Try your best (2)

***

It was at first amicable then later on Ean realized she was being bullied, she was about to walk away, when Ciara's perfect facade faltered and she threw more money.

Ean looked up and sensed something falling faster than the notes, she reached out to catch it but it still managed to hit her head.

"Ow!", she exclaimed slightly, and checked the item in her hand, it was a small intricately made golden watch.

It still worked, and she read the time on it. 4:21 pm.

She looked back up and happened to catch a proper glimpse of one of the notes. She barely went outside of the house, and when she did she had no reason to spend money. As embarrassing as it may be, Ean had no idea how their currency looked like, and probably could not tell real from fake.

As the money fell down, Ean remembered what Ciara had said to her earlier on; Try your best.

'Try my best to do what? Endure this?!', Ean restrained herself from doing anything weird, since there were so many eyes on them, she decided to just walk away.

But she stopped again, when Nicholas' loud voice assaulted her eardrums.

"Hey! Are you leaving it behind?! Ciara nicely gave you a lot even more than what you asked for, she even pitched in that watch you liked so much. If you pick the money she so nicely gave you, I'm willing to bet she might let the watch go too!", Nicholas giggled and acted like a fool.

'Act out, scream, defend yourself, run away, do whatever! Just hurry it up, and let me get out of here!', it was getting harder for Nicholas to keep up the act, especially when so many people were gathering around them.

His reputation had already started to brighten up, and he was finally living like a normal student despite his stupid tag, yet look at him, involved in another one of Ciara's stupid pranks, and following her like a dog again. He turned gloomy, but knew he had to restrain himself, because unlike Ean, he couldn't act out.

"Pick your money up", Nicholas said again, but a little more firmly and with a camera pointed at her face.

"Why?", Ean asked with a straight face. She could not comprehend their actions. Maybe it wasn't supposed to have any meaning or sense in it, she just didn't understand.

Why would you stay behind at school, only to delay others with you, and pull stunts like this? What do people derive from taking out life's frustrations at people they think are lesser than them?

She looked at Ciara and Nicholas again, a very familiar emotion was being revived in her, as she thought.

Why did she end up as their prey? Do they think she is inferior to them?

Ean wondered what made them think so.

Ean, as impatient and annoyed as she was, was very curious about Ciara's actions. And Ciara provided her an answer soon enough.

"So you can go home", Ciara replied with a carefree tone and I met her gaze, then she smiled.

'Try my best to… endure this? So I can go home. Is she kidding me?! Who stopped me from going home in the first place?!', Ean finally realized it, and just before she could come to a conclusion, Ciara spoke again but with a little ambiguity hidden in her voice.

"Or… don't you want to go home and not come back… here again?"

Ean was about to frown one more time, when it suddenly hit her.

'Does she…?', then she smiled.

'Of course she does, now it all makes sense!', Ean finally spoke up.

"I do. But what does any of that have to do with you?"

'Does Ciara think I need her help to get out of this place? I do need help, but why is she so sure I'll accept hers, and what makes her think I actually wanted to get out of Arcane in the first place?!'

Ciara was stunned. So she really had not understood what she said.

All that about giving Ean up was just crap, Vivian would never see this coming, and so would he.

Her and Ean, being on the same side. She had no idea why he wanted Ean on his side, but she had stolen that potential partner from him, now they were both even, that is, if Ean is not the person everyone thinks she is.

All she had to do now, was to wait for him to come back, after all he couldn't leave "him" all alone in the Elite School. And when he did come back, she wondered what could change and just what exactly would happen.

She turned to Ean who was waiting for her reply. She had created the stage, written the scripts, gotten the audience and the actors, but she had not informed the main character of the play, exactly what role she would act in.

'Damn it! Am I going to fail because of that one thing?!'

Ean didn't look like such a difficult person. To Ciara, she appeared as someone who did whatever she wanted to achieve her goal.

But now, Ciara was about to pay the price for judging her so quickly.

The surrounding students did not know what was going on, and neither did Nicholas.

Ciara was thinking. She was thinking hard, and had probably thought more than she had in a while.

How does she get herself out of this situation? How does she get Ean to cooperate…

Wait, why am I thinking so hard? Aren't I the bully in this sort of situation? It doesn't matter if Ean understands or not, I just have to get her to be the victim, right?

Ciara raised her head up, and slowly smiled.

"It doesn't really, but since it involves you, Vivian and the person who let you into this school, it has plenty to do with me"

Barely a minute had passed since Ean asked her that question, that she replied.

Ean formed a fist and spoke a little bit forcefully, "What does that person have to do with me, you and Vivian?"

'She knows him?! I was right, he does have an ulterior motive'

Ciara suddenly regretted attracting so much attention. If previously she wanted to make a fool of Ean so as to provide her a means to get out of this school, now she wanted to have a decent conversation with her and find out why she was so special.

"We won't know if we can't get past this situation right in front of us, Ean. Are you planning on staying here to entertain me, or do you really want to go home? Trust me, when I say I can stay here all day"

Ean met my gaze and I smiled at her.

"I guess unlike you, I have to go home because I have actual work to do. And I won't be able to do that if I can't go home so, see ya!"

Ean turned around immediately she finished speaking, and found her way out of the crowd.

Ciara was stunned and so was every other student, who had gathered to watch the show.

Ciara had a terrible reputation, but no one had ever caught her in the act.

And the first time they did, her prey ran away, but not empty-handed.

Ean was long gone by the time Ciara realized she had taken the watch with her.

And when she reacted the crowd had dispersed.

"My watch! She took it…", Ciara thought in dismay.

She had held onto that watch for as long as she could but in the end she lost it, she had no doubts that Ean would not return it.

And even if she did, she wasn't going to collect it back.

'Yes, go ahead and take it away. When trouble comes knocking, don't hesitate to open the door for it'

Ciara valued Ean, yes but, she valued the watch much more. Considering the person that owned it was a childhood friend, one she won't ever be able to see again.

Ciara stood still, and was deeply immersed in her thoughts. As a deep feeling of melancholy washed over her.

"Uh Ciara… what are we going to do now? I mean she took your watch and we didn't accomplish anything, no you didn't accomplish anything you wanted since I don't even know why we approached her.", Nicholas was hellbent on annoying Ciara, and rubbing salt into her wounds.

You looked for Ean when I was trying to hide her from you, and you found her! You held Ean back and tried to bully Ean, but you lost a watch!

Speaking of the watch…

Ciara turned to look at him and did not say a word, her blue eyes were steady and calm as she said, "Now, now we're going to wait. We're going to wait and see how long he can keep playing this game of hide and seek."

And she walked off after saying that, but her words had confirmed Nicholas' theories.

"Something really is going on between him and her, and somehow Ean is involved in it too…", he glanced at the school gate which he had seen Ean resting by this morning and thought.

'Does that mean I shouldn't mess with her?', Nicholas was deep in thought as he followed Ciara back into the school.