~ 19: Trouble Loves Seeking The Peaceful - Part 2 ~

"Excuse me?" I said, turning around on my heels. "Are you talking to us here?"

"Aidan Aoki's girlfriend, it seems," said the leader, a girl with flashy highlights of pink and blue stood with her arms crossed. "Who else would cross the line so far to talk back with a senior?"

I wasn't used to such comments so I was blazing with anger.

She twirled a strand of hair in her fingers, passing me a death glare. She seemed to have been crowned as 'Queen' by her subjects for they followed her around like bees. All of them had heavy makeup that could surely make one throwup. Maybe now I understood Ms Farleigh.

A quivering Mel put her hand on my elbow. I pushed off the timid girl, asking her to retreat if she didn't want to see things get ugly. This wasn't the time to be played about by anyone, be it someone socially higher than me or a senior in our university.

"If you have a problem, my dear, we can calmly sort it out," I said, after composing myself. "You have misunderstood the situation very much, and much more, the people involved."

"I am not here to listen to your lame excuses. I want your hands off my man."

"That's very unlikely, Ms Tantrum. Unless you can get Aidan to prove to me that the two of you are dating, I'm keeping him as my friend. And there's nothing stopping me from his friend if it can be helped."

"You are asking for a death wish. Girls, get ready. This will be your payday."

And they approached us like wolves hunting for a rabbit and a fox.

"Run," I whispered, and we took to our feet, with the rotten apples pursuing after us. Once we reached the staircase platform, the two of us went our ways. Melissa was saved as the four girls were only after me. She was able to return comfortably without tripping over her heels.

The leader thought it was better Mel was given a chase, so she sent one lousy girl after her. But the lady was already far ahead. It wasn't long before she was entirely out of sight.

The girls chased us to our classrooms, getting the pair of us late and detention on the first day. We were not to be spared from missing class. Even after pleading with them that Mel was also involved because we were Aidan's friends, Ms Evergreen just added another hour of detention to my list and shooed me off.

I was able to spend it well enough since I had Mel for company. With an essay to write on behavioural issues in youngsters, only Mel was helpful enough to lend me a hand. We were done rather quickly and after submitting our five hundred word essay, we set off to our place.

Later, we left again with Mel departing to meet up with some friends. I started my shift at the bookstore late afternoon, which was more crowded than in the morning.

"Serving detention already, huh?" the storekeeper greeted. "I thought you were a kind child. What got you in trouble?"

"Some idiots with big, empty and colourful heads," I said, cursing them under my breath.

Mr Hans laughed until tears rolled down his eyes and his cheeks turned red. I didn't find it amusing at all and it worsened my demeanour.

"Hoho, child," he said merrily. "Don't be too mad. Almost everyone had to attend to them, even the good ones. Besides, Adela always loves trouble. She's known for being notorious."

The kind keeper had good humour and kept the blues away. I enjoyed working around the store, helping every person with one thing or the other. Being busy and having jokes now and then was probably the essential ingredient in loving one's work.

When Mel and I reached home, she started to work around tightening my bandages, even after begging her repeatedly that I would do it myself. She refused to hear my yells of "Ow, it hurts!", "Slow it down, Mel! You are breaking my back" and "You will get the life of breath out of me." In turn, she would say, "Shut up that talkative hole and let me do it. You are becoming more like Aidan, if you haven't noticed."

That's how quickly a week, two weeks, and then three weeks passed off. We hung out every other day, learning about each and other and enjoying ourselves, whenever Mr Hans was kind enough to give me an early leave. Aidan had finally warmed up to Melissa, and the two of them were always in great spirits. I always ended up getting envious of their friendship as Aidan loved teasing me than being kind.

The infamous sophomores had backed off when Aidan had clearly announced to them that we were his friends. Any harm that befell upon us would be punished by him. Nobody wanted to see the anger of Aoki. Although it was rare, it was a well-known fact. I did muse about how damaging his bad temper would be but didn't dwell upon it as the time wasn't ripe.

Even then, they would take every chance they got to pounce on us. Once in the early morning, they chased us with one leg on the tripod around the field, making us complete the race faster than many of the athletes who were practising at that time. And amongst them was Aidan. They had one look at his sour face and they were running off in the other direction the moment he stepped his leg forward to give them a good chase. The rest of them laughed while we sighed with relief.

Ms Farleigh was as fussy as ever with her detailed orientation. But ever since the students started wearing cheap and yet pretty badges and jewels, she had become a lot nicer. Mr Longwood had become the student's favourite teacher as he was young, understanding as well as entertaining. Ms Evergreen loved giving every student a hard time with loads of homework and detention. But the best of all was the English class with Mr Adams because firstly, I got to sit the class with Mel and secondly, I loved how energizing his class was always.

Melissa always went out during the weekends to see her parents downtown, while I would send letters to mine. The queer thing was that I felt that I heard her leave the house each day after midnight, although I was never able to get up. And then when she returned each morning, the shoes would either be facing the other way or be different from the ones she put the previous night.

I was neither able to figure out the reason I couldn't wake up nor understand why the shoes were placed that way. So one Wednesday, I decided that I wouldn't eat or drink anything, except for the few chocolate energy bars that I kept for emergencies. The beverage was to be clean water from a bottle that was completely emptied so that there were no adulterates. I doubted that something might have been added to it to make me sleep while she could escape.

The day was difficult since I ended up spending my whole stack of bars as we had a PT session as well as a gruelling time in the classes. The teachers were grilling us for the upcoming exams, and none was allowed to rest in peace.

After such a tough day, I was bound to fall asleep, even after eating the last of my bars. I dozed off until the thud of the door woke me up. I sat still for twenty seconds, keep an eye and an ear to detect any motion in the dark.

Then I got out of my bed, envisioning those nightmares that I saw every night since the first day here. They had become more vivid each time I saw them. It was engraved into my skull like a punishment I was forced to serve until I freed the person from their curse.

I was sure that they would have to do with her since she was the only one who seemed to fit the story. It took quite some time to get to that theory. I thought everything had ended back on that day. However, after I had taken a peek at one of her new bruises, I realised it was happening again, maybe more painful than the last time.

It took me a few minutes to get my weapons ready. The only problem was I didn't have any backup if I had to tackle with more attacks. I wore my partly torn hoodie to keep off the chill and eyes. Braiding my hair and pulling my hoodie up, I stepped out into the canteen first for some quick snack to create my energy reserve. I tightened the laces of my boots and then walked off down the pavement, with my books clicking softly on the pavement.

The lady, as usual, was wearing full-sleeved dresses until her knees. She must have been trying to mask any bruises that could be seen by the eye. And sometimes for three to four days straight, she would wear a casual frilled or plain shirt with a pant. There couldn't be any other reason for being so cautious around her closest people.

She got into a car or a cab in a dull lit alley, just when I thought I could have easily followed her. But luckily, her tracking location was still on, so it would be easy to reach her. I wasn't expecting that from her for she must have clearly been instructed to switch off any notifications.

Before I could check her location, her message in the notification centre caught my eye. It said, "Don't follow me around. I will be fine so don't worry about me."

'So she knew I would be chasing her tonight,' I said quietly, huffing out a laugh. 'Well played, young lady. I didn't expect you to be doing this. Who put you up to this?'

I quickly traced her path, lagging behind by many minutes. Yet I was still persistent in finding her, and thus, I memorised the route they were using. It took me an hour to reach the place where she disappeared each night, forty to fifty minutes behind schedule.

'You are one person I trusted my life with,' I muttered under my breath, recollecting all the memories we had together. 'How can you tell me to leave it alone, like as though every little thing we went through didn't matter anymore? You're very cruel, Mel.'

I stood outside the main doors of the building, on the lookout for any hidden traps, and then proceeded to the back of it. I couldn't get her exact location, but from the way they had entered and the logic of keeping such things behind the screens, it would have to be near some desolated place like the unloading area.

Glad to have reached the place in good time, I tiptoed into the boundary after climbing over the building wall with the help of the attached ladder. I saw a silhouette lurking close to the unloading area, with the shutters half-open, revealing the darkness inside. I turned around and started walking the other way.

A hand was placed on my shoulder, making my body run cold. The voice behind me whispered, "What do you think you are doing in this territory?"