Cinder: A Close To Normal Life

Chapter 11

Cinder's POV

"HE ASKED YOU TO THE DANCE?", Scarlet shrieked.

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?", finished Cress. "If he asked you during mechanics then you literally saw me right after. You gave me his phone but not this info? Cinder, you know I have no life, you know I need fulfillment from others". 

"Cress, c'mon none of us have lives," I said.

Scarlet feigned looking offended, "Uh speak for yourself, I just moved up a whole quarter level in my kickboxing class."

We laughed. "Wow, a whole quarter," Cress said, "You're really making it big now, Scarlet". In actuality though, we all know that Scarlet is a fantastic boxer. Her grandma's been making her take lessons ever since her parent's died. She said that it's important that Scarlet knows how to fend for herself because as an older woman she wouldn't be much help.

"Honestly, it's a miracle I'm not moving up by eighths," Scarlet sighed, "My new trainer is crazy. Get this, his name is Wolf and he won't admit it but I think he's from Luna. Something about the structure of his face or his skin tone. I can't really put my finger on it. But the important thing here is still Cinder and Prince Kai. We need details!" Scarlet said as Cress nodded her head vigorously.

I rolled my eyes, "There are no details! I said no and nothing's going to happen. Can you imagine Adri's reaction when I tell her that I want to go to the dance? She'd laugh me out of the room so hard that I'll probably need a new mechanical ear."

"But imagine telling Pearl that Kai asked you out. Oh my stars, imagine her reaction," squealed Cress.

I thought about it and Cress was right, that would feel amazing. But at the same time- "There's no was she'd believe me," I said. "And plus, if she did she would make my life 100 times worse than it already is. Oh stars, and Peony. Peony would hate me if I went out with Kai. She's been in love with him since she first knew he existed. I can't lose the only person that actually likes me in my family"

Scarlet and Cress looked at me sympathetically. They knew my life was a mess. Scarlet broke the silence, "Well you know that we're always here to support you, so if you ever need anything-"

"I know, I know," I cut in. "I will come to you guys-"

"-AND IKO," something screamed from my backpack. The three of us jumped at least 20 feet into the air. I completely forgot that I had put Iko into my backpack. She just barely fit. 

"What was that?" Scarlet said looking around frazzled. I quickly took my backpack off and took Iko out.

"This is my latest engineering project," I said smiling. I was really proud of the work that Kai and I did together and I think Iko turned out great.

"Mmmm, actually I don't really like being referred to as an object. You can call me Iko".

I was stunned but recovered quickly, "Oh I'm so sorry, Iko, I didn't mean it to sound like that". When Iko first started working, I knew that there was something unique about her personality chip. Maybe a glitch? But she was strangely emotional. I think I like her better this way though.

"Aww don't worry Cinder, I forgive you. But anyways, I'm happy to help you in anyway possible. I know I'm meant to be a personal assistant, but in loose terms that's like saying I'm meant to be a friend. Like I said before, I really do think we could be best friends! The four of us together could take the world by storm!"

Cress, Scarlet, and I smiled at each other. It looks like our trio is now a quad.

Kai's POV

After school, Torin and I met up at my house to try and get my life together. I needed to stay strong and get organized. I was so thankful that Torin was always such a good friend. Part of me thinks that he only helps me because I got people to stop picking on him when we were little, but our bond has grown so much that I know he helps because he cares. 

"I asked Cinder to the dance today," I tried to say casually as I dropped my backpack on the ground and sat down at a table.

Torin raised an eyebrow, "...and??"

"She said no."

Torin was stunned, "What do you mean she said no? But you're Prince Kai! Why would she say no?"

I shrugged, "Maybe she doesn't like me that way, or maybe she has other things she needs to do, or... I don't know... I just hope she changes her mind."

"Huh who would've guessed Prince Kai can't get a date to the dance," Torin teased. "Well, I guess we should start organizing some company stuff then."

"Yeah, I went into my dad's study and I found paper's everywhere. None of them really make sense to me, but I guess we have to start somewhere," I said trying to stay positive, but starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

I had already put all of the documents into a large box and now we just needed to make sense of everything. How did dad want to advance the company? Who is he working with? What gadgets is he working on? I was actually able to learn a lot. I thought that my dad would want to expand his company internationally so that he could have more customers, but it looks like he was purposely avoiding that. I felt my brow tensing up in confusion, from his meeting logs with his board it looked like he particularly wanted to avoid working with or creating anything for Luna. The closest I came to a reason why he avoided their contact was on a sticky note that he seemed to write hastily: Levana doesn't know when to stop. 

I know that Levana is the leader of Luna and I was impressed that it seemed like my father had interacted with such an important political figure. However, I was mostly confused by what the not meant. Didn't know when to stop what? Is this why he never worked with Luna? Before I could think about it too much, Torin cleared his throat, "Kai, you should look at this."

He handed me a letter in a purple envelope. Nothing was written on the envelope and the only thing that was written in the letter was: You have been warned.