Month of Love

  February, the month of love, was upon The GATE Academy.  I've been out of the infirmary for awhile now, and at this moment I was wrapped up in the cozy blankets I had on my bed. I scrolled through the messages on my phone, replying to a few. The majority of them were from my close friends, but I did have a few from fellow students I don't even recall giving my number to. I deleted the ones from those who I didn't care to respond to. I had a few from Tyr, which isn't that unusual. I deleted those as well and sat up. With my phone still in hand, I stretched my arms up towards the ceiling, lowering them slowly after getting a good stretch.

  Before I could get out of bed, there was a soft knock on my door. I walked over and opened the door without a thought, I was aware about the person who was behind it.

  "Hello Calla. Come on in." I said with an inviting nod. I moved out of the way so she could enter. "Did you need something?"

   I closed the door and looked at her. She had sat down on the small couch I had, placing her hands on her knees. "I just wanted to check up on you. After all, you did get released after I did." I nodded at her, sitting beside her. "Yeah, I'm doing well. I assume you are too?"

  "Yes...yes I'm fine thank you. I also wanted to tell you that I officially enrolled. So, I wanted to thank you and Opal." She said with a shy smile, standing up as she did. "Don't worry about the whole kidnapping thing, okay? What matters mostly is that we are safe, and now I get to enjoy the Academy that you and Opal praised so much."

  My eyes travelled from her face to the powered off TV in front of me. Was it really okay?

   "Yeah, thank you. I'll be sure to pass on what you said to Opal." I smiled at her as she made her way to the door. "Thank you, Falen. Have a nice day." Calla said, smiling back and leaving.

I continued to stare at the powered off TV, drifting off into my thoughts. I blinked a few times, my ears twitching as I did. I broke away from those thoughts that were attempting to pull me under. I needed to get my mind off of things. Perhaps a mission would be the best thing to do. They tend to take a person's mind off of everything but their task, especially because with missions a person is usually treading into unknown waters.

I changed into something a little more appropriate for the outside world. I wore a fitting, dark blue tank top that had a U shapes neckline, a black cardigan, black leggings, and black Vans. I left my dorm, locking the door behind me as usual. As I traveled down the steps that led to the first floor of the girls' dormitory, I thought of different types of missions I'd be looking to find. My short walk to the library, where the fliers for missions were kept, was paused due to Faith noticing me.

With a bright toothy grin she jogged over to the bottom of the staircase where I was. "Hey, Falen! How're you doing?" I returned the smile, answering her after she finished speaking. "I'm alright. So, what's up?"

"Well..." She said, pausing and digging through her maroon and gold designer purse that she had on her. After several seconds of her digging through it, she extracted a pick piece of paper that was folded into a square. I watched her unfold it, holding it out for me to see after. "Read this."

   "The GATE Academy's Valentines Day Ball." I said, reading the flier aloud. I skimmed over the rest of the printed out words, trailing my eyes over all the information provided. After reading, I looked at Faith. "Are you saying I should attend this?"

  She nodded happily, speaking after. "Of course you should! I'll even inform Mizu about it so he can have a chance to ask you."

  "Well, you might want to do that now considering that flier says it is happening tonight." I said, pointing at the time on the flier. It starts around seven at night. Faith glanced  at the flier and folded it up. "Good idea, Falen. Remember to go but a dress!" She said, waving as she walked off. The Valentines Day ball could be interesting. I imagine all of my friends are attending, and being at events with people I care for would definitely put my mind somewhere else.

Remember to buy a dress. That's my cue to go shopping. I slowly turned around, walking back towards my dorm to get my purse. I pulled out my phone and texted Iris and Opal as I walked. I sent them both a message asking if they had plans to go to this Valentines Day dance. I happened to get my purse and keys before getting a text back from them. The two said yes and accepted the offer of shopping at the mall. I texted them back saying i'd wait near the the exit of the dorm hall on the first floor.

  About ten minutes later the two showed up. I flashed a small smile at my friends before heading to the parking lot. "So, Did Riku ask you out to the dance?" Iris asked, looking at Opal with interest. I too looked at Opal, waiting for an answer. "Yes, he invited me out to breakfast earlier and asked me after we ate."

  Iris gave Opal a mischievous smirk, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Aw you two are sooo cute." She teased, putting emphasis on the word so. Opal and Riku have been dating for awhile now, but Opal still gets flushed every now and then when someone teases her about. The main reason she did was because all throughout the half of freshman year that she was here and sophomore year she told anyone she could that she was an independent woman who didn't care to have a boyfriend. Surprise surprise, she does now.

  We shortly arrived at my car,  the walk not taking any longer than five minutes. I opened the driver door and entered the vehicle, buckling and starting it as I did. Iris called shotgun and shoved Opal out of the way to get the front seat. As Opal and Iris settled, I glanced to the right at Iris. "How about you?"

  After buckling she looked up at me, brushing the strands of brown hair out of her face. "How about me what?" I laughed lightly at the fact that Iris had forgotten the conversation we all had on the way here. "Anyone ask you to the dance? That's what I meant by that."

  Opal laughed, speaking before Iris could. "Wow good job for forgetting." Iris shooed Opal and started speaking. "Not yet, but Shizuo has a friend that i've been talking to for a bit, his name is Lucriel. There's nothing special between us...yet, but I'm hoping he'd take me."

  "Lucriel sounds like an edgy name." Opal said, nudging Iris. "Going for the bad boy, huh?"

  I wiggled my eyebrows at Iris as Opal teased her. Despite the current conversation being somewhat interesting, I was more focused on my surroundings. Buildings flew by the car as I drove by and towards the mall. Overtime I had to slow down, considering the large amount of traffic and pedestrians. "Figures..everyone has to go out on Valentines Day."

  After parking the car and entering the large, famous mall of downtown Arcadia we walked around to find a suitable store.

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  Shopping took only a few hours. Although, it felt way longer. If I had to estimate, I'd say i tried on about twenty dresses today. Iris chose a long, dark purple dress that reached the floor. It had a jeweled belt, and no sleeves. Opal chose a long, dark blue, strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. They held their new dresses in a bag, and we exited the store.

   The drive back to GATE was short. I waved to my friends as I exited my vehicle and headed towards my room. I figured it would be best to get ready now. As I walked down the sidewalk, my bag in hand, Mizu approached me. I quickly, yet nonchalantly brought the bag behind my back. In hopes that he wouldn't see, I smiled.

  "Hey babe." Mizu said, wrapping his arms around me and puling me close. I used my free hand to hug him back, laying my head on his chest as I did. We pulled away from each other. "How are you doing?" He asked, gently pushing a strand of my chocolate brown hair out of my face. "I'm doing alright, even better now that you're here."