( there's been a double update today in case you missed it. )
❝Being alone is not synonymous with being lonely.❞
— Horikita Suzune, from Classroom of the Elite
After my encounter with Red, I roamed around the campus. I'd remembered how she had described the place to me in her diary and because of that, I wasn't bored as I walked around all alone. It didn't feel like I was alone, though, because I was lost in my thoughts for a long time before I realised that I'd be late for the get together thing.
When I reach back in the dorms, I enter the common room. The moment I opened the door, everyone except a few set their eyes on me. The room is almost full, with almost all the people sitting in different corners of the place.
"Hey Harley." Jude is the first one to greet me. Her voice is cheerful as usual. She's sitting between Tyreesha and Ciara - I recognise them since I had done a pretty good job at memorising names of people around me during the introductions in the homeroom.
"Hey," I say, my voice flat because I don't know why we're gathered here or whether I should be happy about it or not. I spot the only empty place in the corner and walk over there, sitting there right next to Elliot.
"Why am I next to you again?" He breathes.
"Shut up."
He spares me a glance. "You really like saying shut up, don't you?"
I choose to ignore his statement and lean back, folding my arms. I start to listen to everyone's conversations.
"Hey, by the way, Julian. Congratulations on being the representative," one of the girls, Maia, says excitedly. "You'd do a really great job."
"Yeah," Aaron agrees, though there's a hint of jealousy in voice since Julian is gathering a lot of attention from the girls. "Aw, man, I wish I was the leader, though. I'd get to talk to the Ana girl, then."
"Okay, hold up," Tyreesha laughs, "No. You actually have to score for that, Aaron. And by the way, you don't need to be a scorer to talk to a girl, remember?"
Hayette Fetcher, the blond who sat in front of me in the class, interrupts before Aaron could reply.
"Man, do you really think this guy over here has the courage to even approach a girl? I bet he can't even talk to a girl without getting flustered," she says, laughing.
Aaron's cheeks grow visibly red. "H-hey, that's not true! I'm talking to you guys right now."
Hayette and Tyreesha exchange looks while Jude tries not to laugh.
"I... see what you mean here," Aarav says quietly, smiling as he sits on the couch, recording the moment.
"Hey, what the fuck, man?" Aaron gets up. "Why are you recording me?! Stop it- There's nothing worth recording here!"
"Oh, really?" Aarav asks. "If that's the case, why're you bothered by it?"
"It's a violation of privacy," hisses the other guy.
"Are we seriously stuck with these morons for the next three years?" Elliot mutters as he watches the scene unfold.
Sighing, I hum in response. "Seems like it. Why don't you go join them?"
"Me? Join them? No, they're too noisy," he scoffs in disbelief. "They have a rowdy energy."
"Well, this is a rowdy bunch. You can't expect to make friends here if you're gonna be like that."
He looks at me. "What makes you assume I want to be friends with someone?"
I click my tongue. "You are here, aren't you? It's on your face. If you didn't want friends, you wouldn't be here in the first place. You could've simply said no."
"No, that's not the case. I'm here because I have nothing else to do," he tells me but his tone tells me that it's a lie. I throw him a look that clearly says 'are you sure you want to lie to me' and he sighs in frustration. "Okay. Fine. Maybe I don't want to live my high school life as the creepy invisible loner."
"There it is."
"Shut up."
I roll my eyes. "Now who's saying it?"
"There's a difference between trying to make friends and being noticed by people. I want people to think I'm not a creep who's just like, watching stuff happen."
"'Stuff'? Whoa, you are creepy."
"You're disgusting," he says, not like an insult but as if it's a fact. "You know what I mean here."
I nod once and turn to look back at my classmates who're laughing over something one of them said. It's weird how they've gotten along with each other this quickly, to be honest. If I was an outsider looking at them, I'd think that they've known each other their entire lives.
"Plus," Elliot adds, "You know how they go about cooperation and shit here, right? It's almost too annoying, You've to cooperate with your class. You have no option. And if you don't, you take your class down."
"Really?"
"Wait, you don't know about the score system yet? Where've you been living? Haven't you opened your school app even once?" he asks me in disbelief. I shake my head and he mutters something under his breath before taking out his phone. He leans towards me and opens the app with the familiar icon. It takes a while to load and when it does, Elliot scrolls a little.
"What exactly are you trying to show me?" I ask, bored.
"Listen. Okay. So, you see these rankings here? These are for the first years right now. See? You're at the top already." He closes the tab. "Now, there's the second year rankings. Someone named... Emma Cruz is at the top at the moment. Then there's one for the third years. Asher Hale, which I think is pretty obvious."
I lean back. This conversation seems the most boring one I've had in the past few days. "What's your point?"
"My point is," he closes the tab again and opens another one. A window with four sections pops up and I glance at his phone, suddenly surprised. "Four houses. I hope you know them. Calliope, Clio, Euterpe and Melpomene. And at the top of the house rankings is..."
"...Melpomene," I mutter.
He nods. "Right. And at the top of Melpomene is-"
"-Asher Hale." My voice is suddenly full with interest, which makes him smile and look at me. "Damn. I'd say I'm not surprised but that would be a lie."
"Yeah, well, that guy is a genius. I mean, as far as I've heard about him. The seniors are crazy about him for some reason."
"I can see that."
I notice that our house, Calliope, is the third. Above us is Clio and the last one is Euterpe.
"They try to create balanced classes when a new batch comes. Like, among the first years right now, we're almost the same. Calliope is at the top right now because of overachievers like you. But still, we're at the third place overall," he tells me.
I sit back again, sighing. With this, things just got a lot more interesting. I can do so much with just the ranking system, it's actually hilarious to me. "You're really invested in this, aren't you?"
He smiles. "I was just bored this evening. Club activities haven't started yet, so yeah."
"Liar." He chuckles. "Speaking of which, what club are you in, anyways?"
"Music. I play piano, actually."
I look at him. I didn't really expect him to be in the music program but now that I think of this, I can completely see him sitting in front of a piano and lost in his own world as he plays. I'm not saying I want to hear him play, though. "Cool."
He hums in response.
"Anyways," Aaron says, "Why did Harley reject the offer to be a rep? I'd be so invested in it if I was her."
Julian shrugs, pointing his head in my direction. "I don't know. Ask her."
And just like that, suddenly, all eyes are on me. I'm caught off guard with this shift of attention as the twenty people in the room rest their gazes on me with a questioning look. I shrug nonchalantly. "I don't know. I don't think I'll be able to lead someone."
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Julian asks me and I know he's been meaning to ask it for a while now.
"I don't know," I admit, "I just think you all will be better off without me interfering with whatever it is you guys want to do."
My answer seems to have confused the others even more and I sigh. There's no way in hell I'm going to elaborate when there's nothing much to say. I'm pretty confident that they're smart enough to make their way to the top without me. And I'm also pretty confident about the fact that if I were to get serious in everything related to competitions about classes, I'll get the first year Calliope to the top without thinking much.
However, the only area that I'm planning to contribute to is my individual strengths and grades. They will push the ranks up a bit. I'm not dumb enough to destroy everyone's drive that's fueled by competition. If that is to happen, it'll happen. Me trying to do things like that will only drag everyone down in an ugly way. The whole class will fall apart. Plus, knowing about this school a little from my sister's diary, I know my methods could put me under the radar of the board and eventually get me expelled.
"You're being confusing," Aarav admits. "But I don't care, honestly. Just don't be a bitch and be bossy around us all later with the excuse that you were the first choice and Julian wasn't."
I raise my eyebrows. Elliot stifles a giggle. Not because the sentence was supposed to have an effect on me, but because Aarav accidentally made everyone realise that Julian was still second to me in skills. He seems to have realised what he'd just pointed and immediately went on his phone, deciding to completely ignore the situation.
The atmosphere is suddenly suffocating. But it's a little satisfying to see this. It's really good to know that I'm the first choice and he's not. It must hurt him right now looking at his face and I savour this feeling for as long as I can.
Because he won't be feeling this way for long. No one will. At least, not after when I do what I'm here for.