Aiden tried to be subtle but he was caught. He had been stealing gazes at Ivy that of course was not ignored by her. She might come off as an unresponsive and ignorant one but the things she felt whenever Aiden gazed at her was something she thought she was immune to.
However, her beliefs were uprooted from the ground since Aiden had entered her life.
Ivy was shaken out from her conceptions when Iris's loud and booming voice reached her ears.
"I think we would not mind having you boys in our team for the project."
"We would be happy to have you, 5 brothers on board with us for this history project."
She forwarded her hand to Lucas, taking her slender hands in his calloused ones. He shook them in a firm grip.
Iris told Lucas. She had responded instead for all the girls and it irked Grace and Athena who desperately wanted to avoid the boys.
Iris's phone vibrated on the table. She took it. She unlocked the phone. The screen welcomed her, she noticed a notification in her message box.
The message was different from what normal phones would have.
She clicked on the icon and a group chat came into her view.
Mafia Ladies
Serene: Diana, I am going to kill you today.
Livia: I love you so much, Dia. You are the best.
Ines: Why did you do that?
Iris aka Diana was bewildered by the messages. She couldn't pinpoint what was the problem. She narrowly stared at Grace who was throwing daggers at her with her eyes.
She felt if she could do them in real life, Diana might don't live for long. Then she shifted her gaze to Sarah, who offered her a loving and thankful smile.
It made her more puzzled. She wondered what she had done to receive such drastic reactions, one seemed eager to strangle her while the other looked at her as if she was her messiah.
Grace and Sarah together gave the poor Diana too much stress.
'Maybe, looking at Ines would help me to know why Serene wants to kill me and Livia is blowing me flying kisses just with her eyes.'
With her positive hopes, Diana drifted her gaze away from Sarah aka Livia to Ivy. The only one she believed could help her now. She would have gone to Aza but after last night's events. She thought it would be good for the meantime if they let Aza take a rest and not overthink.
Also, she felt Aza was not herself today since she had come back after talking with her mother. She had not lifted her head from her lap. It worried her. Plus she could discern an unusual ambience around her friend and the youngest Vermont brother.
Her gut feelings were yelling at her to help Aza but she didn't know what and why she had to help her friend who was perfectly fine…
If only they had the power to do telepathy among them then they would understand why Aza was acting so weirdly.
Diana decided to ask her friends whether they took notice of Aza's strikingly odd behaviour. Then they all can talk it out with her later in the day when they don't have to pretend and play their roles as the new scholarship students.
'For now, I have to wait but not for too long. Whatever that is bothering my baby Aza, I will help her.' With determination, she fisted her hand under the table.
Slowly, she started to talk with Ivy aka Ines through her eyes. Since they had the longest camaraderie with each other.
'Ines? Did I make a mistake?' Diana pleaded using her eyes.
Ines wanted to roll her eyes but she knew it was not her fault entirely, 'Not outrightly yes yet..'
Diana begged her friend to not stop her words and continue, 'Yet? What yet? Ines, you are not helping me out here. Don't play riddles and just say it.'
Ines would have laughed at Diana who resembled a deer that had come out of its hiding in search of water to only get bumped by a hungry-looking lion. She appeared to be frightened out of her wits. It was rare for them to find Diana in such situations where she didn't know what to do.
'You should have asked others about their opinions on making the boys our group project partners.' Ines sipped her orange juice through the straw as she responded to the frantic Diana.
Ines's reply made Diana realise the mistake she had committed unknowingly. She was stupefied and stumped.
She shot an apologetic look to an outraged Serene.
Sarah aka Livia clapped her hands in excitement as she was feeling overjoyed now that she will have some alone time with Ryan as they worked side by side. Even the thought of it made her curl up her lips in a dangerous smile.
Why dangerous?
As per Ryan, the girl beside him was the epitome of destruction. She had taken birth solely to disrupt the peaceful life of people such as him. He could bet his life that instead of a Goddess, only Satan can create a masterpiece like Livia.
The moment his eyes landed on her, his heart had been reacting strangely. He felt short on breath whenever he found her smiling, he could feel the erratic beating of his heart all the time she stared at him.
He thought his heart would jump out of his chest if he kept looking at her. Since she could ignite these foreign and unfamiliar sensations within himself. He understood that the girl was a walking danger for him.
Therefore, when his brain rang with the red signal, he asked Sylius to change seats but his twin disregarded his misery and attempted to flirt with the girl who sat to his right.
"Sylius!!"
Ryan said his twin's name from his clenched teeth. However, it seemed that Sylius had turned deaf.
He halted his efforts as they were futile when the other party was hell-bent on dismissing his twin.
__________
"I am happy and relieved that you girls agreed. I didn't think you would, in all honesty."
Lucas told Diana after he saw an undefinable expression on her face.
He thought he should show them how they were alleviated to be their partners for the project.
He didn't wish to see the regret or doubts in her eyes.
Notably, Lucas's mellow deep voice distracted Diana from her overthinking and made her smile a tiny bit.
Diana responded, "I know I won't regret my decision."
Her response helped to soothe his unrestrained overflow of emotions.
___________
"Don't bite your lips like that. You are hurting those tempting red juicy lips."
Kaden whispered in Aza's ears.