Expectations When Expecting

Book 2, Chapter 9

Cater groaned loudly, falling onto Yuu's shoulders dramatically, making her stumble slightly. "Ugh, hashtag #fail! Now that we've lost a power player, we have to redo our team roster!"

Ace and Deuce look incredulously at Cater for a moment, their lips flapping for a moment before they yelp loudly.

"Wait, what?!"

The door creaked open, startling Yuu enough for her to spin around, only to come face to face with Riddle.

"Why are there so many people here? Trey is supposed to be resting!" He hissed, carrying an ice pack and a bottle of pain medicine in his hands.

"It's Ragin' Riddle!" Grim yowled comedically, hiding himself behind Yuu, who greeted Riddle with a very awkward wave.

Riddle waved back awkwardly before looking at Grim with an insulted expression. "I am not 'raging.' I will be perfectly pleasant if you obey the rules!"

The red head turned to face his childhood friend, moving to fuss over him much like a mother would. "How are you doing, Trey? Can I bring you anything to eat or drink?"

"I told you, Riddle: you don't need to fuss over me like this." Trey spoke, attempting to reassure his very frazzled housewarden.

Riddle pouted, his gray eyes saddening a bit. "But it's my fault that you got hurt." He muttered.

"What? He didn't tell us that part!" Ace yelped, looking at Riddle.

Riddle shrunk a bit, shame weighing down on his chest as he appeared to look like a kitten left out in the rain.

"Well... I needed to talk to him, so I went to the junior classroom at lunch. And then..." Riddle began to explain what had happened, Yuu moving closer to him in an attempt to calm Riddle, one of the only ways she believed that she could be useful.

Yuu listened carefully as Riddle explained how he and Trey had been walking down the stairs, and how Riddle had been going over the plans of the upcoming Spell Drive tournament when Riddle had suddenly lurched forward. Yuu's mind thought of the incidents and she frowned deeply.

Riddle's face flooded with guilt as he recalled how Trey had caught him mid fall and he'd ended up being the one to topple down the stairs.

"Trey never would have slipped if he hadn't caught me when I was about to tumble over." Riddle sighed.

"Yeah, but if I hadn't, you would have just broken your fall with a flight spell." Trey reasoned in an attempt to comfort his friend. "It was stupid of me to intervene. So you don't owe me anything."

"Still, I..." Riddle began again before stopping himself.

Ace, who'd made his way over to Yuu whispered in her ear. "Hey, Yuu, d'you think...?"

Yuu nodded, understanding what Ace was referring to and she leaned in, whispering back. "Yeah... This is sounding more and more suspicious." Her mind flitted between the correlations between the incidents.

"Riddle, come on! It's not gonna do anyone any good to have you harshing the vibe here. It's lame that Trey got hurt, but you'll rock the field that much harder to make up for him, right?" Cater chided, loud enough to interrupt the conversation between Yuu and Ace.

His words also allowed for Riddle to take hold of Cater's words to pull himself out of the pit of guilt that he'd been wallowing in.

Riddle paused for a moment, nodding in agreement as he answered. "Well, I suppose that's true."

Cater grinned before turning to the freshmen. "All right, peeps, we should let Trey get his rest. Out, out, out!"

Yuu nodded, ushering her group out of the room before pausing. "Feel better soon, okay, Trey?"

"Of course, I will."

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.

.

Just before Yuu could leave, Cater tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, ushering Yuu over to meet with Riddle, who still appeared to be miserable with his thoughts consuming him, Yuu (completely forgetting herself) poked Riddle's cheek with her cold finger, startling the younger boy as he jumped.

"Ack! That's cold!" He yelped, rubbing his face as Yuu smiled gently.

"Welcome back!" She said teasingly.

Riddle gave her a smile before turning to Cater curiously, his gray eyes trained on his upperclassman. "All right, Cater. Was there something you didn't want to tell me in front of Trey?"

Cater gave the shorter redhead a kind smile. "You're always a step ahead of me, Riddle."

Yuu smiled, tugging Cater's jacket around her shoulders and attempted to warm her hands. Cater turned to face Yuu as he spoke.

"I get the feeling Yuu & co. know something about it." He chirped, making Yuu gape for a moment before shaking herself out of it. "Want to fill us in?" Cater suggested as Yuu shrugged, nodding.

"Yeah..." You're far more perceptive than you let on. "Alright, so..." Yuu began, explaining the Headmage's request, skipping over the manipulative words that Crowley had used to get Grim to agree.

Riddle seemed to be turning red as he fumed internally.

"Ah... So the headmage asked you to investigate?" He asked.