Gears of Harmony

Episode 4 - A Dark Mess

Okay, it seems like the rooftop isn't officially a no-student area so I'm safe. For now. But I stopped visiting the rooftop to avoid any awkward interaction and ate my lunch in the classroom. Luckily, I got acquainted with the girl who sat next to me, called Amelia, and her friend, Callista. More accurately, they called me over after noticing that I was staring at them and they were nice enough to let me sit with them every lunchtime since then.

"Really? You're actually half-deaf?" I asked.

"Yeah, only my right ear works," said Amelia and laughed, "but it's not very noticeable, is it?"

"No, I didn't realise it at all," I said and shook my head.

"Yeah, I never even knew until you told me today," said Callista.

I looked at the girl with tan skin sitting next to me. Her round, pale dusky blue eyes were sparkling with life as she scarfed down her lunch.

"Did you guys know each other from middle-school?" I asked, "like, the rest of our class-"

"Oh no, we met in the entrance exam," said Amelia, "I didn't see you there, Wina. Did you take the online exam instead?"

"Yeah," I said and nodded.

"I heard it's more difficult than the paper-based one, is that true?" asked Amelia.

"Really? What's the paper-based one like?" I asked.

"I don't remember most of the questions, honest..." said Callista, "it was like a 40-questions math test and 60-questions English multiple choice in an hour each?"

"Oh yeah, same," I said and nodded.

"Did you get that question about the surface area of a bunch of randomly stacked cube?" Amelia asked.

...stacked cubes? I could sort of see that being a math question, I thought.

"I did but I don't think I answered that one correctly," I answered, "I forgot to subtract the sides that sticks to the other cubes,"

It's probably something like that, right? I thought.

"Anyway guys, I'm going run to the toilet real quick," said Callista as she stood up.

"Can you make it? It's only 2 minutes before the next bell..." I said and glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Nah, Wina don't worry too much," said Amelia and chuckled, "I'll go too, two minutes is plenty,"

"Okay..." I said and nodded, "see you guys later..."

"See you," the two said as they left the classroom in a rush.

I sighed and patted myself on the chest.

Okay, maybe note to self... stop being too uptight or paranoid... I thought and sighed, don't look like a weirdo... relax, relax...

I looked up only to find a pair of eyes looking at me. It was a young man with an undercut, sitting not too far away from me. The guy did not flinch one bit even as I noticed his stare, and raised his bushy eyebrows instead. I suddenly had a bad feeling about it. Then suddenly, the said person started making his way towards me with both of his hands on his pockets.

"Hey, Wina, right?" he asked.

"Yeah?" I replied, scooting backwards a little.

"I'm Kevin. Say, I heard from someone you live around Woods Academy?" he asked.

Huh? Where did he get that? I thought, oh God, it's that little lie I told Nathan - of course!

"Y-yeah, what about it?" I asked, plastering a fake smile on my face.