at the papers on the table and started playing with them with his paws.

“No, no, you can’t do that!” Elizabeth scolded and quickly pulled out the draft papers she was working on, away from the kitten. Then, she turned back to Nicole May. “Anyway, you’re saying that we can’t let Avegaille enter this room, is that correct?”

“Basically that but at the same time, someone has to watch over him. I don’t have any cat food with me… how are we gonna feed him?” Nicole May pondered while she folded her arms across her chest.

“Why not ask those guys in suits that always follow you all the time to bring the cat food? I would say to let them watch over the cat as well but he’s probably still wary of other people,” Emily suggested while she continued stroking the kitten’s fur slowly with her hand. Kuroko looked happy and started rubbing his head on Emily’s hand. “I could watch over little Kuroko here myself… hehe.”

“I didn’t think you’d be someone who likes cats,” Elizabeth remarked and slightly chuckled at her.

“Fine, I guess I could go with that route… and how are you gonna watch over the cat while we have classes?” Nicole May stared exasperatedly at Emily.

“Oh yeah… good point. We could probably let him stay here until we get back here or something,” Emily replied and laughed nervously. “What do you think, Lizzie?”

“That’s not really a good idea considering Avegaille also uses this place to sleep during lunch time…” Elizabeth replied. “Maybe we could ask the student council for a bit of help.”

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“Jane will be furious for sure the minute she sees Kuroko... Although, she was there when they found the cat,” Nicole May muttered while she placed her hand under her chin. “I wonder if her best friend could help us convince Jane…”

“Oh, the vice president? I’m all up for that, let’s find her first, then!” Emily exclaimed as she pointed towards the door. “Let’s go! Operation find the vice president commencing now!”

Nicole May continued staring at Emily exasperatedly while Elizabeth was chuckling quietly on her seat. The kitten jumped on Emily’s shoulder and tried balancing himself, standing on Emily’s shoulder. Emily held on the kitten with her other hand, helping him stay still on his spot.

“That cat has taken a liking to you… why don’t you just keep him instead?” Nicole May asked and sighed. She didn’t want to admit that she was jealous of how the cat was enjoying Emily’s company more than when they were together.

“He’s cute and all but I have my own cat. Plus, you’re the type who would benefit more with having a cat as cute as this at your place,” Emily explained and the cat continued rubbing his face on Emily’s cheek. Then, she walked out of the room with the kitten. “Come on, we should get going!”

“I’m staying here, I still have a couple more drafts to check,” Elizabeth said as she waved her hand at them while Nicole May got out of the room and followed Emily. “You guys have fun!”

“There’s nothing fun about anything whenever Hayward is involved…” Nicole May muttered exasperatedly and sighed heavily.

.-.-.-.-.-

“Arthur, don’t leave me!”

Arthur continued walking fast, ignoring the girl following him. The girl had short brown hair with part of her hair tied to one side. She was wearing a gray shirt with a blue denim jacket over and a black pleated midi skirt plus some white sneakers. Both of them continued on walking until they reached the stairs area near the library and where the newspaper room was. The girl finally caught up to Arthur and quickly gripped on his wrist.

“Stacey, please… you can’t keep doing this forever,” Arthur pleaded. He tried shaking off Stacey’s grip from his arm but she was very persistent.

“But… I don’t wanna leave you. You’re the man I’ve been searching for!” Stacey protested and went closer to Arthur.

While Arthur continued to struggle from Stacey’s grip, he saw Naz and Avegaille walking together and coming closer to them. Avegaille was carrying one of her durable sticks and was showing Naz how to use it. He had something in mind for a while and he had to act fast. The two girls finally stopped in front of them and Avegaille waved at them. Naz placed her hands on her hips and grinned at them.

“Hey, you’re that stalker Arthur keeps telling us about,” Avegaille remarked and pointed at Stacey’s face. “Do you really like Arthur that much?”

“Stalker?!” Stacey looked at Arthur surprisingly and was slightly annoyed. Then, she turned back to Avegaille. “Hey now, I’m simply just an admirer. Of course, I like Arthur!”

“Ah… well… the truth is Stacey… I…” Arthur began mumbling and slowly turned his head to Naz.

“Huh, what is it now?” Stacey slightly raised an eyebrow and released Arthur from her grip.

Avegaille noticed the way Arthur was looking at Naz and thought of something interesting to stop Arthur’s admirer from pursuing Arthur again. Naz, on the other hand, just kept quiet and continued observing them.

“Well… it’s a-actually…” Arthur just kept mumbling that almost no one could hear him.

“Arthur and Natalie here are already dating, so please leave them alone!” Avegaille exclaimed, in which everyone stared at her surprisingly.

“We are?” Naz asked confusingly and Avegaille quickly jerked her elbow against Naz's arm. She quickly turned to her, confused and annoyed at the same time.

“Y-Yes, that’s exactly right,” Arthur muttered and laughed nervously.

“Hey now, how come I only knew about this now when I’ve always been with you for the past few days?!” Stacey asked irritably. Her sweet and innocent look from earlier was all gone and now, she looked like she was about to kill someone.

Avegaille was acting more cheerful than usual, smiling unnaturally while her glasses were shining, which scared both Arthur and Naz. The two of them slowly stepped away from Avegaille and Stacey and went up a few steps on the stairs, so they could still get a good view of the two girls.

“You’re showing quite a scary face ya know?” Avegaille remarked while she held on her stick tightly.

“You… I won’t accept this… you’re all lying!” Stacey screamed and slowly stepped closer to Avegaille, in which Avegaille stepped back to keep her distance away from her.

Then, the door of the newspaper room opened and Elizabeth poked out her head slightly to get a sight of what was happening. She noticed Avegaille’s expression was different than usual and quickly stepped out.

“Avegaille… what’s going on here?” she asked, which made Avegaille turn to her slightly.

“Ah… don’t mind us here Lizzie,” Avegaille replied and waved at her with her left hand. Then, she crouched down slightly.

Stacey thought she had an opening and quickly rushed towards Avegaille. However, the next thing that happened was Avegaille quickly lunged her left elbow towards Stacey’s stomach and quickly spun, using her stick to hit behind Stacey’s legs. Stacey fell on the floor and her head hit the floor with a loud thud. Both Arthur and Naz quickly got down from the stairs and approached Avegaille and Elizabeth. Avegaille stood up and looked down at the now unconscious girl on the floor.

“Aah… I went all out again, didn’t I?” Avegaille asked nervously as she placed her left hand behind her head.

“That’s way too much definitely…” Naz muttered and crouched down to get a better view of Stacey. “I hope when she wakes up, she won’t remember all of this…”

“Well, someone has to take her down to the clinic!” Elizabeth exclaimed while she placed her hands on her hips.

“I’ll do it… anyway it was my fault,” Avegaille said wearily. She handed her stick to Elizabeth then, crouched down on the floor. She lifted Stacey’s back up and Naz helped as well, placing the unconscious girl behind Avegaille’s back.

“I’ll go with her… just in case.” Naz waved at Elizabeth and Arthur. Then, she left with Avegaille, who was carrying Stacey on her back.

After they left, Elizabeth turned to Arthur, who still was confused at what happened earlier. Arthur could not help but laugh and tried to stop himself.

“Avegaille’s really good at this, isn’t she?” Arthur remarked and chuckled, still trying to stop himself from laughing too much.

“What are you talking about?” Elizabeth asked and slightly raised an eyebrow. “If you mean what she just did, I had no idea she was capable of doing that.”

“No, no, I was talking about how she somehow thought of the same thing I was thinking… now I’m not sure what Naz would be like after hearing all that. Then again, if it came from her, Naz would just simply think it’s just some way to get Stacey to stop following me,” Arthur explained and grinned sheepishly. “I really hope Stacey doesn’t remember anything or this cycle of her following me will never end…”

“Ah… so that’s what was happening… I’m sure she’ll stop after what happened there,” Elizabeth muttered and sighed wearily. “Hopefully…”

.-.-.-.-.-

Emily and Nicole May were standing in front of the door that led to the Student Council's office. Before Emily could grab the doorknob, the door opened and some students got out, walking so fast, that they didn’t even notice anyone else near them. Emily peeked inside of the room and saw Madeline going through some papers, while Jane was sitting on one of the chairs, which was next to a long table in the middle of the room.

“Hey Jane, you know Christmas vacation is gonna happen soon, is there anything we should do before all the students go on vacation?” Madeline asked and continued going through the papers she was holding.

“The school doesn’t really do anything special for that. Probably Christmas decorations, but other than that, I don’t think we should bother going beyond that,” Jane muttered and folded her arms across her chest. She watched Madeline pacing back and forth while still going through the papers she was holding.

Emily and Nicole May were both peering through the opened door, waiting for a proper time to approach the seniors. Then, Kuroko jumped off Emily’s shoulder and slowly walked towards the long table. Madeline was still pacing back and forth until Kuroko jumped on the table, which surprised both of them.

“W-What’s a cat doing here?!” Jane asked surprisingly and quickly got up from her seat. The kitten slowly approached Jane and sniffed the papers that were on the table.

“Ooh, that’s a cute kitty there,” Madeline remarked and slowly placed her hand in front of the kitten. The kitten slowly walked to Madeline and started sniffing her hand. Then, he rubbed his face on Madeline’s hand. “Haha, he’s really friendly.”

Jane looked at the direction where the door was and somehow, saw two heads poking out. She had a feeling that they had something to do with the cat being in their room right now. But suddenly, Emily and Nicole May both walked into the room, looking very nervous. Madeline smiled and waved at them while Jane stared at them exasperatedly.

“We’ll be taking that cat back now and be on our way…” Nicole May muttered and slowly moved closer to the cat on the table. She could sense Jane could burst out at any time and didn’t want to make the situation worse.

“Hey, whatever happened to the plan where we ask the vice president to help us out?” Emily asked, which made everyone stare back at her.

Madeline looked really confused at what was happening and turned to Jane, who obviously wasn’t happy about the current situation either. Emily then finally understood what was going on with the seniors, plus the eerie silence in the room, and slowly stepped back.

“Ahaha, we’re sorry, we’ll just leave now…” Emily muttered and before she could get to the door, Madeline quickly grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving away further.

“You mind telling me what you guys really need from me ‘cause it’s obvious that Jane isn’t the type you'd want to ask help from,” Madeline said and smiled at Emily. Madeline’s easygoing and relaxed nature was radiating so much that Emily stopped struggling, staring at her with awe. Madeline released Emily from her grip after seeing how calm she was now.

“Hey, I can hear you from here you know!” Jane protested. Her left eye was slightly twitching from trying to control herself from bursting out further.

“Now, now, Jane, let’s hear what your little sister's friends have to say,” Madeline said and chuckled a bit. “Remember what we talked about the other day?”

“Fine, I get it…” Jane grumbled and sat down on her seat.

“Well… it’s just that… we need help in finding a place for the cat to stay until the day ends. We can’t have him with us all the time because Avegaille is allergic to cats,” Nicole May explained. The kitten went closer to Nicole May and started rubbing his face against her hand.

“We could do that, no problem, sure. But we got classes too… so, no one will be in this room until lunch period. I think asking the principal or secretary would be more suitable for this, don’t you agree?” Madeline winked at both of them and then, laughed a bit.

“My mother isn’t allergic to animals, so you should be somehow fine bringing that cat there,” Jane added. “I dunno about the secretary though…”

“T-Thanks, we’ll try asking them now…” Emily muttered as she turned to Nicole May and nodded slightly.

Nicole May picked up the kitten on the table and carried him around her arms. Then, both of them quickly got out of the room, leaving the seniors behind.

“Seriously, what was that all about?” Jane asked exasperatedly and sighed heavily.

“Sometimes, you just have to let kids be themselves,” Madeline responded nonchalantly and smiled happily.