Chapter 5

It was a bright, excruciatingly bright Tuesday morning and Zitarah was seated in class beside Kio as the teacher was teaching.

"Okay, class, I'll have to end today's lesson a bit early because we have a very important event that we're all very familiar with." He adjusted his glasses on his nose bridge before continuing.

"This time, with a twist. The Academic prefect, Jessica Stanford decided to switch up the arrangements." He added and class 2 entered the room.

Zitarah raised an eyebrow in suspicion when she saw Leighton wink at The Academic prefect. She put two and two together and realized what happened.

"This time, we are mushing up classes and doing the project in groups of three." The teacher continued and Jessica tapped away on her laptop and then sent it to the teacher's tablet.

The teacher started to read the names one by one causing each group to come forward and find their partners.

"Group 4, Zitarah Reeves, Erina Deveon, and Leighton Deveon." He read and Zitarah wasn't even surprised. Nonetheless, she stood up and walked to the pair who stood together.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at them with an amused smile.

"So, may I ask why you did this, Mr. Deveon?" she said and Leighton smirked. "Ms. Reeves, I merely did nothing."

Zita sighed in frustration before she spoke. "Okay, we meet at the school café after classes." She said sternly and they both nodded once in understanding. After the teacher had finished reading the assigned groups, they returned to their seats and class 2 returned to their classroom.

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Erina and Leighton were seated at the exterior café seats with a cup of coffee in front of both of them.

Erina sighed. "Lance, you know our main goal is to be unnoticed so you should refrain from flirting with every girl in sight," Erina said as she read her book and sipped a bit of her coffee.

"Hey, I've been holding back, you should be thankful. Even our candidate is hot so what do you expect?" Leighton ranted and pouted his lips.

"Typical." She said giving him a patronizing look.

"You know, my dear Epiphany, don't look at me like that, there's no need to be jealous, I've got space for you." He said smirking at her and she acted like she didn't hear it and kept reading her book.

"But you know, it's strange that she has features of the ancients," Leighton said and Erina looked at him.

"She is most probably made by Lothaire as well," Erina said and sipped her coffee before resuming to read.

"But, first think about it. Why would Lothaire flaunt one of his projects in plain sight? All his lab-made assassins are hidden or disguised so it's likely that she might just be of ancient ancestry or maybe a mutation." Leighton said and Erina nodded then spoke.

"That is true indeed but Lothaire is highly predictable, he might have a plan with her. I also noticed a necklace which had the fruit on it around her neck so it's a guarantee that she's for Lothaire."

"True but have you considered that she might just be ignorant and wearing it."

"Those are one too many coincidences, Lance, besides, whoever gave it to her must know its repercussions, she would have been dead by now if she weren't Lothaire's agent," Erina said and Leighton nodded in agreement.

"We should tread lightly around her, probably find out more before jumping to conclusions," Leighton said and sipped his coffee.

In the distance, he saw Zitarah approach them and smirked.

She placed her bag on the back of the chair and sat down on the free chair.

"Good evening Mr. and Ms. Deveon, I'm going to ignore the stunt you pulled this morning and just assume these were all coincidences." She pulled out a blueprint of her project idea and placed it on the table causing Leighton and Erina to remove their drinks.

"Okay, for this Science fair, I suggest a molecular teleporter. I've been working on it for quite a while now and it might need a few tweaks here and there-"

"SWEETHEART! IT'S TIME TO GO, I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR A WHILE NOW!" Kio shouted from a distance as he ran towards them.

By the time he reached, he was barely out of breath and the first thing he did was peck Zita's cheek.

"Hey, I told you not to do that at school! It's against the rules." Zita pulled away with a blush on her cheeks.

She fixed her tie around her neck as she spoke. "Besides, I'm starting my Science fair project today and so should you, with your group." She gestured to Erina and Leighton.

"Nah, we're starting tomorrow, and so is almost everyone so just leave it today and start tomorrow." He said as he placed his hand around her shoulder.

"No, I can't wait till tomorrow. Time waits for no one, besides I'm a busy person and I want to be involved with my group not just let them do everything." Zita replied as she slapped his hand off her shoulder.

Kio looked at Erina and Leighton and immediately knew something didn't sit right with them. He hesitated before he gave in.

"Okay sweetheart, suit yourself, I'll be in the library waiting for you so we'll meet up there." He said as he walked away.

"No, just go home." Zita protested and Kio waved it off.

"Nah, I can't let you walk home. I'll wait." He looked at his watch. "School closes completely at 5 pm so you don't have much time. It's 4:09 right now."

"Okay okay, go so we can get started." She started pushing him away and he chuckled in amusement before giving in and heading to the library.

She looked back at Erina and Leighton who were looking at her blueprint.

"You made this alone?" Erina asked looking from the blueprint to Zitarah.

"Yeah, I designed it by myself." She replied and Erina and Leighton shared a look.

"Ms. Reeves, may we have a word," Erina said politely and Zita sat back down to listen.

"Go ahead." She urged them and Erina spoke.

"Would you like to be a part of something bigger?"

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