Try your best (1)

"Hello Ean, I was hoping to have at least one proper conversation with you today, but it turned out you couldn't make it. And just when I thought I'd see you after school, you had already left, which was a bit disappointing…", Ciara paused and glanced at Nicholas then turned to Ean.

"But for some reason you came back to school and I happened to see you, aren't we fated?", she continued then grinned at Ean.

'Fated?', Ean frowned. That word didn't sit well her, she glanced at her phone again then turned to look at Ciara.

"We're not fated, Ciara. I was only unlucky enough to be found when you were looking for me", Ean shrugged Ciara off, but that wasn't enough to lessen Ciara's enthusiasm.

"I guess… but if you put it that way, that just means I am lucky enough to be able to have this conversation with you, when you could already be on your way home. By the way, why did you come back to school? Did you suddenly feel the urge to come back or-", Ciara was cut off by Ean who was tired of hearing her speak.

Ean was curious about why Ciara wanted to speak to her, that was why she held on so long, but she just couldn't take it anymore.

She glanced at Ciara who was beating around the bush, and hadn't gotten straight to the point.

She didn't seem like such a garrulous person, but then, here she is running her mouth off about fate.

Ean's impatience finally won over her curiosity, so she interrupted Ciara and tried to answer her first question.

"I came back because the person who was supposed to pick me up, is yet to arrive", Ean spoke with a dark expression.

"Ohh", Ciara nodded like a simpleton, but had already started to brainstorm.

'So she came back because she needed a ride, I could offer her one but…', she peeked at Ean, who was directly staring at her and Nicholas.

'…that would deviate from the plan entirely', with another beautiful smile on her face, she said to Ean.

"How about I help you with that?", Her voice was a little bit loud and had succeeded in attracting the attention of a few passing students.

"How?", Ean asked curiously.

Is she planning on giving her a ride? Does she think I'll accept?

"How else?", Ciara grinned and finally completed her sentence.

"By helping you with your main issue, money!"

'Is that what she was planning to do? How would that affect Ean?!', Nicholas thought in annoyance.

He couldn't believe he got dragged into one of her ridiculous pranks again, just when he thought she had improved.

Nicholas' amazing self-control prevented him from facepalming himself, or showing any of his true thoughts on his face.

While Ean frowned at Ciara, "Does it look like I need money?"

Surrounding students, who weren't in a hurry to go home, knew about Ciara's infamy and realized she had found a new prey, gathered around the previously unassuming trio.

"Of course you do, if you didn't lack it, you would have come to the cafeteria in the first place! Plus, why did you have to mention it, just when we happened to meet, huh?!", Ciara's acting was spot on, as if she was telling the entire truth, and not spinning the situation to her favor.

"That's because you asked. Am I at fault for answering y- no I am, but I didn't ask you for money.", Ean calmly explained, but under all that calmness was a little girl who was thinking of how to deal with Ciara later on.

"Do I look stupid to you? Is anybody in our class a fool? What kind of idiot would I be if I didn't know what meaning hid underneath your words?", Ciara's voice had finally returned to normal when she had attracted just the right amount of people.

Ean remained silent and stared at Ciara ambiguously. She gently tapped her nose, while thinking;

'She knows the answer to that, right? Even if she doesn't… am I the right person to be asking that kind of question…?'

Yes, Ean was not taking Ciara seriously. She was only curious about what Ciara had to say, and why she had defended her earlier in class. Now that Ciara had exposed her not-so-good intentions, she had decided to leave and call her older sister to come pick her up.

Ciara seemed to have guessed Ean's intentions from her silence and actions, and hurriedly spoke up.

"You don't have to be so shy about it, here… I'll lend you some…", She tried to bring out a purse from her bag, and appeared composed and kind on the outside, but her mind was running all over the place.

'This is ridiculous, yes, but it's the best I can come up with, for now…', she thought and adjusted her bag, while holding a small medium sized purse she had brought out.

She counted a few notes of the official currency designated by the ICOAI, and then held them out to Ean. "Here, you can have them"

Ean glanced at her outstretched hand, sighed and bent her phone to the side to check the time, '4:20, who knew I'll last this long?'

The longest conversation she had since coming to this school, was with Alexander and Xavier. Although, she did not time it, the fact that she managed to miss going to the cafeteria, after going to the toilet,

was more than enough to prove it.

Ean tucked her phone away, turned around and was about to leave.

'Not enough, huh?', Ciara's gaze darkened a bit and her smile dimmed, but all that lasted a second, because in the next second, she was throwing lots and lots of bank notes into the air, and they fell right on top of Ean.

Ean froze in her steps and looked up, she finally understood what was happening, albeit a little late.

'Was she being bullied? How embarrassing…', Ean shook her head and decided to ignore Ciara, because that was the best approach to take in this kind of situation. For now.

Seeing Ean remain unfazed in this kind of situation, Ciara became desperate. After all this, Ean still managed to keep her cool, and the worst part is, she probably had not understood what she told her earlier on.