Agitated, Alicia drops her pen on her notepad and plucks the earphones from her ears.

She doesn't know how she's supposed to concentrate on her studies today, and the soothing classical music that usually does such an excellent job of helping her focus is not succeeding now at all. It is actually starting to irritate her. Nothing feels right or makes sense to her anymore.

Popping her earphones in again, she scrolls through the playlists on her phone and finds the one she'd made for One OK Rock, her favourite band. What she needs right now is a song that perfectly reflects her mood, and soon, she sighs in satisfaction while Takahiro Moriuchi screams in her ears about his frustration with liars. Perfect! Alicia's heart agrees with him, though she hasn't actually been lied to.

https://youtu.be/SAHvDE9FFAE

She should probably calm her nerves with something gentle and sweet, like one of the band's many beautiful ballads instead, but she's afraid of becoming all misty-headed with hearts flashing in her eyes while she dreams about Archer's voice and his luminous eyes.

Or worse, Ranger sleeping in her arms!

Life was so much more straightforward less than a day ago when she simply thought of Ranger as an idiotic, selfish piece of human waste and his friends as dangerous thugs. Everything is confusing now that she'd seen other sides of them. Ranger's vulnerability is leaving her feeling ill at ease.

Alicia likes having things nicely organised and categorised with everything in their specified slots. The demon wasn't supposed to have layers and facets; he was just supposed to be an annoying jerk. Life felt predictable then. She likes predictable.

Exactly who is the boy in the room across the hallway?

She's been asking herself that question over and over all day. The question interfered while she was reading a book and it's interfering now when she's trying to focus on solving trigonometric equations. She has been doodling all over her notepad for over an hour now, and it is not even the only question messing with her fragile equilibrium. There's another one.

Exactly who are the boys with him in that room across the hallway?

They're the friendliest thugs Alicia has ever met. John, the one she used to fear running into in a dark alley, brought her coffee and crumpets less than an hour ago. Crumpets! They were delicate and delightful, dripping in syrup, and he made them himself!

It's just obscene!

Jared knocks on her door every couple of hours to ask her if she needs anything, and then he gives her some of their snacks. Apparently, the boys are having a party in Ranger's room. They're certainly loud enough for that to be true.

Shouldn't he sleep?

The only boy who hasn't brought her food or something to drink, fattening her up for the human sacrifice they're probably planning for later, is Archer. She only gets a glimpse of him when she leaves her room, which isn't often. It's a good thing because she likes seeing him a little bit too much for her liking. He doesn't speak to her when their paths cross; he just nods and does something that almost passes for a smile.

Ranger has also not paid Alicia any visits. He only gets up when he has to go to the bathroom, and then one of his buddies hangs out outside the door, waiting for him to come out. Nobody wants a repeat performance of earlier when he passed out in there.

He looked a bit better when she saw him a short while ago, on her way to the laundry to fold the clothes she'd stuck in the wash last night. She was happy to find that her dress was fine. Whatever stains there are blend into the background pretty well, but Jared's sweater, which Ranger wore during the incident, is a write-off.

Seeing the blood stains and the hole where the knife ripped the fabric brought all of Alicia's anxiety back in an overwhelming wave. She had to sit on the floor for a couple of minutes, her head between her knees, until her breathing evened out again.

The song ends, and Alicia stops the music app and removes her earphones again. The sun is hanging low in the semi-clear sky outside her bedroom window. It hasn't rained for the last half-hour or so, but heavy dark clouds are gathering again. Soon, she won't be able to see the sun anymore.

It's time to prepare dinner.

Making up her mind, she pushes back her chair and gets to her feet. She'll ask the crowd of Ranger supporters if they need dinner, though they'd been eating almost non-stop all day. They've been very considerate of her, sharing their treats and leaving her in peace; feeding them dinner is the least she could do to thank them for taking Ranger off her hands.

She crosses the carpet to her bedroom door, turns the doorknob and opens the door. Ranger's bedroom door is open too, and though the boys are out of her line of sight, she can hear them clearly now that her door is no longer tightly shut.

Their conversation is interesting enough to stop her from pulling the door open all the way and stepping into the hallway. Alicia takes her hand off the knob, leaving the door open at a crack and shamelessly eavesdrops. Ranger's friends are trying to get him to talk about the attack, and if they succeed in getting answers from him, listening like a creepy stalker is the only way she'll gain any knowledge as well.

She is willing to break protocol for the sake of information.

The boys have been badgering Ranger with questions for a while, but he steadfastly refuses to tell them what happened. Frustrations are running high, and the argument is gradually escalating.

Alicia doesn't know what is going on. She is suddenly afraid that Ranger's room might erupt into violence, which makes her very worried about his stitches. She's about to close her door again, no longer brave enough to interrupt them to ask about dinner - they might eat her! - when Jared says something about Ranger claiming to be followed on Friday night. That drop of information boosts her curiosity enough to induce some new courage.

"How often do you feel like you're being followed," Jared wants to know, crossing his legs and leaning forward, making sure that Ranger gets the message clearly. He is not going to accept anything but a proper answer.

He was lying across the foot-end of Ranger's bed but sat up when Archer left his bean bag to look out at the garden instead. If someone is watching the house, they won't be able to see Ranger's window, but Archer is not checking for intruders; he is trying not to punch Ranger. Jared is ready to stop that from happening if his cousin loses his cool.

"Nobody was following me," Ranger grumbles, plucking at his duvet in irritation. Today, he's not as chilled and aloof as usual. The dude seems almost human for a change, something that has all of his friends worried. "I was just being paranoid-"

"Clearly not! Cut the crap! Who followed you, and how often?" Jared, Archer and John talk over each other, making it hard to know who said what, but one thing is clear to Ranger, facing them from the pillows propping him up, they are losing their patience with him.

"The nights I stayed over at Jared's place," Ranger finally decides just to answer one of the many questions and get on with it. "I didn't want them following me here."

"You didn't mind them following you to our place?" Archer exclaims, and the voice that earlier made the girl listening from across the hallway want to giggle with joy has now lost its soothing quality, leaving only the threatening part. Suddenly, Alicia is feeling afraid again, remembering the boy's scuffed knuckles. She wonders if he would beat up an injured friend.

"Of course I cared!" That injured friend sounds more than capable of beating Archer up too. "I took many random turns, and when I was pretty sure it was safe, I went to Jar's place and waited in the dark, keeping an eye out. I figured that if I missed a tail, the three of us would be able to take them... you, Jar, and me... and your dad if it came down to it. We could even call Johnna if we really had to..."

Though not completely happy to hear about this, Ranger's friends agree that it was probably the best thing to do.

"Well, we do have Kelly there," Jared says with a grin, earning a cuff from Archer.

"My sister is not going to fight thugs!"

"She doesn't have to fight; she can just give them one of her deadly looks," Ranger clarifies, and even Archer cannot argue with that fact. Kelly's dirty looks often make them want to die.

In her room, Alicia migrates to the wall beside the door and leans against it for support. Her legs are suddenly feeling weak and wobbly. She wonders what Ranger got himself into. Why were people following him? People who stab other people! She wants to call Aunt Bernice, but that would bring them home, and then they would all be in danger.

At least the little ones are safely out of town.

Ranger needs to get the police involved! Why isn't he doing that?

"If they followed me here," Ranger says in a voice lacking his usual cocky confidence, causing anxiety to knot tightly in the pit of Alicia's stomach. She desperately wants his sass back now. "Well, it's just me and Snubs here..."

"That's true," John says, and the others agree.

"She sure as hell won't be worth much in a fight," Ranger scoffs. "What's she gonna do? Ballet them into submission... snub them to tears?" He suddenly laughs, adding, "Read to them, making voices for the characters?"

Alicia clasps a hand over her mouth, silencing the shocked sound almost escaping from her lips. She does that all the time! Sometimes, she even uses dolls to act out the rolls. She has a terribly humiliating memory of a day Ranger came home unexpectedly while she was deep into Much Ado About Nothing.

Her bedroom door wasn't closed properly, and he heard her perfecting the deep voice she was trying out for Don Pedro. She only became aware of Ranger's presence when she heard him laughing in the hallway.

Even now, the memory makes her face light up with a thousand flames.

"Please don't tell them. Please don't tell them. Please don't tell them," she begs in a voiceless whisper, clutching her hands together in front of her face.

"The brats might enjoy it, but talking like Winnie-the-Pooh. is not going to help in this case," Ranger explains.

Alicia carefully releases the breath she's holding. Yes, she does that too. Her Winnie-the-Pooh is pretty good; Bobby and June love it. She's rather surprised that Ranger didn't tell his friends the humiliating story instead. They are all laughing at his stupid jokes, but it could've been so much worse.

Still, she feels a tiny drop of satisfaction when Ranger's laughter turns into painful groans. She's about to close her door, no longer feeling comfortable enough to ask the boys about dinner. She'll ask them when they've more or less forgotten about the jokes... when they're starving... She doesn't want to be asked to read to them. Ranger's next words still her hand on its way to the doorknob.

He's not laughing anymore; he sounds angry: "I don't want her to get tangled up in this shit. She could get hurt, and I won't be able to live with that. I've been doing everything in my power to keep her out of my life. I cannot blow all my hard work by letting them follow me home."

"That's why you're such a bastard towards her?" Jared asks incredulously. He gapes at his pale friend, his eyes wide with surprise. Of all the illogical things Ranger has ever done, this definitely takes the cake.

"Yeah, she's just the kind of target they would like," Ranger says, looking from one friend to the other, searching for the understanding that he is not receiving at all. "If we're close, they'll use her to get to me. If she hates me, it will be harder to tie her to me..."

"Your logic makes as little sense as always," Archer scoffs, and Alicia is once again surprised to hear how well he is able to express himself when he feels like it. He has no trouble speaking his mind to Ranger.

"I know," Ranger says, ignoring Archer's glare and making Jared laugh. "Puny humans seldom understand me. Those bastards don't know where I live, so if she doesn't hang out with me in public places-"

"You're an idiot," Archer concludes.

"Obviously!" Ranger agrees aggressively. "I haven't kicked you in the head even once today!"

"So," John stops the fight by sitting up where he was lounging beside Ranger to push him back against the pillows when he tries to get up, probably to do some of that kicking. It was better when Archer was staring out the window.

When he and Ranger start glaring at each other, it's never good... except that it is actually bringing some colour back to Ranger's face. He no longer looks close to death. "Why don't you make Flo, Kelly and V hate you too then? They're girls you're close to. By your logic, they should be perfect targets, too?"

"Yeah, but they have you guys," Ranger sighs, closing his eyes. "Snubs has nobody."

"She has you," Jared points out.

"Exactly, she has nobody."

The boys are quiet for a few minutes, mulling it over, unaware of the stunned girl in the room across the hallway. Alicia's mind is reeling, trying to make sense of what Ranger just admitted. He's been trying to make her hate him on purpose to protect her?!

That is either really sweet or really messed up. She is not quite sure which.

"So, who are they?" Jared asks after a silence that stretches until it becomes tense again.

"Nobody."

"Seriously, Botticelli!" Archer snarls. "You're happy for them to follow you to our house and get us to help you fight them, but now you won't tell us who they are?"

"I wasn't happy."

"It doesn't matter if you were happy or bloody sad!"

"Cuz," Jared says, rising from the bed to join his cousin at the window. He is as frustrated as Archer, but getting mad at Ranger never helps.

"We want to help, Range," John says reasonably. "We're your friends. Let us help."

"No," Ranger grunts. "I don't want you guys involved either. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone to your place."

"That's not what I meant!" Archer growls, shoving a hand through his hair, grabbing some of the strands in his fist, and giving it a pluck. "Don't leave us in the bloody dark like this!"

"Just drop it now!" Ranger snaps. "I'm tired, and you're giving me a headache." He scoots down on the bed and turns onto his side, his back to his friends. He sucks in a breath, trying not to show how much it hurts. The stab wound is throbbing, and so are a few of his bruises. He's also not lying about the headache. "Thanks for everything; now go home."

Everybody who knows Ranger knows that it's useless to try to get him to open up when he's shutting down, so they say their goodbyes. Jared opens the painkiller container, waiting on Ranger's nightstand to hand him two and the bottle of water he also keeps there.

"Call me if you need me, yeah?" he says when Ranger wrestles himself in a better position to drink the tablets.

"Yeah."

Alicia steps into the hallway when John and Archer leave Ranger's room. She doesn't even care if they know she'd been listening. They're about to leave her alone here with the injured boy, and she is suddenly overcome with uncertainty.

"It was nice to meet you," John assures her, though his face is saying the opposite. "Let me give you my number in case you need help."

Alicia hurries into her room and retrieves her phone from her desk, handing it to John when the boys join her. She tries her best not to look at Archer, and when John is done calling himself from her phone and saving his number, she's surprised to see him hand the phone to Archer, who glances at her. He gives her a crooked smile and types in his number, calling himself.

Alicia has never been this popular in her entire life. Last night, Jared gave her his number; today, two more boys are adding themselves to her contact list. She prefers to ignore the part where there's a stabbed boy causing them concern and that if it weren't for him, they wouldn't even be talking to her.

She says goodbye to John and offers Archer a clumsy smile and a head nod, which he returns, making his cousin laugh. Jared joined them just in time to have a front-row seat to the second episode of the socially awkward drama she is starring in with Archer.

She tries to smile with more conviction when she becomes aware of John watching them with a speculative look on his face. He almost forgets to frown.

"Shut up," Archer says, passing Jared on his way to the door, causing his cousin to chuckle happily.

"Hey," Jared puts his hands on Alicia's shoulders when the other boys have left her room. "Ranger is going to be fine, I promise. He just needs some rest; by tomorrow, he'll be back to being as annoying as always."

"He never stopped being annoying," Alicia points out, making Jared laugh.

"That's true," he grins. "Don't worry, okay? Tomorrow, when he gets to school, I'll clean his wounds. If he isn't up to going to school, I'll drop by here to check on him. Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens tonight that worries you, okay?"

Then they were all gone, and the house fell into a deep, suffocating silence.

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