What did she mean by “cute?”

Hello?!

I felt enraged, but also scared. With this, I decided to merely watch as the man, with a group behind him, approached September.

“What’s good?” he first greeted me, with that slight smile on his face that meant something devious that was directed towards me. September responded back brightly, as the other friends behind him stared at her.

I caught one of them looking down, to which I could only imagine what he was even gazing at, like some sort of treasure.

“Did you see that, um, that new—I forgot what it was, but I think it was Dutch Bros or something. Or was it Starbucks?”

“It was most likely Dutch Bros. It’s down the street, yeah, I know,” September responded. “Got myself one before I came here.”

“And you didn’t get me one?” one of his friends blurted out from behind him, to which there was a long period of silence as the rest just turned to look at the guy, who had blond mop hair and brown eyes. He tapped his agility belt, sucking his mouth inside in embarrassment.

“In fact, I’ll catch up with y’all later, alright?” he said this to the others, to which they nodded and murmured, leaving like a tide on a beach.

“Anyways, you said you got one?” he asked, to which September nodded, to which he chuckled. He brought out, suddenly, from behind his back or something, out this red drink, to which he took a large sip.

“Wait, wait, let me try it real quick,” she motioned, to which he gave her the drink with fashion, to which she attempted to do a waterfall.

Keyword: attempted.

The lid opened, to which a little splash of the drink fell, but being her fast and attractive reflexes, she was able to avoid any more beverage genocide.

She shrieked before she fell into a laugh, slowly giving him his drink, which he took with a seductive chuckle, before he suddenly put his arm on her shoulder.

“Wait, wait, I need to—”

“No, don’t worry. Nathan! Clean this up!” he shouted, to which one of the guys, who had slick black hair, leaped from his seat like an ape, racing to the napkin before entering the scene of the crime and cleaning the spill.

What in the world was this?

“Ay, come with me. Just to hangout for a little bit, alright?” he asked with a smile that was so perfectly balanced that I could tell she wouldn’t resist.

“Sure,” she said softly, to which they left, but as he turned, he laid his eyes on me and they dimmed considerably. I returned with the same favor, to which I then turned around to see Tisiah’s shocked face.

“Wow… I see why you wanted to tell her so badly,” Tisiah said.

I shook my head, stuck in awe. “That wasn’t even the reason.”

Then, with a sound of loud footsteps, came another one, one to which there was a mocha-skinned girl with curly hair, to which she wore a spaghetti strap white shirt with tight black skirt before taking a seat.

But once she did, she stared at us, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Tisiah threw his head towards Malachi’s direction, and once she saw, her eyes widened. “Did Malachi go through puberty?” she asked. Tisiah scoffed. “The man’s almost 18; what are you on about?”

“I don’t know; apparently he decided to just change his style and his goals. When did he start?”

“Ahem,” I said, the thought just spoiling my mind. Although, maybe I should just chill. Let things happen; allow Malachi to have his time. Maybe another time I could get her without having to feel so insecure and annoying.

But my goodness... just to see something so bright leave me, it hurts my heart.

I cleared my throat, tapping my chest, to which I then took a deep breath, and once I glanced to the side, Nikki’s eyes were even wider. “I came at the wrong time, didn’t I?” she said.

“No, no, no… maybe yes, but it’s fine now,” he responded, a bright smile on his face, to which he then looked at me.

He saw my distraughtness, although I was desperately trying to fight it.

“Don’t worry, we got you. We’re going to help you out. All we have to do is plan, yes!” he said valiantly before patting me on the back. “Think of this as an event in your life.”

“She never rejected me; she just seems to...” I explained, although I trailed off after finding myself absent of any words. But luckily, the universe dealt with that efficiently for me.

There was a sudden click from the PA system that made the entire building freeze in curiosity. “Hello, everyone, This is your superintendent and CEO, Mr. Bruce Drails. I’m sure you’ve heard about the assembly today, correct?”

Wait—what? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Nobody has told me about an assembly or that we even have them. I have never seen this academy ever host such a thing.

And it better not be those dumb ones where everyone is sitting on the uncomfortable gym floor, where the person speaking their heart out is barely perceivable.

I’m probably thinking of elementary school, but still.

But here was the thing. No one here seemed surprised, or even shocked. But, being that I saw faces of excitement and curiosity, to which I saw them looking to their friends, not even breaking eye contact like a staring contest, I’m sure people didn’t know one thing:

What it was about.

“So, being that the time has come upon us, please head to the Magnifico presently,” he ordered. And just like that, the entire cafeteria had just stood up and begun walking towards the exit.

“When was this assembly announced?”

“Come on, hurry up; we need to get the front seats,” Tisiah remarked.

I looked at him as he scrambled from the table. “Why?” I asked, my voice shaking with perplexity. But they ignored, and Nikki only reinforced Tisiah’s order.

We quickly scrambled through the crowd of people, exiting the cafeteria and going through the hall. Because there were stairs in the middle, the crowd was split into two groups, like the Red Sea.

Then, after going through there, we met up at a specific door to the Magnifico, and I could only wonder why in the world they would choose such a name like that?

I mean, back at Wolfpack School, they just simply called it the gym, not Howl Rock.

But once we entered, I truly realized the lack of accuracy my claim. It wasn’t a gym—it was a theater. Now this is what assemblies are supposed to be.

I immediately wanted the front seats—being that it wasn’t a movie, but a mere assembly and seeing the glory upfront would add to the excitement this assembly already had.

Others clearly had the same idea. The first front rows were already filled, and it was looking like a warzone just to get the more upfront seats.

“Tisiah, do you see any sort of chairs? I don’t want to die today,” Nikki mentioned.

“Agreed,” I responded.

“Calm down; I’m finding one,” he said. “Oh! Over here, over here!”

It was the third row of seats, to which there were seats that were being occupied one by one.

“Quick, quick, quick!” Tisiah said. We quickly squeezed through the many people, to which the embarrassment levels were quickening, before we found ourselves barely saved, getting the last three seats.

But I can only wonder, where was September—and where was Malachi?

I glanced around to no avail. Then, I laid back against the seat and found myself both pleasantly surprised and terribly shocked. September was in the row in front of me but Malachi was also there.

And what made it worse was that Malachi was sitting right next to her.

Malachi was definitely chasing. I could tell. I could feel it trembling in my bones. The moment all five of us worked together on the Armonk mission, he found an objective and was going full force.

The problem was, I didn’t even have a plan to get her attention. He had a head start of years, while all I had to give was a Perk that got us almost blacklisted.

What was I going to do now? But before I could even contemplate that question, Mr. Drails, in his gray suit and black vest, with a black tie and these bright slick black shoes, and with his hair scuffed up in a neat style, walked onto the stage.