Coward

Chapter 18 - Changed

"What a day.." Khai sighed, dropping on his bed.

He was having trouble just trying to recount everything that happened!

But, thankfully, after spending a little bit more time with Anna, Link came back victoriously, laughing about his win.

To which Khai and Anna were thankful for. They were tired!

While they were alone, waiting for Link, however, they managed to talk about how they'd go forward. In the end, they just agreed to play by ear.

He could still remember her asking;

"Will we be okay?"

He was honestly doubtful if they were going to be, but for the first time in his life, he had something to look forward to.

"It will be hard, but we have each other to depend on."

And so, they concluded that every time something happens, they would call each other immediately.

They exchanged contact information and went on their separate ways after Khai and Link dropped her off the girl's dormitory building.

'Yes.. this is all we can do now. We're facing something out of this world. There's nothing we can do when weird things happen to us, but the least we can do is to strategize how we react.'

Everything was confusing then, but he knew that things would turn around in their favor eventually.

Even if it doesn't, what was the worse that could happen?

"Really, though.. She sees the future?" Khai muttered.

It was still unbelievable to him how Anna was able to know strange information about him.

'She doesn't seem to have any bad intentions.' More than anything, she just seemed like a girl looking for someone to help her.

He reached his hands in his pockets and took out a pen and a strip of tickets.

They spent 120 tickets to buy a pen and a chip, so they had 9 left over.

Khai wanted Anna to have it but she tore the remaining strip of tokens in half.

Of course, this was only possible as Anna tore a ticket in half; distributing 4.5 to each of them.

-

He still remembered how he voiced out his doubts; "Won't this make the ticket unredeemable though?"

To which Anna indignantly replied, "They're my gifts! To celebrate our partnership! You're going to exchange them for something else?!"

She seemed upset, almost like Khai was planning something unspeakable.

"If you say it like that.." He was at a loss. He didn't know that she was a sentimental person. "I apologize, I'll treasure these dearly."

-

Ding!

Before he could think further, his phone sounded out, notifying him of an alert.

"What now?"

Checking it, he saw that Anna sent him a private message.

"Did something happen?"

He opened the notification and he saw that it was a couple of pictures.

They were the sketches that she showed him that morning.

With it, was a message, [In case you need it.]

Ding!

Another message. [Goodnight! Thank you for the day!]

'…'

Khai stared at her message blankly.

He typed a reply in response. [Thanks. Goodnight and sleep well.]

'No..'

[Thank you. I had a good day. Rest well, goodnight.]

'Mm'

Satisfied, Khai sent it, saved the photos to his phone and threw his gadget aside.

He laid back down and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't thinking of anything; he just felt empty.

As boredom grew dominant, his eyes also grew drowsy and he unknowingly fell asleep.

…

Vrr!

Vrr!

Vrr!

"Mmm.." Khai raised his torso upright.

'That bitch'

Vrr!

Vrr!

"Shut it!"

He turned the alarm off on his phone and sighed.

Another unpleasant.. but strange night?

'Same dream..'

"Why?"

He never had any repeat dreams before. All the others in the past were different in some ways.

His dream played exactly how it did the last time.

'Wait..'

Actually, now that he thought about it, he remembered that the voice in his head was more aggressive than the last. As if he had wronged her.

However, what she said were the same, she was still blaming him for their plight.

"I did get to notice things I haven't noticed the last time though." He muttered beneath his breath.

'But before anything else, I should get ready. Today's the first day of school.'

At this thought, he immediately acted; getting off his bed and into the shower, wondering how the first day will pan out.

…

Boring! Absolutely boring!

"If I knew it'd be this boring, I would've called in sick.." Link muttered.

Khai couldn't agree more.

Link sighed, "How 'bout passing out?"

"Huh?" Khai was at a loss.

"So we can get a free pass outside." Link seemed proud at his idea.

"…" Khai thought about it but shook his head, "I need to protect the remaining dignity I have."

"Tch" Link clicked his tongue. "Stingy"

["And that is all for today!"]

Claps and cheers were thrown around as the host left the stage.

"What do we do now?" Link muttered.

They were notified that Xiala would hold an orientation for all secondary degree students on their largest gymnasium, the Xara Gym.

Located near the center of the campus, it stands as a grand place of gathering.

It can hold thousands of students! Even with five thousand, students are still able to move around freely, not having problems in terms of overcrowding.

"The teacher said that we should wait until our homeroom teach comes to get us." A feminine voice entered their ears.

"Really? You were listening?" Both looked at Anna in surprise.

Anna's mouth twitched. "You two weren't? What were you even doing?"

"Complaining." Link sighed.

The school appointed them seats accordingly. Each class were clumped together in one section of the gym grounds.

The three of them were able to sit together as there were no rules that prohibited them from choosing which seat to take in their designated section.

Their class, 1A, was at the very front of the audience's seats, nearest to the stage.

Behind them were class 1B, followed by 1C, so on and so forth. Each level consisted of 4 classes, making the total class count to 12.

Just considering their class' head count, there were 40 students.

All the other classes had similar numbers, ranging from 38 to 42. Thus, he came to the conclusion that there were approximately 480 students in the secondary degree of Xiala.

"Is that our homeroom teacher?" Anna pointed at a middle aged woman walking towards their class. She had a striking white, silvery hair that was tied into a neat ponytail.

"We'll see." Link muttered.

The middle aged woman stood in front of their class, scanning their faces one by one.

Her sweeping gaze faltered when it landed on Khai but she soon gathered herself, not allowing anyone to notice.

The class, same as her, was looking at the woman from head to toe, awaiting what she'd say.

After a few more seconds of silent assessments, the woman was satisfied with the data she gathered.

She opened her mouth, "Dim-wits. I'm stuck with a bunch of incompetent idiots."

"Huh?" The students started to murmur amongst themselves.

What the hell was she cursing them for?

For a staff, wasn't she too unruly?

A student raised his hand, seemingly in protest.

"What is it?" The woman asked.

The student stood up, revealing her beautiful face that could even rival Anna. Opposite to Anna, however, her eyes were sharp. Her nose seemed like it was perfectly catered for her by god and her skin was pale like snow; not a single pore to be found.

It wasn't a mistake to even say that her looks were flawless.

It was a shame that she didn't emit any emotion at all. She had a poker face that none could comprehend.

"What made you say that?" The student said without any hesitation. Her voice was hoarse and monotonous but it added a unique charm to it.

The woman shook her head, "Being unable to see it just proves my statement. You're all incompetent."

Uproar!

The class tried its best to hold its anger. Every one of them were trying their best not to stand out.

Every one except for a certain someone.

Link stood up, "It's not nice to insult us like that, ma'am."

"Hey!" Anna was sweating buckets.

She could be their homeroom teacher for all they knew!

"Right?" The student turned her head at Link and nodded at him. "She's ugly, too."

"Pft!" Some students were stunned, not being able hold in their laugher.

What an out of the blue remark!

Of course, it wasn't that they were cowards afraid to fight for their own prides, they were just letting the situation play out and see where it'd go.

"I don't think you should go that far…" Link's mouth was wide agape.

He stood up because it didn't sit right with him to let a random person insult them. He only intended to help his classmate but why did she suddenly start insulting the woman's looks?

She was undoubtedly a beauty, but the middle aged woman wasn't far off.

Although her face was littered with wrinkles and some skin damages, no one could deny the existing remnants of an alluring woman buried beneath her current appearance.

"Ugly?" Instead of getting angry, the woman chuckled. "At least you aren't cowards."

Throwing everything aside, the woman introduced herself. "I'm Hera, your homeroom teacher for the rest of the school year. Unless I die, you are to obey my every will. Failure to do so will land you a spot on the drop out list!"

The students started to chatter among themselves again.

They knew about the expel policy of the school. The homeroom teacher of every class has the power to expel any of their students whenever they want, wherever they are.

It is a system designed to filter out any unnecessary students that may have entered the institution through sheer luck or connections.

Due to this, all the teachers were top-notch. The best of the best.

"Shit.." The ones who laughed started to feel that their backs were drenched in their own cold sweat.

Were they to be expelled immediately on the first day?

They couldn't even survive a day? How laughable was that?

Like hearing their thoughts, Hera smiled. "All of the ones who think I'm ugly, stand up."