Operation: Freshy

Chapter 18: Fourth Search

#18: Fourth Search

Trouble got ahead of them. 

It seemed that two out-of-place rebels coming into a serene place like the Artist Hangout was too much for the laws of time and space and order created by the ancestor artists that founded the peace in the Department in the first place, Olivia thought as she bask upon the sight before her.

And it all started so nicely too, she remembered. 

There she was, she remembered, keeping to herself as she looked around the first floor of the yellow hangout, with the highest graded paintings framed on the high walls, the grand black piano at the center of the carpeted floors, the green couches lining up the glass wall on one corner and students’ vases displayed on podiums on the other… She thought her search would go without a hitch.

Boy, was she wrong. 

She wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but she was sure it must have had something to do with her co-freshmen and, well, hard to believe it but, cats?

As she remembered in her freshmen orientation, pets were strictly prohibited on school grounds in thought of the students with allergies, so when she got out on the field and saw a litter of kittens sprawling around on the grass, she first thought it was cute before she thought of the rule. She looked around then, searching for the litter’s mother, but to no avail. There were no adult felines in sight. 

She was about to go her own way then, just as how any passerby who didn’t want to get involved would do, but one of the kittens, a black one at that, came to her legs and started rubbing themselves on her. She jerked a bit, alien to the touch, before calming down and kneeling to scratch the kitty by the neck. Luckily enough, it was docile to let her, its eyes never leaving her… clip?

Well, though that was a tad peculiar, she actually found them pretty cute. If Lucy was there, maybe she’d like them as well. But, then again, maybe not. Her friend seemed more like a dog-person than a cat-person. She was very loyal and obedient after all. But, then again, was that how you judge a person’s animal preference?

“Oi.” 

She jerked back at the sound, spinning one-hundred and eighty degrees, she looked up to see a girl in red plaid, with short brown hair and just as dark skin, she looked both dangerous yet stoic at the same time.

“You know that pets aren’t allowed on school grounds, right?” She asked monotonously, her brown eyes piercing her gray ones. 

Olivia nodded meekly. “B-but these aren’t my pets though. Actually, I don’t have a pet.” But she would like an owl, now that she thought about it.

“Did you bring them here?” The girl interrogated. 

 “No!” Olivia harshly denied. What was going on? Why did she feel like she was being sentenced to death?

The girl didn’t look like she believed her. What was her problem anyway? Was she part of the school’s disciplinary committee or something? Now that she looked closer, she looked more like a musician of some sorts than an artist. 

“Rhiannon!”

Both girls cocked their heads to who spoke. A familiar giant was walking toward them, and he stopped on his tracks when he recognized her. Behind him popped another familiar face, and Olivia was really uncertain as to what was going on. 

“Eli, Mal, ‘sup?” The girl, whose name was most probably Rhiannon, acknowledged, though her face remained neutral. She somehow scarcely reminded Olivia of Lucy.

“Whaddaya mean, ‘sup’!?” Mal asked with furrowed brows, his blue eyes lighting in disgruntlement. “You’re loomin’ over Olivia here. Give ‘er a break!” 

Rhiannon glared. “She’s with cats. Pets aren’t allowed at school. Someone’s gonna have an allergic reaction and it’s gonna end up with us in trouble.”

Mal shrugged. “We like trouble.” 

Eli joined the conversation. “But we don’t like getting caught though.”

All looked up to him, literally, before a mischievous grin spread on Mal’s lips. 

“True that.” Eli’s fellow street artist said.

Rhiannon shrugged, before turning toward her. “If you have nothing to do with how those cats got here, then I advise you to get away from them. You wouldn’t want any of the heirs to find you around them. Especially Raphe.” 

With that, the three took their leave, only then did Olivia notice a large bag over Mal’s and Eli’s shoulders. Though she was curious to its contents, she thought it was better not to know, especially with those characters. She hated thinking badly about anyone without getting to properly know them first, but she had already thought of them as a flock of black sheep.

Rebels… 

If she were to get mixed with them in any way possible, she might as well have had gone through the wrong path. Rebels were, in all sense of the word, nothing but trouble.

At least, that’s what her sister always told her. Actually, this would be her very first time getting acquainted to them, and frankly, albeit intimidating, they didn’t really seem to be the bloodthirsty beasts her sister had pointed out a few times afore. But, then again, maybe she was too quick to judge. 

She sighed. She was starting to think too much. She stood then, gave a final glance to the kittens who were staring up at her with those sparkling big eyes of theirs, and turned away. The first place to look would be the backyards.

But she ended up going back inside for one last look.