Nano Day 4-12: Chapter 3
Aka the bloody chapter where all frusration abounds. Gdit.
---
CHAPTER THREE
In retrospect, he should have known Selene was the kind of person who still have a medieval- okay, very slightly traditional mindset. It would have bothered him less, really, considering where he had been spending his time at, if she hadn't waited for him outside the doorsteps of his dorm.
She had just made him feel like the girl in the relationship, if there was even one. That, he thought, hurt more than he'd like it to.
"There's a cafe just outside," she said cheerily. Jeanne grunted in reply. So what if he wasn't being the grateful person?
Selene eyed him, amused at his sour mood. "Seems like someone doesn't have his morning cup yet."
"You woke me up on six bloody o'clock," he growled. "For a breakfast at Claire bloody Lune."
"Claire de Lune," Selene corrected automatically, missing the point entirely. "Aki took me there for breakfast yesterday, and it was good," she stressed the word 'good' with a pinching gesture.
A quarter hour walk later, Jeanne regarded the menu stand outside the cafe warily. Selene had already pushed the door half-open, waiting for him to follow. He felt her curious gaze on him.
"I did tell you it'll be my treat, right?" she said.
That, Jeanne thought grudgingly with a rub to his wounded ego, definitely hurt. A lot.
-
"What I don't understand is how it got delayed for so long." Chris gleaned through the student profile of Selene Rosenkrantz, noting the strangeness of the whole situation. "We have cases like this frequently. It's usual for transfer students from foreign countries to enroll late, what with visas and all the other sort of paperwork, but I've never seen a case like this."
"I'm more concerned with why you are obsessing over this," Shaila interrupted from the filing cabinet. "She's finally enrolled, all legal documents taken care of, problem solved. Case closed. You are kicking a dead horse, Chris."
Frowning, he closed the student profile folder and put it away, breathing out tiredly. They had been arguing the past few days, he and Shaila. She wanted him to drop the matter about Selene Rosenkrantz, aside from her constant complaints of seeing Zide hanging outside the office. He had just wanted an answer to a question, an answer that he knew she knew and that he knew she wouldn't give, which only made him want to know more.
Shaila didn't hide things from him unless it was important or a secret worth a life, and in the coven, there were a lot of secrets like that. Coupled with Reiner's insane worry over her, her case was starting to sound coven-involved. So unless the answer to Selene Rosenkrantz's delayed transfer to Niebel High had nothing to do with the coven, which Chris was beginning to doubt was true, Shaila knew something no one ought to know...
Except Yamato. Yamato knew everything, and if she didn't, she would dig the answer out, even from its grave.
Biting his bottom lip, Chris glanced at Shaila, who still had her back turned towards him, before flipping his phone open and sending a short message to Anderson. Anderson was the only classmate of Yamato's that Chris had direct contact to, and he doubted the number Yamato put in the school directory was even a legitimate number.
"Are you done with Rosenkrantz's file?"
"Yeah, sure," he muttered offhandedly. He was more worried about his message. Expecting an immediate answer always made time go slower.
He ignored the heavy stare Shaila was giving him and continued worrying his bottom lip. Then suddenly his phone jolted and the screen lit up brightly with Anderson's name.
Shit, Chris swore mentally as he realised it was an incoming call and not just a message.
"Who's that?" Shaila asked, approaching his desk. Warily, he noted, as she picked up Selene Rosenkrantz's student profile.
"Zide," he lied smoothly, letting his lips spread into a smile. As expected, Shaila grunted before turning back to the filing cabinet. One day, he will find out the answer to her dislike towards Zide. But for now, his focus had to be on getting behind this matter. "You don't mind I take this outside?"
"No, of course not, go ahead. As if I like listening to you whisper sweet nothings to each other."
"Haha, very funny."
Once outside, making sure both doors were shut and the hallway empty of any morning-shift janitors, Chris finally answered the call.
"Sorry," he instantly apologised. "I had company."
"Tagore, I take it?" Anderson's voice came through from the other line. He was surprised the junior was already up and awake. It was only a quarter past seven; Thursday classes started on nine.
"Yes. I am sure you can imagine what she's like, about-" Chris paused, scrambling for a proper term. Remembering that he didn't even mention to Anderson why he needed Tagore's number, he mentally sighed and simply said, "this."
Anderson didn't say anything in reply, and Chris could hear the echo of puttering behind the line and the faint sound of Anderson's given name being called.
The silence was unnerving, but Chris held on to his legendary patience, as Zide had called it, until Anderson finally spoke.
"Sorry, that was Armand. Stupid ponce won't leave me alone even for just a night."
"I will pretend I didn't hear that," Chris chuckled. "Anyway, about Yamato."
"Ah, of course. I do have her number, but I can't just give off a classmate's personal information, even to the Council president. Again, sorry. Besides, don't you have the student directory for that kind of thing?"
"Yes, but I can only use the directory for emergency purposes."
"Glad to know no one's dying then." Vicerra's voice carried through the line again, louder and more shrill this time, almost annoying. Anderson trudged on bravely. Chris had to give him credit for that. "Anything else I can do you?"
He was about to say no when something clicked in his mind. Anderson wasn't only just his link to the Yamato. He was also his link to the younger batches, to anyone outside the Council's circle. His eyes and ears outside Shaila's protective circle.
"Would you keep an eye out for me?"
The steady "Alright" that answered him set his heartbeat dashing, the thrill of making that first step to freedom stealing his breath as finally, world of many possibilities opened to him.
-
On second thought, letting Selene pay for the food was an absolutely grand idea. The girl ordered without reserve and Jeanne doubted he even had that much money in the trust to pay for their meal. Not to say though that he had not contributed anything. There could never be a bad time for ice-cream, he had told Selene as he had directed her to the ice-cream stand next to Clair de Lune.
Now back within the warm, gleaming halls (because God knows how many wood polisher were used- or exactly how much of their tuition fee went for it) of Niebel High, they lounged on a French settee, making the perfect picture of pale, pretty blonde and tanned, broody brunet. Jeanne almost choked on a mouthful of cold ice-cream at the thought of the image.
"Sickles for your thought?" Selene teased. Jeanne just waved his hand in a shooing gesture. Only gratitude kept him from telling her to piss off. She did treat him to a very hearty breakfast that he no doubt cannot afford.
The corridor was empty of students and they still had an hour more before classes start. Thursday was once upon a time proclaimed as the Lenient Day; classes start two hours later, no assignments or quizzes given, no gym class, and the best of all, free pass to the city. It always made Wednesdays more bearable and saved a few students that go suicidal every mid-week from all the pressure and unwind them from tension for Friday.
So to find someone intruding into the peace and quiet of the third floor corridor was completely mind-jarring and just unacceptable. And from the way Selene had just lit up like Christmas arrived early, reality-checking.
"Aki!"
"Selene!"
Ah, the joy of sisterhood, Jeanne thought wryly as he watched Selene flung herself into the arms of a short, Asian girl.
"What are you doing here so early?" the Asian girl, Aki, asked. She must have noticed him as she looked away from Selene to stare over her shoulder and at him.
He didn't miss how those dark pupils suddenly dilated when her eyes met his. Instinctively, his hackles rose in challenge.
"-end," he missed Selene's words entirely, mind too preoccupied with the strange the strange rushing of something all throughout his body. He felt his lungs constricting as he gasped for breath repeatedly until he became too lightheaded he felt his knees buckling up. The last thing he saw before his eyes landed on the gaudy spirally pattern of the ceiling was Selene running to his side and that girl Aki frowning.
Well, fuck.
-
"...fainted..."
"...tired..."
"...is..."
The first thing Jeanne did when he realised the buzzing sounds were in fact voices, he stiffened and panicked internally.
What the fuck happened?
"He's waking up! Call the nurse!"
"Jeanne?"
People, he thought, should learn not to crowd patients.
Groaning, Jeanne screwed his eyes until he felt he could open them again.
A worried face framed with light golden hair was looking at him with every bit of concern pouring out of her pores. Vaguely, he remembered there was supposed to be another girl- a distinctive girl.
Ah, he spotted the girl now, just there by the window behind Selene, watching him again with those strange eyes. Now if only he could remember name...
"Jesus Christ, Jeanne," Selene breathed in relief. "We were so scared!"
'We'? When did there become a 'we'?
"You fainted and fell on your side and hit your head on the leg of the couch."
Ah. That should explain the hammering pain at the back of his head. But he still didn't know what had happened. Why had he fainted? God knew he wasn't anaemic.
"This is all my fault, isn't it?" Selene said, glancing at Nurse Dearlington. At the puzzled stare the nurse gave her, Selene explained, "Because I let him eat ice-cream after eating so much for breakfast. He did eat a lot of ice-cream."
"Selene, I don't think that's how it works."
"But Aki-" so that was her name. "-what if he had a brain freeze? It happens, yes?"
"Miss Rosenkrantz, please, there is nothing to worry about. I'm certain it must be just the stress. We have a lot of students who faint from exhaustion this time of the week. It's from all the pressure. That's why we have Lenient Day. I'm more suprised you're at school already this early."
"Oh my gosh, it is my fault. I woke him up early just for breakfast and ice-cream!"
Jeanne groaned and closed his eyes and rolled onto his back, feigning sleep. Nurse Dearlington and Aki can take care of Selene.
He did want to sleep in today.
-
Zide hadn't talked to Michael since the first day of school, which only meant there was nothing to be wary of. He had expected the rest of the week to be like that as well, just him and his own brand of research on the latest coven conundrum.
So when Michael asked him to meet up for tea, Zide knew something was up. He just didn't expect it to be this hilarious.
"He what?"
And completely convenient.
"Blatantly asked me to spy for him," Michael answered with a straight face. "I really didn't know what to say, so I just said 'Alright.'"
The grin on his face was so wide Zide thought it might have scared Michael off a little. But alas, his brave soldier remained still on his chair, playing with his cup of tea on its saucer.
He was right though. This latest development would solve the other half of his problem, the very same problem he'd been trying to fix for the past two years.
"I think it's brilliant."
"What?" Michael gaped at him. "Brilliant? Zide, do you realise the position you had just put me in?"
Zide hid his snort behind his own cup, rolling his eyes instead at the boy across him. "Consider it a treat that you didn't have to be personal with him."
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I forgot you had it harder."
"Yes, I did." Zide nodded, then noticed the angry frown on Michael's face and groaned. "You can't be serious?"
"I am. This is dangerous, Zide. You could get me killed. I'm not doing this unless you tell me why it's brilliant, as you said."
"Now you're being overdramatic."
"Overdramatic-"
"Telling you why would be telling you half of my plan, and I don't have any intention of sharing it with anyone."
Michael slumped back against his chair, staring at him with dismay. "God, I can't believe you just told me you have some evil plan. What kind of man have I submitted myself to?"
"A very brilliant man with a very brilliant idea," Zide snapped with a glare. "Just keep looking out for what he wants you to look out for, and then report back to me. I need to know what his side is up to. Tagore is a bitch and she's putting back every progress I've made."
"God, Tagore!" Michael exclaimed with a jump, jostling the teacup out of its saucer. He swore when hot liquid seeped into his trousers, but didn't look away from Zide even when wiping off the stain. "God fucking damn it, Zide. You didn't even tell me about Tagore!"
"Seriously?" Zide simply said, not even lending an arm to Michael. Chris did say he make a fine friend. "Tagore is always watching his back. That's not a secret at all."
"Yeah, but you could have warned me. How the hell am I going to spy on him when she's always around?"
"Okay, wait," Zide cut in with the raise of an open palm, setting down his teacup on the table. "I didn't say to spy on Chris, God, no, I have Lucian doing that already for me."
"What-"
"What I mean is to keep tab on what he's up to."
Michael paused from his wiping to stare at him for a long time. Then, he cocked his head, saying, "Isn't that basically spying?"
"Yes, but it's not the same sort as what you're already doing!"
"Which I am still not comfortable doing, by the way."
"Yes, yes, whatever, do I look like I care?" Zide gestured towards himself.
He had to agree with Michael though. Spying on Chris was an entirely different matter. For one, there was the possibility of getting caught, most likely by Tagore, and knowing Chris, it would lead to a huge round of teeange angst that Zide can't be bothered with. And besides, he was already starting to like Chris. It'd be a pity to lose him.
"Zide, that's what worries me." Michael suddenly said in a soft voice.
"What?"
Sighing, Michael leaned forward, arms on his knees. "Your face, Zide. It tells me you actually care."
Only his good upbringing stopped him from spluttering shamelessly.
"What?"
"You only care when you're throwing us into something dangerous."
"I-"
"Please tell me how dangerous this is."
Zide was speechless for a whole minute, and perhaps even more. He had not expected it either that Michael could be this perceptive. He should have known though, remembering whose brother Michael was.
But that shouldn't mean anything. It can't, not when hisnentire plan rested on everyone not knowing a thing. There would always be the risk of someone spilling the figurative beans, and knowing Michael who never hid a secret from Amadeo, someone more than just the two of them would know. And God knows how weak Amadeo's constitution was when it comes to keeping his mouth shut.
"Not enough to get you killed," Zide finally answered after the long pause, and after seeing Michael sigh with relief, he prayed damn hard to every diety he knew that he did not just lie.
-
When the school nurse woke him up, it was already five minutes to nine. Thankfully, Selene and her friend Aki was nowhere insight, and he made sure to shower the nurse with his gratitude. There was a limit to just how long he could interact with Selene without wanting to strangle her.
But more importantly was that girl, Aki. Jeanne knew what he had seen was his imagination, and what had happened was definitely no work of stress. He suffered retrograde amnesia, for crying out loud. He knew stress strong enough to make him pass out when he sees it.
"Someone's thinking hard," he heard a familiar voice said steps away from the classroom. Spinning around, he nodded curtly at Amadeo who returned the gesture. "What's eating you?"
"Nothing," Jeanne mumbled. Amadeo opened the classroom door. He immediately saw Selene standing up from her seat and before he could stop her from causing a scene, she rushed to his side and slapped her palm against his forehead in what he surmised was a gesture of checking his temperature.
"Are you okay now? Did the nurse say you can leave? Maybe you should rest more."
"Am I missing something?" Amadeo questioned suggestively. Selene turned towards him so fast it surprised him.
"Jeanne had fainted. From stress."
"And..."
"And? And he was sent to the clinic, what else! He is not well and should not be attending class."
Jeanne sighed as Amadeo looked like he was stifling a rather boisterous laugh.
"It's nothing serious, alright? Calm down."
"But you hit your head!"
"Oh, trust me, he's been hit in the head for quite a long time."
"There's no need to make a big deal out of this. I'm fine." Then he turned to Amadeo and stared at him meaningfully. "And you're not helping."
"Wasn't meant to," Amadeo returned with a grin.
"Shut up."
"Perhaps the three of you would like to step aside so I can begin our class for the day?" an old, gruelling voice said behind them. Selene flushed in embarrassment. Amadeo had already slipped onto his seat, that slimy bastard.
Without having to turn around, Jeanne already knew the face Mr. Velmonte must be doing. He didn't waste time shuffling to his seat as Selene did the same hurriedly.
It was after class again when the three convened in the same sofa Jeanne and Selene had sat on hours before.
"You went to Clair de Lune for breakfast?" Amadeo repeated in what Jeanne supposed was amazement. "Seriously, Rosenkrantz?"
"It's the only place I know!" Selene retorted hotly. Jeanne only noticed it then when seated next to Amadeo, her hair was multiple shades lighter, almost appearing silver with a few stream of sunlight here and there.
He was musing some more about how bright her eyes were when something pushed him off the couch.
Amadeo watched at him with a knowing smirk. He didn't risk asking why anymore.
"I always wonder what goes on inside that head of yours," Amadeo said, still wearing the smirk. "Sometimes, I wonder if there's even anything in there."
"You are very mean, you know that?" Selene said, blue-gray eyes narrowed at Amadeo.
"Get used to it," Jeanne muttered as he pushed himself up. "It kills him to be nice."
"Oh, shut it. Now tell me about this fainting spell. I didn't know you could be such a girl."
Selene giggled, and as she leaned against Amadeo, Jeanne slowly came into the realisation that Amadeo wasn't displaying any nausea at all. In fact, he was sniggering along, leaning back with equal weight.
It was bizarre and the slightest bit startling.
"Jeanne? Jeanne!"
He blinked. "What?"
Selene stared back, puzzled. "I was just telling Amadeo we should go out later for lunch or maybe dinner."
"My treat," Amadeo added.
"I don't know..." because frankly, while having rich friends had its perks, it'd all be a bruising blow to his already aching ego. It was bad enough he was treated to a rather unnecessarily pricey breakfast.
God, it was so pricey and bleedingly expensive. It was the most expensive French toast he ever had for almost ten pounds. Ten pounds!
"-and this is where he says-"
"It's not like I can't pay for myself."
The two guffawed madly, hands clutchin their sides. Jeanne stared at them bewilderedly. What? Did he say something weird?
"You," Amadeo wheezed in between laugh, "are completely unbelievable."
Jeanne looked affronted. The two finally ceased their laughing, Amadeo wiping off exaggerated tears from his eyes.
"Excuse me for not being filthy rich like either of you," he grumbled.
"So it's dinner, then. That's decided!"
"Hey! I did not-"
"Let's meet at Club Sion, yeah? I have a membership card. Just tell them you're with me," Amadeo said with a smirk. Selene glared at him, pout firmly in place.
"Why am I not surprised," she muttered.
Jeanne didn't even know if he should be. He just wished he knew what and where Club Sion exactly was.
---
CHAPTER THREE
In retrospect, he should have known Selene was the kind of person who still have a medieval- okay, very slightly traditional mindset. It would have bothered him less, really, considering where he had been spending his time at, if she hadn't waited for him outside the doorsteps of his dorm.
She had just made him feel like the girl in the relationship, if there was even one. That, he thought, hurt more than he'd like it to.
"There's a cafe just outside," she said cheerily. Jeanne grunted in reply. So what if he wasn't being the grateful person?
Selene eyed him, amused at his sour mood. "Seems like someone doesn't have his morning cup yet."
"You woke me up on six bloody o'clock," he growled. "For a breakfast at Claire bloody Lune."
"Claire de Lune," Selene corrected automatically, missing the point entirely. "Aki took me there for breakfast yesterday, and it was good," she stressed the word 'good' with a pinching gesture.
A quarter hour walk later, Jeanne regarded the menu stand outside the cafe warily. Selene had already pushed the door half-open, waiting for him to follow. He felt her curious gaze on him.
"I did tell you it'll be my treat, right?" she said.
That, Jeanne thought grudgingly with a rub to his wounded ego, definitely hurt. A lot.
-
"What I don't understand is how it got delayed for so long." Chris gleaned through the student profile of Selene Rosenkrantz, noting the strangeness of the whole situation. "We have cases like this frequently. It's usual for transfer students from foreign countries to enroll late, what with visas and all the other sort of paperwork, but I've never seen a case like this."
"I'm more concerned with why you are obsessing over this," Shaila interrupted from the filing cabinet. "She's finally enrolled, all legal documents taken care of, problem solved. Case closed. You are kicking a dead horse, Chris."
Frowning, he closed the student profile folder and put it away, breathing out tiredly. They had been arguing the past few days, he and Shaila. She wanted him to drop the matter about Selene Rosenkrantz, aside from her constant complaints of seeing Zide hanging outside the office. He had just wanted an answer to a question, an answer that he knew she knew and that he knew she wouldn't give, which only made him want to know more.
Shaila didn't hide things from him unless it was important or a secret worth a life, and in the coven, there were a lot of secrets like that. Coupled with Reiner's insane worry over her, her case was starting to sound coven-involved. So unless the answer to Selene Rosenkrantz's delayed transfer to Niebel High had nothing to do with the coven, which Chris was beginning to doubt was true, Shaila knew something no one ought to know...
Except Yamato. Yamato knew everything, and if she didn't, she would dig the answer out, even from its grave.
Biting his bottom lip, Chris glanced at Shaila, who still had her back turned towards him, before flipping his phone open and sending a short message to Anderson. Anderson was the only classmate of Yamato's that Chris had direct contact to, and he doubted the number Yamato put in the school directory was even a legitimate number.
"Are you done with Rosenkrantz's file?"
"Yeah, sure," he muttered offhandedly. He was more worried about his message. Expecting an immediate answer always made time go slower.
He ignored the heavy stare Shaila was giving him and continued worrying his bottom lip. Then suddenly his phone jolted and the screen lit up brightly with Anderson's name.
Shit, Chris swore mentally as he realised it was an incoming call and not just a message.
"Who's that?" Shaila asked, approaching his desk. Warily, he noted, as she picked up Selene Rosenkrantz's student profile.
"Zide," he lied smoothly, letting his lips spread into a smile. As expected, Shaila grunted before turning back to the filing cabinet. One day, he will find out the answer to her dislike towards Zide. But for now, his focus had to be on getting behind this matter. "You don't mind I take this outside?"
"No, of course not, go ahead. As if I like listening to you whisper sweet nothings to each other."
"Haha, very funny."
Once outside, making sure both doors were shut and the hallway empty of any morning-shift janitors, Chris finally answered the call.
"Sorry," he instantly apologised. "I had company."
"Tagore, I take it?" Anderson's voice came through from the other line. He was surprised the junior was already up and awake. It was only a quarter past seven; Thursday classes started on nine.
"Yes. I am sure you can imagine what she's like, about-" Chris paused, scrambling for a proper term. Remembering that he didn't even mention to Anderson why he needed Tagore's number, he mentally sighed and simply said, "this."
Anderson didn't say anything in reply, and Chris could hear the echo of puttering behind the line and the faint sound of Anderson's given name being called.
The silence was unnerving, but Chris held on to his legendary patience, as Zide had called it, until Anderson finally spoke.
"Sorry, that was Armand. Stupid ponce won't leave me alone even for just a night."
"I will pretend I didn't hear that," Chris chuckled. "Anyway, about Yamato."
"Ah, of course. I do have her number, but I can't just give off a classmate's personal information, even to the Council president. Again, sorry. Besides, don't you have the student directory for that kind of thing?"
"Yes, but I can only use the directory for emergency purposes."
"Glad to know no one's dying then." Vicerra's voice carried through the line again, louder and more shrill this time, almost annoying. Anderson trudged on bravely. Chris had to give him credit for that. "Anything else I can do you?"
He was about to say no when something clicked in his mind. Anderson wasn't only just his link to the Yamato. He was also his link to the younger batches, to anyone outside the Council's circle. His eyes and ears outside Shaila's protective circle.
"Would you keep an eye out for me?"
The steady "Alright" that answered him set his heartbeat dashing, the thrill of making that first step to freedom stealing his breath as finally, world of many possibilities opened to him.
-
On second thought, letting Selene pay for the food was an absolutely grand idea. The girl ordered without reserve and Jeanne doubted he even had that much money in the trust to pay for their meal. Not to say though that he had not contributed anything. There could never be a bad time for ice-cream, he had told Selene as he had directed her to the ice-cream stand next to Clair de Lune.
Now back within the warm, gleaming halls (because God knows how many wood polisher were used- or exactly how much of their tuition fee went for it) of Niebel High, they lounged on a French settee, making the perfect picture of pale, pretty blonde and tanned, broody brunet. Jeanne almost choked on a mouthful of cold ice-cream at the thought of the image.
"Sickles for your thought?" Selene teased. Jeanne just waved his hand in a shooing gesture. Only gratitude kept him from telling her to piss off. She did treat him to a very hearty breakfast that he no doubt cannot afford.
The corridor was empty of students and they still had an hour more before classes start. Thursday was once upon a time proclaimed as the Lenient Day; classes start two hours later, no assignments or quizzes given, no gym class, and the best of all, free pass to the city. It always made Wednesdays more bearable and saved a few students that go suicidal every mid-week from all the pressure and unwind them from tension for Friday.
So to find someone intruding into the peace and quiet of the third floor corridor was completely mind-jarring and just unacceptable. And from the way Selene had just lit up like Christmas arrived early, reality-checking.
"Aki!"
"Selene!"
Ah, the joy of sisterhood, Jeanne thought wryly as he watched Selene flung herself into the arms of a short, Asian girl.
"What are you doing here so early?" the Asian girl, Aki, asked. She must have noticed him as she looked away from Selene to stare over her shoulder and at him.
He didn't miss how those dark pupils suddenly dilated when her eyes met his. Instinctively, his hackles rose in challenge.
"-end," he missed Selene's words entirely, mind too preoccupied with the strange the strange rushing of something all throughout his body. He felt his lungs constricting as he gasped for breath repeatedly until he became too lightheaded he felt his knees buckling up. The last thing he saw before his eyes landed on the gaudy spirally pattern of the ceiling was Selene running to his side and that girl Aki frowning.
Well, fuck.
-
"...fainted..."
"...tired..."
"...is..."
The first thing Jeanne did when he realised the buzzing sounds were in fact voices, he stiffened and panicked internally.
What the fuck happened?
"He's waking up! Call the nurse!"
"Jeanne?"
People, he thought, should learn not to crowd patients.
Groaning, Jeanne screwed his eyes until he felt he could open them again.
A worried face framed with light golden hair was looking at him with every bit of concern pouring out of her pores. Vaguely, he remembered there was supposed to be another girl- a distinctive girl.
Ah, he spotted the girl now, just there by the window behind Selene, watching him again with those strange eyes. Now if only he could remember name...
"Jesus Christ, Jeanne," Selene breathed in relief. "We were so scared!"
'We'? When did there become a 'we'?
"You fainted and fell on your side and hit your head on the leg of the couch."
Ah. That should explain the hammering pain at the back of his head. But he still didn't know what had happened. Why had he fainted? God knew he wasn't anaemic.
"This is all my fault, isn't it?" Selene said, glancing at Nurse Dearlington. At the puzzled stare the nurse gave her, Selene explained, "Because I let him eat ice-cream after eating so much for breakfast. He did eat a lot of ice-cream."
"Selene, I don't think that's how it works."
"But Aki-" so that was her name. "-what if he had a brain freeze? It happens, yes?"
"Miss Rosenkrantz, please, there is nothing to worry about. I'm certain it must be just the stress. We have a lot of students who faint from exhaustion this time of the week. It's from all the pressure. That's why we have Lenient Day. I'm more suprised you're at school already this early."
"Oh my gosh, it is my fault. I woke him up early just for breakfast and ice-cream!"
Jeanne groaned and closed his eyes and rolled onto his back, feigning sleep. Nurse Dearlington and Aki can take care of Selene.
He did want to sleep in today.
-
Zide hadn't talked to Michael since the first day of school, which only meant there was nothing to be wary of. He had expected the rest of the week to be like that as well, just him and his own brand of research on the latest coven conundrum.
So when Michael asked him to meet up for tea, Zide knew something was up. He just didn't expect it to be this hilarious.
"He what?"
And completely convenient.
"Blatantly asked me to spy for him," Michael answered with a straight face. "I really didn't know what to say, so I just said 'Alright.'"
The grin on his face was so wide Zide thought it might have scared Michael off a little. But alas, his brave soldier remained still on his chair, playing with his cup of tea on its saucer.
He was right though. This latest development would solve the other half of his problem, the very same problem he'd been trying to fix for the past two years.
"I think it's brilliant."
"What?" Michael gaped at him. "Brilliant? Zide, do you realise the position you had just put me in?"
Zide hid his snort behind his own cup, rolling his eyes instead at the boy across him. "Consider it a treat that you didn't have to be personal with him."
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I forgot you had it harder."
"Yes, I did." Zide nodded, then noticed the angry frown on Michael's face and groaned. "You can't be serious?"
"I am. This is dangerous, Zide. You could get me killed. I'm not doing this unless you tell me why it's brilliant, as you said."
"Now you're being overdramatic."
"Overdramatic-"
"Telling you why would be telling you half of my plan, and I don't have any intention of sharing it with anyone."
Michael slumped back against his chair, staring at him with dismay. "God, I can't believe you just told me you have some evil plan. What kind of man have I submitted myself to?"
"A very brilliant man with a very brilliant idea," Zide snapped with a glare. "Just keep looking out for what he wants you to look out for, and then report back to me. I need to know what his side is up to. Tagore is a bitch and she's putting back every progress I've made."
"God, Tagore!" Michael exclaimed with a jump, jostling the teacup out of its saucer. He swore when hot liquid seeped into his trousers, but didn't look away from Zide even when wiping off the stain. "God fucking damn it, Zide. You didn't even tell me about Tagore!"
"Seriously?" Zide simply said, not even lending an arm to Michael. Chris did say he make a fine friend. "Tagore is always watching his back. That's not a secret at all."
"Yeah, but you could have warned me. How the hell am I going to spy on him when she's always around?"
"Okay, wait," Zide cut in with the raise of an open palm, setting down his teacup on the table. "I didn't say to spy on Chris, God, no, I have Lucian doing that already for me."
"What-"
"What I mean is to keep tab on what he's up to."
Michael paused from his wiping to stare at him for a long time. Then, he cocked his head, saying, "Isn't that basically spying?"
"Yes, but it's not the same sort as what you're already doing!"
"Which I am still not comfortable doing, by the way."
"Yes, yes, whatever, do I look like I care?" Zide gestured towards himself.
He had to agree with Michael though. Spying on Chris was an entirely different matter. For one, there was the possibility of getting caught, most likely by Tagore, and knowing Chris, it would lead to a huge round of teeange angst that Zide can't be bothered with. And besides, he was already starting to like Chris. It'd be a pity to lose him.
"Zide, that's what worries me." Michael suddenly said in a soft voice.
"What?"
Sighing, Michael leaned forward, arms on his knees. "Your face, Zide. It tells me you actually care."
Only his good upbringing stopped him from spluttering shamelessly.
"What?"
"You only care when you're throwing us into something dangerous."
"I-"
"Please tell me how dangerous this is."
Zide was speechless for a whole minute, and perhaps even more. He had not expected it either that Michael could be this perceptive. He should have known though, remembering whose brother Michael was.
But that shouldn't mean anything. It can't, not when hisnentire plan rested on everyone not knowing a thing. There would always be the risk of someone spilling the figurative beans, and knowing Michael who never hid a secret from Amadeo, someone more than just the two of them would know. And God knows how weak Amadeo's constitution was when it comes to keeping his mouth shut.
"Not enough to get you killed," Zide finally answered after the long pause, and after seeing Michael sigh with relief, he prayed damn hard to every diety he knew that he did not just lie.
-
When the school nurse woke him up, it was already five minutes to nine. Thankfully, Selene and her friend Aki was nowhere insight, and he made sure to shower the nurse with his gratitude. There was a limit to just how long he could interact with Selene without wanting to strangle her.
But more importantly was that girl, Aki. Jeanne knew what he had seen was his imagination, and what had happened was definitely no work of stress. He suffered retrograde amnesia, for crying out loud. He knew stress strong enough to make him pass out when he sees it.
"Someone's thinking hard," he heard a familiar voice said steps away from the classroom. Spinning around, he nodded curtly at Amadeo who returned the gesture. "What's eating you?"
"Nothing," Jeanne mumbled. Amadeo opened the classroom door. He immediately saw Selene standing up from her seat and before he could stop her from causing a scene, she rushed to his side and slapped her palm against his forehead in what he surmised was a gesture of checking his temperature.
"Are you okay now? Did the nurse say you can leave? Maybe you should rest more."
"Am I missing something?" Amadeo questioned suggestively. Selene turned towards him so fast it surprised him.
"Jeanne had fainted. From stress."
"And..."
"And? And he was sent to the clinic, what else! He is not well and should not be attending class."
Jeanne sighed as Amadeo looked like he was stifling a rather boisterous laugh.
"It's nothing serious, alright? Calm down."
"But you hit your head!"
"Oh, trust me, he's been hit in the head for quite a long time."
"There's no need to make a big deal out of this. I'm fine." Then he turned to Amadeo and stared at him meaningfully. "And you're not helping."
"Wasn't meant to," Amadeo returned with a grin.
"Shut up."
"Perhaps the three of you would like to step aside so I can begin our class for the day?" an old, gruelling voice said behind them. Selene flushed in embarrassment. Amadeo had already slipped onto his seat, that slimy bastard.
Without having to turn around, Jeanne already knew the face Mr. Velmonte must be doing. He didn't waste time shuffling to his seat as Selene did the same hurriedly.
It was after class again when the three convened in the same sofa Jeanne and Selene had sat on hours before.
"You went to Clair de Lune for breakfast?" Amadeo repeated in what Jeanne supposed was amazement. "Seriously, Rosenkrantz?"
"It's the only place I know!" Selene retorted hotly. Jeanne only noticed it then when seated next to Amadeo, her hair was multiple shades lighter, almost appearing silver with a few stream of sunlight here and there.
He was musing some more about how bright her eyes were when something pushed him off the couch.
Amadeo watched at him with a knowing smirk. He didn't risk asking why anymore.
"I always wonder what goes on inside that head of yours," Amadeo said, still wearing the smirk. "Sometimes, I wonder if there's even anything in there."
"You are very mean, you know that?" Selene said, blue-gray eyes narrowed at Amadeo.
"Get used to it," Jeanne muttered as he pushed himself up. "It kills him to be nice."
"Oh, shut it. Now tell me about this fainting spell. I didn't know you could be such a girl."
Selene giggled, and as she leaned against Amadeo, Jeanne slowly came into the realisation that Amadeo wasn't displaying any nausea at all. In fact, he was sniggering along, leaning back with equal weight.
It was bizarre and the slightest bit startling.
"Jeanne? Jeanne!"
He blinked. "What?"
Selene stared back, puzzled. "I was just telling Amadeo we should go out later for lunch or maybe dinner."
"My treat," Amadeo added.
"I don't know..." because frankly, while having rich friends had its perks, it'd all be a bruising blow to his already aching ego. It was bad enough he was treated to a rather unnecessarily pricey breakfast.
God, it was so pricey and bleedingly expensive. It was the most expensive French toast he ever had for almost ten pounds. Ten pounds!
"-and this is where he says-"
"It's not like I can't pay for myself."
The two guffawed madly, hands clutchin their sides. Jeanne stared at them bewilderedly. What? Did he say something weird?
"You," Amadeo wheezed in between laugh, "are completely unbelievable."
Jeanne looked affronted. The two finally ceased their laughing, Amadeo wiping off exaggerated tears from his eyes.
"Excuse me for not being filthy rich like either of you," he grumbled.
"So it's dinner, then. That's decided!"
"Hey! I did not-"
"Let's meet at Club Sion, yeah? I have a membership card. Just tell them you're with me," Amadeo said with a smirk. Selene glared at him, pout firmly in place.
"Why am I not surprised," she muttered.
Jeanne didn't even know if he should be. He just wished he knew what and where Club Sion exactly was.