The day after the gala, I woke up with a pounding headache.

I felt fully drained from socializing so much, and I really didn't want to face the world. However, responsibilities prevented me from doing obscene things such as staying in bed for the next eternity.

My Receiver was ringing incessantly and unrelentingly. It must have been urgent. I groaned, sitting up in bed as I fumbled with the device, which was sitting on my ornate bedside table, carved with roses of mahogany wood, and laid with intricate golden paisley.

Ornate goddamn everything! It makes everything so formal and stiff and fancy. I'm too tired for this.

But I had to deal with it anyway, because Fatima wouldn't give up. I sent her a message telling her to shut up and be patient for a bit, because I had to freshen up before I did anything.

***

My Receiver had sixteen messages when I returned from the shower. I groaned. Did I have to be this needed? Three from Keva, asking for an update, three from Aisa, letting me know that she would be waiting in front of her dorm at around 8:40 for me to take her to classes, and like, ten from Fatima, for Juan knows what.

I responded to all of them, seated on the desk (ornate, of course) next to the door, saving Fatima's for last. I don't know why.

I looked at the time. 8:30 AM.
I should get going. I'll look at Fatima's messages on the way.

Leaving the spacious dorm, I dialed up Fatima. It was easier this way. She picked up within half a ring, the screen lighting up with her frantic expression. "Why did you take so long to reply to my messages, Rai?"

"Was it urgent?"

She glared at me. "Very much so. We have a situation on our hands. Where are you?"

Crap. "I'm entering the female dormitories. I have to pick up Aisa. Should I wait?"

She cursed under her breath. "Alright, I'm on my way. Let Aisa know you're gonna be a teensy bit late. Stay right where you are!"

I wondered what was going on. I thought back to Keva's warning when I left. Have I screwed this up already?

True to her word, Fatima arrived on the scene five minutes later. She did not look happy.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"...No? But I'm sure I will within the next two minutes."

"Your little fight with Zander yesterday has us in huge trouble, Raiker. Felone Renaldi saw you both at each other's throats, and now she's running her mouth off about the two of you. Everybody has something to say about the situation. This is bad. This is really, really bad."

I was stunned into silence. Shit! I was too impulsive yesterday. I'd jeopardized everything, hadn't I? I ran a hand through my already messy hair, trying desperately to think, think, think and find a solution. This would ruin both mine and Zander's reputation, wouldn't it? Not that I cared too much about mine, but I needed my social standing to get this mission done. Zander, on the other hand...

Slowly, a plan started to form in my head. I turned back to Fatima.

"Okay, I think I might know what to do. I still need to revise through it, so I'll let you know what to do in an hour or so. Would that be fine?"

Silently, she nodded. "Alright. But if this plan of yours doesn't work, we're screwed. You know that, right?"

I thought back to Keva again. This time though, I was genuinely confident. "Yes, I do. I know this'll work."

***

"Hello Raiker, what took you so long?" Aisa was scrolling through the Forum on her Receiver when I finally got to her. She still seemed kind of pissed off and upset about what had happened the previous day, and had gone back to being all formal and distanced again. She didn't bring the fiasco up though, which is definitely more good than bad.

"I got caught up in conversation with a friend. Shall we get going to breakfast, Miss Farrow?"

"Of course, Mister Denlow."

I could feel the passive-aggressiveness in her tone from five feet away. At least she wasn't being cold anymore. That would really screw the hard work I put into the mission up.

"Aisa, I told you I'm sorry, alright? There's no point in stretching this out for so long! Can we please forget about this and go back to how we were before?"

She sighed, raising her blue-green eyes to look into mine.

"Fine. But try to be honest with me. I don't think it's that difficult."

I gave her a relieved grin, and set off with her in a tow. The way she'd changed how she acted around me from just a few weeks ago was drastic. I never expected it to happen, at all. It was a wild, risky move, to act like that in front of her, but looks like it paid off. I'm not as bad as people think.

"Say, Aisa, Zander seems to be super popular around here. Almost as popular as me. That's gotta require some amount of work, right? It can't be effortless."

"Yeah. He's been that way for years. I mean, why would he not care? His family is of a high position, after all."

She paused for a second, as if to think. His family isn't of a high position. His father is. But his father kinda represents his whole family, doesn't he?

"I mean, even if he didn't try, he could still be decently popular. He's got the high position, the good scores, the muscular physique, the good looks... but I think what really brings him to the top is the image he maintains in front of others." Aisa continued.

"You mean the image he's ever so carefully cultivated?" I raised my eyebrow at her, knowing that's what she meant.

She looked away, refusing to reply. The rest of the walk continued in a silence of sorts, with us making erratic idle talk now and then. But I was satisfied. I had gotten the confirmation I needed.

The tables are going to turn in our favour now.

***

I met up with Fatima again for a little while before lunch. Aisa and Zander were having the conversation, and the atmosphere between them was uncomfortably tense. I wanted no part of it. I actually didn't know how our lunch arrangement could possibly even function, with all of us being so upset and tense.

"I'm assuming you heard all the talk about your little fight yesterday?" Fatima spoke in low tones, her teeth gritted.

"Yeah. They're... interesting." And wildly out of proportion. Somehow, the rumours ranged from Zander disliking Jermaine Denlow's power over his own father, to both of us arguing over a marriage proposal. Some even said that we were having a lover's quarrel.

I would never like that ass even if we were the very last men on Earth.

Nonetheless, I had already set my plan in motion, and done my best to smooth things over temporarily. Now the rest was up to Fatima.

"You said you had a plan, Raiker. You better tell me quick because this window of time is quickly getting over." Her eyes darted over to Aisa and Zander. Their faces had lost some tension, and they were talking more easily now. Aisa had started to listen more carefully to what Zander had said, and was nodding in agreement to something. Fatima was right.

"Alright, so, Zander cares a shit ton about his public image right? And he's being a major obstruction to everything we planned. What if, we distracted him from Aisa by starting a rumour about him? Not only would this make him waste precious time trying to fix his reputation, it would boost both of our social standing and make him stay away from her!"

Her brown eyes twinkled with anticipation. "What exactly would this rumour involve?"

"You remember your friend saw us at each other's throats, right? I'm sure she would have heard 'her' or 'Aisa' somewhere in the conversation. What if Zander Perin didn't like the fact that Aisa Farrow was spending time with her guide, Raiker Denlow?" It wasn't far from the truth anyway.

A grin slowly spread across Fatima's face as she realized what I was on to.

"And Zander Perin is irrevocably in love with her, to the point that he threatened you and your father, physically injuring you while he tried to get you to stay away from Aisa Farrow."

"So I had no choice but to defend myself, my family and my honour."

"But what about your political drama stuff? That's a big plot hole. Ideally, the two of you shouldn't like hanging around each other."

"Aisa Farrow wishes for 'friendship' with me."

"Sure she does," said Fatima. "Anyway, this might be the first decent plan you've come up with since the year started. I commend you."

"I'll have you know the year began sixteen days ago, and I happen to have made very, very good plans so far!"

"You make decent plans when you're up for it," she agreed begrudgingly.

"I know. Anyhow, Perin and Farrow seem to be done talking. We should catch up to them, shouldn't we?"

"I suppose we do." She sighed, gliding gracefully to Zander's side.

***

Fatima told Red Head, whose name was apparently Tesi Grana, a story that was too drama-filled not to circulate. I didn't know how this one was going to distort, but it sure as hell isn't going to be in Zander's favour. Tesi then told the rest of her friend group the same tale, although slightly exaggerated, and then that friend group told their other friends.

The smooth, lie- filled words that fell out of Fatima's mouth propagated to everybody's ears the next day, and Zander was not happy. She brought it up casually the next day, and the next moment, he was storming off to find out more. I'm assuming he found what we wanted him to, because he began avoiding us in the hallways, talking to some other people instead; he refused to sit with us at lunch, not even pausing to do so much as glance at our little group- he even reduced talking to Aisa. By a lot.

Needless to say, she was very upset. I could tell from the way her throat tightened when he came up in conversation, or how her voice got dangerously quiet when we talked about anything related to him.

Aisa Farrow had begun to dislike Zander Perin, and everything he represented. Things couldn't fall into place more perfectly.

...Although none of this was part of the plan.