Chapter 8: Mission Impossible

Ryan and his brothers walked into their classroom, welcomed by the crazy shrieks of excited girls.

"They looked so handsome!" A girl said dreamily.

Ryan settled in the last row of seats in the classroom, alongside his brothers.

The noise only died down when their homeroom teacher; Mrs. Rose, walked in with a stern look on her face.

"I'm glad I didn't have to send someone to the principal's office for you all to quiet down," Rose said.

"That's the worst you could do." A girl said and everyone burst into laughter.

"Principal's office. Now!" The teacher said,

"Whatever." The girl left the class without a fight.

"We have new students amongst us. They are cousins and would be joining us today." Rose said, waving the new students to walk in.

Simi, Lauren, Naomi, and Kat walked into the classroom quietly.

"Please introduce yourselves to the class," Rose said.

"They'll figure out our names later." Lauren Ren said, waving her off.

"We just need seats for now, " Simi said politely, sending a smile Rose's way.

Rose stared at Simi, her eyebrows raised in question. She clears her throat and nodded.

"Of course. There are enough empty seats to go around." Rose replied. 

Lauren walked past and settled in a seat beside the wall and was unfortunately close to Jason.

"Just great!" She muttered, staring out the window.

Simi found her way to the back and found herself sitting beside Ryan who had his headphones on and his head leaning on the wall.

He looked peaceful, with sunlight dancing on his perfect skin with its warm glow. 

"Stop staring,'' Ryan said without looking at her

Simi coughed, covering her mouth as she turned away from him. How did he...

"I'm sorry." She muttered. 

"Seeing we're all settled. Let's make sure to help the girls around and be good students. Okay?" Rose said.

"Yes, Mrs. Rose." The class chorused.

"Your next teacher will be here soon. Stay calm and read those books." Rose walked out of the class seconds later.

The class became noisy again and paper planes were sent flying here and there.

Simi moved uncomfortably in her seat, taking in the class and the students. Everyone in the class except Ryan.

Her eyes caught one of her classmates, a girl, staring at her with a murderous look in her eyes. Simi glances down at her shoes, wondering why she was getting a death stare.

Her shoes were clean and tied in place, and her hair was well done. Simi glances up at the girl in confusion.

The girl chuckled in disbelief and leaned over to whisper something to one of her friends, who turned to stare at Simi in response.

Simi exhaled; they were definitely talking about her. 

A teacher walked in and classes commenced. Simi was more than glad for the distraction and the class lasted for hours.

Finally, it was lunchtime and everyone headed out towards the cafeteria. Some girls walked towards Simi's table, forming a little circle around her. 

Simi's eyes went from one girl to the other in confusion. 

Ryan stood up and walked out of the class not glancing at Simi once.

He was the coldest person she had ever met! He didn't wait to see what this was about! 

He didn't owe her that. But still!

"Why are you sitting next to Ryan? Is this the only empty seat in our class?" The prettiest girl in the group, Sonny, asked.

Simi arched a questioning eyebrow.

"This is also an empty seat?" Simi pointed out.

"Are you dumb or you just don't get it?" Sonny asked. "No one is allowed to sit beside Ryan." She said.

"Are you his girlfriend? If you're not, you really need to spend that energy on something better." Simi offered. 

"Don't you girls think you need to observe lunch? You could use a little bit of pie. It'll go a long way.." Lauren said as Kat and Naomi approached Simi's seat, pushing Sonny and her minions out of the way. 

"That doesn't make any sense! And I was talking to her!" Sonny snapped. 

"Really? Let me break it down for you. You look so lean; it would take me less than a minute to restructure all the bones in your face with my fist, darling. And Simi can sit by the teacher's podium; her problem, not yours!" Lauren said, approaching Soony with a dark look in her eyes.

"You…." Sonny stepped back in fear. 

"Get lost. Princess. Go pass your orders somewhere else." Lauren said.

"You've been blacklisted. Just know that!" Sonny threatened.

"Come on, Sonny," Winnie, one of Sonny's minions, said as she pulled her away from the obvious-looking weirdos.

"You didn't have to," Simi said, wiping her table with her hands.

"Sorry, teammate instincts," Lauren said.

Simi glanced at Ryan's seat and sighed; her mission is a total jerkface which works for her by the way.

She wouldn't have to talk to him.

"Are we having lunch or not?" Naomi asked

"Come on."

They all head towards the cafeteria, walking side by side and calling attention to themselves. The squad Holo is made up of pretty beautiful girls, and there was no kidding about that fact. 

The princes were approaching from the other side of the hallway, walking side by side too.

"This is not the first day I planned," Kat muttered anxiously.

"Just ignore them," Lauren said, staring at Jason with a lack of interest.

"How is that possible when we are about to intrude each other's way forward?!" Kat reasoned.

"We'll walk in between each person then," Lauren said.

"And we stay far away from them and keep a low-key profile. Deal?" Simi asked.

"I don't like my protective detail anyway!" Lauren muttered.

The squad didn't stop approaching. 

Students in the area watch with keen interest, holding their breaths for what could turn out to be the very first drama of the academic session!

No one walks the hallway when the princes are. The reasonable thing to do is get out of their way, but these new students are definitely out of their minds for not bulging! 

The princes pulled a stop, but the girls approached anyway.

"Just ignore them. Like they aren't even there. Simi said as though trying to soothe herself from Ryan's cold stare.

The girls walked past the boys and onward without looking back at them.

They had lunch to get to.

 ****

The girls settled on a conjoined bench at the back of the cafeteria.

It was packed with half the school's population with different clicks at different angles in the cafeteria.

The cheerleaders were on a different seat as well as the popular kids. The nerds had their area, the jocks, the band, and the so many unidentified clicks.

The girls sat far away from the rest and away from all the noise.

"I'm sure Mia won't be happy to hear our update on today,'' Kat said wryly.

"Who cares about the old hag? All she ever does is make our job look simpler than it really is." Lauren reasoned.

"I think the less we stay together, the better for the mission. We might have to move to different home rooms and hang around each other less." Simi reasoned.

"We can't be far away from the princes since they are our focus anyways." Kat, said

"True. What we need to do is stick around each other less." Simi took a bite of her sandwich only to spit them out on a napkin.

"Tastes like sand." Kat muttered as she stared at her plate in disgust.

"Thanks for the heads up." Lauren pushed her plate away.

"Nine o'clock. Mark " Simi said.

Just when they decided to keep a low profile.