As much as I didn’t want to, the next morning I awoke bright and early, covered my scar with some makeup, and headed for school. Still, today would hopefully prove to be more exciting than the last. I had some plans to hopefully help out with my double gig. Now I just needed to get through my first several classes without too much of a hassle.
From the get-go, that thought process was flawed. In the first hour, just as everyone sat down, a student walked into Mr. Jarvis’s class and waved a note to the teacher. “Um, I’m here for Trovare? Principal Bously wants him.”
Mr. Jarvis took the note and gave it a quick glance before nodding. “Trovare, head on down to the principal’s office. You, uh, you know where it is right?”
“I remember.” He spoke in his low-pitched voice. Torren glanced at me, an uncomfortable look in his gaze as he tried to pass a message across. It looked equal parts pissed and annoyed. Then he packed up all of his stuff.
And just like that, I lost my stalwart protector in my first hour, opening the door to a world of uncertainty. Almost immediately, as the door closed behind Torren’s massive frame, several people stood up. A brief staring contest broke out amongst them until only one remained: Sean.
Sean slicked back his hair with his hand, flashing an arrogant grin as he picked up his bag and walked over to the desk Torren just left. “Hope you don’t mind me sitting here, Lady Meno.”
I tried to give a shy smile, imagining something along the lines of a terrified rabbit as I controlled the muscles of my face. “O-of course not.”
”Nova!” Sean tossed his stuff down and settled down at the desk.
Mr. Jarvis coughed at the front and rubbed a hand through his salt-and-pepper beard. “Alright, now that that excitement is done, let’s get into class, yes? Where were we?”
The first ten minutes passed surprisingly peacefully. I fully tuned into Mr. Jarvis’s lesson, interested in learning more and feeding my roots in Tech with his teachings.
That peaceful learning ground to a stop as Sean passed a note to my desk. ‘So I hear you are interested in art? There’s an art gala this weekend. Accompany me?’
After reading it, I looked up to Sean to see him giving his biggest and brightest smile, his eyes crinkled with the full self-confidence of someone who would get his way. Almost immediately, I wanted to say no just to crush that arrogance. And yet, I paused.
If I went with Sean Sentinel, of the Sentinel family, would I be able to meet more interesting and wealthy ‘donors’ than if I just went by myself? Hmm… but then I’d also be under the spotlight more. I thought about it a bit, completely ignoring Mr. Jarvis’s lesson as I tried to figure out how best to ’borrow’ loot for my stash.
’Course, this would also be a prime opportunity to get to know Sean better and look into him. He very well could’ve been the one that made Quora or any of the other students disappear.
After coming to a decision of non-decision, I wrote down on the paper with one of my newly bought pens. ‘I didn’t bring my dresses from Pyrus.’
Sean frowned as he looked at the note, then passed it back to me. ‘I’ll have one made for you if you come with me. The theme is Masquerade.’
A free dress? Say less. ‘Course, that was on top of other benefits I would be milking from the guy. And all I had to do was hang out with him for a bit, which I needed to do anyway for the gig. ‘Sounds fun.’
’Nova! What’s your number, and I’ll send you the detes.’ He passed the note back.
I froze for a moment before writing down the number for the burner phone Inquisitor Lighstrum got me. Just as I passed it back, Mr Jarvis coughed from the front. “Meno, I see you are incredibly interested in my class. Care to solve the problem on the board?”
I popped to my feet, a blush rapidly rising to my cheeks as I worked Honest Face as best as I could. I plucked at my skirt slightly and peeked up under my hair. “S-sure.”
I headed up to the light board and looked over the equation. It was something I faintly remembered, but it had been a while. I took a long time solving it, double and triple-checking my math to make sure I was right. Eventually, I got the solution. I stepped back and sheepishly curled a stray lock of hair around my finger. “I-is this right?”
Mr. Jarvis looked impressed for some reason as he looked it over. There was a bit of surprise in his eyes. Was this supposed to be a complicated equation? “Yeah. Go sit back down.”
The rest of the class passed without incident. Sean behaved himself and didn’t pass me any other notes. The dopey grin on his face was a little concerning as was the far-off look in his eyes. The guy looked like he was as high as a kite for the rest of the class.
I grabbed my bag and got up to leave, wondering where exactly Torren ran off. I remembered the route to my second hour, so I just nodded at Claire and headed on my way. Torren seemed to have been doing a rather good job buttering her up, so thankfully she wasn’t on the list of people I needed to force interactions with. Speaking of, just what was Feras doing all this time?
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My second hour was a lot less exciting. Torren returned to little fanfare, an irritated look on his face as he rubbed at his chest. That look immediately disappeared as he spotted me and returned to his neutral expression.
Marketing and Business Management passed by rather slowly. The teacher tried to make it as interesting as possible, but the subject matter was just too… different from what I was interested in. That wasn’t to say it was a bad class. It would be a perfect class for those entering into management or starting up a business when they graduate. It just wasn’t, well, what I was looking for.
Corporate History, the class I had dreaded the most even after just one day, was next on the chopping block. I took my seat, Torren taking his next to me as he sighed. We hadn’t had much time to communicate, Feras wanting us to take a couple of days to form our own opinions before we met up again, but it seemed that the big guy also disliked the class.
As I looked around the room, it seemed that was a common sentiment. Quite a few students were outright sleeping without a care, and several were on their phones, completely ignoring the teacher as she ecstatically tried to get our attention.
Before class could really even begin, a student walked in with a note. “The gym teacher wants to see Trovare.”
The big guy bolted up, an excited look on his face as he got to leave the worst class of the day. He shot me an apologetic look and bolted out the door before I could even wonder what exactly was happening.
Immediately, a guy slid into the recently vacated seat and flashed me a charming grin. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet, beautiful.”
The guy had long, dirty blond hair and was built like a lean jock. Bright, vibrant blue eyes met my own, the corners crinkling slightly under his smile. His eyes were incredibly blue, to the point I checked several times to make sure they weren’t chrome. As best I could tell, they were normal flesh, though they could just be some kind of high-end cyberoptic.
“Oh, I’m- I’m Meno Maeni… you are?”
The guy slid a hand back through his hair and sent me a flirtatious look. From off in the distance, I could hear several girls sigh weirdly in sync with his motion. “Tristen. Tristen Trapper.”
Immediately, I resisted the urge to perk up as I smiled shyly. Tristen Trapper was the last of the three people name-dropped by Mr. Kalis. Course, the culprit could’ve been someone outside of those three, but the three were good starting points for now.
Tristen leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, forcing his muscles to bulge slightly under the school uniform. “So, Miss Maeni, or at least I’m hoping it is Miss.” He chuckled lightly to himself, his laugh accented by several sighs from sourounding girls.
”F-for now…” Not like I had anyone to begin with. Though it definitely wouldn’t be with this guy. His face was annoying.
“How fortunate.” Tristen smiled at me. All around, I felt the prickling chill of Insight as the Trait picked up several malicious stares. I looked around, noticing the majority of them. The girls who sent them poorly hid their malice as they stared at me. One even outright met my eyes.
Those weren’t the ones that worried me though, no. The one that worried me was the one I couldn’t pinpoint where exactly it came from. Fangirls were seriously scary. Wait… could one of them? No, surely not. Making twelve people disappear was a bit… crazy. Still, it may be an avenue to pursue at some point.
Tristen Trapper laid out on his desk, blowing a lock of hair out of his face. “When did you join our little school?”
“Um, yesterday?” I rubbed my arm and scooted away from him a bit. The guy was just- just so much?
”Ah! I was out recording that day… say, want to come to the studio? I can show you my newest track before it releases?” Tristen suavely winked at me.
Just who was this guy? Out recording… studio? A musician maybe? It would make sense why I haven’t heard of him then. Modern music is just so, so terrible. “I’m- I’m sorry, I’m terribly-“ Wait no, this was a good opportunity too. “Sure, t-tomorrow I’m free?”
”I look forward to it!” Tristen smiled and wrote down a number on a piece of paper.
I looked through the number, memorizing it as I added it to my burner phone. “What band are you in?”
The guy raised his hands above his head, suavely trying to lean back into a relaxed posture. ”You must be from out of town… I’m the lead singer for Aythryn City’s own Soarin’ Flyin’-“
”Tristen! Thank you for volunteering!” The teacher called from the front, her hands on her hips as she pouted slightly. “Please explain Sentinel’s major victory in late 1939 against the pirates in the eye sea?”
Tristen bolted up. “Oh, um-“ He tried to speak, completely failing to mention anything comprehensible. I barely kept in my chuckle as he floundered in front of the whole class.
“That’s what I thought!” The teacher called. “Now sit down and pay attention.”
Tristen took her advice, taking a seat with a far more rigid posture than what he used to have. He looked at me, tried to give a reassuring smile, and then actually paid attention to the teacher.
The rest of the class passed without anything of note happening. Well, other than the attempted brainwashing by the teacher. It didn’t really work too well considering over half the class were doing other things instead of paying attention.
Social Studies passed much like Business Management, the hour slowly ticking by as Torren kept everyone from interacting too closely thanks to his intimidating frame. Thanks, buddy,
And then it was time for lunch. Torren immediately split towards the cafeteria line and muttered, “Cya!”
I stepped through the doorway, immediately getting slammed in the face with the scent of far too many kinds of food cooking. I winced at the strong scent, feeling my head throb as spicy and sweet mixed with bitter and disgusting in my nose.
Pausing momentarily in my stride, my eyes tracked to the table I sat at last time. It was entirely full of faces familiar and unfamiliar, with one spot remaining closest to the window. The spot I sat in last time.
I caught sight of Sean, Aaron, Jayce, and even Tristen hanging out with expectant looks on their faces. Two others, students I had yet to meet, sat alongside them. A guy and girl based on their uniforms, but it was hard to tell outside of that. They looked almost exactly the same, the only difference being in their hair length and style.
Yep- nope. Not doing that. I cast my eyes around the room, eyeing any available seat. There were quite a few around, but one caught my eye immediately as I headed over. Christine spotted me and happily waved a hand as I approached their table, completely abandoning the people who stole mine.
“Meno! What a pleasant surprise! Come, come sit with us, girly!” Trisha called and scooted her chair over, opening up room for me to come join their small group.
For once, I didn’t have to force the smile as I moved towards the open seat.