I yawned and stretched my arms over my head. It was early morning when I got off the desk in my room and looked around. Working the night away always left me exhausted, and now school.
My hands almost naturally found a cigarette, and I lit it up. The window from my room was slid open, and the view outside was clear. I rolled up one sleeve of my t-shirt, all the way to the shoulder, and leaned out onto the balcony. The sun was slowly making its way out; the smoke of the cigarette wafted around like a ghost in front of my eyes.
Ash fell and went away with the wind before it could reach down.
"Hmm…"
I took another puff.
"Good morning."
***
The last two days had been well spent catching up on my work and keeping tabs on the arcade. Today, too, I planned to go there, but before that, something else had to be done.
I was supposed to head to Mrs. Benson's arcade with Lia. Apparently, Sebastian and Eric had told a lot of their friends about the place, so some more people had been visiting, but we were still going there every day.
After school ended, I walked to the door alone with my bag, and there at the school gates, waiting on the side, was Lia. Her short hair, which reached just around her shoulder blades but still flowed around, looked rather distinctive.
Her gaze fell on me—a gaze I could only describe as akin to the brush of a blade.
"There you are," said Lia. "Shall we?"
I nodded at her. It was strange that she would wait, but I guess that was fine in its own way.
For a split second, I couldn't deny that I thought she was interested in me. But every time I looked into her eyes, it felt far more ominous.
Her eyes were similar to those of the people I had seen in the nights more than during the day. Perhaps she was just this type of person, someone naturally curious about others, like Anna had said.
Regardless, there was little for me to do. Even if she *was* interested, like a normal schoolkid, that too was none of my business. Sorry, not sorry.
"Let's go," I said to Lia without acknowledging anything else, and started walking ahead. Lia smiled and walked next to me.
So I picked up pace.
Lia tried to match my pace, but I was much taller and naturally faster than her. In the end, she had to almost jog to walk with me, yet her smile went nowhere.
Persistent girl.
We reached the bus stop on the opposite side of the one I usually used and waited in line. Soon enough, the bus arrived, completely empty except for us since it was a fairly odd hour. Too soon for the club students to leave and too late for the 'go-home' kids to stay around. Lia and I took a seat.
"So, Abel," said Lia. "What do your parents do?"
"Nothing much."
"Huh?" Lia looked away. Maybe it was just my imagination, but her eyes were sparkling even more than before. "Are you not going to ask me?"
"Your father is a marine, right?"
"Wow, how did you know? Stalker!"
I started to get off the seat and was about to move to the next one when Lia laughed and grabbed my hand. "Sorry, sorry, okay, I won't make that kind of joke again."
"Better."
"You remember it from the time we all gathered for the group project. Sorry, it was really a joke."
For how brazen she was, Lia was also quick to understand people. As I sat back down, she ran a finger over my forearm before taking her hand back to herself. Something a person like Peridot would always do to people she wanted to get information from.
Honestly, I was impressed in a way.
"So, so, Abel. Tell me more about yourself."
"There's not much to say."
"How did you and Anna become friends? She said you helped her out once after school. What had happened?"
Ah. Trying to get inconsistencies out?
"Did anyone find anything about Mrs. Benson's son?" I asked.
Lia stuck her tongue out, completely uncharacteristic. She was acting like a different person from the group settings already.
"You're no fun, spoilsport." I didn't respond, so Lia pulled out her phone and showed me her Instantgram account. She scrolled as dozens of users named 'Richard Benson' were sent the same message. Quite a few had replied as well, while many hadn't. "I thought this would be the fastest way. This is a fake account I've made. Mrs. Benson had his pictures, but only as a teen."
I crossed my arms.
"Hm. That's one way for sure."
Lia smirked. "I've also contacted possible batchmates from during his school and college years, in case someone would still be in contact."
She really was impressive.
Lia looked at me with expectant eyes. It was a mixture of derision about me not having done anything and expectation for some praise.
"Not bad," I said, and Lia broke into a smile.
Right then, the bus stopped. We were halfway to the arcade when three girls, students, stepped onto the bus.
All three of them were in complete violation of whatever dress code a school could enforce as they flaunted their makeup and clothing. Their eyes turned to us, and the one at the front smiled brightly.
"No way," said the blonde girl. "If it isn't our resident bitch! My, I didn't think I'd see you in high school!"
I looked to my side. Sure enough, Lia seemed to know these three.
A sigh almost escaped me. Wasn't this an odd hour? Why did I have to run into such troublesome situations?
Then again, considering things were from the story of a rom-com book, being in strange situations was pretty much the point of my character.
The life of Extra C really was difficult.