Confession & Progession

"I don't get it." I was confused, "why are you asking me for help?"

"Alright." Robin took a deep breath, "Let me first explain the relation between me and Eve. I have known her for almost all my life. She lives near me and we often played together as kids. She is smart and very fun to be around, but let me tell you, she is a little crazy."

"What do you mean by crazy?"

"She is an only child and was mostly given what she needed. slowly, she became controlling, getting things done was her job, and I followed whatever ideas she gave about. her plans worked out, and we had good laughs about it all. But it got a little excessive when we entered the first year. She started getting manipulative. and now she's targeting Tom and Sarah." he leaned in slightly, "I need your help to stop her from doing that."

"What is she trying to do exactly?" His words were blatantly vague and set off multiple warning signals in my head.

"I think she is forcing them to get together. she will try to contact either one of them and it will probably ruin some aspect of this relationship we all have." Robin stared at his empty cup as he spoke, "and eve will be responsible for that, and probably will be hated by those two, and then by others probably."

{So that's what it was?} I thought things over. All I had to do was prevent Eve from approaching either of them till the end of the day. I took one final sip and leaned my head back, "deal, but I have one condition."

Robin looked at my face for the first time, looking startled, and nodded slightly. I spoke to him, "you keep eve in check and I'll watch over tom. but we need someone to keep an eye on Sarah. I think Rose should do it. Do you agree?"

he answered after a short silence, "alright. good luck." She stood up and walked away, taking both of our cups away. I sat there waiting for Tom, while Robin stood in line for food. Tom arrived a few minutes later, followed by eve. Robin gave me a nod and intercepted Eve, who was visibly frustrated as she joined him in the line.

"What did you order?" Tom asked.

"Nothing yet. I thought you'd take longer."

"I am getting a mountain goat stew, what do you want?"

"A slither bunny hotpot, medium size." I waited for Tom to order. so was eve, as she was staring at him the whole time, but tom didn't notice it strangely.

As we waited for the food to arrive, Tom suddenly asked, "what should I do, Ray?" his voice gave away how serious he was.

"About Sarah?" {I don't think playing dumb is a good idea here.}

"Yes." his gaze was shifting between the table and his knees. "I like being with her and she has a nice attitude, her presence is kind of soothing. the thing is, I don't think these are romantic feelings." he took a very slight peek at the water jug on the table. "I was going to reject her, but now I am confused."

"Eve got to you, didn't she?" I had a clear suspicion.

"How did you know?" Tom was dumbfounded.

"When you both walked in at the same time, I thought that might be the case. what did she tell you?" I tried looking for robin and eve in the rows behind tom but didn't see him.

"She said I should date her even if there are no feelings from my side. but I don't think I should." he rubbed the side of his head with his fingers, "what would you do in such a case?"

"What'd I do?" {Let me think.} I tilted my head back, looking at the ceiling before I could come up with an answer. "Let's see. I would do what I planned before someone entered my head and tried to mess up my plans."

His face changed expressions as he understood my words. suddenly slamming his palms on the table, he got up, "that bitch! imma-" I stopped him right there.

"Sit down tom. our food's here." I began eating and waited for Tom to calm down, then began talking. "be honest with me tom, how did it feel when Sarah confessed to you?"

"I was confused." he stopped eating for the moment, "didn't know she liked me, so it came out of the blue. She said there was no need to answer, and I didn't know what to say. I spent all the time since then thinking about it, and came to an answer. but then eve told me-"

"Leave that part." I chipped in again. "When are you going to answer Sarah?"

"Now," he said and got up. matching his eyesight, I spotted rose and Sarah coming back from lunch. Tom started talking to Sarah as Rose slowly backed off to my side.

"He's going to say no, isn't he?" she asked.

"I don't know." I continued eating.

"You know that I can see you lying, stop that." She sat down beside me.

"How do you think Sarah will Sarah cope with the rejection?"

"I don't know. but I think she is prepared." She started picking up and eating from my dish. "She'll take it better than I would have if you rejected me."

"Oh?" I grabbed her face with both my hands, squishing her cheeks "what would you have done?"

"She looked me dead in the eyes, and suddenly pecked my lips. "this," she answered, grinning brightly. {did she just?...} There were some murmurs around us.

"This isn't how I expected our first kiss to be," I smirked.

"I didn't either." she complained, "it just felt the right time for it."

"Excuse me, you two." Isabella called us. "to my office after you finish eating." {Shit!}

We entered the library within a few minutes, Isabella was waiting for us there. "Please take a seat." she pointed to the chairs in front of us. "I think you are aware why I called you here."

We both nodded in response and sat down. all the rules that my brain remembers. Many rules were present regarding student behavior, but none applied to the situation we were in.

"Well, it isn't a big deal." she shrugged. "Just don't do it again, or you'll get unnecessary attention from both students and teachers alike. remember that there are still some staff members that oppose dating among students. be careful, you are free to go."

"Was that all?" I asked her.

"Yes. you can go now." she looked at her watch, "next class will start soon."

"You called us out all the way here just for that?" Rose stood up, voice trembling with anger.

"Hmmm.'' Isabella leaned toward Rose and placed a finger on Rose's forehead. "If you guys joke with me and my fiance, it is alright. but when I do, you get all worked up."

I replied before Rose could. "she is probably embarrassed because it was our fir-" Rose suddenly put her hand on my mouth.

"You don't need to say that!" She scolded me.

"Go now." Isabella got up, "I believe you have a busy afternoon."

"What?" Rose thought for a second then removed her hand from my mouth. "Oh yeah. We have history and law, then literature. we need to hurry." she began pulling my arm.

As we turned at the door, I think I saw Isabella smiling at us. being dragged by rose, I entered the homeroom. {something isn't right.} I got a gut feeling just when we crossed the door. It was proven correct when I caught several objects thrown at us. {what the heck?} Rose was hiding behind me, I threw some things back at the crowd. "You got scared of some small projectiles?"

"I was not expecting to be attacked within my class." She slowly got out and I was able to focus on the attacks. The entire class was involved in an all-out battle. books, pens, bags, and many unclear things were in the air at the same time. a small number of classmates were hiding under all the tables. {What the actual @#*k?}

Including this ensuing chaos, there was a feeling that made all of this seem made up, like it started just before we entered. people were throwing things randomly, but their sights were shuffling between the two people that had just entered, which meant us. I stopped catching and started dodging while closing in towards Rose. The focus of classmates was slowly shifting from throwing to watching me. I sighed slightly {I am gonna regret this.}

"Rose, look here." I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward me. she was confused as to what I was doing, I hugged her tightly and waited for the projectiles to die down. then I let her go, "now that I have everyone's attention, I'd like to confirm that we were indeed spotted kissing in the cafeteria. any other questions?"

A few tables were flipped as people stood up rapidly. I looked at the one table that was flipped but had no detectable occupants whatsoever. "I asked you too, Tom."

Tom, who was hiding behind the now overturned table, stood up with a defeated look. "how did you figure out it was me specifically?"

"You hid your presence too much. there was no presence behind the table that was flipped, and I thought 'who it might be?' Anyway, what's with the ruckus?"

He just shrugged in response and began rearranging the furniture with the rest of the classmates. {Oh no} I sensed a distinct murderous intent aimed at me. I immediately knew who it was.

"What was that just now, Rayyyyy," she asked with a smile, death glaring at me behind her eyes.

"What was what? if you're talking abou-" I avoided the punch that landed on the door right behind me. I turned my head to confirm the damage, but the door was not there. {she's gonna injure someone.} "calm down rose, we can talk outside."

"No, we are not talking." She was not ready to listen. {alright then.} I took a deep breath and let her hit me. a clean punch right across my jaw knocked me out at once.

{Hey, scribe, how have you been?}

(No)

{What?}

(Don't interrupt my reading again.)

I don't remember what happened for the next few hours. I opened my eyes in the infirmary around two and half hours later. There was a bump on my head and my jaw felt sore. It did hurt a little but the rest of my body was healed. Judging by the dust and condition of my coat, I must be in pretty bad shape when brought here.

"Where is the medic?" I mumbled as I approached the door.

"-and drink enough water." I heard the medic instructing someone. "This should take a few hours to heal, all the bandages will come loose by then."

"Alright." I heard a familiar voice, and rushed out the door, using the door frame to turn.

"What happened to Rose?" I asked hurriedly.

"Ray?" Rose was there, with bandages around her knuckles and fingers. "When did-?"

"You woke up earlier than expected." the medic chipped in. "Do you feel any pain?"

"No, I am all good." I examined Rose's hand, "what happened to her?"

"Nothing much. mild injuries from hitting a hard surface and lack of proper hydration." Medic said casually, "I already healed her, you too are free to leave."

I reached the classroom, holding Rose's hand. The state of the class gave me all the details I needed. missing door, a cracked board, and a hole in the wall beside it. Rose looked at me apologetically. I had no answer for her, "Someone had to. and who else can take that punch as I did?" I lightly ruffled her hair.