Stephen got himself ready for Aria's comeback, but she only whipped around and said, "Thank you Stephen. I'll take it from here."
Stephen raised his eyebrows, "You want me to leave?"
Aria raised an eyebrow, "You want to stay?"
Stephen scratched his head, "Not really. I was just wondering what will you do?"
Aria folded her arms, "What do you think I should do?"
Stephen frowned, "You're asking me?"
Aria nodded, "Of course. You might not have done anything bad, but you're actually the root cause of all this."
Stephen pointed at himself, "I'm the root cause? I never asked those girls to do what they did."
"So, do you pity them?" Aria asked suddenly.
Stephen blinked a few times before he spoke, "No. I don't. Girls...can be truly scary." he shivered.
Aria's lips curved into a smile.
But seeing it, Stephen suddenly wished she hadn't smiled. He was afraid, even though he knew the smile was not for him. He cowered a little as Aria said, "So unless you want to be more scared by girls, I suggest you take your leave."
Stephen said nothing as he walked away. "Goodnight Stephen. And thank you." Aria called out, but there was no response.
Aria sighed as Stephen disappeared from view. She sat down leaning against a tree and closed her eyes. She had not been sleeping properly, and she got really frustrated if she didn't get enough sleep.
Aria had only closed her eyes for a few minutes when she heard footsteps and rustling of leaves and bushes.
Very soon, she saw five figures come into the clearing and stop. They all looked around but none spotted Aria, who still sat leaning against a tree.
"Hii everyone. What brings you here?" Aria suddenly spoke up after a minute and the five girls jumped. Bella was the first to recover as she said, "Aria!! What are you doing here!?!?! Did....." Her voice trailed off but Aria smiled as she came into view, "No. Stephen did not call me here."
Bella was taken aback and the other four took a step back, Aria had a very oppressing aura right now. Seeing this, Aria's smile vanished and the aura disappeared. "No need to be afraid. We all study together after all, right?"
Aria said as she sat down in the middle of the clearing.
"Come on. Sit down. Let's talk. You've got nothing better to do anyway, right?" Aria said, patting the space beside her. The four girls were a bit afraid, but Bella was Aria's friend. Though she did not exactly know what was happening, Bella walked upto Aria and sat down. The rest followed her example.
Once all of them were seated in a circle, Aria pushed back her open hair and they fell back on the ground, pale in the moonlight.
The girls looked enviously at her as Bella asked, "Aria, you...and Stephen seem to be on quite friendly terms?"
Aria's eyes were closed and head was thrown back as she chuckled, "Friendly terms? He annoys the hell out of me. But I'll venture to say that our relationship is about the same as his was with Harper. I assume you know all about that."
"Harper? Harper who?" a girl asked varily.