1 Chapter One

"You're doing it again."

"Mm?"

"You're doing it again."

"I'm not sure what you're referring to."

"Really?" The auburn haired colored girl placed her pencil down and stopped the ravenette's finger from moving further up her face- in an attempt to poke her. They were in the library, had been since the last bell rung and classes were dismissed, not that the guards reprimanded them for anything. The new school year had just begun but already teachers had assigned essays and homework with due dates as near as next week. Rose had a textbook open in front of her and a spiral notebook with legible writing on the side. She was trying to study. Trying being the operative word because a bug by the name Persley kept interfering and wouldn't go away no matter how often she was swatted at.

Now, typically Rose would love to have the musician around. Persley was decisive, funny, reliable, creative, and Rose usually anticipated with zest the girls gaze and fidgety fingers that would slide up her work between paragraphs. But on the Sunday night before classes had begun, Rose had made herself a promise. She had looked at herself straight in the mirror and sworn that this school year was the one she'd take seriously. It didn't matter whether she had been placing her efforts in passing her classes, playing volleyball, practicing martial-arts having a social life, and maintaining a positive family relationship. Rose needed to go beyond that. She had to raise her's to B's, aim for that scholarship, acknowledge she had friends, and most importantly, assure her parents she respected their opinion and guidance. She had to prove she was improving so that when she pulled the drape from over her friendship with Persley, they wouldn't be able to blame the musician for anything wrong in her life. Rose wanted to make it so hard for her parents to disapprove of her dear friend, that any response besides a positive one would be implausible. Especially after she would say that since she'd started become friends with Persley her academics had seen the light and her anger had dwindled to a simmer.

But Rose couldn't do that with Persley distracting her from her textbooks. Or saying, "Come on, it's a Thursday. You can do this on the weekend," while holding Rose's arm and urging her friend to get up and walk around the mall.

"Aren't we supposed to be going to the mall this Saturday?" Rose argued.

"Yes."

"Are you suggesting I cancel and stay home to work on homework?" Rose raised a brow at this. She looked at Persley and half-heartedly chuckled when she made an exasperated expression.

"No," she dragged.

Persley lets go of Rose's arm and she quickly went back to holding her pencil and finding her place in her textbook. Perseley's mind began to drift off to the new girl she bumped earlier during homeroom, then she decided to bring up the topic, "Hey, Rose. Have you seen the new transferee student earlier?..." "Ah, Emille Rogers?" "Yeah, she seemed familiar..."

Rose pondered at the idea on how Persely can think of such a person she considered was familiar, being her friend for years, she haven't seen the said girl in her life, just around the halls with that mysterious vibe around her but weirdly enough, the boys seem to be in a daze by her intriguing looks.

"Or maybe it's because she has an effect of every boy around her?..."

The girl snorted as her companion looked at her and rolled her eyes, huffing in response. "Don't start it, Rose."

"But you did, Pers."

Rose gave out an amuse chuckle before placing the book inside her bag- a sound of zipping confirmed that her bag was now close. The sun slowly sets giving the library its soft orange-yellow comforting glow as it radiates off the walls, giving it a light shimmer. The library was silent a few seconds before the two of them stood up, the sound of the dragged chair made the both of them wince and placed the chair back to its original place under the table. The day began cold and blustery, in contrast to almost two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine but no one can blame the weather and thankfully it seemed to disappear.

"Hey Pers, can we go to the store first? I need to buy supplies since mom asked me to buy them before I get home since she needs it for tomorrow."

"Sure, in exchange for that buy me an ice cream.~"

Persely pleaded her and gave her one of her puppy eyes- which Rose couldn't refuse but to give in. Persely had a sweet tooth but under certain circumstances (and by that meaning that she eats too much as a kid and can't live without it until now.), she isn't allowed to have much sweets because she might get diabetes (behalf of what her mother said) but she didn't seem to care. But for Rose that was a different story, but that didn't stop her for taking care of her dear friend when away from her parents.

After walking out of the school gates down to the nearest supermarket, the two talked away until the sun had finally set and was replaced by the moon- who replaced the blinding rays of the sun.

.

.

.

But they didn't seem to notice a pair of eyes watched them from afar.

-̸̧͈̩͇͍̰̣̗͠ ̷̪͇̬̻̅͒̎̉̄͊̎͗̈́͠-̴̘͕͖͚̳͔̖́̈́͐̈̄́̈́ ̴̖̮̣͔͋́̈́̓̌͗̕-̷̢̞̬̱͚̙̿̋͆̔̂͋̊̚͘ ̶̨̗̜̝̘̜͍̊͆̇̈̀͜-̸̝̦͗̕

The butler seemed to feel her stare as he looked up at the woman whom he served since the beginning. "What is it, my lady?" he questioned the said girl who hummed in response, fidgeting the pen that was on her hands.

"It's an absolute pain doing all this paperwork, I guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight," the brunette sighed once again as she set her pen down to its stand and laid back on her chair, her fingers drummed against the glass of her . She pondered for a moment before looking up at the butler who stood beside her desk, waiting for any request or order, she'll give him.

"Oliver, can you get me a cup of tea? I need it to stay awake so that I'll finish my paperwork, and I don't have to do anything tomorrow except going to the wrenched place...." the young woman said to the butler who only sighed at her before shaking his head, his brown locks swayed along with his actions. His eyes held a tinge of amusement and disappointment, knowing that his mistress will stay up late.

Typical.

"That won't be necessary, my lady. I have prepared your bed, you should call it a night. It's already 1:20 in the evening."

"But-" the butler gave her a stern look making the girl's lips pursue into a thin line before giving in, mumbling some incoherent french words while standing up from her chair giving her silent agreement much to her disappointment.

"You have a long day tomorrow."

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  "The gods are destined to protect the universe, but who will protect us?"

- ???