Three words

***

School is over already and I missed my lunch break, came late to class, and had four more classes before school was declared over.

And right now, I was standing in front of the hallway, which was directly facing the northern gate of the school. I failed to see Ms Gigi from where I stood, but I spotted Vivian and Alexander among the crowd of departing students.

'Where's Xavier?, I thought they were a packaged deal', I thought when I failed to see Xavier.

Maybe he's gone ahead already, or I just didn't see him.

It felt weird seeing him and Alexander, not together…

"Whatever, let's just leave this weird place and go home"

I walked towards the school gate, and managed to get through without bumping into anyone.

I looked back into the school to see tons of students, going in and out of the school.

When I came this morning, I only looked at the plaque and monument and wondered why a school would have two different names. But now that I'm here again, I got a better look at the school and suddenly realized how huge it was.

The building I just walked out of had three floors, my class was on the second floor, and the secretary's office on the ground floor. The school building was about 24 to 27 metres long, and from the distance I stood at, I caught a glimpse of an extended corridor, which flanked both sides of the school.

Some students were coming in and out of the western corridor, and the eastern corridor was completely empty and free of students. For a second, it seemed as if students avoided that area.

On the western side of the school, there was a sectioned off area that seemed to serve as a garden, but the eastern side was… blocked off.

I moved my gaze back to the main building, and started to wonder why my mum insisted I school here, then I gave up.

'Hm, at least she found a good place for me to waste seven hours of my life daily.', I looked away from the huge building and walked out of the range of the school gates.

'Where is she?', I failed to see Ms Gigi. So I went back inside the school, while trying to call her.

Just before I pressed the dial button, I thought of something.

"Could this be Crystal's doing?", I muttered in anger and almost crushed my phone.

She must really be enjoying herself messing with my life and all.

"Ahh", I sighed. Now I have a problem, Crystal wasn't here right now and could be dealt with later. The problem is Ms Gigi is also missing!

I would have called but who knows what would happen after, I'm too tired to deal with Crystal's antics.

I turned on my phone again and was planning on calling Diamond to pick me up, but then someone called out to me, by my name…

***

Ciara rushed out of the Eastern section of the school, into the school grounds of the main building.

'Damn it! Was I late? That crazy teacher, why the hell was he lecturing me about truancy, all because Kaylee came the one day I didn't!', Ciara huffed and puffed, and held onto a stone platform beside the corridor.

"Where is she? Did Vivian get to her? Where the hell is Nicholas?! Argh!", Ciara was losing it, she couldn't believe all her hardwork and efforts was going to go to waste, just like that!

She brought out her phone and tried to call Nicholas.

At the cafeteria, she had specifically told Nicholas to meet her by the Eastern corridor, after school. Recently, he had been acting out and was always offline, so she told him in person.

'It seems he won't be coming. It seems like he has a lot of faith in Mason.'

As the phone rang, she recalled what happened during the lunch break.

She had something special planned for Ean at the cafeteria, but for some reason, Ean had failed to make it. She even waited in class, in order to keep an eye on her, and only left when Nicholas personally informed her it was ready.

Who knew she wouldn't come?!

A few minutes before the lunch break was over, she made plans with Nicholas to meet here, and watch Ean to make sure she doesn't leave before she arrives.

And then she left to attend classes at the Elite school, because she couldn't let her CGPA drop any further.

"Damn it!", she cursed. Nicholas wasn't picking up. Where was he?

Of all the times he could have screwed her over, he chose this moment. 'I bet he's somewhere around here, hoping to see me flip', she sniggered coldly and looked down at her phone.

'4:09, she must have left already.'

She looked around hoping to see him, but she didn't, because the person she was looking for was watching her and making sure he was out of sight.

Nicholas was a little distance away from Ciara, and had just turned his phone off when he saw her make an attempt to call him.

He had seen Ean leave the school, and he watched and made sure she left unobstructed. So anyone who wanted to interact with her couldn't, because of his obtrusion. That was why Ean could leave the school so smoothly, and he didn't do it because of Ciara told him to.

He did it simply because he didn't want her to get what she wanted. As much as he hated to admit it, he was tired of Ciara. She always bosses him around, treated him like a little follower and was hard to read and converse with.

At first it was great, as friends, it was, but as lovers it wasn't.

He was under pressure due to that bastard's threat, and Ciara herself was no cinnamon roll.

As much as he loved her protection, and hoped for his dad to be proud of him, this wasn't going to work, at least not anymore.

Nicholas recently found out he already had a lot of presence in the school, and there are so many people that liked him, even with his scholarship tag. Plus if he breaks up with Ciara, he'd be free from that person and would still be friends with Mason, right?

He didn't know why she was in such a hurry to screw Ean over, but he wasn't going to let her do it, at least not today.

However, he wasn't on Ean's side either, and wasn't planning on helping her, if anything he hoped she got out of Arcane High as soon as possible.

He didn't like her at all, and her presence in this school.

"Strange…",He stared down at his phone and watched as it powered on. He looked back up, only to see Ciara's gaze fixed on one direction.

He traced her gaze and he saw Ean's approaching figure, she was using her phone while walking and managed to avoid anyone who got in her way. Just as she raised her phone to her ear, he heard Ciara's voice.

She grinned and shouted, "Hey Ean! You're off already? Come on, stick around a little."

'Damn it, why did she come back into the school?!', Nicholas forgot he was supposed to hide and ran out in order to stop Ean and Ciara from meeting.

But it was too late.

***

Ean turned around and gave Ciara a questioning stare. Ciara stood properly and smiled.

'She's still here!', she giggled to herself and walked over to Ean.

"You're?", Ean frowned when Ciara came closer, she wasn't very fond of her after she ruined her last attempt at getting out of this school.

'Maybe I shouldn't try so hard on the first day, but first impressions matter…'

"Ciara Letson, Nice to meet you Ean. Nicholas is going to come over now, and- oh there he is. Nicholas! Over here!", Ciara turned around to call Nicholas over.

Nicholas froze when Ciara called his name, the distance between he and Ean was too great, and by the time he realized it, it was too late.

He gritted his teeth, and walked over while trying to smile. Fortunately for him he was a master at pretending, so when he got over, he didn't seem any different from how he usually was.

Ean stared at the both of them, then turned her phone a little.

'4:12, I can wait', She thought and waited for Nicholas to walk over.

Ciara turned around to face her and mouthed three words to her.

Ean frowned and was about to ask why, when Nicholas arrived.

'Finally, I made it. I guess we are fated after all.', Ciara smiled at Ean once again as she thought her plan over.

Today, she was going to make a fool out of Ean, and she almost missed her chance to do so. She had to do it today, because of Vivian.

She did not want whatever relationship that was between them to deepen, because that would only benefit him, and it was something she definitely couldn't allow.

Who knew why he approved her scholarship, and what he wanted to do with Ean? It might seem like he's chasing after her, but I know better.

If he was indeed chasing her, he wouldn't let her into this school where is influence varied, into a place where things were beyond his control.

Although the reason was unknown to her, she still felt that are actions were justified.

As she smiled at Ean, she thought, she could only blame herself for catching his eye. Or else, they would have been good friends, very good friends.