ASHER'S POINT OF VIEW
It was pretty close. Thanks to all gods, I was able to change the video and her aunt's memory. If I was not, my pretending mother would surely kill me.
"Is everything done?" Aunt Wart asked when I got home. "Yeah," I answered lazily, "the soccer field, the people's memories, the fake suspect, everything's in place." I sat down on the red sofa.
"And the security cameras?" Her right eyebrow raised. "Ye—" it got me. I forgot to change the security records!
I dashed back to the school. Of course, I was in a rush that I did not bring my car anymore. My mind was too clouded.
When I reached the school gate, the guard stopped me while he was laughing. "Where are you going, Mister Lucero?" he asked as he laughed again. What is funny?
"Inside, Sir," I politely answered. "Can I enter now?" He cleared his throat as he answered, "No, not yet. Not yet until you tell me why are you here. You are absent because you are sick, right? You should be at your home, resting."
I frowned. "But―" he cut me off, "By the way, your girlfriend also came here earlier. That kid is funny―" then he laughed again. Oh, yes, it is funny. Really . . . fun―wait, what?! My girlfriend?! My eyes grew wide. "I do not have a girlfriend!" I shouted, "I'm still single!" He stopped and looked at me, puzzled a bit, and he laughed again. "I said 'girl friend'. A female friend," he explained. "Oh my, you both are funny!" and laughed.
Wait, what?! She is here?! I started to panic inside. What if she already saw the security records? What if she has been confused now and trying to find the truth? Aunt Wart would surely kill me!
"Is she still inside?" I asked, a bit trembling. "Yes, she just came in a few moments earlier."
"Exact place?"
"Soccer field. She said that she wanted to watch the game personally and congratulate her crush―"
"Sorry, Sir. I am in a hurry!" I cut him out as I opened the gate and ran towards the field. I just shook my head in annoyance when I heard the guard laugh again.
Fortunately, my body felt Scarlette's presence immediately. In the middle of the crowd, I concentrated to hear her heartbeat. When I finally found it, I quietly ran to the highest part of the bleachers. There, I found her while looking at the whole soccer field. For your information, her jaw had dropped and her eyes were widening.
Probably, she is now in a state of extreme confusion and could not believe what she was looking at right now. The next thing she did was to bring out her phone from her pocket. She tapped her video player app and that was enough for me to conclude that she already watched it. She just wanted to watch the security record again to double-check.
Unlucky for her, the first video that she had watched was too far now to be compared to the second one. I am not bragging but I was able to alter the content of the video through space in a split of seconds. Her jaw dropped after watching the video.
She turned off her phone but she also turned it on to call her aunt. "Hello, Aunt. I want to ask this again so do not be mad at me, okay?" She pressed her eyes closed while breathing heavily.
I kept on staring at her angelic face. She is too beautiful, no wonder. She looks like her mother. Speaking of her mom, how much does she miss her daughter?
"Did you notice some weird things in the video?" she continued. "No. The whole video itself is not weird. Why?" her aunt in the other line said. "N-none." She ended the call while her eyes were widening. She might be thinking that all of what she saw, heard, and felt were just hallucinations.
Somehow, I pity her but what can I do? Tell her that all of what happened was real? Tell her that she is a demigod – a half-human and half-goddess? Tell her that she is the one who made the fire? It is a big 'no'! We—I and Aunt Wart—could not tell her those right now. Not until we caught who is spying on her.
After a few minutes, I decided to sit beside her and asked her to watch the game with me. Gladly, she did not refuse.
"Watching soccer is not bad at all, huh? It is much better than watching basketball!" Scarlette commented after the last round of the game. "Let us go." I just let her stand up and pulled me. She was smiling as she looked at the team who won.
I sighed when she turned her face to me and gave me a playful look. "You lose," she uttered, "Now, treat me."
"I know. What do you want?" I asked. "Um," she paused to think, "I have no idea. Delay it. Just treat me next time." What? "How about now?" My forehead creased when she shook her head in response. "Nothing. I just want next time. Come on. I want to go home."
I stared at her eyes, trying to guess what was the reason behind but I could not see anything. She is also hideous, like her mother.
SCARLETTE'S POINT OF VIEW
I watched Asher as he went outside of the gate before I locked the door. I went inside my room and stared at my reflection in the mirror on my study table.
What happened to me earlier flashed in my mind again. I could not help but feel unusual. Why did it happen to me? Was it the effect of getting nearly barbecued?
I brought out my chemistry book from my backpack and read it. While reading, I remembered what Asher told me in the middle of our walk earlier as we went home.
"Do not mind those what happened to you," he said out of the blue. "The student who caused the fire was kicked out already." To be honest, I did not care about the one who caused the fire but the hallucinations.
I stopped on my track. "Who is he?" I seriously asked. "I did not know what his name is but what I know is . . . he is one of your classmates." My right eyebrow raised, intrigued. "One of my classmates . . . what was his reason? Did he tell?" He shook his head, "No, that was why he was kicked out."
I gritted my teeth to control my anger. I need to keep my cool.
"You know what?" He put his right arm on my left shoulder and pulled me closer to him. "Just forget about those. What important right now is that 'you are safe'." Even though I was surprised by his sudden closeness, somehow, those words calmed me and my chaotic mind.
"Tok! Tok! Tok!" I woke up from leaning on the study desk because of the continuous knocks.
"Disturbing people at this hour. Who is it?" I whispered, irritated.
"Tok! Tok! Tok!" My eyebrows met when I realized that it was coming exactly from my room's door.
"Tok! Tok! Tok!" My hands began freezing . . . I started to tremble . . . then a horrible memory . . . that I had almost forgotten . . . came back from the past.