Maybe I am, Maybe I'm not

Ean was expecting an answer from Alexander, even if it was a ridiculous one, but then after his eyes widened in shock, he immersed himself in his thoughts and the emotions on his face changed as his thoughts progressed.

'What the…! Was that too hard a question?! Or… was I not supposed to say it at all…?'

Did she make another mistake? She did not know, she had been a little out of it after the incidents that happened this morning, but she could not let herself be like Alexander, who managed to space out during an important conversation. So she asked again;

"Alexander, you spaced out. And in case you don't hear my question, I was just wondering what you were doing in this stupid cheap school, don't you have a lot of work to do in Aerorua?", She asked calmly, but inside she was wondering if he was here for the bridge project, because there was no way, she was going to share again.

And since she was not planning to share, that means it could only be snatched from her, which would also not be possible.

And just as before, Alexander did not reply, not because he spaced out again, but because Xavier spoke up before he could.

"He does have a lot of work to do. You? I'm not so sure, so would you care to tell me why you're in this stupid cheap school." , Xavier said forcefully with a little bit of resentment in his voice.

Alexander wasn't the only one who had a lot of work to do, he did too! And had dropped it to attend this school, with Alexander who had literally dumped all his work on him.

And if that wasn't all, he also had to pay quite the sum to attend this school on scholarship. It was like he attended the school on a discount.

Xavier had no qualms about the school, he didn't care if it was stupid or not, but one thing he did know, was that it wasn't cheap. So hearing Ean make such a statement about how inept and easy the school was, was infuriating to someone who went through all sorts of things to attend it.

Ean didn't seem bothered by Xavier's tone or question, she simply replied with a light-hearted smile.

"I'm in this school because… it suits me."

She seemed to be smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes and her gaze was a little cold.

"So you're cheap…?", Xavier advanced towards her and moved Alexander out of the way.

Now they were directly facing eachother, and were once again exchanging gazes with eachother.

Xavier frowned while Ean smiled.

'She…'

"Maybe I am, Maybe I'm not", she shrugged and didn't seem to mind Xavier's provocative remark, but…

'You can just try to find out, you bastard!'

Xavier stared at Ean for a few more seconds, then he broke the exchange and muttered, "Damn it!"

Ean didn't know what he was cursing at, and she didn't care. It was currently break time and they had wasted a large amount of it chatting about… stuff.

"Well, it was nice to chat like this, and I'd love to continue the conversation but the break's almost over, and I'm a lazy person who really likes her breaks so, see ya!", She turned around after saying goodbye to the two students in the classroom.

Then almost immediately she turned back, and said, "Your highness, …Xavier", while waving goodbye to them.

Then she happily skipped out of class, but when she reached the door she cast a side glance and her smile grew brighter.

Her previously dim emotionless smile, became bright with fascination.

Ean walked along the hall, whilst loosening her grip on her backpack.

'It's really nice to act like Crystal once in a while', Ean spaced out for a moment, but smiled immediately after.

"Maybe school isn't so bad after all", Ean thought, and felt stupid for being so nervous in the morning.

***

"So uh what was that?", Alexander asked hesitantly.

He had a feeling Xavier was mad at him, and he believed Xavier had every reason to.

Xavier turned around and his cold gaze met Alexander's fleeting one.

"What was that? Don't you know how to hold a decent conversation?!"

Alexander instantly replied, "It wasn't- well it was, I was just surprised and… how did she even know me?! She has all these information about Aerorua! I mean she knows that my life is currently not safe so…"

And he cunningly turned the subject of the conversation to Ean and his precarious situation.

Xavier turned grim and thought about Alexander's questions.

It was true that Alexander was currently not safe, and it was even more dangerous for him to be running around or schooling, but what made it all possible was his location. Alexander was currently on Arin Island, and the one piece of information Ean was missing, was his backer, Xavier Austin…

"Hey", Xavier called out to Alexander and asked the one question that remained on his mind since their introduction.

"Huh-"

"Why did you introduce me as Xavier Houston?", Xavier clearly remembered what happened, but decided not to correct him.

"Oh that, well I was uh doing your mum a favor"

"What kind of favor?", He knew his mum was behind this, he just didn't know why. There was no need to hide his identity, no one actually knew him, and even if they did, they'd never believe he is the Young master of the Austin family.

"Well she told me it was to make your sacr- your schooling worthwhile. So you'd be able to move around freely with the others, and uh-", Alexander hemmed and hawed, wondering how to get across to Xavier without making him mad, and he somehow achieved his goal.

"So you just agreed to do what she told you to? Xan, I don't want to ask because I know what kind of answer I'll get but, don't you know how to say no?", Xavier was not at all angry as Alexander expected, he just seemed disappointed and annoyed.

Alexander was about to say something in his defense, but he kept quiet.

'It's not like he could have told his best buddy's mum, no, to a favor she asked for her son's wellbeing', Alexander inwardly defended himself, but he still thought about Xavier's question.

After a while, he spoke up, "Of course I can say no, it just depends on the person and what kind of question or favor they're asking from me, I'm not a fool you know?"

Xavier sighed and sat on his desk, "I'm not so sure about that, but learn to say no, even to the things you should say yes to, or else the favors would never stop coming in, okay?"

"Yeah sure. So… what about her? Ean.", Alexander was very curious about Ean's identity but he tried not to let it show.

"What about her?", Xavier didn't understand Alexander's question.

"Do you know who she is? Or where she's from? Or why she knows so much about me? Do you think she's a fan?!", Alexander's eyes gleamed with excitement. He never really had any fans, even though he was a prince. Just a couple million who pitied him, a few dozens, who constantly tried to kill him, either wished he never came back, or might as well have died a couple years ago, and a few others who wanted him to stop trying so hard and give up.

"No… I've never seen or met her before. And I'm pretty sure I don't know her, if I did, I would have recognized her and she would have recognized me", Xavier felt something was off, but he didn't know what exactly was wrong.

'It's probably the feeling of defeat. Losing twice in a row must be taken a toll on me, when did women become so… cunning?'

"Oh, that's weird. I just thought you'd know her or have an idea about her, since you stared at her so much", Alexander spoke sadly, but he stole glances at Xavier who had started to react to his words.

"I did?", Xavier's tone was somewhat neutral, but the surprise in them showed his confusion.

"You did! You did it before we introduced ourselves, after you woke up, while I conversed with her, and while you both spoke!", Alexander paused then continued, but in a softer tone.

"Tell me, do you like her?", he had finally revealed his hidden motive, fortunately for him, Xavier seemed out of it, and did not react as he would.

"Like her? No, I was probably curious, that's not it… I'm just interested in her, I guess.", He didn't seem to be paying complete attention to Alexander, as his gaze was somewhere else.

"You're interested in her? I can't believe it! Love at first sight does exist-", Alexander was cut off by the drifting Xavier.

"What are you saying? That's not why!", Xavier said and wrinkled his eyebrows in displeasure.

"Oh then why are you interested in her?", Alexander had moved his attention from his precarious situation, to Xavier's non-love interest.

"I don't know how to explain it, but when I first saw her I felt something strange, something felt missing, and I felt very weird… it was strange, and when our gazes met I just… lost it, that feeling…", Xavier spoke with a lost expression and clear confusion written on his face. When he neared the end of his sentence, he looked up to meet Alexander's gaze.

At first Alexander was curious and halfheartedly teased his friend, but now after hearing him explain how he fell in love with her, he believed in the authenticity of love at first sight.

"Ahh I wish I had something like that…", Alexander said yearningly with a distant expression.

He immediately turned to Xavier, without realizing he previously spoke out loud, he said, "I think you should try to be closer to her, probably befriend her… after all that was what you came to school for, to make a friend and have a high school experience"

And just before Xavier could retort, Alexander immediately spoke up.

"Plus, it'd be easier to talk to her and be friends with her, since you're interested in her right?"

Xavier looked down and considered Alexander's suggestion. Alexander was right, it'd be easier to talk to someone you had an interest in. Barely a few seconds had passed before Alexander spoke up again with uncertainty in his voice;

"And if we're all friends, it'd be safer and we can consider her an ally, not an enemy, right…?"

Xavier closed his eyes, recalled their first encounter and replied, "Right."

He was tired, he needed to have some rest when he got home.

Today had been quite exciting, and the sad part is, it wasn't even over.