I finished school that day feeling a little tired.
I thought those eyes that followed me around wouldn't affect me, which they didn't at first.
But once hours had passed and they still were attached to me like a fifth limb, I felt annoyed because I had no moment to relax.
If I were to relax with the attention on me, then there was the possibility that people would interpret my relaxation as a sign of me not feeling remorse towards my action against Diana.
So, to keep my sanity intact, I continued speaking to my artifacts even when I was called upon by the teachers to answer their questions.
I could sense that these teachers were hesitating to involve me with the rest of the classroom but in order to not let it show, they almost called on me too often as if to say, "Hey look. I'm still your teacher. I'm not treating you any differently just because you sexually assaulted someone. It's definitely not because I'm tired to death to offend the Agnus."
That overcompensation by the teachers only caused the gazes on me to intensify as I was being placed in the middle of the conversation in class.
I had to listen in on people's conversations regarding me all day. It was like they were trying to whisper enough to not offend me but just be loud enough for me to be able to overhear.
I was called things I'd never heard of before. I was insulted in ways even comedians would never be able to write.
I even had this eerie feeling that many students wanted to attack me with their magic but held themselves back because the Agnus name I carried was too powerful for them to deal with.
I would say that this was too much but this was deserving for Bell. If anything, this was light in comparison to what needed to happen to him.
"It needs to happen to him, but not to me! I am just inhabiting his body temporarily!" was what I wanted to scream as someone stared at me as I was using the urinal in the men's bathroom.
Stepping outside, Jerman was waiting for me on the street.
As I approached the car, he opened the door for me which I entered without even greeting him. As soon as the door closed, I let out a deep breath that contained about a thousand years' worth of tiredness.
"How was school, young master?" asked Jerman.
"It was wonderful," I sarcastically responded.
"Did it go the way you expected it to?"
"It did. But don't worry Jerman, I'm fine. I'll be fine. Once they learn the truth, everything will be fine," I told him, sounding hurt as if I was feeling down because of the students.
I wasn't feeling down, I was just acting. But I was tired so I closed my eyes and dozed off.
Like an undead, I dragged my legs forward when I arrived home.
As soon as the door opened, as I expected, the first face I saw was my mother who immediately gave me a tight hug as if she was being reunited with a soldier who'd been deployed overseas for multiple years straight.
"How was school? Did anyone bully you? Did the teachers treat you poorly? Should I send a hitman after anyone?" she asked, worried about my day.
It was in these moments that I remembered that Bell's mother wasn't just any regular old loving mother but the mistress of the Agnus family who by now was surely desensitized to death.
I reckon she must've killed plenty of people in her youth.
"I'm fine mother. Other than everyone staring at me, everything was alright," I assured her.
"Why do you look so tired then?"
"It's because it's my first day back to school in over two months. Honestly, Mom, I'm fine," I told her with a fake smile which she responded with a smile of her own.
"That's good. But don't be afraid to tell me if anyone tries anything. I'll personally see to it that their family is erased from the face of the planet," she said, half-joking, the other half meaning every word.
I shook off the chills that shot up my spine and after giving my little sister who was watching some cartoon show a few kisses that she didn't appreciate, I headed to my bedroom where I collapsed.
Those faces, their eyes that followed me, it stuck with me and I could see them if I closed my eyes.
I looked up at the ceiling and I asked, "Are you here?"
There was a moment of silence and I wondered if I was wrong.
Lately, whenever the shitty god was present, I could sense a little change in the atmosphere.
It wasn't much. It was just like a little shift in the air or the way the hairs on my arms raised a little.
I bluffed, "I know you here. Just answer me so that I can ask you a question."
"What?" the shitty god asked.
'I knew it!'
"Do you see just how badly you fucked up?" I asked him. "Bell... he was meant to be a righteous person, no, he was a righteous person. But all because you were too lazy to write a compelling conflict or tragic backstory to one of your female leads, you used Bell as a one-off side villain whose purpose was to bring her closer to the main character."
I looked up at the ceiling with this disappointed and angry stare as if I could imagine the shitty god was looking down from up there.
I didn't even know if he was up in the heavens like a god was traditionally depicted to be. I just assumed he was.
"Imagine if it wasn't me. Imagine if I was the real Bell Agnus. The real character who was forced to deal with these people who view him as the scum of the earth because of a decision a terrible writer made," I continued.
I must've spent another ten-minute ranting, not raising my voice but I knew the shitty god was able to sense just how angry I was.
After all that, he didn't give a response and as the hairs on my arms lowered, I knew he had left.
He either had other business to attend to or he didn't have a response to the criticism I gave him.
The second option felt the most likely so as my anger began to dissipate minutes after the culprit of the emotions was gone, I said with genuineness, "Please watch a video on how to write a story."
Getting up from the bed, I opened up my computer. Indeed, my computer. You didn't hear wrong.
Using a secret burner account that no one knew belonged to me, I infiltrated a chat that was held only by those that were a part of the secret news club Maya was president of.
Having provided valuable information before using what I knew from the novel, I was allowed access to the club where no one questioned who was who.
As long as you continue to do your due diligence and provide information that would stir up a storm at the academy, you were allowed to remain in the chat and the club.
I began scrolling through the text messages, realizing that Maya hadn't told the other members about her discovery yet.
Which told me that I had to provide her with a few more compelling pieces of evidence before she was confident enough about sharing my "love" for Diana with the rest of the world.
Being told that I had to put on the act for a few more days wasn't the end of the world but it did make my day just that little more worse.
So after providing the chat with another piece of information from the novel, I quickly logged out and ran downstairs where Rubi was still watching her cartoon.
Picking her up from the floor, she asked with a little bit of sass, "What do you think you're doing?"
"What?" I chuckled. "Big brother can't pick you up?"
"No," she responded, rolling her eyes, probably imitating something she saw in the cartoon. "I want to watch my cartoon."
"Let's watch it together," I said, sitting down on the couch with her beside me.
She sounded annoyed but by the fact that she was hugging and resting on my arm, I knew she was just playing around with my feelings.
The day must've been even more mentally draining than I imagined because for the second time, I fell asleep and when I woke up, an hour had passed and Father was home in the kitchen with Mother.
I watched as they flirted. I knew they were both aware that I was awake because they were both extremely powerful humans, especially Father.
But they chose to ignore that and continued to flirt in front of me.
I looked away and saw Rubi reading a book.
Father must've scolded her for facing a screen for too long because she had a sulking face even as she flipped the pages.
Both parents were very generous and spoiled all three siblings but when it came down to education and health, they took extreme care to make sure that we had a healthy balance of everything.
Then came the usual family dinner where the other two men in the family asked how my day at school went; to which I responded with the same answers I gave Mother.
Then was family time where we played a board game where the objective was to own all the property on the land and make the other players bankrupt as they landed on your square.
Finally, I took a shower and drifted off to sleep, getting the third rest of the day.
Getting up, I got dressed and stared at myself in the mirror.
Again, it was time for me to head off at the academy and like a soldier heading into the battlefield, I had to be ready at all times for whatever was going to come my way.
"Please Maya, just get whatever evidence you need and publish the darn article," I grumbled as I left my bedroom.