Altantide High School FTO

(ch.3) a surprise.

I gradually awoke from a deep sleep, feeling groggy and disoriented. I groaned out loud. Who is knocking on my door?  I turned to look at the clock on my nightstand and squinted, trying to read the numbers. 7:32 am? I mumbled to myself as I stumbled towards the door. "Jeez, I'm coming!" With a groan, I pulled the door open, my annoyance evident on my face "What Eden?" I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Go get your boyfriend out of the house," he demanded, clearly irritated. Confusion washed over me, mixing with my fatigue. "What? Boyfriend?" Eden's impatience only intensified. "Yes, your boyfriend. He's waiting downstairs. Now go and deal with him." My mind reeled as I made my way downstairs. Boyfriend? I hadn't been expecting anyone. What the hell is Eden talk-

"oh Hi, Dev sorry I didn't mean to wake you up so early."  Ritchie?!? What the hell is he doing here? Ritchie exclaimed, catching me off guard. "How? Why? Why are you here so early? And what are you doing here??" I inquired wearily. He scratched his neck awkwardly. "So you didn't check your phone yesterday?" Confused, I pulled out my phone and noticed a notification from him. "Oh yeah... I completely forgot we would go to the meeting." he laughed. "Um yeah, are you gonna get ready?" I glanced down at my disheveled appearance Damn it! I must look like a complete mess... I felt a blush creep onto my face as I pulled my oversized shirt down to cover myself better.  "Yeah just give me a minute." I hurriedly replied, rushing upstairs. "Did he leave?" Eden asked. I whack his shoulder. "No! Now shoo!" Eden rolled his eyes as I frantically searched for suitable clothes. Goodness, when did Ritchie even get here? How long has he been waiting?? I selected my favorite pair of ripped jeans, a soft shirt, and a cozy hoodie to wear. I wanted to create a comfortable look for the day. Put on my Converse shoes. I fix my hair a bit. I went downstairs. Ritchie stood in front of me, his eyes twinkling with amusement as a smile played at the corners of his lips. I frowned and questioned, "What's so funny?" Ritchie's smile widened as he replied, "Nothing."

We stepped outside into the refreshing embrace of the cool breeze, a welcome contrast to the stuffy air inside. As we made our way to the car, I couldn't help but inquire, "How did you manage to find your way in?" Ritchie graciously held the car door open for me, to which I responded with a warm smile and a sincere "Thank you." Settling into the passenger seat, Ritchie began to recount the unusual events. "Well, I decided to enter, but then Eden opened the door, and before we knew it, we were in the midst of a heated argument. It nearly came to blows...hahaha...until Michael intervened and diffused the situation. After that, he hurried off to work." I couldn't contain my laughter and playfully rolled my eyes. "Where exactly is this meeting taking place?" I inquired curiously as Ritchie effortlessly adjusted the radio with one hand while maintaining control of the vehicle. His effortless multitasking was undeniably charming, although I scolded myself internally for acknowledging it. "It's at a library," he casually revealed. "A library?" I repeated, utterly puzzled. He grinned mischievously. "You'll see."

We ventured to the heart of Altanide and found ourselves at the downtown library. As we entered the building, I couldn't help but notice a charming café nestled in the center of the room, with a second floor overlooking the space. Huh. It's nice. Different than grime shade from what I remember. There was an elderly lady at the counter. "Hey, Mrs. P," Ritchie said, smiling. "Hello, Ritchie, everyone is in the back," she added, pointing behind her. "Okay, and this is Devin," Ritchie said, introducing me. Mrs. P smiled at me and said, "Hello." I smiled back and replied, "Hello!" We both went behind the counter as Ritchie opened the door. Despite the cozy setting, chaos erupted as soon as Ritchie opened the door, with animated conversations and what seemed like the start of a brawl between Mario and David. Elsewhere, Lucas, Kit, and Immo were engrossed in a heated debate over a video game controller, while Blake and two others were spectating. Meanwhile, Brandon was immersed in a book, seemingly oblivious to the commotion. Seeing Ritchie turn off the lights in exasperation, I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of everyone behaving like preschoolers. Ritchie eventually managed to gather everyone's attention by turning off the lights. I laughed even harder. Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to Ritchie. "Sorry." I stood up straight and coughed a bit. Pfft... they're all like some preschoolers or something. "Anyway, guys. Is everyone here?" Ritchie said. "Polly isn't here," Kit said. "Okay." Brandon got out of his seat. Stood next to his brother. "So I would talk about the devil's tongue situation but we have new people here so and they are pretty young..." Ritchie explained and he glared at the new two people in the room. "Anyway instead I thought we could just hang out for today and get to know each other." Ritchie gave a side-eyed to Brandon. He turned around to avoid eye contact. "Sir Ritchie! Can we go outside of the library?" Immo said with excitement. "Uh no. Definitely no." Ritchie said. After that, everyone went to their little worlds. Ritchie and Brandon went back outside to talk. I saw the new people and decided to talk to them and headed in their direction. "Hi!" I said. The tall dark skinned girl flinched a bit and turned around in a panic. "Uh... hello." She said. I giggled a bit. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. The name is Devin." She seemed to relax. "My name is Lara." I smiled. "Yeah, I found her literally 30 minutes." Kit interrupted. I was a bit shocked and laughed. Lara smiled. "Yeah, she did along with Mario." Kit seemed happy about it. We talked for a bit. Until she left and her friend. After a while, we got back and talked about a couple of things. I learned about "devil's tongue" and Blake had a run-in with them and Ritchie and Brandon seemed worried. I was still confused about who was devil's tongue. I shrugged it off but then everyone started to ask me about Eden and me. I told them it was a long story but they insisted they wanted to listen.