The silence in the corridor when they neared their class was enough to tell the existence of a teacher in the classroom. Nick was the first to get to the door with his friends following just a few steps away as Jack kept calling out to him; not even minding the serenity of the environment.
Nick deftly threw a glare at him which he instinctively knew what he meant even if not told.
"Sorry man," he grumbled underneath his breath, slightly looking down.
Nick stared at him for a brief second and slightly shook his head, pushing the door open as he sauntered in with Fluke and the rest tailing after.
Mrs. Zoey paused whatever she was teaching at the sound of the door opening and turned with her hands folded on her chest and a black look on her face; knowing well who the culprits were.
"Mr. Walter? Where have you four been?" She queried and Nick glanced at his friends. "Well...um..Mr..." He fumbled, not knowing which excuse to give.
"The four of you should meet me in detention after school." she snapped in, no longer interested in whatever excuse Nick had to give.
They all looked at each other, not happy with how things ended.
"Go and have your seats." She urged them and they turned on their toes, ruffling their hair as they growled God know what to themselves; sauntering to their seats, quite dissatisfied with her final judgment. "And the three of you should dress well before you sit down, else you find your way out of my class. And you understand what that means," she added.
At this rate, almost all the class had their eyes on them but made sure not to make eye contact with them, lest they fear being their target.
Nick hung his bag on his chair and slammed himself on his desk with a sigh, rolling his eyes in the process whiles Fluke, Jack and Lucas dressed properly before settling in their seats behind Nick.
"Alright, we continue the lesson." Mrs. Zoey went on, picking up from where she stopped. "So basically we have frictional prose and none frictional prose." she turned to write something on the board.
Fluke making sure that the coast was clear, held Nick's shoulder from behind, slightly leaning forward. "Hey?" He grumbled. Nick slit his eyes to have a glance at him while partly keeping an eye for Mrs. Zoey. "You okay? You seem kind of off today." Fluke queried.
"Don't worry." he patted his hand. "It's nothing serious. Just got lectured by Mr. Hayford about dressing properly." he clicked his tongue, his face contorted with rage. "That man gets on my nerves, you know."
Fluke instinctively chuckled, rubbing Nick's shoulder. "Chill man, you know how he is. Don't get so worked up about this. Anyway, do you remember that girl you've been keeping an eye on lately?"
"Who? Alisa?"
"Yeah, yeah, that one."
"What about her?" He questioned, still keeping an eye for Mrs. Zoey.
"Well, I saw....." Just then, Fluke saw Mrs. Zoey turning back to the class. He quickly signaled Nick and they both sat properly, faking to be jotting what has been written on the board down just like the others. "Oh boy," Fluke sighed, grumbling to himself. "that was so fast."
Mrs. Zoey faced the class once again, lurking around to see if everybody was paying attention.
"And that's all for today," she announced. "Don't forget to present your assignments on my desk tomorrow." she packed her books to take her to leave. "See you in detention Nick Walter and co." she glanced in Nick and his friends' directions before walking out of the class.
"Gosh, this woman is so annoying." Lucas scoffed, closing his book. "We should go get something and eat."
They picked up their bags and sauntered out of the class to the busy corridor with Nick quite calm. "Ah, Fluke?" He interrupted his friend's witty conversation, making them glance at him. "What were you saying earlier on?"
"Oh that, I almost forgot." He draped a hand around Nick's shoulder. "Well, I saw Alisa with the Principal in front of her class this morning before we ran into you. I heard her mention your name. I bet she might be reporting you to the Principal."
"She what?" He instinctively stopped in his tracks. "I'm so going to kill this girl." He retreated his steps, hurrying through the crowded students.
"Hey! wait for us," Lucas shouted and they went after him. After about 5mins walks, they got to Alisa's class. They looked through the window but there was no sign of her.
"Hey." He stopped one of Alisa's mates who was about to walk past them. "Where is Alisa?" He queried.
The student stared at him quite confused. "Alisa. Alisa.." she mumbled thoughtfully, trying to remember who bears that name in the class. "Oh, that selectively mute girl?" she questioned.
"Yes." He hastily snapped in. "That one. Where is she?"
"I think she went to the cafeteria." She answered. Without waiting for another word, Nick rushed off, taking up the corridors to the hallway with his friends tailing after him.
*****
Alisa has been staying in the cafeteria to have her meals ever since Nick started tailing her to avoid running into him though she hated the crowd, the crappy noises from the trays, and the entire rumpus in the hall.
She glanced at the over-excited teens with their witty chatters and let out a sharp sigh, concentrating back on her meals.
At that instant, Nick and his friends walked in. He sent his eyes lurking around and saw Alisa sitting on the last but one bench at the far right.
"That bitch." He scoffed and trolled in her direction with his friends following after. Meanwhile, Alisa was busy with her meals and didn't even notice him approaching.
She took the next scoop of the omelet to put in her mouth when someone held her hand. The next thing she knew, the person dragged her by the hand without her warning.
"Ah!" she cried, lifting her eyes to the culprit.
"You're coming with me." He uttered with a wolfish look and dragged Alisa away. Fluke, Lucas, and Jack took glances at each other and rushed after them. The entire cafeteria was thrown into confusion as nobody understood what was going on.