DEVIATE X / / AN UNORDINARY FANFICTION

XXXVI.

Monday.

"Ah, there she is."

A long mane of purple hair softly swayed in the doorway as whispers began arising in the hall. Although Seraphina was aware of this, her expression remained stoic and unbothered, only shifting slightly once she noticed me.

"Have you seen John?" She asked as she approached me, making Isen and Blyke jump in surprise.

"No actually," I twisted my lips slightly, masking my conflicted expression. "We haven't really been talking all weekend....."

To this, Blyke raised his brow.

"Ah," She said. "See you later then."

"Man.....she's so cool....." Blyke sighed with a soft admiration as she walked away.

"Yep, beautiful," Isen sniffed as Blyke and I raised a brow.

".....Okay, weirdo," Blyke commented before shifting his quizzical eyes to me. "You and John haven't been talking? I thought you two were.....inseparable," he cringed as the word rolled off his tongue.

It was safe to say that this weekend was probably the first set of days where we didn't hang out with each other at all. I probably haven't kissed him since last week. There was still an unspoken tension that I didn't necessarily want to bring up again, seeing that his emotions seemed pretty volatile at the moment.

"He's been strange lately." I replied blandly.

"I take it the honeymoon phase is over?" Isen quipped, earning a hard nudge from Blyke. "Ow!"

"I guess you can say that." I shifted my eyes down to my hands.

I wasn't sure on what our relationship was as of this moment. We were treading on mighty thin ice since the incident with Seraphina, with our differences and John's secretive nature growing a larger gap between our "inseparable" bond.

But what was I to do about it? The night he grabbed me.....I couldn't help but feel scared. Vulnerable even. I wanted to us to be transparent with each other, but I'm afraid John won't reciprocate. If I pushed him again, it would only anger him like last time or worse.

It's only been two weeks since we started dating, right? Maybe my straightforward honesty is intimidating him, I thought as I bit my lip with unease. I just need to give him time to warm up to me.

But as long as no one pisses him off, everything will be fine.

Blyke must've noticed my desolate expression, because then I felt his hand clamp down on my shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"I forgot to ask you, are you busy after school? Remi wanted to talk about her idea on how to introduce EMBER to the school." He explained in a light hearted voice, attempting to elevate my mood.

"I guess not." I said, making an effort to hide my disinterest.

I shifted my eyes to the far end of the hall, noticing a gelled helmet and a head of purple hair receding into the distance.

I'm not going to keep pushing John, since it's obviously not getting me anywhere. If I want answers, I have to scour around myself.

Amongst the crowd, a noticable head of tousled blonde hair suddenly caught my eye.

....And if I want answers, it's going to start off with Arlo. That look he shot me on the day of the incident.....it's like he wanted to tell me something, but couldn't. Why though? Someone as punctual and straightforward as him.....it's unusual to see him so secretive, unless he was planning my demise (but that was unlikely, since he knew I could put him in the ground).