Not You Again

Chapter 18

It was Tuesday morning. The sky was cloudier than usual. Within a few moments of waking up, Felix noticed it started to rain outside. He looked around to find his fury pet hidden under the covers. He knew how much Plagg disliked the rain, or any type of water as a matter of fact.

As he stood up, he felt a hint of soreness around his neck. He walked into his bathroom to look in the mirror. The marks around his neck weren't as bright or red anymore. They were now an unsightly, dark brown against his pale-like skin. It's a good thing most of his wardrobe were filled with collared shirts anyways. He managed to hide it from others yesterday and last night. As well, he was lucky his father didn't join him for dinner. Not that that was anything new.

Felix finished getting ready and headed downstairs. Nathalie handed him his schedule for the day. He sat down and took his time eating breakfast. He felt no rush to get to school this morning. If it was up to him, he would stay home. Alone. As he thought this, Bridgette's words played in his head, "You shouldn't have to go through it alone."

Was he really not alone? According to Claude, it will be over his dead body if he ever decided to leave him alone. Felix didn't notice he was lightly chuckling to himself.

"You seem to be in a good mood this morning." Felix whipped his head around to find his father walking into the room. "I suppose you already saw the news?"

Felix furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What news?"

"Oh, you haven't? Nathalie, please bring me the newspapers."

"Yes sir," Nathalie replied walking over to him. She handed him a handful size of newspapers.

"Look for yourself," his father said handing Felix the stack.

Felix grabbed them one by one. All the front covers had the same picture, some from a different angle. It was of him leaving a kiss on Alice's hand from Sunday. The headlines were big and in bold, asking if he was dating the daughter of the famous Duet family.

Felix knew this was his father's plan all along. To get publicity. He had a strong urge to rip apart everything in front of him. Of course, he couldn't in front of his father. So, he tried to play it calmly, "Oh, is that all?" He said nonchalantly, placing them back down away from him.

His father didn't notice his inner rage, or maybe he chose to ignore it as long as things were going his way. He went on with his day and began heading towards his company's building. Nathalie followed him, leaving Felix alone with his thoughts. He lost his appetite, grabbed his umbrella, and just went straight to school.

As his driver pulled up to the front of the school, Felix looked outside before stepping out. There was no one outside, although that was probably the rain's fault. He had hoped no one reads the newspapers anymore.

He went about his way to the library to meet up with Claude. Even though he had already called him last night to hear about all the good things that happened to him yesterday, he was sure that there was more Claude wanted to talk to him about. At least one of them was happy.

As Felix walked towards the library, he saw many of the students on their phone look up at him. Several of them stared while others went about their business. He felt his back shiver a little. Once he reached the library, he saw that there was almost no one in there. It was emptier than usual other than maybe one or two other students. He managed to find Claude towards the back at their usual table. He felt a hint of relief.

Felix sat down in his usual seat in front of Claude. "Good morning," he greeted.

"Morning," Claude greeted back. "Sooo, wanna explain this to me?" Claude pulled up a webpage on his phone and handed it to Felix.