Wild Boys 1.0

Three - Animal Kingdom

There's usually an after-school volleyball practice, but Iris didn't want to go this time. The coach would surely overlook it for now, seeing as how her teammates were acting around her.

Ares was right though. She had become an instant celebrity. Everyone wanted to see who's the 'stupid girl' that wanted to enter the tournament. More than a dozen student had come into whichever class she was in to get a glimpse of her. It was a complete turn from her normal life. She was reminded over and over of why she had preferred staying out of everyone's way. If she had known firsthand that something like this would happen, then she--

No, she stopped herself. She was going to do this, no matter the consequences. She'll just have to suck it up and get over it.

But it's hard! If only... if only Pierre hadn't announced that she's going to be his champion! Was it that hard to keep the information a secret? Or maybe even give her a warning when  she had agreed to the deal? It was Ares, the one who kept insulting her and was the one so against the idea of her joining, that gave the warning!

Then she remembered what reminded her of Pierre--a snake, and a little boy who would do anything to entertain himself.

She sighed. There's no need to dwell on it now that the deed has already been done. She'd become a celebrity overnight, and not in the good way.

When her dorm building came into view, a surprising sight welcomed her. The thing she liked about her building was that it was the farthest from the school building. It's always a twenty-minute walk to go to the school, and she didn't mind. It gave her time to think, like today. That's also why it wasn't a popular dorm--the number of occupants living here only reached about twenty, a far cry from the number it can hold which was normally a hundred.

So that's why a rare sight greeted her: about a dozen people were standing around the entrance. She gave a quick overview and found that all were males. From the recent turn of events, she wouldn't be surprised if they were here because of her.

She was right.

One of them spotted her and quickly alerted the others. In no time, all eyes were on Iris. She still wasn't used to so many people noticing her, so it was a bit of a challenge to continue walking toward the entrance like nothing's happening.

Before she could push the glass doors open, a voice called out, "Hey, you."

She sighed inwardly. Just her luck. She turned around and got straight to the point, "Yes, I'm Iris, the stupid girl that's joining the tournament. Pleased to meet you all."

She turned back around and pushed the doors open. Just as she was about to take her first step, her eyes caught movement on the reflection from the glass door. It was faint, but it was everything.

Within mere seconds, she had whirled around and caught the hand that was aiming to grab the collar of her blouse. The guy had dark hair pulled in a short ponytail, a few locks escaping and framing his face and neck. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Let go!"

Her eyes flicked to his before moving to the others that had moved closer in alarm, "What do you want?"

"Looks like it isn't just a rumor," a voice spoke up. The people who had moved in slowly parted in the middle, revealing a brunette walking towards her. His eyes rested on the position his friend was still locked in before an amused smile graced his lips, "She got you, didn't she, Caleb?"