Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞

𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫

The next morning, we woke up very early so that we will be able to head back home and change before school and work starts. We got home too early for Connor, so he decided to drive me to school.

"How's Arcturus Academy treating you, Calistine?" Connor asked. "Is there a guy who's been pestering you to go on a date with him?" he asked, glancing at me briefly before turning his attention back to the road.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Arcturus Academy is nice. Great people, to be honest." I responded. "As for your second opinion, no. There's no guy. I don't want to have a guy."

"Good, because Carter would probably just kill him." Connor warned. "Remember when he thought you and Maven were dating? He almost punched that guy." Connor laughed.

I remember that day — or night. Maven and I were walking home and it was around ten in the evening. He was walking me home because we both went to a party and Maven offered to walk me home. He leaned down to wipe the glitter and chocolate off my face in front of my house and Carter showed up and thought he was giving me a kiss which he wasn't. Maven might be a player and all, but he would never make a move on me or on Sky because he values our friendship.

I chuckled, lightly. "What about you? Has anyone caught your eye, Connor?" I asked, wriggling my eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Not interested. I went to law school to study, not to date, Calistine." he cleared out.

"Please. I know you had a girlfriend. No need to hide it from me. Wanna talk about what happened?" I asked.

I know he had a girlfriend last year because he rarely comes home everyday, he says he is "studying with a friend" but I know for a fact that he was with his girlfriend the whole time. I don't mind though. It just bothers me that he doesn't talk to us about it, especially when they broke up. Connor drank and drank and drank and he finally snapped into reality.

"Past is past, Calistine." he shrugged. "We don't need to talk about it. What I want to talk about is Imperium University."

I frowned. "What about it?" I asked.

"Are you planning on going there if you ever pass the interview and entrance exam?" he asked, curiously.

I sighed. "I don't know. My friends and I made a promise that we'd all be together at college. I feel like I'm abandoning them for some school." I admitted.

"Your dream school." he emphasized. "You always planned on going there, Ali. You loved it there. Ever since the day you first laid your eyes on that school, you couldn't stop thinking about it because it's your dream school. You set your mind and to enter that school until last year." he paused, pulling over in front of the High School Department."It's not wrong to follow your dreams, Callie. It's wrong to put them on hold for someone else."

I huffed, hopping out of the car. "You know, I really hate it when you say all of these words of wisdom."

"I know. I'm the smart mouth." he bragged. "Now, go and get to class."

"I will. I'll see you at dinner." I beamed before closing the door. Connor is such a smart mouth. He's always so full of wisdom and I hate it, but I love him for that.

I sat down on the armchair before laying my head on top of the desk. I'm exhausted. We spent the entire night planning for their law firm. They already have investors, they just have to build the building and hire people. It's quite exciting.

"Hey." he cooed, flicking my head, causing me to look up and glare at him.

"What?" I huffed.

Instead of answering, Rhys shoved paper in front of me, making my brows furrowed. I looked down to see notes. Notes from the classes I've missed.

"Did you write these?" I asked, glancing at him. "No." he said, plainly before facing the board.

"Can you say thank you to the person who wrote this? It has a lot of information that I need to catch up." I beamed before putting it inside my bag.

"Also, there the school festival is a week away. Our class is now planning on what we're going to do." Rhys informed.

I nodded. "What's the plan?" I asked.

"A love booth." Rhys replied with a disgusted look on his face.

I snorted. "What the hell is a love booth?"

"I don't have the strength you tell you, Calistine. You ask too many questions. Go bother someone else." he groaned.

My forehead creased. "Calistine? Why are you calling me Calistine?"

He didn't get the chance to reply since our teacher went inside.

Lunch came and Harry and I made our way to the cafeteria. Harry got both of us lunch which was just burgers and coke.

"So, what happened yesterday?" Harry asked before taking a sip of his coke.

"Carter's back." I informed, making him choke on his drink. "Are you alright?"

"He's back?" he asked, shocked. "Seems like I have to stop driving you home and picking you up. I might get beaten up again."

I snickered. "Stop overreacting." I replied. "Carter only prefers to beat up Maven." I added, making Harry laugh.

"Why's he back? Is he sick of traveling?" Harry asked.

"They're planning on building their own firm." I informed. And their investors would like to interview me for a possible scholarship at Imperium University.

"Really? That's amazing. I'm proud of your brothers, Ali." Said Harry.

"But you cannot tell anyone yet." I whispered. "They don't want to start telling anyone just yet."

He nodded. "Seems reasonable." Harry said. "But something else happened. Tell me."

Do I tell him about Imperium University?

"Nothing happened." I lied. "So, what the hell is a love booth."

"Ah, the legendary love booth." Harry started. "It's basically a love postal office. You write a letter, any letter to someone, the payment must be inside the envelope before you drop it off the box. It can be anonymous or not."

"So, basically someone confesses their feelings towards someone using this stupid love booth." I concluded.

"Yup. Plus, you can pay double to add chocolates, flowers, any of those romantic shenanigans."

"Wow. Never would've expected that this school would be that kind." I muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"The kind of school that adores those things." I replied.