English is a pretty shitty major, right? (cont.)

-2-

Angel recognized where the group they were trailing was headed and groaned out loud. Cherri had her hesitations as well, knowing that they'd stick out among the herd.

"I know, I know... west. But not all of them are bad. Charlie's the perfect example of that... and hopefully, him."

The west library was wordlessly agreed to be the headquarters of the english majors. There used to be only one library, but with the original east building's storage filling up, a newer one had to be built to hold the west's. Being built closer to the literature buildings and said buildings' number of texts requiring the usage of the entire space, it was decided that it would be exclusively for the english department. Built more recently, the design was more modern, and state of the art; only furthering the blue blood personas the sector carried.

There was quite literally an entire barrier between english and the rest of the subjects; a bridge had to be crossed to get to one side. As they walked past the midpoint, the faces became more and more unfamiliar, and more judgemental as well.

"Like royalty and peasants, right?" Cherri remarked as she felt the weird energy around them. It was evident that they were being observed as outsiders. A small, distanced circle had formed around them as if they were feared; it was passing time between classes, so it was the peak of the amount of students in the courtyard.

Angel nodded. Out of all the uniforms, it was universally agreed that the english majors had the cleanest, most stylish looking ones. Of course they had to wear purple. The signature they embedded in their clique exuded confidence, intelligence, and class. It felt gross, and plastic.

"Let's head around the back. Don't think they're taking kindly to us." Cherri gently pulled at Angel as he got to staring back at a particularly snobbish demon. Going around the building, Cherri took the lead and excitedly yanked one of the back doors open.

"Alright! I'm pretty sure I just saw him head in already. If we can get a good opportunity with him alone, then you can-"

"Ok, timeout! What are we even doing here? What is this?"

Pulling her back outside, she was still smiling widely, pulling back constant giggles. She pushed her pointer fingers together as her shoulders shimmied back and forth

"Alastor...? You know. Hook up?"

Seeing Angel tilt his head slightly and put on a serious look, she closed the door and leaned against it with her shoulder, relaxing just a little bit.

"Well... we've been best friends for a long time now. And it really, really sucks seeing you go from always happy to... mope-y. It's like you're going emo!"

Cherri stuck out her hands to emphasize as Angel shrugged, ran a hand through his hair, and crossed his arms.

"See?!"

"...You really thought I was happy before?"

Rolling his eyes, he gave a slight smile, placing his hands on his best friend's shoulders. Shaking his head, he began.

"Listen. I really appreciate you going out of your way to try and play matchmaker, but... I think I'm just done with all that shit. What guarantee is there that he'll even acknowledge me?"

"I... I mean, I don't know! We've gotta try, right?" Cherri pleaded.

"Do even know what kind of guy he is? Looks aren't everything. Val' is evidence of that..."

Cherri turned pale at the sound of her idea being shot down, but her eyes quickly narrowed at the sound of the dreaded name and the memories that came along with it.

"And considering the crowd we're dealing with, can you imagine what would happen if he rejected me in front of everyone? We wouldn't hear the end of it for the rest of our educational lives."

"But... but..."

She looked more and more defeated as the reasons piled up and eventually resorted to looking at the ground.

"I'm fine, ok? If I wasn't, I'd let you know. What I was before, with Val' and whoever else... it wasn't real. What you see now... real. "

Angel finished with a hesitant smile.

"And no, I'm not depressed. World's just full of shitstains. Some people can find that sort of love, but I'm just... destined not to."

Cherri sighed defeatedly.

"That isn't true. Somewhere out there, someone'll be that perfect person for you... but if you really say you're fine..."

"I'm fine as long as you're here. You're the only real friend I've really got. Now let's quit the sappy stuff and go... our shift is in about an hour."

The sound of locks clicking and the brief breeze of air conditioning interrupted them. Looking towards the double doors they were unintentionally blocking, it was too late for Angel, him getting a decent faceful of metal door.

It hadn't hurt that much, or perhaps the adrenaline had nulled it mostly, but he felt blood trickle down from his forehead. Looking towards the one who did it, looking to give a confused glare, he froze. Cherri looked to act, about to lean to check on Angel, but came under the same effect.

"Oh, my sincerest apologies! Are you alright?"

The smile Angel had seen from before had been wiped off, replaced with a slight frown, and those eyes had lowered in concern. Trapped, heart racing, and his injury forgotten for just a moment, he stared. The sun was right behind his head, his ears subtly gusted by wind that seemed to come by at the perfect moment. His hair flew to one side in the same direction. To be able to have the full attention of this dashing red demon...

WhyishesohotIthoughtIwasdonewiththisIthinkI'mgoingtopassoutwaitishepickingmeup--

"You're bleeding. We should get you to the infirmary..."

Feeling himself get dragged up, he was still unsure what was going on. Was this really happening? As they headed away from the building, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. Discomfort began to settle in again, but realizing these arms were wrapped around him tightly and his legs had been sweeped under him, he blushed hard.

"Al... lastor?"

"Yes, cher?"

Angel felt as if he'd faint. Looking behind him, he swore he could see Cherri flash a thumbs up, but he wasn't sure. Feeling rather dizzy, he looked back to Alastor, who still looked very concerned.

It was very cute.

"I feel tired. I think..."

Barely mustering that, he closed his eyes.