Melting Ice

Chapter 21

"What was that for?!" Natalye's voice screeched in the whole cafeteria, glaring at the girl that had hit her together with her boyfriend.

Jesslia stared blankly at the disgusting couple, whilst everyone else stared at her. She did not cared about the stares she was getting, she was used to it anyway. She looked to her brother to ensure that his anger had, in a way, died down before turning back to the couple. She straightened her back, and removed the thick nerdy glasses she had been wearing all along, revealing the big, alluring pair of brown orbs she had.

"I should be the one asking that instead." The aura around her suddenly changed, or to be more exact, it returned to her original one. Being a Marin, and growing up as one, there was no way she could escape from having the Marin signatures - the aura, the attitude and the character. It was the an aura that intimidates people, making the Marins seem more elegant and dignified than those around them, and that was what going through everyone's minds at that point.

The girl's sudden change in the aura around herself surprised the school's population, it was something they had never seen coming from the girl before. The Marin siblings were used to hide that aura when they do not need it, especially when they are in school since they were not used to flaunting their family's name and wealth. They would prefer to keep it quiet and be like and treated as every other people as well. But it seems like it is impossible with the appearance of people like Natalye and Quince.

"You-" Natalye wanted to retaliate, only to be cut by a Jesslia that she never knew, "Yes? Are you going to spread fake rumors about me to the students again just to save your face? Or are you going to try to make my friends betray me again like how you and that hideous boyfriend of your's did? Maybe you're tired of Quince and happened to get jealous after seeing Lucion by my side? Do you think you can rule this school like you did back in middle school?"

Jesslia paused to smirk, "Well, unfortunate to say, I'm not the same Jesslia as I was years ago. I won't let you play me around like some puppet, neither will I let you get what you want. And about conquering this school, do you think the students here would prefer you, an exchange student, or me, the top Arts student in this institute? I think we all know the answer to that."

Silence overtook the cafeteria after Jesslia was done with her words, almost everyone flabbergasted at the new side of the girl they were seeing. The other who were not belonged to two groups, one where Natalye and Quince belonged to were speechless and humiliated, while the other were Lucion, Yun and Immlia, who were smiling proudly at the girl.

"Now guys," Jesslia turned to her friends and brother, smiling, "Let's go get something. I'm really hungry and my hand is hurting." Yun immediately went forward to ask about his sister's hurting hand, only to find out that it was the result of slapping two people with really thick skin. Lucion and Immlia burst out laughing at the siblings, pushing them ahead to the food queue to get their meals. The four acted like nothing had happened, and everything was still the same, that Jesslia had not just reprimanded the transfer students, that both Jesslia and Lucion did not just show a new side of themselves.

The rest of the student body fixated their gaze at the four, finally realising the reason why they were the only four students that the institute board had recognised as the top and best. They were the people who did not let others bother them, unlike the rest of them who only cared about what others thought of them. And every single one of them stared at the four, who had grabbed their lunch and were nonchalantly leaving the cafeteria to eat elsewhere as each of the rest of the students faced different emotions for the four.

~~

Lucion smiled, unlocking the doors to his house, ignoring the loud whinings of his cousin behind him. He quickly entered the house, allowing his cousin to laze around the house and maybe freshen up while he went up to his room to rest his body for the time being since he had nothing to do.

The four of them had skipped their classes the whole day, the teachers did not really bothered anyway, since they had always been the top scorers of their respective classes. The whole afternoon was spent chatting and laughing, and they had ended off knowing a lot more about each other, with the siblings and cousins telling the other pair embarrassing things about the other. It all ended when the final bell rang, and Immlia had suggested for them to meet at a special ice rink, one where the national skaters trained at, since all four of them skated.

Somehow, the thought of being able to spend more time and skate with Jesslia made Lucion especially happy. He liked skating with the girl, his skills had improved so much in the short span of knowing the latter, a complete opposite with when he depended on Yun to teach him. His best friend had spent the time playing and fooling around instead of teaching him properly, which was the reason for his never-improving skills. And do not even bother mentioning Immlia when it comes to teaching him, though his cousin was nice and all, the girl cannot teach. That was a fact he had learnt after asking his cousin to do so years ago, and he had never asked her again.

The four of them had agreed to meet at eight that night, and school had ended at five. He had three hours to just lie around, think about life and maybe get some dinner before making his way to the rink with his cousin. But the moment he threw his body on his wide bed, his mobile phone buzzed with an arriving message.

'Hey, do you wanna get dinner together? I don't want to eat it with Yun D:

- Jessi'

His smile widened, his eyes could barely be seen as his fingers quickly whipped up a reply, 'Sure, how about 6.30 at your house? I'll go pick you up. - Lucion'

He barely waited a minute when a message greeted him once more. The boy sighed contentedly, throwing his mobile phone beside him after reading the message, his smile at its widest.

'Sure~ Seeya!

-Jessi'

The boy zoned out subsequently, his soul flying away to a place only Lucion Cres and him alone can enter.

The bodyclock is an amazing thing, with it successfully bringing the boy back to reality. Lucion quickly stood up, having checking the time - six. He swiftly went to take a bath, wearing a simple white t-shirt and pair of denim jeans, completing his look with a pair of red converse sneakers. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror, it finally dawned on him the reason for Jesslia to wear the same things to school everyday. It was simple and good-looking, but of course, he did not know that not everyone can pull off that look - an example would be Yun, it just does not look good on him.

Lucion rushed out of the house, shouting to his cousin that he would not be joining her for dinner at the same time. To which, Immlia only stared at her cousin who was running out of the house, her hand holding onto her lighted mobile phone, and she smiled.

~~

"Hey~~" Jesslia chirped as she hopped towards Lucion's car. The girl was wearing a loose white shirt with a pair of denim overall shorts, matching with Lucion even to the point of their shoes - she was wearing a pair of red converse sneakers too, the only difference was that Jesslia's ones were high-cut and Lucion's were low-cut.

Lucion watched as the girl got onto the car, "Yo~ what do you want to eat for dinner?"

"I'm okay with anything..." Jesslia smiled, "But nowhere high-class looking at what we're wearing. Now, can I put this at the back?" She pointed to the bag containing her skates in her arms. Lucion did not say anything, his actions speaking louder than his words as he took her bag from her, putting it at the back seat of the car where his were as well.

And he started driving out of the housing estate. A comfortable silence playing its melody in the car as Lucion focused on the road, Jesslia staring out of the window and observed the world outside.

"How about here?" Lucion asked after a while, pointing to a small but cozy cafe located in a corner of the road. Jesslia nodded, waiting for the boy to park his car, eager to get food into her flat and hungry tummy.

The two headed into the cafe, joking and laughing, but neither of them noticed the two people who were masked in black from head to toe, staring and stalking the two from a distance away from the cafe.