— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — SYRRA — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The next day I was then called to the Discipline Office. Apparently Jessie told him that I injured her off-campus. I then told him that she and her friends were harassing a friend of mine. I couldn't mention Renn because if I do, my excuse wouldn't be justified since he is expelled.
"She'll expect an apology from you since you injured her. But since your reason for throwing her is "reasonable", I'll let you off with a warning and let you do 2 hours of library work after you leave this office and 2 hours of clean up duty after school. Reasonable or not, please handle things a little more maturely. You'll end up killing someone with a head injury like the hot cocoa incident a few months back. You're dismissed." He gave me a slip of the duties I needed to do. Then I stood up and bowed to him before leaving the office.
And at this point, it begins. Jessie's starting to come up with a plan to torture me. I can feel it in my veins. Thankfully, I can counter her with reasonable arguments at this time, but it won't be long before she starts planning something I can't counter. It'll be the same way like Renn, and I won't let that happen.
As mentioned by Fey, I better pressure Cassandra as much as possible before a plan like that to come up. It's the only thing I can do right now.
I went to the library and I straight up worked on my library duties. It's literally bad to be receiving a punishment, but what can I do?
Just follow, and obey the rules next time. But in a school like this? The rules come second, it's every man and woman for themselves right now.
"I told you that you won't get away with what you did… Sad that you aren't expelled, but it's what you deserve for supporting Alrose. You deceived Cassandra by visiting his house, what does that make you?" Jessie noticed me in the library. This is supposed to be a quiet place, yet she spends NO TIME AT ALL targeting me.
"This is a library. Keep quiet. But if you don't want to be quiet, leave." I warned her as I started sorting the books in their proper shelves.
But while I was doing that, Jessie and her friends scattered the books on the floor.
"Oops… Our mistake…~" As she giggled and did a high-five with her friends, I ignored her and started over.
I just rearranged the books and I was done in under a few minutes. Totally worth it.
"Bravo~" They were all clapping slowly. What's next on your agenda, Jessie…
"I'm going to ask you one more time, Syrra… Let go of him, and I will let you off the hook. Maybe we could be friends again, who knows?" Again with the negotiation for She's still trying to get me away from Renn.
"If I had to choose between being friends with you and having fun and ignoring the friend who helped me and supported me in my 3 years, I'll choose the one who helped me when I needed it. I want him to be treated like a human being again, and YOU… You lost your humanity. You don't deserve to be called human." I answered, looking at her face with an intimidating stare. I don't want to be friends with someone who threw someone they cherished away.
"I gave you a choice… I wanted to be peaceful… But now you wasted your chances to be part of Emerald Houston, you're not going to be happy at what comes next." Jessie approached me and threw her hand up, and was ready to slap or punch me.
I didn't care.
But then I heard footsteps running towards me and I saw…
A young girl with a ponytail?
She stood in front of me and guarded me.
"That's enough!"
What is she… Wait… she has a gauze pad on the right side of her face… Who is this girl?
"Awww~ How cute~ If it isn't the girl from the hot cocoa incident…" Wait… This was the girl Renn burned?!
"Not only are you being a bunch of bullies in the library, but also you are being way too noisy in the library!" She seemed to be on my side…
"Don't act like you're in charge of the library, little girl…" They're now targeting the girl, but she doesn't get out of the way.
"I actually AM in charge of the library today while the librarian is gone to attend a funeral. Don't forget that the Disciplinary Committee is roaming around the halls at this time!" I looked out and noticed that he IS eyeing what's going on at the library. Jessie calmed down and went to her friends.
"Ugh. This isn't over. As long as you are supporting him, Syrra… I won't stop. You got lucky this time." Jessie left the library under the watch of the committee.
I was relieved that I didn't get punched by that snake today.
"Are you alright? I heard that you have duties here." She turned to me.
"Yes… Thank you so much…" I went back to my library duties. My 2 hours are not yet done.
"Hey, can we talk while you do your duties?" She asked.
"Sure, what is it?" I'm all ears now since she helped me. What did she want to say?
"What are you to Alrose?" I stopped upon hearing Renn's last name from her. I don't know if I should reveal my current relationship to him, but I guess I should keep it brief.
"A friend." I answered.
"Oh, you are his friend? Well, I just wanted to talk about how sorry I am." She's sorry? I looked at her, surprised.
"Sorry for what?" I asked her as she started crying.
"It's my fault… As soon as I saw the post, I couldn't help but feel bad for Mr. Alrose. He's in another incident and I felt responsible for it because it first stemmed from me…" She blamed herself because of the hot cocoa incident and thought it created a domino effect where Renn got caught up in that major incident the next day.
"Hey… Don't blame yourself for it… You're not to blame for this. You believe that he is innocent, right?" I patted her head gently to comfort her. She's really not to blame, but the fact that she felt responsible… She felt bad for Renn there, he apologized to her and really meant no ill will towards this girl.
It was enough to convince her that something is not right about that post.
"Yes… I don't want to believe it myself, but the school just acted wacko… I couldn't find any opportunity to talk to anyone about how strange it was…" The school indeed did go wacko and haywire. And I'm upset just having to deal that every day for the past 3 months...
"You can say that again..." It makes me facepalm every time…
"Anyway, I'm Lissandra Eclipse! But you can call me Lisa. I just want to say I want to give my hand in this and help you! I don't know what I can do, but I promise I will help!" She wiped her tears and was determined to play her part in my current mission.
"Thank you, Lisa. I'm Syrra Winters. Can I have your number? I'll contact you whenever needed." Another ally… Actually, she can be helpful to us!
"Okay!" She wrote down her number of a piece of paper and gave it to me.
"Thank you. I'll go back to the rest of my duties now!" I put the paper in my pocket.
"Okay! I'll see you again!" She went to the librarian's desk and I continued managing the computer room for the rest of the punishment hours.
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*(8 hours later…)*
"Damn, is it hot in here…" I'm here now in the gym cleaning. This is the last area of the school I'm going to clean today… Damn, to save this for last is a nightmare…
While cleaning, my phone rang. I checked to see who it is.
It's Fey. I gave her my number just before she went to school. I answered immediately.
"Syrra. Are you alright?" She asked.
"Fey, I'm okay. What's going on right now?" I asked her back. Something probably happened.
"I'm just checking, being busy as usual. Did anything interesting happen? How is it going over there." She asked, wondering about my day.
"Oh, nothing special... A whole lot of cleaning had to be done by myself... Not to mention, Renn's ex-gf is a bully. One time I got spitballed by her, and today? She just wanted me to let go of him while scattering all the books in the library..." Jessie really is heating up my nerves right now...
"So I've heard. I had a feeling she wouldn't date him anymore after that... She's changed in a negative light. What about Cassandra?" I agreed with her about Cassandra, she's really goddamn insane...
She also asked about Cassandra.
"Oh, she's-"
As I was about to answer, I felt a pat on the shoulder. It was Cassandra.
"Hang up."
This was written on her notepad.
"She's what?" I couldn't speak any further. This feels like a threat.
"H a n g u p."
"Syrra?" She's really intimidating me...
"I-I'm sorry! I have cleaning duty to be done!" I hung up. I hope she doesn't misunderstand the situation.
God damn it, why did she come here just as I was about to tell Fey about her…
"You should be cleaning. Should I extend your punishment by reporting you?"
Oh no… She's threatening me with the notepad…
"No… Anything but that…" I'm really scared. She's really on to me right now… She's really keeping me on edge by interrupting me…
I have a feeling I don't think I can call freely anymore…
"Good. Now get back to cleaning. You have one hour left."
I sighed and just went back to cleaning. It's really getting stressful at this rate-
"Wait a minute… How did she know I have an hour left?"
As I realized this, I looked around to see if she was there… As expected, she is nowhere to be found.
And at that point, my body shivered. Something felt unsettling. I don't see anyone, yet I feel like I shouldn't stay here any longer.
But I have an hour, so I have no choice but to stay here…
Whoever is out there... Please leave me alone... I don't want to be kidnapped...
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*(1 hour and 10 minutes later…)*
I arrived home. Damn, that was tiring and I was left in fear during that hour… My breathing was abnormally quick along with my body shivering. I hate this day...
"Syrra, are you okay?" Jenna noticed that I was shivering.
"Does it look like I'm okay… I'M LITERALLY SCARED! I feel like I am being watched, but no one's around… I hate it…" This has to be the most insane "I-have-a-stalker" syndrome I had ever seen!
"The next time you feel that, try to find a better place to stay in… Or hide." I don't think either of them will work, but it's worth a shot.
Damn, and I was supposed to pressure Cassandra today too. But I have two problems:
One, Jessie is in the way every time I think about talking to Cassandra. It's really getting annoying but what else can I do… I can't get past her and her shitty ass friends…
Two, Cassandra herself. She appeared the moment I was gonna talk about her while cleaning. She's a lot more intimidating as well… How am I even going to pressure her, if she's pressuring me?!
"I'll just head to my room." I walked upstairs to my room.
"Dinner?" Oh, right… Dinner.
"I'll just eat here!" I changed into my pajamas.
I took my phone, and as I opened it… I noticed 2 texts from Fey.
"I noticed you were scared, is everything okay? - 5:00 pm"
"Call me when you see this. - 5:30 pm"
I nodded to the message and gave her a call.
"Moshi Moshi! Fey-chan desu! (Hello, this is Fey!)" The way she answered this... Made me giggle.
"Sorry for the sudden interruption earlier. I really wanted to tell you about Cassandra, but I was literally threatened to hang up..." I laid down, feeling disappointed I ended up more afraid of her... I'm going nowhere.
"Daijōbudesuyo! (It's alright!) I actually got new information about something!" I was surprised. She got new information?
"Lay it on me." I was serious and listened.
"Well, I was at a convenience store to buy instant ramen for myself since I got hungry on the way. I literally murmured about Cassandra and there is this guy that suddenly responded to what I said." I was happy to hear that. I WANTED MORE INFORMATION.
"CONTINUE!" I was getting excited.
"He said that she used to be her homeschool teacher. I ended up wondering if she was the mute girl, but then he said that she wasn't mute at all! In all his years of teaching her, he didn't take note of this. We have hit the jackpot, Syrra!" Jackpot indeed! I raised my arms and happily screamed in celebration, almost throwing my phone off my hands. NOW WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE!
"Thanks for the information! Hey, do you think we can personally meet and get this thing going? I think we can hit two birds with one stone over here!" My excitement doesn't stop, I was visibly rolling myself back and forth while waiting for her response.
"With pleasure, Syrra-san! Oh, I'll have to go and do some work right now. Do you think you can just text me the date and place when we can meet?" She asked as I rose up quickly on the bed.
"Of course!" I gave it to her straight!
"Arigato! Mata ne, Syrra-san! (Thanks! See you later, Syrra!)" She then hung up and I quickly went to text Serra to see if she can meet.
Sy: Serra, are you free this weekend?
Se: Why?
Sy: We'll need to discuss a plan to save Renn. I was wondering if you'll arrive for tomorrow?
Se: Give me a minute.
I waited for a while.
Jenna came in and served me dinner with a glass of water.
"You sure are happy. Here, it's fish fillet." It's my sister's specialty. I quickly began eating.
"If you're going to proceed with a plan, please be careful. You can never know what you are going to expect." Jenna advised, walking next to me and down on one knee to caress my back. She's supportive but concerned.
"I got you and the rest of my team! No way are we going down tonight!" I proudly continue eating. Meanwhile I got a text from Serra.
Se: Good to go. What time? :)
She's willing to go with us! I quickly replied back to her.
Sy: As early as 12:30 pm.
Se: 👍
I texted the same to Fey and Lisa.
This is going to be one hell of an INFORMATIVE MEETING.
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