Over the next few days, Amarya attached herself like a leach to the boys one year older, much to Joan's secret dissatisfaction.
Like usual, a blur of blonde hair came rushing down the hallway and abruptly halted outside the classroom door.
"Hi~" Amarya sang brightly as she smiled. Her presence drew envious and wistful gazes from people who wanted to be her or people who wanted to be with her. The classroom had become used to her frequent visits and relished in the beautiful scenery of her smile.
She skipped towards Joan's desk, where Viktor, Turner, Pablo, and Navier crowded around. Navier and Turner had their seats pulled up to her desk and rested their chins on her table, while Viktor and Turner leaned on the nearby desks.
Viktor looked up from his phone, and a bright smile spread across his face as he noticed Amarya. "Amarya!" he said brightly as he tucked his phone away in his pocket. "How are you doing?"
The light pink dusting his cheeks, and the way he meekly rubbed the back of his neck didn't go unnoticed by Joan. She inwardly huffed and looked away. Teenage boys were truly a breed of their own.
Instead, Joan chose to stare out the window and to the school gate where she noticed a lonely figure, loitering by the entrance. Plenty of people came and went from school campuses, so normally, she wouldn't have been bothered by the figure.
But his outfit and the way he carried himself had Joan narrowing her eyes in suspicion. He adorned himself in all black from the head down: black hood, black cap, black mask, etc.. His hands were tucked in his pockets as he anxiously looked at the school building then back at his shoes.
"Did you know?" Amarya asked as she slumped down into the seat behind Joan, Navier's seat. "You guys are my only friends," she said innocently as she rested her cheek in her palm.
Turner grinned impishly. "Yeah, we know. If I were in your class, I wouldn't want to be friends with you. Who would?"
Pablo nearly choked on his saliva. He exasperatedly slapped the back of Turner's head. "Be nice."
"Ah- That hurt!" Turner whined.
Amarya furrowed her brows in frustration. Turner had been tougher to crack than she'd expected. "What's that supposed to mean?" she pouted.
"Nothing, nothing," Turner waved her off, and his gaze fell back on the 2D characters on his screen. He furiously tapped at the screen in deep concentration. "C'mon, C'mon… What?! No! He's cheating!"
Amarya leaned over to peek at his screen. "What game are you playing?"
Turner ignored her question, eliciting a frown from Amarya.
"It's called Death Fantasy," Navier answered for Turner. He, too, was concentrated on the flashes of light Turner's phone emitted.
Amarya gasped. "I've heard of that game! Let me play!"
She reached out to snatch Turner's phone from his hand, but before she could, Turner leaned back in his chair and raised his phone above his head.
"No, I'm in the middle of a quest."
Viktor frowned and wrestled the phone from Turner. He scowled at Turner before turning to Amarya with a bright smile. "Here."
Although annoyed, Amarya forced a smile onto her face. "It's okay. Turner's in the middle of a quest. He should finish first." Her eyelashes fluttered like butterflies. Viktor stood transfixed at her beauty as a red flush spread to his cheeks.
Meanwhile, Joan remained silent, staring at the figure below. Her sharp eyes analyzed his every move, noticing how he nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot and rubbed the back of his neck every few seconds.
His entire being screamed 'suspicious'.
Joan abruptly stood from her seat, catching Viktor's attention, who was in the midst of stumbling through an awkward conversation with Amarya.
"Rem?" Navier looked up at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"I'll be back," Joan said as she rushed out of the classroom.
Amarya cocked her head to the side in confusion, ignoring Viktor's poor attempts at catching her attention. Her electrifying, blue eyes latched onto Joan's figure as she slipped outside the classroom.
Joan, sensing a foreign gaze, shivered under the raw intensity. She looked back to make brief eye contact with Amarya.
Her deep, brown eyes locked with Amarya's glistening blue eyes. Although Amarya's eyes were ice blue, they contained an indescribable heat that nearly made Joan recoil in shock.
Amarya quickly averted her gaze, and the fire that had blazed in her eyes disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
A frown drew the corners of Joan's lips back, but she ignored the unsettling feeling Amarya gave her and rushed down the stairs in a flurry of long, black hair.
"What are you doing?" PK asked her.
"There's a boy at the gate. There's something off about him."
PK shook its head and scolded, "Why do you care? He has nothing to do with your mission! You need to unite the four gangs, not seduce random street boys."
"Shut up." Joan waved off PK, but as usual, her hand passed straight through its mouse-like body. "Just trust me."
PK scoffed and mocked her, nasally, "Trust me, trust me."
She dashed through the school doors, and much to her luck, the mysterious figure still lurked behind the school gates.
Lunch was the only short interval of time where students were allowed off-campus, so Joan strode toward the gate fearlessly.
Damien, who slouched behind the school gates, sensed her approaching presence. He didn't have to set his gaze on her to feel the heavy weight crashing down on his chest and shoulders. His legs unconsciously trembled under Joan's aura.
A confused Damien clutched his chest, confused and panicked. He clawed at the material of his T-shirt as he desperately gasped for air. The chills running up his spine refused to stop, and everything in his body screamed at him to run. But his feet paralyzed, unable to leave the ground.
And as Joan rounded the gate's corner, Damien felt his whole world come crashing down on him.
"Who are you?" Joan's icy voice broke Damien's daze, and he snapped his head to the left to look at her.
Warm, chocolate eyes met him, but there was a frigid cold sitting behind her irises despite their deep color.
Damien gritted his teeth, annoyed by her sudden presence. "Who are you?" he refuted.