Chapter 7
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. . . 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝟚𝟘𝟞𝟟 . . .
. . 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪 . .

I couldn't sleep well last night. I was wide awake after that nightmare of mine. It had been a year since I last dreamed of it, and I had no idea why it was coming back.

I wasn't also acting like myself the whole day after our argument. Yves wouldn't look me in the eye nor even speak to me. I never got the chance to apologize.

So I made a promise to do it the next day.

Early in the morning, we readied ourselves for school. I was ahead of them, already dressed. I dragged myself to the living room, carrying my things, and waited for others.

The house was quiet as the children were still asleep. Only the sound of the chirping birds filled the room.

Shortly, footsteps were heard from the stairs. Someone was coming down.

I raised my hand and waved at Yves who was fully dressed in his uniform. "Hey..." I shyly greeted him, not knowing how to act when he's around. Slowly, I retrieved my hand.

I caught his attention and his usual smile was back. He was pretending nothing happened which made it harder for me to say sorry.

"Hey. The others will be here in a minute," he greeted back as he stepped forward towards the sofa. He sat down, two seats away from me. It didn't took me a second to realize he was still keeping his distance.

I was about to mention the topic when he suddenly brought it up. "About yesterday..." I looked at him, waiting for his next words. His head was bowed down as his elbows rested on his knees. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted that way."

"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who's at fault." He met my eyes. Finally. "I'm sorry I was persistent. You were right. You didn't have to tell me everything. I know you have a reason for not telling me and I understand that." I quickly looked down and played with the tips of my long hair. "So–uhm...Sorry."

After my apology, he wasn't saying anything. He remained silent, probably thinking how he would respond.

Come on, say something.

He let out a soft laugh which took me aback. "This is quite a scene, don't you think? Vivi saying sorry."

I faced him one last time and smiled. "You're welcome, I guess?" In return, he smiled back. Although seconds later, it turned to a heavy sigh.

"The thing is...it's better if you don't know. Think of it as a way of protecting you," he said.

Protect me from what?

Am I the only one who doesn't know about it?

I didn't inquire any longer and leave it be. "It's okay. I understand," I assured him which made the tension on his shoulder lessen.

The moment was gone when the rest were done preparing. We left the house after Mimi bid us goodbye and started making our trip to school.

"You look good in that uniform, by the way," Yves suddenly complimented while we were walking side by side.

I took a glimpse of him. He looked differently when he was in his uniform. His everyday messy black hair was slicked sidewards; he looked clean. I had always thought his black hair complemented his emerald eyes. I wished I had that too. My brown eyes could be a bit boring to look at.

When he noticed I had my eyes on him, I immediately joked, "You look ugly."

"Jeez. I'll take that as a compliment."

Fifteen minutes have passed and we stepped foot on the school. It was packed with people, countless of them, and it was making me nervous.

We went inside and straightway looked for our room. As we arrived, I was met with people talking and gossiping with their friends.

People minding their own business.

People I never saw in my life.

How am I supposed to act around them?

"Let's go." Lara gave me a relieving smile and took my hand. The four of us then walk past the doorway. Yves made his way to greet some people, probably his friends. The same goes for Jim and Cassidy. Luckily, Lara never let go of my hand.

"Do we, like, choose our own seats?" I whispered to her.

"Mhm. We usually sit at the back," she pointed somewhere, "There, at the top. We practically marked it as our territory. Sort of."

We chatted for a while as we went up. Having a good sense of hearing, I could hear people's wonder on who I might be. We reached the spot and settled down. We left three empty seats for Yves and others.

A girl's voice called me out suddenly. She laid down her things at the desk and occupied the empty chair beside me. "Hey! Are you new here? I've never seen you before."

I shot her a look but quickly wiped it away. "Uh..yeah. I just transferred."

"Sweet! I'm new here too! I was actually from Year 1 but since I recently had my fifteenth birthday, I got transferred here." She told me facts about herself and kept on blabbering things I'm not interested in.

This girl talks too much. Ugh.

She quickly covered her mouth. "Oops. I must've talked too much." You realized that now? "It's actually a bad habit of mine. I endlessly talk when I'm nervous. I'm sorry if you think I'm irritating. I promise you I won't talk anymore." There was a short pause until she spoke again. "Oh hey, did you hear about the news yesterday? It was–" And...she's not stopping.

Before I bursted out my anger, I immediately interrupted her. "Okay okay. Calm down," I said. It was effective since she shut her mouth.

She mumbled a sorry to herself but I caught it.

"Don't say sorry."

"Sorry."

"I just told you stop saying sorry, didn't I?"

"Oh, so– I mean, okay."

"Good." When she finally calmed down I introduced myself, "I'm Avidia. You?"

Her face lit up. "I'm Lara. It's so nice to meet you. I hope we can be friends!"

"Wait wait, your name's Lara?" Lara, my sibling, joined in. "I'm Lara too! This is so cool!"

Oh my gosh. I have two Laras seated beside me. Nice.

What's worse was they have the same cheerful personality. I just hoped I don't get infected by it. Being a happy-go-lucky person didn't suit me.

Lara I exchanged seats with me so that she could talk to Lara II. They were both fascinated to know there's someone whose name was identical to theirs. Lara was a common name so I didn't get why they fuss over it.

"Yo!" Yves came out of nowhere. He tapped my back harder than how he usually does it.

"Ouch! What the heck?" I complained. As a comeback, I slapped his arm as hard as he did a while ago.

He cried out in pain as he rubbed his other hand on his arm that I slapped. "Oww! I didn't mean to tap you that hard!" He finally sat down next to me.

"You started it, " I replied. "Besides, I didn't slap you that hard, loser," I joked.

"Jeez. It still hurts," he said as he pouted.

I scoffed, "Weak."

Yves was about to say something but he suddenly saw someone and greeted him with a smile. "Morning." 

The boy noticed Yves and greeted him back, returning his smile.

Wait.

Wait wait wait.

I instantly recognized the boy's face, making my brows furrow. His smile was gone the moment we locked eyes.

"The fuck are you doing here?!" He was ready to throw a punch at me but Yves pulled him back.

"Mason! What the heck are you doing?"

Suddenly, the whole class's attention was on us.

If only I knew he will going to be here, I would've backed out.

Just when I was trying to forget the memories of my past 'family', he showed his face right in front of me. Out of all the people I'd been with, fate chose to make us meet.

I don't want to be in the same place with someone who nearly killed me.

It was ironic how I always talked about everything would end one day and we would all die, yet I was still scared to lose my life.

I tried to remain calm, but deep inside I was losing my shit.

"You know each other?" Yves curiously asked. Knowing him, he wouldn't tell him what he did.

Mason stepped back and calmed himself down, still clenching his jaw. "No. I must've mistook her for someone else."

Just as I expected.

"What the heck Mason, you scared the shit out of me." Yves sighed in relief but I could still sense his suspicion on  both of us.

Before Mason turned his back on us, I saw his eyes furiously scanning me. He then sat on the seat in front of us and remained silent. Yves was trying to talk to him, but he shooed him away, saying he wasn't in the mood.

Thanks to you, too, my mood dropped down as well.

Soon, someone announced that our professor would be here any minute. We took our time to settle down and readied ourselves for class.

I was frustrated by the fact that I didn't think this thoroughly. Of course some of them would be here, why didn't I think of that? I was sure that Mason wasn't the only one who's here.

Never thought the first hours of my school days would be like this.

So far, so bad.

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A/N:

Hey there readers! The picture above is what their uniform looks like hehe~ It's actually a dream of mine to wear that kind of uniform someday hahaha It looks so cute and cool at the same time, ugh. 💖

Anywayyy, what do you think about these past 8 chapters? How about Mason and Vivi's reunion?

Comment down your thoughts! I would love to hear them! 💖

*Year 1 = 1st year high school (freshman)

*The school has 3 levels, Year 1-3. The students are arranged by age: 13-14 yrs old are under Year 1, 15-16 are under Year 2, and 17-18 are under Year 3 (graduating). Unless one turns the certain age requirement, he/she will remain in his/her current year.

*Lara II turned 15 in the middle of school year so she was transferred.