Chapter 3

Heather mindlessly walked into her homeroom, too immersed in her thoughts to register someone else who was making their way to the door.

Bam!

Heather winced slightly, shaking her head to clear her thoughts before looking to see what she bumped into.

Or rather, who.

Standing before her was another student who was rubbing their shoulder.

"Ah. Sorry, Mira. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's alright H. It's not like you broke my shoulder or anything", answered the black-haired girl, purple highlights flashing in the filtered sunlight.

Mira was on the shorter side of girls and, as a result, was built fairly small for her age.

Rarely exercising and constantly focusing on anywhere besides schoolwork, she was one of the three queens who essentially ruled the school.

Mira was Ms.Beauty.

Known for her beautiful features and elegant air, Mira had numerous suitors chasing after her.

Contrary to popular thought, however, Mira had a kind personality and saved her anger towards her insane fans who took revenge into their own hands.

Heather wasn't on particularly good terms with any of the queens mainly because of a couple of idiots who were too oblivious to fix problems they themselves caused, but Mira was someone Heather didn't want to get on the bad side of.

There were rumors of a kid who went into a coma because Mira beat them up after they stalked a couple of her friends. Like, creepy stalker-type stalking.

Mira walked past her, her brisk gait betraying her hidden will to get out of the stuffy classroom before the teacher forced her to stay.

Heather blinked, eyes on the place Mira was, before turning and making her way towards her desk.

She sat down, admiring the way the classroom looked when there was no one else in it.

Now that Mira had left with an entourage of guys trailing after her, Heather swept her gaze over the empty classroom.

The classroom held 28 desks neatly placed in 7 rows by 4 columns. The teacher's desk and pedestal dominated the front of the room where the chalkboard hung on the wall.

Nestled in the wall to her right where the door and 4 large glass windows that gave a grand view of the empty hallway and the classroom across it.

To Heather's left were 5 windows, smaller than the 4 windows on the opposite wall. Each window was covered with blinds that had been opened to let the morning sunshine through.

As Heather trailed off in her thoughts about school, other students began filing in and taking up the seats one by one.

At -__ the teacher came through the door, carrying with him a large mug of coffee and a computer case.

"Alright kids. You know the drill. Class is starting now", the teacher said tiredly as he set up his stuff on the teacher's desk and moved to the pedestal.

It's gonna be a long day, Heather thought.

Riiiiiiiiing.

Heather burst out of the classroom eager to leave the stuffy room and head home. She ran down the hallway and took a left turn, quickly making her way towards the school's entrance.

Right before she made it to the main lobby, a hand grabbed her arm, pulling her back a step.

"Heather! You can't just run like that and leave me behind!", whined a voice.

"Justin! I didn't even see you there", Heather exclaimed, turning around to face the auburn-haired boy.

"Liar! You definitely saw me!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!

"No I did n-"'

"Yes you definitely d-!"

"Both of you shut up", rumbled a deep voice, startling both of them into shutting up.

Mingkai glared down at them, clearly pissed off.

"School literally just finished and I'm still having headaches because of you two."

"But we were just-", the two tried to reply, but Mingkai sharply cut them off.

"No but's you two unless you guys want to pay for the drinks by yourself for two months."

This definitely shut them up. Paying for the drinks they got together every afternoon by themselves?

That'd be a nightmare.

Justin whined, "Aww, I'm sorry Mingi~ please still buy me drinks~"

It looked like a scammer sucking up to a rich person.

Heather grimaced, "What a two-faced bastard."

The three of them walked over to the bike racks, unhooked their bikes, and set off towards the nearby cafe they frequented.

Ding.

"Oh, it's you three again! Welcome back to Noble Cafe! The usual I presume?" called the cheerful lady at the counter.

"Thank you, ma'am! Yes, the usual would be fine", replied Justin.

Heather raised an eyebrow, thinking "Nevermind two-faced, this guy doesn't even have a face."

The trio made their way to a window table with Justin eager to start a certain topic.

"Hey hey! Interested in joining D.O. when the two-year mark comes?"

"Hmph", scoffed Mingkai, "You're just interested in the cat & mouse game that's going to start."

"So what if I am?", retorted Justin, "As far as I'm concerned, D.O. is a very popular game so why not join?"

"What's been stopping you for the past two years then idiot? Whatever, I'm down to join anyway," replied Mingkai.

Heather smiled lightly, "I don't know. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stomach being in the same game with your sorry face."

"Hey! Take that back ugly! I'm really handsome! You're just blind!"

"And your sentences get way shorter and simpler when you're mad. Try using your brain a little bit when you start feeling pissed. Oh wait", Mingkai exclaimed, "You don't have one."

"Wha- wh-", Justin stumbled, "What the hell you guys! Double-teaming me and all. How is this fa-"

"Anyway", cutting off Justin, Heather quickly switched topics, " wanna go buy stuff for D.O. tomorrow?"

"I'm down."

"Hmph. Lousy butts, can't do anything without me anyway. I'm down too."

Suddenly, a phone rang.

"Oh, sorry guys. Jake's looking for me. I guess my sister must have stopped by or something", Mingkai said while pressing the reject button on his phone.

"I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Later dude. Hey Heather, we should get going too."

Heather shrugged, "Fine by me. See you guys."

As the trio left the cafe, each going in opposite directions, Heather grabbed her bike and rode back to her dorm.

The worries she had about D.O. slowly began to resurface, slowly pushing out any thoughts related to school.

I wonder what type of cat and mouse game the company will choose. If it's that one, then hiding won't be a problem. But if they choose the other one, I won't even last a month.

As Heather walked into her dorm and prepared for bed, another notification popped up on her phone.

Heather glanced at the headline and turned away.

Wait. What did it say?

Doing a double-take, the headline's words rang in Heather's head.

THEME CHOSEN! DELIGHTON RELEASES INFO ABOUT THE HUNT