"Every student must go back to their respective classrooms immediately! We hope for your cooperation." The message stated.
This is a vague message, this scenario never happens often so everyone was dumbfounded.
All the students in the library went back to their classroom, even Gena, the librarian, left.
Following the school's order, we went out as well. It's just a hassle that I didn't manage to return the book.
I'm walking with my three so-called meat shields through the corridors of the library building.
"What'cha guys think bout that? Isn't it strange to call us back into our classroom when it's not yet time for class." Marco said puzzledly.
"Maybe something bad happened… Maybe a terrorist invasion?" Liam said.
"Don't talk like that Liam, I know you're looking for action, but that's too absurd to even think about." Clyde said.
"You're such a scaredy cat, Clyde. I just guessed that because Sir Santiago taught us how to handle handguns yesterday."
They learned that in school? Was that even legal? This school really is weird, but that information has a foreseeable purpose.
When we exited the library building, there were clumped students obstructing our way.
"What's with the commotion?" Marco mused.
The jammed students in the narrow pathway were looking in the distance.
Baffled, I turned my gaze to the same direction.
It was a sunny afternoon, but the sky was filled with thick, dark smoke. In the distance, a three-storey building was completely enveloped with scorching flames as dark smokes emerged from its windows.
"Guys, isn't that the storage building?" Marco asked.
"I knew it, we are getting invaded! Let's go and fight!" Liam hopped on top of the baluster, preparing to rush in, but Clyde held him back.
"Don't…" Clyde tightly grabbed him by his hips with his both hand. "What're you planning to do? Jump in the fire and sprinkle your saliva?"
"Think about it guys, something wrong have happened, and also, we must not disregard the school's message. The best thing we could do in this situation is to get back in our classroom." Marco said.
"Yea, maybe some appliances overheated and caused the fire, and look, there are firefighters handling the situation." Clyde said, releasing his grip from Liam.
Liam shook off his head and lose his eagerness to dive in the fire. "Maybe going back to our classroom is the right thing to do, but I'm still not convinced this is just an accident… I have a strong hunch that this is the beginning of an invasion."
Then, Liam uses his strength to force our way through the blocked pathway. He jostled all the students, pushing them aside.
When we got back to our classroom, Marco was greeted by my other classmates who were standing by the sliding window.
Marco, Liam, and Clyde walked towards them while I went back to my seat.
It seems like their circle of friends is vast.
"Hey, Marco, did you receive that message too?" the man standing by the window asked.
"Yea~"
Then, they all looked through the window where the burning building was in sight.
Some moments later, the door slid open. It was Jacob and Selene, and they arrived at the same time.
Jacob walked over to his friends who were gazing down at the fire by the window whilst Selene went to her allocated seat—next to me.
Sitting next to her made me realized we're so close, yet so far.
She was wearing her black earbuds and seemed to be listening to music. Although, I'm not certain that it's music playing on those earbuds.
Marco noticed Jacob by his footsteps and he asked, "Yo, Jacob, have you gotten that message from the school department too?"
"Yea, it seems like we all received the same message. At the moment, it's clear that there's a fire outbreak. However, the cause is still undefined. Do you guys have an idea?"
"Beats me~" Marco replied as they all turned their gaze back through the window.
1:10pm
It's already past 1pm and Sir Santiago is nowhere to be found.
On normal days, the teacher is supposed to be in class at the exact time period. Even if he's teaching nothing, it's still necessary for a teacher to show up in class and observe the students.
But today, there seems to be a significant problem that the higher-ups were dealing with.
Marco and his friend placed their chairs by the window and they were watching the firefighters extinguishing the flames as if they were in a cinema.
Jacob was sitting on the windowsill when he shouted to gather our attention.
"Guys! Listen. Sir Santiago just sent me a message, he said he wouldn't be attending today, but we must stay inside the classroom until the dismissal time."
Jacob is the class representative, so it's logical he'll be the person Sir Santiago would use to convey his statement.
"What do you think happened, Jacob?" Marco asked, "I mean… it's just the storage building, right? The damage might cost millions of dollars since there's many appliances like TV and computers stored there, but that's just a cheap damage that even I myself could pay for."
"Yea, but in case you didn't know, there's something important the school keeps in there."
"Important?"
"Yes, it's a thing that couldn't be regained by money, it's the 'data'. Apparently, all of the Clubs students good moral ratio are preserved in that building, and worst case scenario, if that data was deleted because of the fire, then our good moral ratio would be reseted."
"Worst case scenario? Did you mean a good thing, because it benefits us if our misdeeds were erased."
"Wait? Huh? Did I say that? Sorry I think you misheard it." Jacob said, fidgeting.
I might be just sitting quietly, but my ears are completely aware.
Marco didn't mishear it, Jacob just slipped.
In some circumstances, having our good moral ratio reset is beneficial. However, that's only what those who didn't take notice of the school's guidelines think. It is indicated that students were divided into five classes from A to F (T/W: there is no Class-E.) depending on their GWA and good moral ratio, but with those data getting deleted, then all of our scores would all be similar and for that reason, it will mean that all of us will end up in Class-A by the next semester if we managed to maintain our grades.
If you think having every student in the same class is good, then you're probably a weak dependent person who can't live without a friend's help.
Based on the statistics that I calculated, with all students gathered in a single class means more students to compete with, hence the outcome is a bloody war.
But the real question in my mind was—what was Jacob's goal for misinforming Marco the truth about the possible outcome. Is it to coerce them? Gaslight? Or maybe something bigger?
"Sorry, I guess I delivered that convoluted sentence disorderly. What I actually meant was it's bad for us since we are now the suspect for burning that building—cause think about it, that building only contains the Clubs students data, in short, all first year students are suspects here."
Jacob diverted the topic into a complex allegation.
"Yeah, you have a point, Jacob. But why would the school think that someone intentionally committed that? Isn't the storage building overloaded with securities, moreover, it happened during lunchtime where many students were out and it will easily be noticed if someone snuck into that facility. So the most obvious assumption is that it was a pure accident where maybe some appliances in there overheated and exploded." Marco replied.
"Okay… But there are some little details that you didn't consider. Just look at the wall of that building, it's completely burnt black, do you think a normal short-circuit will cause that huge fire? Definitely not, so the obvious answer is that it's meticulously planned."
"Err… yeah you're right, you win."
They continued exchanging questions and possibilities that may happen. Their other friends also joined in their analysis as time passed.
After four hours, the bell rang and many students were already making their way out of the school.
I was still wrapping up my things when Marco and his friends walked over to my seat.
"Hey, Leo. You said you'll come with us at the mall today." Marco remarked.
"Uh… I still have to go to the locker room and replace my bag."
"Sure-sure, but don't even think about ditching us, okay, cause if you do, we'll torment you for the rest of the school-year." Marco said as his other friends behind him were cracking their fingers. "We'll be waiting for you at our hangout spot, it's on the entrance gate, just look for a hut and you'll find us there."
It seems like I was trapped in their game. Being defiant would result in them loathing me, so I suppose I'm required to follow. At any rate, I have nothing to do tonight since I have no intention of returning home, maybe hanging out with them would be a great practice to explore their nature. I'll just book in at the school dorms later after we finish shopping.
"Got it, I'll be there in a minute."
Marco left the classroom with his friends whilst I went to the locker room.
I was the only person there, yet I got a strange feeling of someone's presence. The locker room has no window and the only light source was from the rectangular bulb perched at the ceiling.
It feels like someone is watching me…
I took out my ID and scanned it to unlock my locker. The locker-door created a clack sound and it opened by a slit. Then, I swung it wide open and was shocked to find a note sitting atop my notebooks.
A love letter?
I picked it up. Upon further inspection, the design of the note seems too bland to be a love letter.
I looked around at my surroundings to ensure no one is around.
The letter stated, "I uncovered the truth. I know who's the orchestrator of the Independent Human Project. I'll get into further details once we meet, but primarily, let's cancel our conference tomorrow and wait for the situation to cool off… There are leering eyes all over the place." "P.S. Burn this letter after reading."
So it was him. Did he really figure out the person we were after? Even so, he had proven himself for going through such a meticulous plan followed by a precise execution.
Although Aaron may one day be a treacherous adversary, he isn't one right now. He's not an enemy, but neither would I call him an ally.
I crumpled the letter and put it into my wallet-pocket
I placed my bag inside my locker and double-checked its lock to keep my privacy tightly secured.
Sad to say, my school romance life is just a fantasy. I wonder, will there ever be someone that would confess her feelings to me?
I left the locker room and rendezvoused with Marco and his friends at the mentioned meeting place.
"Hey guys, look who's here. He didn't ditch us after all. Leo, starting today, we consider you as our equal!" Marco exclaimed.
Marco closed the distance between us and placed his arms over my shoulder.
"Let's go." Marco forcefully dragged me and we walked together with his friends beside and behind me.
We went to the parking area first, it's just a minute of walking since it's right next to the school.
The parking area was filled by a bunch of branded cars that had a cool design.
Each of his friends went to a different car. It seems like they all have their own luxury cars.
…must be nice to own one.
"Hey Leo, there's only two seats on mine, you can ride on Liam's though." Marco said as he was sitting inside his ruby ferrari next with Clyde.
Marco and Clyde seemed to be very close friends.
Liam then called out, "Hey brother! Hop in." he was in his roofless raven black bugatti.
The door automatically opened and I sat on the passenger's seat.
We all set off.
Liam was driving at a high speed with only one hand on the pedal.
I was quite terrified as I felt my body leave my soul behind. The wind surge tousled my downward-hair into one heck of a mess.
Is he fucking broken-hearted?
It doesn't seem so because he looks so chill in his cozy seat. It's unfair that he's bald, hence his hair doesn't get tangled by the wind.
I somehow managed to survive that dizzying ride without getting nauseous.
We regrouped at the mall entrance after they parked their vehicles.
Then, finally head into the mall.
Marco granted us the permission to use his own debit card for every purchase we spent. We wandered all around the mall to find some certain equipment they wanted to get. Mostly, they were looking for colognes, shoes, and some trunks they could wear at the trip this coming Monday.
I was always behind the group and watching them from this angle. I felt lonely to some extent, but Clyde kept me bothered and thus made me feel included.
Is this how it feels to be in a group of friends? How long will it last?
Marco persistently insisted that I choose anything I wanted as we passed by from store to store, saying he'll pay for it. But, I don't want anything at all, I mean for real, I just came here to avoid looking big-headed and form a suitable profile.
But since he's so persistent about it, I decided to get a knife. It's not a normal knife, it's sharp and it's more like a dagger. It has a sharp edge and is made out of obsidian costing at 500 dollars.
They were curious why I picked such a surreal object. To be honest, I could just get a diamond ring, bracelet or something and It'll be fine since Marco got it covered. But I just said that I wanted this for some… let's just say some safety measures.
After buying everything we needed, we had dinner at a 5-star restaurant and took a group photo afterwards.
When we're done eating, Marco paid for the bill and we all parted ways and went home since it's getting late.
It was such a great experience and could be a core memory.
~~~~~~
Today's Friday, and the afternoon class just ended. I went to the locker room to get my notebook.
But why?....
Why am I lying down on the tile flooring in the locker room?
But most importantly, why is the Queen of Clubs sitting on top of me?
…How did I end up in this situation?