(17) Trap

"Go ahead Airi, you can sit anywhere you want,” Nathan encourages her with this smile that seems to set something off in the pit of her stomach. She wondered why he asked her to meet him at school so early, at first she was curious and interested. Also, naturally, duty-bound considering everything he did for her.

“Trust me, you’re going to thank me for this,” were the only words he said as he led her to the room. It got her raising her brows in his direction, and as much as she would allow herself to be— giddy for a moment, thinking it would be something fun and exciting for once.

Now she is just plain scared.

He said it was supposed to be a meeting of some sort but to her, it appeared more like detention. The students were seated one seat apart and their expressions scream they would rather be anywhere (probably even in hell) than here. She is so going to kill Nathan for this.

As she enters the classroom alone, she could feel the other students eye her as if judging what crime she committed that landed her in a place like this in the first place. It made her feel small and insignificant. Guilty. Still, prison is better than therapy any day.

A door slides open and casually enters the perpetrator—Nathan. He starts by introducing himself with his usual air of indifference, he isn’t even making any effort to gain students’ respect, let alone their attention.

“I’m single, don’t ask why,” he says nonchalantly. It seemed like a joke but she isn’t sure if it was or if she should be laughing. Instead, she rolls her eyes, hoping he would see it. He starts to take their attendance which further confirms that she is indeed in the right class.

She is so going to kill Nathan for this.

“Alright, so thank you for participating to be a helper for the upcoming founding festival. It’s a big help considering the few people who applied.”

Wait what.

Founding festival? Helper?!

What the hell?!

Nathan looks around, and meets eyes with Airi who probably looks ashen upon hearing the announcement, “although it’s obvious some of you were forced." he smirks teasingly in his direction. She clenches her fists angrily at this.

She is SO going to kill him for this!

As he explains the upcoming schedules, Airi buries her face in her open palms. She remembers his words, how she is apparently, definitely going to thank him for this. She wanted to take back any kind of expectations she had before finding out about this ridiculous plan of his.

She is supposed to be thankful for this? She’ll be more thankful when her fist meets his face. Oh God, she thinks, asking what she did to deserve this.

A student suddenly comes in. “I’m so sorry I’m late!” she seemed panicked and in a rush to come here that Airi almost felt sorry for her. It would have done her good to just skip this meeting altogether, she knows she would. Her hair is disheveled, covering her face from running from what Airi assumes is a long distance. It isn’t enough for her to not identify the person though, although she sounds familiar for some reason.

“That’s fine,” he says and quickly finds her a seat, gesturing the student to sit at the empty table on the second row, directly in front of Airi. She thanks the teacher and fixes her hair as she walks to her seat.

She pauses upon seeing the girl behind her, her exhausted expression twists into a conflicted one. Airi stares down, just as conflicted. It’s been a while since they were this close to each other.

“What’s your name again?” Nathan searches her student roster, confirming her attendance. Airi almost cursed, this is definitely his doing. Who could forget the name of a former student?!

“Marie.” she answers, nervously biting her lip, mostly from sitting behind the person she had been ignoring for months.

Great. Airi thought. Just great. What a way to drag an innocent person into this, she thinks. She had just about enough surprises for a day. Especially from this certain goofy professor.

“So, before we end this, do you have any questions?” Nathan asks, closing his notes and looking around.

“I do!” a student raises his hand. Nathan gestures for him to stand up and the student starts by looking around at the students, casually introducing himself as Will (short for William, she assumes), before turning back to him. “what’s in it for us?”

“You’d help the school a lot for one,” was the answer, not even giving the student any other options. And it should have ended at that until a student voices out.

“Shouldn’t there be something more?”

Nathan turns to Airi. She was raising her hand, she had this straight-forward gaze, serious but at the same time trying to get even with him. He caught on pretty quickly.

“Care to elaborate miss, um,” he looks over the logbook, searching for her name as if he doesn’t already know, “Airi.” He gestures to her to stand up and she obliges.

Just like that, the game has started.

“I mean,” she continues, locking eyes with him as if they were the only people in the room. “We’re also sacrificing our time for this. Time we should be studying, don’t you think? Shouldn’t we get something more than a simple ‘thank you’?” She presses further as if trying to provoke him.

He finds himself smiling at this. “What? Do you want a Certificate of Appreciation or something?” he challenges her. Everyone quietly watching the two, sensing the competitive tension taking place, and looking back and forth to whoever was speaking. Although it’s no question who their vote will be.

“That’s nice, but something more useful is better don’t you think?” she tilts her head to one side, “You should know better what keeps the students motivated.”

The guy behind her, his name is Will, or something, whistles at this. Marie glances at Airi behind her, and sees her gaze, unrelenting but at the same time, enjoying the exchange.

He laughs at this, amused at her comeback. “Then what do you want?”

“We,” she corrects him, “want credits. And allowance.” she answers simply. “it’ll span for a few months after all.”

The other students roared and suddenly Airi was aware of the other students in the room. The classroom that was quiet just minutes earlier was rowdy and cheering, seconding Airi and her proposition.

However, like a switch, she turns back to her meek demeanor, suddenly embarrassed at her words. Nathan snorts at this, it was like seeing a little chick grow beautifully only to revert back in the blink of an eye.

“I’ll allow it," he finds himself saying, which was surprising given that this is Nathan she’s talking to. There’s got to be a catch, she thought.

Her expectations didn’t fail her when he spoke again. “However, you get to be the chairman of this committee.”

Wait, what? She stares wide-eyed.

Now that’s just not fair, she was about to protest when the classroom is filled with a celebratory scream. Left and right people are coming up to her, even Uilliam came up to her and pats her back.

“Damn girl, didn’t know you had it in you!” he cheers.

Just like that, her protests were buried beneath all the howls and hurrahs.

Her mind is blank. What just happened? One moment she has had enough of Nathan pulling stunts behind her back with this whole helper thing, not to mention (probably) dragging Marie into all this and the next thing she knew everyone was cheering for her for standing up in the name of student rights.

She turns back to Nathan and sees him grinning, triumphant in his own way and it dawned on her. She may have won the battle, but the son of a bitch won the freaking war. She knew right then that she had fallen into his trap.

She is SOOO going to kill him!!!

And just like that, she had her work cut out for her. Thanks to a scheming bastard.

______________

“Ow! What the hell! That hurt!” Nathan yelps in pain. They had just come out of the classroom and like a flash of lightning, Airi’s fist came crashing against his shoulder.

“There’s more where that came from asshole!” she retorts, balling her fists tighter for another round.

“Hearing you swear like that makes me think how our dear Airi has grown up.” the next round was cut short as she turns to see Luke grinning, with Neil following behind him. “What did Nathan do this time?”

“I made her a helper for the university’s founding festival,” Nathan answered for her, soothing his punched shoulder.

“Why did you even involve me in something like that?” She asks, the irritation seething with every word. Nathan snorts at this. “Because you’re the only one in your group who isn’t failing.”

“That’s not a reason.” she rolls her eyes and Nathan wonders if this is the real Airi, if so, he deeply regretted every encouragement he had ever told her.

As they talk, Luke spots Marie quietly leaving. Impulsively, he calls out to her, “Marie! We’re about to have lunch, wanna come with?”

She ignores them and walks away, only glancing in their direction and walking away, her steps gradually growing faster.

“Luke, it’s no use.” Airi tells him, “She won’t talk to you, let alone come near you when I’m around.”

“I bet she regrets ever joining, then,” Nathan comments behind them.

“Wait, you didn’t recruit her?”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re the only one I recruited. The rest were all the other teachers' doing.” Nathan says, glancing one last time at her before shifting to Neil. “So Marie doesn’t talk to any of you?” He remembered their exchange last week, it didn’t seem like anything was amiss with her.

“Only whenever Airi is around.” He answers, and sighs, “although she’s also pretty pissed at us.”

Luke grunts, “That’s it,” he says finally, turning to Airi, "how about I help out with the committee too?" As if deciding something within himself. She looks back at him, as if trying to discern what he is planning before replying, "do what you want."

"Now that's not how a committee chairman should act now is it?" Nathan teases, smirking then laughs after seeing the girl's face grow frustratingly red.

"So should we call you chairman from now on?" Neil follows after, smirking.

"I... I hate every single one of you." she deadpans as she thinks to herself, where is Zoey when you need her?

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Zoey is alone, leaning at the far end of the corridor, where she knows not many students pass by. She stares out the window, at a storm that seemed to be brewing from a near distance. Her expression is unreadable.

Soon enough someone joins her. "I wasn't sure it was really you. You never call out to me."

She glances at the person, she should have gotten used to this off-hand remark of his but it only served to annoy her more. There was something about her current state that seemed different, she is cautious, but nervous at the same time. Mostly because Airi has no idea about any of this.

He continues, "what do you--"

"Ugh stop. Just listening to you gives me a headache."

Ren smiles, with a vein popping on his forehead. His boiling point always seemed to reach its peak whenever he talks to this girl. "You're the headache."

And just like that, another fight ensued.