N I C H O L A S

There was a celebration being held at the Scriptores' Club that night; five pipes resting on the parlor's table, five glasses of champagne raised into the air, and five unstoppable smiles.

    "Now let us raise a toast, to Mr. Luca James Miller," said Nicholas, deepening his voice on purpose as he spoke for dramatic effect, "the best and the greatest musician and pianist of our generation!"

    "Hear, hear!" Arthur said loudly.

    "To Luca!" said Isaac, smiling.

    "To Luca!" Arthur, Nicholas, and Shawn chimed in sync, before all five of them took a sip of their glasses.

    "Oh, look at him," Shawn said teasingly, smirking at Luca's direction, "he's gone all red in the face."

    "Well, I'm hardly the best," said Luca, laughing reservedly.

    "Then to the greatest musician and pianist in this room!" Nicholas said proudly, raising his glass again.

    Luca grinned, nodding in approval. "Much better."

    "Hear, hear!" Arthur said even louder this time, and so they all laughed, drinking again.

    "I was thinking," Luca started after a while, talking directly to Nicholas now, "why don't you participate in the new short-story competition?"

    "I'm actually working on a short story right now," said Nicholas. He had promised Mr. Elmore that he would write one.

    "How's it going so far?" Arthur asked, bringing his pipe to his lips.

    "Not very well," Nicholas said earnestly. "I guess I've been too distracted lately."

    "Yes, I've noticed," said Shawn, giving him a look. "What's going on with you?"

    By that, a little smile appeared across Nicholas's face and he blushed. "Well... things have been going really great with Eve."

    Shawn wolf-whistled. "How great are we talking about?"

    "I... I mean, we..." Nicholas chuckled, playing with his fingers awkwardly. "We sort of... kissed."

    "YOU WHAT?" Shawn suddenly bellowed. All their eyes widened.

    Nicholas chuckled. "It's not a big deal."

    "I strongly disagree!" Luca countered, laughing.

    "Oh, come on! You have to tell us everything!" Isaac said excitedly. "How did it happen?"

    "Oh, don't be so immature." Arthur rolled his eyes at the boys, but then he grinned mischievously when he looked back at Nicholas, saying, "Start with when."

    Nicholas tried to give his friends as little detail as possible, but they did not let it go easily. Although Nicholas couldn't deny that he loved thinking about it. Thinking about her. His lips felt haunted by the ghost of her kiss, and he could still taste the sweetness of her name on his tongue. But something odd had happened earlier that day that he could not still make sense of.

    "What do you mean she ran away from you today?" Shawn after Nicholas explained to them what had happened only a few hours ago.

    "She didn't run away," Nicholas corrected him. "Like I said... today after lunch, Eve and I were taking a walk around campus, just talking. And then, out of the blue, she said she had to leave and then walked off without saying anything else. She didn't even show up to Professor Myer's class that day, and I haven't seen her since."

    "What were you talking about?" Arthur pondered thoughtfully. "Maybe you said something that upset her or offended her."

    "I didn't say anything offensive!" Nichola threw his hands up defensively. "We were just talking about our families and hometowns. I told her I didn't have any siblings, and I told her that I grew up in a strict household. That's all."

    "What exactly was the last thing you said to her?" Isaac questioned.

    Nicholas pondered the matter uneasily. "I think the last thing I asked her was why she had skipped university last year."

    "That's all?" Shawn frowned.

    "Yes." Nicholas nodded. "She just apologized and quickly walked off. Said she had forgotten to bring her book."

    "Personally, I always thought she was a bit odd," Shawn said grimly, and Nicholas rolled his eyes in return.

    "Don't start this again, Shawn," Isaac said pleadingly, not in the mood for another fight.

    "But what if she's hiding something bad? She's a mysterious girl, despite what Niko likes to believe." Shawn retorted. "Back me up, Arthur."

    "Arthur's not going to side with you on this," said Nicholas.

    "Well..." Arthur started awkwardly, pursing his lips together.

    "What? You too?" Nicholas's eyes widened in surprise. He was truly hoping that Arthur would bring a logical reason to justify Eve's strange behavior, because a part of him had found it odd just as well.

    "Listen," Arthur started with a sigh, leaning in from where he sat on the armchair and laced his hands together, "I always liked Eve. She seems kind and sweet. But..." His voice trailed off.

    "But what?" Nicholas raised a brow at him, the curiosity slowly driving him to the brink of madness.

    Arthur shared a quick look with Isaac, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "You remember how Isaac and I went through the students' archives to search for Nancy Green's home address when we wanted to speak with her mother?"

    Nicholas nodded weakly, so Arthur went on, each of his words spoken with hesitance.

    "W-well... Isaac and I... we came upon Eve's folder and document, and..."

    "And?" Nicholas asked when Arthur ceased to speak.

    "And it was empty," Isaac finally ended the sentence.

    "Empty?" Luca repeated. "How could it be empty?"

    "We don't know." Arthur shrugged. "These documents are supposed to contain the students' information, such as their birthplace, birthday, home address, information about their parents... But Eve's folder was empty. It only had her name on it."

    "But... what does that even mean?" Nicholas asked in a hollow tone, but Arthur merely shrugged again.

    "We don't know," he whispered.

   Nicholas couldn't bring himself to speak for the rest of the night. He felt as though he had been sentenced to a lifetime of silence. He stayed up all through the night, swallowed by the solitude of darkness as he laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't understand her. He couldn't understand any of this.

    But now he was sure of one thing:

    Everyone in this world has secrets, buried deep inside them. And Eve Winters was no exception.

     She was hiding something.