Ashton kicked the ground making the dust ripple up and forming a mild storm. He coughed as he inhaled some particles while waving his hand into thin air as if chasing away a fly. He stood outside the lecture hall waiting for Jamil or maybe the pretty boy- Marcus. Whichever of them came first, he was waiting on them.
He waited patiently, his head casted downward with his hand slipped into his pockets. He rested his back against the Stony wall and sighed, closing his eyes briefly.
As he waited, someone passed by beside him urgently, but he caught a bit of fragrant girly smell. His eyes darted open as he tried to see who had just passed him, but the person had covered a distance already.
"How is that possible?" Ashton muttered to himself, fazed at what he had just witnessed. He started to walk away from the lecture hall, following this strange human with godspeed. He tried to be discreet as possible as he trailed behind, hiding behind block poles when the figure turned or standing still for a moment.
Finally, the human with godspeed walked into a building that was upfront. It had the same gigantic structure as the lecture room Ashton had just been sent out from. Ashton walked in also, looking around curiously just to know the entails of this building.
'Is this another lecture room?' he asked himself in his thoughts.
As he entered, he was greeted by the happy chattering of quite a number of students. Some were sitting around tables of four and six, some others were hanging by the window, laughing heartily at their jokes while some were standing behind a long queue to get their meal. It then dawned on Ashton that this building was basically for sharing meals for the students. As Ashton's eyes darted round the hall, he lost sight of the one he had been tailing.
"Oh shoot!"
He turned his head frantically, changed his direction multiple times but all his attempts to catch sight of the one he was after flopped. He sighed miserably as if he was after his debtor who had owed him a hundred gold coins and had refused to pay up on rent.
'Ri Wowowo Moum Muom- FEED ME NOW!'
Ashton's stomach rumbles aloud. He clasped his right hand against his belly, feeling the mild pain of hunger. The last food he had eaten was at the police departmental office and the journey down to the academy had drained all the energy the food he had eaten last had given him. Of course, his stomach had all the right to make a protest to be served food right now. Anyway, he was at the canteen, so getting food for himself was his first priority for now instead of looking out for the human with godspeed.
Ashton picked a tray and moved into the line. Fortunately for him, the long line had started to subdued and soon reached the point he was allowed to pick food for himself. As the line moved on, he couldn't help but notice who had been standing in front of him all along in the line.
'God-speed sly.' he sighed inwardly.
Two ninja swords were etched on a sword sling bag behind her back. As Ashton gaze fell upon the sword's handle. It had a name inscribed on it but he couldn't quite see the inscriptions well. He raised his left hand to her shoulder and gently tapped her to get her attention for a small talk- maybe.
As she looked back, Ashton could have mistook her for a male. The girl's hair was pulled up in a tight topknot, held in place by a simple cord. Her face was smooth and expressionless, her eyes focused and intense. She had a slim and agile figure, her movements precise and graceful. She looks every bit as deadly as the grim guy who had woken him up in the morning.
Something that was distinct about her face not being male's were her eyes. They were deep, dark brown, like the rich, dark earth. They were sharp and focused, but there was a hint of warmth in them.
Her eyes were mesmerizing, drawing the beholder in and holding their gaze. They were clear and steady, like they could see right into your soul.
Ashton shrugged off from his smitten state after the girl demanded what he wanted from her.
"What is it?"
"Er…sorry." Ashton said, his voice wavering a bit.
She glared at him irritatedly.
Ashton finally found his lost voice and said;
"By chance, have we met before?" he asked, his eyes firmly holding her in his gaze.
She just stared at him in silence, her expression ranging from skepticism and irritation. She clearly did not want to speak to Ashton but he was not ready to accept that look as her reply to his question.
A small sigh escaped her lips and she said "No!". Her tone was urgent as she was trying to end whatever Ashton's intent was with engaging her in a dumbass conversation. Everyone comes with the same goddamn faulty line: 'Have we met before?'
Thinking she had finally dropped off the leech that was disturbing her peace, she turned back to the large food display pans to pick her food.
"I swear, you seem really familiar!" Ashton continued, a hint of disappointment in his tone, but still he did not mind her 'no' reply to his question. It felt lame but he was going to keep pushing.
She sighed exasperatedly and rolled her eyes. " And, who might you be?" She asked rhetorically. She did not bother to wait for his next peep talk as she walked away urgently after picking that last bread into her tray.
Ashton sneered and picked his own food hastily so he could catch up with her. He got out of the line too and then again, she was out of sight. Ashton carefully looked around the hall, looking for a slight hint of her clothing maybe. He was almost at the verge of giving up when someone stood up from their seat in a car distance. Ashton smiled wildly as the student who just stood up had been covering up 'godspeed' with his massive broad shoulders.
He strode towards her and as he was about to sit next to her, his eyes caught the letters that were inked behind her left ear. _JOLES_.
'Bet! You're the ninja from that day!' Ashton thought inwardly, satisfied with his new discovery about her identity. It was mild but he was happy he got to see her again.
He abruptly sat on the seat that was in front of her without asking for permission first and placed down his food tray.
"We have actually met before, though briefly. It happened in flick seconds." he blurted out with a sly grin as if he was begging her to remember him.
She chuckled while tossing a pickle into her mouth, she said;
"You mean on that lone alley you almost got killed with your weakling friend by a level three mutant? Or…"
For a moment, Ashton got excited; she was admitting she was the one who had plunged her swords into the razing mutant. Something else was unsettling in her words. She had added 'or' to her statement.
'Does that mean she had seen me again? After that incident?'
"Or? What do you mean by that?" Ashton eventually asked, wanting to know the second time she had seen him.
She let out a flirty smile and bit her lips a bit, getting him a bit tensed up. "...during your welcoming rituals?" She added rhetorically and suddenly started to laugh out loud.
Ashton felt a bit embarrassed by her reaction, he still was trying to comprehend what she meant by seeing him at his welcome ritual.
"Welcoming ritual?" he said back in a pretext of asking her to clarify her words so he could understand better.
Ding!
His brain swept him back on memory lane- back to the night of the rituals. 'Someone had muffled a chuckle- the chuckle had sounded like a girl's tone.' The most plausible answer to his question is that: she was there, that night. She was the one who had muffled a chuckle.
"WHAT?!"
._._._._._._._._._._._
This book might be a little slow paced for now but we need all these little scenes for future chapters. I hope you leave a review for this book. Enjoy your fantasy.~
._._._._._._._._._._._._