Arabella Academy: Perfectly Imperfect

30. Surprise Visit

You're only as sick as your secrets.

~Valerie Bertinelli

***

Stewart gazed out of the window in his new office. He loved watching the views provided by the windows. Fortunately, Arabella Academy was on a higher ground than the rest of Middlewood from his office he was able to see the rest of the town buzzing. He stood there, his mind pondering over the choices he had made over the past few days.

A knock on the door brought him back to reality. He looked at the door, wondering whether it was Miss Gianna again asking for his relationship status. Instead, he was shocked to see Rocco's face popping inside the office. Clearly pissed, Stewart rushed to the door where he yanked him in and locked the door hurriedly.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Don't you realise that those kids could've seen you!" Stewart scolded him and smacked him on the head, showing him how stupid he was.

"Relax boss," Rocco tried to cool him down. "I made sure no one saw me."

"For your sake I hope you're right, because I'm starting to think your brain was on Do Not Disturb Mode when you decided to come here," Stewart clapped back.

"So," Rocco began. "One of 'em's your kid?"

Stewart went back to his position by the window and stared outside. "Yeah, the one with the brown eyes and pink lips. He takes quite a lot from me, don't you think?"

"He may look like his mother but he definitely behaves like you," Rocco agreed. "Why did you leave the mother though?"

Stewart sighed. "It was at that time when father wanted me to take over The Shadow. I was so young and reckless back then; I wondered if he was in his right mind to give me control."

"But look now, you are older and just a little bit less reckless," Rocco replied. "I am sure that your father, God rest his soul in peace, would be proud of you."

"I wouldn't be too sure about God resting his soul. I bet he is even playing one of those silly card games with the devil right now."

"I am not too sure the devil would even want him. Your father was a straight up legend, and I owe him for saving me from a life of prison."

Stewart turned to face Rocco. "By the way, you never told me how you ended up in The Shadow. You came in at the time I was taking control, right?"

"Yeah. That day I had gone to get some drugs from the pharmacy. I had no money then, and my only option was to steal it as one of my loved ones really needed it. Sadly, I was caught, and the chemist had called the cops on me. Timothy was just taking me out of the store to the police station when we met your dad. He suddenly became interested in me and made Timothy release me. He then took me to Headquarters, where he introduced me to The Shadow and since then I've been a committed member," Rocco narrated. Stewart nodded, and went back to staring out of the window.

"You certainly had luck on that day," he commented.

"Anyway, I came to tell you that we are still searching for the dungeons. Our experts have been studying the blueprints of the school and we have come up with possible locations of where the dungeons might be," Rocco spoke.

"Tell your people to do it fast then. I've already found a client who's willing to pay fifty million dollars for that thing, and I need that money before we can proceed to the next stage," Stewart answered.

"Yes boss. I will," Rocco assured him.

"Now get out of my office before my son decides he misses his father and recognises you."

"Don't get too attached to him," Rocco commented as he closed the door, leaving Stewart alone once more, gazing out of the window.

It was the usual sleepy atmosphere at Ivanna's Environmental lesson, with half of the class dozing off. Marcus and Jeff were not left behind as their heads lay supported by their arms, eyes closed but ready to fly open, in case the Dean came around for his usual rounds or when Ivanna noticed that she was talking to herself. Michelle was among the rare few that remained awake. She was a day ant and therefore found it hard to sleep during the day, unless she had a really short night. However, she was also not paying attention but instead staring out of the window, looking for something interesting to watch.

Suddenly a figure appeared before her eyes, and her attention was alert, though not to the grandma teaching her. The fright in her eyes became visible as she realised the identity of the man whom she had seen. She turned to alert Marcus and Jeff but instead saw them sleeping on their desks. Desperate, she plucked a piece of paper from her book, crushed it into a ball and threw it at Marcus.

The ball did not miss. Marcus woke up startled, his hand raised thinking he had been asked a question. It was then that he noticed Michelle vigorously waving at him. She pointed out of the window, and Marcus' shock was all too evident. Scared too, he tapped Jeff, who woke up irritated that Marcus had spoilt his short slumber. However, his sleep soon worn off as soon as he was shown the figure that was subtly trying to make its way out of school. Jeff couldn't hold back his surprise.

"Oh My God!"

And the whole class turned to look at him.