HE'S JUST SHY...

After Astronomy I head to the meal-room and sit in the back table with Kookie, Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, Hoseok, Yoongi, and Jin. They fuss over the bruises on my face and Jimin's, and we summarize what happened in Safety and Defense class, but leaving out the part where we hugged.

"She didn't," Kookie gasps, his eyes round.

I nod and sigh. "You know, Vicky's never yelled at anyone before. I'm thinking the odd changes in the adults recently have to do something with..." I lower my voice as I see him walking by not too far from us, "...with General Rudale."

I explain my theories and they think it out with puzzled expressions, filtering it out and putting the pieces together.

"But," Yoongi says, frowning, "all the adults hate him. Why would they be influenced and follow him? Unless they were scared into doing it, maybe threatened..."

My eyes widen. "All the adults started acting weird and nervous before they changed into their dark cold states. Maybe Rudale threatened to hurt people if they didn't comply, or something..."

We all think in silence, until Namjoon speaks up, "Well, we all know that it could be a possibility, but there's something that doesn't add up for sure. The teachers are independent and care for their students. The way they act now and how they treat students, even when Rudale isn't around, doesn't make sense."

Everyone nods in agreement. Jin stares at his bowl of soup, pushing his spoon around. He looks calm but I can tell he's raging inside. He must still hate Rudale with all his heart.

"Also," Hoseok says, "remember when Dexter fell down in Biology, Emma?" I nod, and we fill in the rest of the boys of what happened. "Weeiirrd, huh?" Hoseok mumbles while shaking his head and leaning back, his brows furrowing in thought and his frown deepening.

We stop talking when Mengxi walks past, her unusual cold demeanor sending icy chills through me. We continue our discussion in the storage closet at midnight, but change the subject when it gets too depressing and lighten up the mood with jokes and teasing.

The next day at meal-time, we can't talk as freely since the meal room has become quieter than usual, and we can't risk being overheard by other students or the increasing number of adults lurking around tables and watching students eat with suspicious eyes.

There's an hour of social social time after our second meal. There's plenty of time between classes to hang out with your friends, but this hour is especially fun because there's games, snacks, and the adults used to play with us too. But now they just watch by the sides, their faces showing no emotion except for the occasional twitch of disgust. This hour isn't as fun as it used to be, but we make the best of it.

As the seven boys entertain each other with these small round vial caps they got from Biology, flicking them around one at a time and trying to push the other's vial cap off the table, I watch with amusement at how much fun they are having, laughing until they're gasping for air, groaning when they miss a vial cap, and yelling a victorious "Yes!" when they manage to flick a vial cap off the table, punching the air with their fists. My attention flickers when I catch a glimpse of a wide smile and shoulder length hair with bangs, and I turn to see Lisa entertaining her friends by doing this funny dance on the other side of the main hall.

I wait till Kookie's vial cap is pushed off the table to nudge his shoulder. He glances at me and I point discreetly to Lisa, her bright smile lighting up the big vast main hall. His face reddens and he bites his lip nervously.

"C'mon, she's right there," I murmur quietly, grinning at Kookie's shyness. Lisa has been his crush since forever, but he only has one class with her and he barely sees her because she's usually hanging out with her friends somewhere else. And when she's hanging out with her friends, Kookie chickens out on talking to her. He's soo shy.

'Chickens out': is an old slang for getting scared. Chickens used to be these dumb birds that laid eggs, and they all died off when they caught diseases and basically, everyone ate them. It's kinda sad...

Kookie takes a deep breath. "Her friends are with her. It's gonna be so awkward."

"Don't be stupid," I say, frowning. "It's social hour, it'll be completely normal to hang around. Go, go on before some other guy starts talking to her."

This boosts Kookie's confidence and determination, and he walks up to the crowd surrounding Lisa and watches her dancing, and right now she's acting like she's pulling an imaginary rope so hard she falls onto the ground, but she manages to grab something at the end of it [1]. She beams up at the crowd, and bows when everyone claps.

The rest of the boys stop playing when they realize where Kookie has gone, and they watch Lisa dance again, some weird dance that looks like a lot of fun.

"Ahh, that looks fun," Hoseok says, mirroring my thoughts. "Who is that girl?"

"She's Lisa, someone Kookie admires very, very much," I murmur, smirking. Jin and Hoseok burst out laughing.

Still, Kookie just watches from the back, and when she finishes dancing the crowd cheers and surrounds Lisa, all talking excitingly to her. Kookie comes back, smiling and proud.

I punch his arm lightly. "Dude, all you did was stand there..."

He frowns at me, pouting. "Hey, I was so close to her. She even looked at me."

I roll my eyes and start walking over to Lisa. A hand grabs my arm tightly and I turn to see Kookie holding my arm, his eyes wide and his mouth parted, shaking his head fearfully. I laugh and shake off his grip and keep on walking to Lisa.

I stand there until the crowd thins out and I walk up to Lisa. "Hey, Lisa," I say with a friendly smile. "I want to say, your dance was really cool, and Jungkook thinks you're an amazing dancer."

Her eyes light up and she smiles brightly. "Oh, really? Hahah, I didn't know that. He always acts kind of intimidating, you know, when he's not around you. It's hard to see what's on his mind."

I sigh. "He's working on it. But really, he's just shy. He wants to be your friend, actually."

Lisa gasps. She stands on her toes to look over several heads to find Kookie. A smile blooms on her face and her eyes twinkle. "That's so cool! I should go talk to him, huh?"

I grin. "Yeah, that'd be great." I watch as Lisa approaches Kookie, and he's so startled he drops the bowl of fruit in his hand. I shake with laughter as I watch Kookie blushing when Lisa hugs him.

The rest of the hour, Kookie's in a daze with a goofy smile on his face. The six boys tease him about it, and all he does is blush and smile more. It make me happy and warm that Kookie finally talked to Lisa. Well, it was Lisa that went up to Kookie, but at least they talked.

A sense of uneasiness prickles uncomfortably on the back of my neck, and I turn to see that Rudale has come into the main hall, his huge cloak trailing behind him. He looks around and I avert my eyes right when his gaze passes me, and I look up again when I feel his cold eyes pointed in a different direction. I watch, behind a sea of teenagers, as Rudale discreetly brushes his fingers on Vicky's arm while walking past, and a few seconds later, Vicky follows Rudale and taps Mengxi's shoulder. Some seconds later, Mengxi turns and follows Vicky.

They all disappear in a common room, and the automatic lights inside turn off. I narrow my eyes and frown. What were they doing in there?

Taehyung, the closest person to me, has seen it too. We look at each other with raised eyebrows, and we nod and quietly sneak through the main hall, weaving between oblivious teenagers. The laughter and talking dims to an eerie quiet, and we stand not too close but near enough by the door of the common room Rudale, Vicky, and Mengxi were in, hiding in the shadows and breathing ever so quiet.

We strain our ears to listen, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears and throat, and my blood turns to ice when I hear a slithery voice say calmly,

"...we need to get rid of the Minuet girl before it's too late."