What an Odd Alliance

LOCKING OLD HABITS IN THE CLOSET

The orientation was more fun than the morning one, it was all student-led and they were creative. They did stand-ups and stage-acting to present their speech. There were supervisors and security around the perimeter, but they didn't intervene in the students affair. Zoya found herself smiling all throughout the sitting. Zoya glimpsed at her wrist that held her Hunter's mark, each unique to its master, and remembered her true purpose. She mustn't let the new life of her school, and the light of various possibilities, distract her from her father's agreement. She was here to be one of the top three at school. She was here to earn back her title and achieve her dream goal. Thus, Zoya's smile faded away.

After the event ended, Zoya and Zain headed back indoors and were walking back to the grand hallway for dinner. She was walking thoughtfully and rather silently. As they reached the dormitory to change, something colorful hung on the wall caught Zoya's attention. It was a printed footprint, a map, of the school. Hung in every corner and on every school floor.

"Wait, you knew about this?" She stopped in her tracks.

Zoya bent forward to get a better looked at the detailed maps. It was color coded and had a legend on the top right, there were several boxes. Each box represented the room numbers and location of the school, where everything was located: the lockers, classroom, bathrooms, hallways, even the Headmistress' office.

Zain turned to face her, and his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. Had Zoya been a regular human, she may not have noticed those fading shades of pink.

"Uh, yes?" He answered sheepishly.

He put his hands in his pockets and looked at Zoya expecting another shenanigan.

"Why didn't you show me that when you knew I was getting lost a lot, no thanks to you!" She yelled.

He looked at her, and memorized her features. Despite her attempt to punch him, he held the punch and didn't let go of her fist.

Seriousness overtook his friendly features, and his smile was concealed with intense eye-contact.

"Because you are fun to have around. And because," he stepped forward and bent that their noses almost touched, "I wanted to."

He let go of her hand, and whatever seriousness he had disappeared in mere seconds. Zoya didn't know how to respond, but she felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. She broke eye contact and allowed her black hair with dyed-blue stripes to cover her face as she looked on the ground. They hid her warm cheeks but didn't conceal the beatings of her heart.

"Stop that," she finally said.

She felt his intense gaze touch her skin, and the drop in the pit of her stomach increased. Something twisted inside her and she felt her body fume adrenaline. She needed to get out of this situation, whatever uncomfortability she felt needed to end.

"What?" Zain asked as he closed the remaining distance between them.

Zoya moved backward leaving the same distance Zain tried to enclose.

"We aren't friends, so stop acting like we are. It's just a truce, nothing more nothing less."

Zain stepped forward and tried to search her eyes, "What if I want us to be friends? You're fun to hang around when you aren't trying to plothing against me," Zain smiled.

It was one of his genuine bright smiles, and Zoya couldn't deny herself that they could capture one's soul.

So she did the best thing that worked on her disappointing her father, she laughed. Zoya laughed so hard that caused Zain to move backwards in pain.