Sui generis

Chapter One: Him

I'm walking at the corridor near the lockers of Crescent Academy when I saw him. Handsome, tall, kind, intelligent, athletic...  he has all of those traits. They said that I'm the 'princess' and I deserve a 'prince' like him but I guess a princess like me can't get all that I want because after loving him for three years, I just can't get his love.

"Hey, Ms. Vice President! You're here early. Got some duties to finish for the student council?" He said the moment he noticed me approaching the area where he was at.

"Yeah, just a few more things to prepare for the upcoming sports festival. How about you and the whole basketball team?" I replied while keeping a bright smile that's starting to look awkward.

"Our practice was supposed to start half an hour ago, but no one's coming. Classes will start at 8:00 am so I guess we will just have to practice this afternoon." He responded worriedly while dribbling his favorite ball given by his mom.

"Okay, so how about you just wait in the student council room? We have some pie and tea there. I know you haven't eaten breakfast yet." I offered, still keeping that 'awkward' smile.

"Sure! I really can't refuse an offer from a great friend." He replied as he stopped dribbling the ball.

We walked silently in the lobby without even talking to each other. We're quite close but I guess other people will doubt that because we barely talk to each other about random topics aside from stuffs at school. Without a little bit of conversation along the way, it took us only a couple of minutes to arrive at the student council room which is at the first floor, near the center hall. I hurriedly grabbed the keys from my purse and unlocked the door.

"You can sit in the couch while I get the pie and make some tea." I said to him while walking towards the pantry.

I saw him quietly sat down the couch and grabbed a school paper placed in the center table. He has that cute mannerism of snapping his fingers while he is deeply focused on something that he is doing. That serious face and expressive eyes of him made me love him even more after he first helped me out two years ago.

...

It was my first day of as a freshman in high school and I was walking towards the main building just beside the football field. I was really captivated by the design of the buildings in the school that my family established decades ago. The main building was quite old compared to the most of the buildings that were built few years ago as more students are enrolling but that's what makes it different from the rest, it is already a part of the lives of students for the past decades and holds a lot of memories. As I look closer at the building, a few students shouted and the moment I knew, a soccer ball was about to hit me. I covered my face with both of my hands as my legs were afraid to move even a few steps. As I blinked my eye, afraid to be hit by the ball, a guy suddenly moved in front of me and saved me.

"Hey! Watch out where you're going to kick the soccer ball!" The guy shouted to a team of soccer players in the field. With my eyes starting to get teary, I looked at the person who just saved me. The first thing that I noticed about him are his brown eyes that seem to captivate anyone that will look at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked me as he put his hand in my head and offered a handkerchief to wipe my teary eyes.

"Um...yes, I'm okay." It took me a couple of seconds to finally answer his question and to register in my mind that I'm safe. But before I can thank him, he grabbed my hand and we walked towards the west wing of the main building. His warm and soft hand made me relaxed despite that sudden incident the first thing in the morning. A few minutes of walk led us to the school clinic.

"Good morning, Nurse Fhora! Sorry to interrupt you this early in the morning." He said to school nurse who I think in her early 30's.

"It's rare for you to visit here Mr. Werrel, what can I help you with?" The nurse spoke softly as she looked at him with a little bit of surprise and confusion.

"Can you check if she's fine? She was about to get hit by a ball of the soccer team playing in the field." He responded with a tone full of worry.

"Oh! Sit here, please." The nurse said as she led me towards one of the beds at the clinic.

She then gave me a glass of water and checked my blood pressure after seeing that I didn't have any wound. Her long dark brown curly hair and short stature really gives off a warm and caring vibe along with her sparkly brown eyes. After a couple of minutes, she told me that my blood pressure is quite higher than normal and that I can stay in the clinic since she will give me a permission slip to let me skip the morning assembly.

"I'm fine. Thank you for your help. I can't miss the morning assembly since I'm just new to this school. By the way, may I please know your name?" I thanked the nurse and humbly declined her offer before formally asking her name.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Fhora Heilm and I've been the head nurse here in Crescent Academy for almost eight years." She replied with a gentle smile on her face.

"It's my pleasure to meet you Nurse Fhora. I'm Zythe Revalt." I bowed as I introduced myself.

"Ms. Revalt? The daughter of the headmaster?!" Nurse Fhora shockingly asked.

I nodded and smiled slightly which started the awkward silence inside the clinic. A few minutes had passed and the guy who helped me broke the weird atmosphere as he introduced himself.

"By the way, I'm Zeon Werrel. I'm in the second year and the captain of the basketball team. Nice to meet you!" He said while offering a handshake to me.
The bell suddenly rang and students began to walk on the corridors toward the school gymnasium. He told me that it's already time for the morning assembly so I again said thanks to Nurse Fhora and left the clinic.

"Um, Mr. Werrel... thank you for helping me." I softly spoke to him as we walked towards the gymnasium along with the other students.

"No problem! And you can call me Zeon." He responded with that gentle smile on his face.

...

That unexpected situation started our friendship which for me was something that let a new feeling bloom within my heart. It seems like seeing him smile washes away everything in my mind except everything about him. I think that it was just what love feels like.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I had hard time choosing what kind of tea to make." I said as I walk towards him with a plate of pies and two cups of tea placed in a tray.

"It's okay. I'm the one who should be thankful for welcoming me in your office." Zeon responded as he reached for a cup of tea.

"Don't worry. You're always welcome here." I immediately replied.

"By the way, President Visgo has a meeting with the headmaster so he asked me to do some paperworks for the upcoming school events. You can just leave the utensils there and I will take care of it later." I added before standing off the couch.

I was about to walk towards the table where the documents were kept when he suddenly grabbed my hand. I looked at him shocked and saw his odd expression as he spoke viciously.

"Oh really? Then, now is the perfect time to tell me about your mission, Agent Leca." He said before everything in my sight was filled with darkness.