Chapter 68
As Mara said, we didn't manage to sit there for a long time. Very soon she and I finished our drinks and went back to my home.
We didn't talk about anything serious as we sat in the car. It was mostly small, meaningless talk about the bar. She reminded me constantly to take care. To prepare, to not overexert myself, and get enough rest before the said date.
Hearing her nagging was a fresh experience. She inadvertently confirmed how much she cared about me. Well, at least in her own way.
Coming back home, I greeted Greg, who returned from work, and talked with him for some time. Annie was telling him about my team and training process.
I finally understood what they talked about and how they got together so well. Both of them started with praising heaps on me, but soon their conversation turned sideways. They started talking about training, then there was a part about relationships.
At that moment, I felt a piercing glance of Annie on myself. Later on, when Jessie came, they started talking about other topics.
Seeing how cheerful she was and comparing with how frightened she was when she met those thugs, I nodded inwardly.
The conversation soon came to the point where she asked if she could keep going there every now and again, and thus I left the parents alone.
Going back to my room, I plugged my phone into the charger and took Reid's schedule in my hands. I was already sleepy, so I left setting my own schedule for the next day. The only thing I saw clearly was that tomorrow Reid would be absent.
Texting to Jessie, that tomorrow I will go to Birchland High, I fell asleep. She told me to visit the branch gym after the classes end.
Getting up the next day, I went to wash up. Getting my morning routine done, shaving my stubble, and brushing my teeth, I had a quick breakfast and went to college.
I didn't even remember nor had time to see what kind of lectures would be today, so I simply stuffed everything I could stuff into my bag. Taking another bag with my training gear.
My reason for today's visit was to look into the students, teachers and see what else I can squeeze from this school that will help me.
With a mindset like this, I went into Birchland High's grounds and saw, as usual, lots of students going here and there. And of course, not a single one of them bothered to wear their uniform.
"Sheesh, what did I even expect?" shaking my head, I went to my classroom and right to my seat.
Looking down I saw a lot of rubbish on it, there was something written on it. Curse words and so on, but I didn't look further into the content. Rubbing the scar on my nose, I wanted to laugh and smash this desk at the same time.
How old must you be to actually do something as stupid as this? Sometimes I felt like this place was more appropriate to be a high school than a college. Yet seeing how old the graduates were, I couldn't.
"Now, what should I even do with this?" I looked around the classroom and saw no one. I was the first one to arrive here. There was no way I would actually clean all of this off. The rubbish I can, but not the writings.
As I scanned the room, my gaze stopped on a single place.
"Why not?"
After fiddling for a few minutes, I swapped my desk with the one Reid used. Dusting off my hands, I sat down and plugged my earphones on. Now I only needed the lecture to start.
Closing my eyes for a while, I was disturbed by someone shaking my shoulder.
Opening my eyes, I saw a girl with a bob cut. Her face looked haggard, and her lips were pale. Her eyes that usually twinkled mischievously now looked bleak.
"Elle?" I quickly put the earphones away and sat upright.
"Are you fine, Erlig? Are you sure you can be here?" her voice sounded weak, but I heard concern.
"Yes, I'm sure. Reid won't be here today if you are talking about this, and what about you?"
"I'm fine, a bit tired, I guess." She smiled halfheartedly.
"Sorry that I didn't go to meet Jet. I was busy sorting some stuff out. How is he?"
She looked down, and I couldn't see her face.
"Everything is fine, right?" I inched closer to her.
"Doctors said that he will soon regain his consciousness." She sneaked a glance at me as she said this.
"Won't you sit with me? I actually don't know what they will teach us today. And we can talk in the meantime."
Elle's eyes rounded up ever so slightly, and after thinking for some time, she nodded and started taking out her textbooks and writing utensils.
"And what can you say? You see him every day? What about his parents."
She stopped moving and looked down once again. I saw her hands closed together as she fiddled with her fingers.
"You know, I had my guess about you and him, so if you are worried about this…" Hearing me, Elle froze completely. "If you don't know how to bring this up, you don't need to. We will talk about this when he regains his consciousness. We have more urgent things to talk about."
"He is fine. His father visited him a couple of times. He was furious at first, but a few days later, he returned, looking grumpy. Yet he never mentioned getting back at those who did it…" her shoulders shook.
"Don't worry. I will get back at them." clenching my fist a couple of times, I saw veins slowly popping out on my hand and forearm.
"Erlig?" She turned to look at me. Her expression of deep fear and anxiety. "How can you say this? You know who Reid is, who his parents are, what can you, we, possibly do to him?" The inner ends of her eyebrows lifted up, and she had this begging look on her face. She took my hand. "Just leave him alone. Eventually, he will grow tired of this."
"Hmph." I snorted after hearing her proposal. "So what? I can't do anything to him NOW, that's why I should give up? I've suffered enough with this mindset. I don't want to leave my life in the hands of an occasion. You, Jet, Joanne. All three of you tried to change something but failed. Now it's my turn! I don't care who he is, I will make him stop, and I will make him pay for what he has done to me and those around me!"
By the end of my speech, Elle's hands lost hold of mine, and her eyes were as wide as they could get.
"Don't think about this so hard, I started working on it, and there won't be a single person who can make me change my mind."
"Sigh, I just hope you will be fine."
"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself…" I suddenly understood one thing. "Hey, where's Joanne? Looking around, I couldn't see her. The students that made their way here were all giving me looks, but I ignored them. I wanted to see the former busty friend of mine but couldn't spot her.
"I don't know…"
"You don't know, uh-huh. Wait, what?" I turned around to look at Elle, who once again looked down.
"She texted to me that she will be absent for some time, and since then, I haven't heard a single thing from her. It was after the incident. I was too busy with Jet, and I couldn't react in time."
"Oh gooood…" I leaned back on my seat as my face was now staring at the ceiling. What if something bad happens to her? If Previous Erlig was ntred, and we follow the logic of a game world, she would end up as a cheap whore at the bottom of society or something like this. Even if we are talking about reality, she can still be caught up in something terrible like drugs and so on.
"You've really changed Erlig…" I glanced sideways at Elle, who carefully picked her words. "You would never react like this if it was the previous you."
"I would never stop hanging out with her in the first place, right?"
She nodded.
"Well, sorry, but I can't do this, or better be said, I didn't think of this at the moment. She had feelings for me." I saw Elle nodding to my words. "And I can't be friends with someone who has feelings for me. I can't be sincere with such a person. I won't understand where my pity ends and where my feelings start. It will hurt both of us. You can guess what I mean by yourself, can't you?" I finally returned back into my usual sitting position and peered into Elle's eyes.
"Yes," she murmured.
"I've made a few mistakes with the way I handled this." I took a pen and started fiddling with it. "I didn't figure everything out. I was too preoccupied," the pen flew out of my hand onto the floor, "With myself."
A long silence ensued after I took my pen back. The bell rang, and a lecturer came into the classroom.
"Is it because of your memory issues? Are they troubling you?"
"Something like this, sigh. Anyway, let's talk on the next break."
A male lecturer came in and started reciting something we should've transcribed.
As I was absentmindedly scratching the paper with my pen, listening to him rumbling about economics, I felt a soft nudge.
"How did you clean up the desk?" Elle whispered to me in a hushed tone, with her eyes still glued to her own textbook.
"Cough, Why are you asking this?" I fake coughed ever so slightly and whispered back.
"I tried to clean your desk yesterday but couldn't manage to do this."
"You did?" I glanced at her from the side and saw her nodding. "Thanks."
"Never mind, so how did you do it?"
"I didn't clean it. In fact, I swapped my desk with Reid's."
Her hand stopped, and her mouth opened slightly.
The rest of the lecture has gone without a hitch. Hearing the bell, some of the more diligent students breathed out. Those who talked through the whole class simply raised their voices.
I also placed my pen on the desk and shook my head. I felt like everything I've heard already left my brain. Stretching my back, I caught more than a couple eyes concentrated on me. My eyes met with a girl, but she quickly turned her head away and started talking with her neighbor.
"Elle, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
"Was there any new rumors in the school? perhaps you heard something from those in your team?"
She looked upward for a second and then gently shook her head. "I was too busy taking care of Jet. Did anything happen?"
"You can say it like this. I've met Reid, and as you can see, I'm fine. But most importantly, Mara came to see me for the third time."
"She did?"
"She confessed to me once again, heh." I chuckled and deliberately moved my face away so that she would not see my expression. "But with Reid going after me, I can't possibly think of dating anyone."
Hearing nothing in return, I turned around and saw Elle cupping her face.
"Why is all of this happening to us?"
"You know, I thought about this for a long time," I rubbed the scar on my nose. "And with the help of a certain person, I came to a conclusion." She looked at me, her expression even more tired than before. But there was still some hope glinting in the depth of her eyes. "It doesn't matter why this happened anymore. What matters is that I must do anything to turn this around."