26 Flair

Jade jumped when the sudden loud thwack rang in her ears, and her jaw dropped when she saw Kameron had slapped Hayden across the face.

...they know each other? What a coincidence?

The two glowered at each other begrudgingly, their expressions hiding stories that are yet to be told. All they knew, according to what Kameron just said, was that Hayden had messed up some students from Cille Tech High, and Kameron was not happy.

And Jade couldn't make sense how, but Kameron stood fearlessly before the taller brown-haired boy, even though she knew he was a mage. It was as if she knew Hayden wouldn't use his powers on her in the first place, and Jade couldn't stop wondering why.

She clutched the snacks in her hands tightly, feeling the tension rise in the atmosphere. She expected Hayden to erupt, seeing how red his face was at the moment, and she prepared herself to hear a flood of curses exit his mouth.

But strangely, he relented, taking a step back after flashing Gray a side-glance -- Gray was shooting him what looked like a smile filled with subtle mockery -- and he lowered his head, jaw clenched in frustration.

"I-...I won't do it again," he murmured, his voice barely audible.

The closed-lip smile on Gray's mouth sharpened.

Jade blinked in surprise. What did he just say?

Even Kameron looked amazed. "Say that again?"

Hayden's scowl deepened, his fists clenching till his knuckles were white at his sides. "I said, I won't bother with you stupid social elites anymore!" he snarled through his teeth. "Do what you want! You can tell your shitty group that I quit, I can care less now! Happy?"

And then he stormed off without another word, his face burning red with rage and his left cheek swollen. With his hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes to the ground, he disappeared out the exit and around the corner, no longer in sight.

Kameron stared after him, her eyebrows slightly raised. "He quit, huh?" she mumbled. "...that's good."

Feeling awkward that she was standing alone, Jade scurried over to her friends, her arms still full with little crinkling bags. She cast one more questioning glance out the opening before peering at Kameron from the corner of her eyes.

Kameron caught her gaze and waved her off. "It's nothing important," she said. "If he said he quits, then he quits. I don't think you'll be seeing him around causing trouble anymore..."

"But how can you be sure?" she asked.

Kameron wrinkled her nose and plucked a bag of chips from Jade's possession, opening the top with a quick pull and popping a crispy slice in her mouth. She shrugged. "Well," she said in between crunches, "the next time we have an after school meet-up, I'll know."

Emrys frowned and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. "After school meetups that involve both our schools?" he said slowly, confused. "There's a club that I don't know of?"

Kameron flashed him a skeptical look. She narrowed her eyes at him. "...why do you want to know?" she asked cautiously. "Do you want to join?"

Emrys matched her suspicious gaze and brushed the tip of his nose with his finger. "Uh, no," he answered dubiously. "As student president, I have to report any unauthorized clubs..."

Kameron lowered her guard and said, "Oh...I see. Don't worry, it's not a club, just a 'normal' teen hangout." She then glanced down at the bag of drinks on the floor and picked up a bottle, holding out the ice-cold drink in Emrys' direction in a renewed, friendlier manner. "I didn't know you were a top student. You must've worked really hard."

The expression on Emrys' face stiffened as he politely accepted the drink, and Jade caught the side-glance Gray cast the boy as he said in a significantly quieter tone, "...thanks."

Kameron paused, staring at Emrys as he turned around and pressed the cold bottle against his face to cool himself off. Figuring that her words had somehow struck a nerve, she decided to keep silent.

He didn't seem like a bad person to her in the first place. Only thing was that something about him felt kind of lonely and sad, and she figured he wasn't the nosy or hypered type of student president like the one from her school. He seemed...conflicted.

Gray, on the other hand, felt quite off. The moment Kameron met him, she couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable around him...even now. She just couldn't seem to figure out why he seemed so dangerous, despite him having a prospectively 'okay' personality.

He would be smiling his odd smiles one moment and then enclosed in his own imaginary world the next, switching back and forth continuously. Just standing near him gave her goosebumps.

Instead of a friend, he seemed to be more of a 'guardian' or a 'chaperone'...

But she didn't want to be someone who was quick to judge, so she just kept it to herself, for the girl, Jade, didn't seem to mind at all.

What strange friends she had...

Yet Kameron wondered if she only felt this way because she was normally crowded around a bunch of spoiled rich kids and early mage manifest show-offs. It was very rare for her to find someone who was comfortable with her without trying to grab a piece of her family's money.

She cast Jade's innocent-looking face a quick glance. The reason she decided to take her as a new friend was because she found her genuinity refreshing, unlike her other friends, who were already influenced by capitalism at such a young age.

Would she try to go after my money too if I told her I was rich? she asked herself.

She shook her head and grabbed another drink from the bag as she didn't want to just stand there as Jade and the two boys were starting to make themselves comfortable by sitting on the ground in a circle around their bought items. She knelt down beside them and slid out her cellphone to untangle her earbud wires when her cellphone screen lit up.

She paused once her eyes caught sight of the notification spam on her lock screen, and her mouth fell open in cursed realization.

Oh...f*ck...

I forgot to disable my tracker this morning...

A sudden rev of engines outside snatched their attention, and the four of them turned their heads to the entrance simultaneously.

"What's that?" Jade asked, startled by the unexpected loudness.

Emrys and Gray were already on their feet as if they were ready to fight, but Kameron stepped in their way with her arms out to bar their path. "Wait, hold on! I can solve-"

Gray pulled her behind him as three, sleek, black cars pulled up into the empty lot, their headlights flashing brightly in their faces and the thundering engines echoing obnoxiously in their ears.

Kameron wanted to protest, but the serious look on Gray's face gave her no chance to explain that these people were her assigned escorts. It was her mistake that she allowed them to track her down while she skipped school, and she knew they weren't going to let her off so easily once they see she was not alone.

Two men in black suits stepped out of each car, six in total. All were equipped with a single earpiece and some sort of high-tech watch on their wrists, however only four of them held a visible gun at their sides.

The taller man with the bright-red hair that looked about in his early thirties stepped forward, his professional, cold expression was unwavering; he was one of the two that had no physical weapon in sight, yet he seemed to be the main one out of the lot.

"Mage...," Gray disclosed under his breath, and Kameron flashed him a look of incredulity.

How did he know that Wrenley was a mage?

Wrenley, the red-haired man in charge, signaled with his right hand, and the others behind him armed themselves with their weapons, pointing them straight at Gray, who stood in front. "Don't think about walking out here unharmed," he declared coolly. "Where is the Young Miss?"

"...Young Miss?" Gray repeated. He glanced over his shoulder behind him at Kameron, who immediately pushed past him and stomped forward in frustration.

"What do you think you're doing, Wrenley?" she said firmly, voice raised. "Put down the weapons."

They didn't budge, and Wrenley narrowed his eyes at his charge. "Miss Kameron, you are alright," he noted flatly. "That is good, we will proceed to punish the wrong-doers."

Kameron scowled and planted her feet right between Wrenley and Gray, unmoving. "What 'wrong-doers'?" she exasperated in a low voice. "You are the so-called wrong-doers at the moment! Why are you randomly pointing your guns at innocent people?"

Wrenley raised an eyebrow. "Then how can you explain this, Miss? You are not in school, and instead, you are here with some" - he wrinkled his nose in distaste- "questionable people in an isolated lot. In our logic, this is a 'crime scene'."

Kameron grumbled underneath her breath. If only she had remembered to disable her tracker in the morning, none of this would've happened. She would've skipped school without being caught, and the three wouldn't have been caught into her family's business.

Without another choice, she reluctantly confessed. "I skipped school today, alright?" she admitted with a defeated sigh. She gestured behind her. "I skipped school, and these are my...friends. This is just their usual hangout spot."

Wrenley and her other bodyguards blinked at her in surprise.

"Friends, you say?" he echoed, unsure that what he heard was real or false. As far as they knew, their young miss rarely mentioned having friends at home. "Are you sure?"

Kameron snorted. "Do they look like criminals to you?" She stepped aside and motioned at Jade, then at the drinks and snacks, all gathered on the ground. "We were having just a fine time, thank you."

As much as she appreciated her bodyguards, there were times when they crossed the line. And right now, she hoped they would just back off and let her be for once.

"Friends...," Wrenley muttered. Reluctantly, he signaled to his men, and they lowered their weapons and placed them back in their belts, but they still didn't leave.

"Are you registered?" he suddenly asked. It took Kameron a moment for her to realize that Wrenley wasn't talking to her, but to Gray.

"And who are you?" Gray countered.

The corner of Wrenley's mouth twitched involuntarily, but he sighed, relenting. He straightened up and dipped his chin slightly. "Allow me to introduce myself properly," he stated. "I am Wrenley Ackland, assigned bodyguard to the Flair Family, and Miss Kameron Flair is my charge. I hope you can understand our actions just now."

Jade and Emrys' faces both twisted with puzzlement, and it was clear of their lower social status, as they've never seen someone addressed so importantly as they did Kameron.

But Gray was unfazed. Of course, growing up with real criminals and robbers all his life, he'd heard the name 'Flair' quite a few times. He just never figured that the girl Jade had befriended along the way today would be a Flair.

Nor did he ever remember hearing that the Flair's hired mages that served as bodyguards. Originally, when he felt the presence of another mage earlier, he had thought that the Mage Association had found them again. Still, he was on guard. "Right..," he answered.

"Are you registered?" Wrenley repeated.

Gray shot him a sharp look. "...yeah," he bluntly lied.

Wrenley narrowed his pale-blue eyes. "What is your current occupation?"

Gray blinked. "...cashier..."

Wrenley stared at him with skepticism, only to spark Kameron's annoyance.

"What's with all these unnecessary questions?" she muttered under her breath, quite oblivious to the meaning behind this little interrogation. "Aren't you going to force me back to school or something? What does 'are you registered' even mean?"

Wrenley ignored her and gestured behind Gray at Emrys. "And him?" he asked, earning himself a deadly glare from Gray. A chill ran down his spine, and he lowered his pointed finger wisely.

Gray gave a pointed smile. "A student," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

Wrenley sniffed. "Hm...no specific reason. I was simply curious as to why two mages are loitering around in the middle of such a strange place when one could be working a decent job..."

Ah..., Kameron pondered to herself, eyebrows rasing significantly. Though he did not express it due to required professionalism, Kameron could see that faint spark of interest in Wrenley's eyes and wondered what that was about. And it turned out that he was quite excited to see two mages: Gray and Emrys.

Funny how she did not realize it before, especially when she kept feeling this dangerous aura from Gray. But then again, they weren't the type of show-offs she originally thought mages to be...like the ones she knew from school.

Oh, the irony. A day out of school and she'd learned so much more about society's people than in the classroom.

While Gray and Wrenley continued their silent stare-off, Jade crept up behind Kameron and lightly poked her on the arm. There wasn't much that she fully understood at the moment, but this was all telling her one thing.

"Kameron," she whispered. "Are you from some sort of official's family or something?"

Kameron glanced at her, her lips pressed together in a thin line. "Well, not exactly, but yeah you're on the right track," she answered.

"Whoa...your parents must be very busy most of the time then...you must be busy helping your parents too," she marveled. "Are you going to grow up to be some sort of businesswoman?"

Kameron softened at Jade's innocent reaction. Her transparent personality made her worry-free, ensuring her that she wasn't some fake friend trying to chase after her family's success. She grinned. "Most likely, what about you?"

Jade lowered her eyes awkwardly. She wasn't expecting her to ask the same question back. "Er...I-"

Fortunately for her, she was saved from answering when Wrenley cleared his throat. "Well then," he said. "I suppose we'll have to send Kameron back home..."

Kameron froze. "Wait what?" Home? Not school?

Jade flinched at Kameron's loud voice. It seems that even though she was a normally chill person, being around her bodyguards really set her on edge.

Wrenley motioned back at the cars. "Yes, Miss. You must go home, we were originally sent to pick you up from school, but you weren't there..."

He gave Gray, Emrys, and Jade a raise of his eyebrow. "And, Miss, it'd be best if you invite your friends over. Else the Madam won't be pleased."

Kameron slowly glanced behind her shoulder at Jade and the two boys, who were staring back at her uncertainly.

It was true. If her mother found out that'd she had been gone all day from school by herself, she'd quickly assume that she had been up to no good and who knows how her mother was going to react. But if she brought home guests for once, her mother would be more than thrilled. So...

"Uh, y'all wouldn't mind, would ya?" she asked.