These days Serenity has been feeling anxious. It started on the night that she introduced Jace to the guys. She was feeling rather restless, the past few days were peaceful, too peaceful if she may add. Even her roller coaster relationship with Jace was going smoothly for once.
Her relationship with Jace consisted of a mixture of a love-fight week. It meant that while they were alright today, tomorrow they would certainly have an argument which would go on the next day. It was a cycle and that was also a reason why Galene and Quincey hated him.
There was a time where they had an argument and it was right in front of so many people in the school.
It was partly why she agreed on transferring schools. She hated being the center of attention but she hated it more when her friends got into a fight because of her.
Serenity gave a side glance to Malkiel who was busy fiddling with his phone. These days Malkiel has become less awkward and more comfortable to chat with.
It was something that she found cute and endearing. She noticed that Malkiel was the type to never curse or cuss. He was the type of person who could be sweet and gentle with a girl.
She noted how the girl who would be his' be so lucky.
Malkiel felt another gaze in his way and suddenly felt icky. Ever since the day he met Quincey at the alley, he tried his best to get close to Serenity as per her instructions.
He vividly remembers that day as if it was just yesterday. He had asked Quincey about her plan but all she told her was that he needed to get close to Serenity within a week.
And so he had tried his very best to remain calm and composed whenever Serenity was near.
But he could still feel those butterflies eating his insides away whenever he felt her gaze.
He turned to look at her and was welcomed with a warm smile. Malkiel couldn't help but smile too. Serenity had an effect like that on him. Even on his worst days, one smile from her is all it takes to completely change his mood.
"What?"
Serenity shook her head and smiled widely.
"I just realized something"
Malkiel placed his phone on the table, a clear indication that he was willing to listen intently. Serenity noted this as another sweet action, something that Jace couldn't do when she was saying something.
"Care to share?"
"I just thought on how lucky your future girlfriend would be"
Malkiel immediately blushed at her comment. He coughed slightly and tried to avoid his gaze from her. Thoughts invaded his mind instantly.
Why would she say that? What happened? Would she like to be my girlfriend?
"Wha--- how can you say so?"
Serenity gave him a light shrug, before offering a sad smile.
"It's just the things that I never experienced with Jace, in terms of communication, I experienced with you"
"Like what?"
"Like turning off your phone to listen intently"
Malkiel couldn't tell if she was jesting or not but he couldn't help the feeling of wanting to take her out from that relationship more.
If it was him, Serenity would never smile so sadly. That was his only thought.
"It'll be okay Serenity"
Serenity chuckled slightly at his failed attempt to comfort her.
"I don't need it, you know, I'm already used to it. But you, you should remain sweet and gentle with your future girlfriend. Girls hate inconsistency you know"
"I'll take note on that"
Malkiel gave her a smile before the both of them turned to Galene and Quincey who were now entering the room. They were immediately followed by Drystan and Kenzo.
"Why are the four of you together?"
Malkiel asked.
"We're not together!!"
Both Galene and Drystan reddened the moment they realized that they shouted too loud at the same time.
"Don't they seem too defensive?"
Serenity silently whispered towards Malkiel, leaning in close to him. Malkiel gave him a curt nod before feeling the heat rise to his face the moment he realized that she was too close.
Serenity saw this and chuckled lightly when she saw Malkiel's ears turned bright red.
"We met these two arguing SILENTLY by the staircase"
Quincey smilingly pointed at Galene and Drystan. Malkiel instantly felt a shiver ran down his spine. It was rare for Quincey to smile and he knew that it meant something entirely different.
Just the fact that she put an emphasis on the word 'silently' meant it was a serious argument between the two. At least that was how Malkiel interpreted it.
"I won't talk about it"
Galene muttered before sitting in her chair, Drystan only sat on his seat without any word.
"Anyway, Serenity I have two extra amusement park tickets, do you want to have them?"
"Two?"
"Yea, for you and Jace."
Malkiel stared at Quincey, one eyebrow raising at her sudden ticket fiasco. In his head he had a lot of questions, why was Quincey offering them amusement park tickets like she was paying for their date when the plan was for Serenity to break up with Jace.
"Really? Wait, are you sure?"
"Yea now take them before I change my mind"
Serenity quickly took the tickets that Quincey was offering. She would never pass up on the opportunity to spend some quality time with Jace.
"Thank you!! But why do you have these tickets?"
Serenity gleefully said as she tucked the tickets in between the pages of her book.
"Well, it was actually Galene's and her ex-fling"
"Shut up Quincey, don't talk about it"
Both Serenity and Malkiel turned, eyes wide at Galene. Their stares made Galene feel like an accused who needed to explain her part.
Galene looked ahead at Drystan but saw that he had his eyes closed with his arms crossed in front of him.
"I've had enough of him and got bored so I ended it alright"
Serenity just chuckled at her statement, it was already typical for her to see Galene like this. Afterall, they had been friends for so long, she already got an idea on how her mind works.
If she was the type of person to love wholeheartedly, Galene was the type to never give her heart in whole. She always loves herself more than anyone else. It was the same with Quincey, only, she never really saw or knew if Quincey had already loved someone.
"Anyway you can have it Serenity, it's not like I could go on it alone"
"Thank you Galene"
Galene offered a short smile at Serenity who was smiling widely.
Malkiel only stared at Quincey, his eyes full of questions. He couldn't dare to stare at Serenity right now. Even if she looked so beautiful in his eyes, he just couldn't. Especially when the cause of that smile was the jerk Jace.
"What was that for"
Malkiel quickly stopped Quincey before she could even walk out of the room. He looked ahead and saw that Galene, Serenity and the guys stopped walking when they saw the two of them still inside the room.
Quincey only raised her hand as a wait sign before she closed the door of the room.
"You idiot, it's the plan, don't mess it up"
"I told you to tell me your plan so that I wouldn't be surprised. You idiot"
Quincey made a face before taking out another ticket from her bag. She dead-pan offered the ticket to Malkiel who in return only stared at the ticket.
"Take it dummy, Jace would be breaking up with Serenity on that day and you need to make sure that you are there when that happens"
Malkiel couldn't say or do anything. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"Did you just say that Jace would be breaking up with Serenity?"
Instead of answering him, Quincey only smiled lightly and opened the door before walking out.
"What was that about?"
Malkiel saw that Koa, Kenzo and Drystan walked back to his place while the three girls walked ahead of them.
He stared at the ticket in his hand before putting it inside his bag.
"Quincey really is scary"
"You only realized now?"
Koa and Kenzo laughed before patting him in the back urging him to continue walking. It may look like a joke for the others but Malkiel was serious when he said that. He was now really starting to be afraid of Quincey.
Saturday came, and although Malkiel knew that Serenity and Jace would be here, he couldn't help but be vigilant to his surroundings.
He didn't want Serenity to spot him as soon as he got inside the amusement park. That's why even though the sun was scorching hot outside he wore a jacket, a face mask and a black hat. It was the typical disguise that everyone saw him suspicious for.
Malkiel cautiously walked around the area, occasionally turning his head left and right and when he saw that it was now clear, he came out of his hiding space. Abruptly which made the two girls he encountered slightly scream.
"Omg, weirdo"
"Hey! you think we should report him to the police?"
Malkiel bowed his head as he understood that the words were meant for him. He pulled his hat lower to hide his face as embarrassment filled his expressions.
'What was he doing?' he thought to himself before letting out a sigh.
Was it really necessary for this? and did he really want to do this? He removed his jacket and tied it to his waistline while he propped up his sunglasses to his hat.
In an instant the wandering people took notice of him not because of how he looked this time but because he really was a feast in the eyes. While Malkiel may not be the most attractive man and his looks are lacking compared to Drystan and Koa, people can't seem to notice him because of the aura he expels unknowingly.
Malkiel decided to walk towards the ferris wheel, he thought if he wanted to at least have a glimpse of where Serenity was it would be the best way.
"Why don't you just accept it? Stop being pitiful"
Malkiel stood frozen in his place when he heard a loud voice. Amidst all the noise in the amusement park, the man's voice was loud, precise and harsh. He knew immediately who it was, he went through the forming crowd and saw Serenity and Jace standing face to face. Behind Jace, arms latched on his was a girl he didn't know, she had blonde hair and a smirk plastered on her face as she watched Serenity's expression, something Malkiel disliked instantly.
"You're lying aren't you? Why would you do that here? Let's talk about it privately Jace"
Serenity might seem calm to the people starting to form around them but as a matter of fact she was absolutely terrified and mortified. She does admit that earlier before they entered the amusement park he was cold and unresponsive to her. But she could never imagine that he would break up with her right at this moment.
"It's not a lie and I never even wanted to be here. It's just your selfish request that got us here today. If you didn't pull me here then we could have ended this privately"
Was it really her mistake? Serenity shook her head.
"Fine it's my fault, so can we please talk about this alone?"
Her gaze then moved to the girl latched beside Jace. She knew her. More than anyone, Serenity knew who she was. She was the girl she always gets jealous of, Hyacinth. Jace and Serenity fights before were mostly because of her, because Serenity gets jealous of her for being too close to Jace whereas Jace would always defend her saying how she was just a friend.
"There's nothing to talk about anymore Serenity, I'm ending this. I'm breaking up with you whether you like it or not"
"Did I do something wrong? Tell me what did I do so bad to make you do this"
She couldn't just accept it. She was sure that there was a reason, they were fine yesterday and then all of a sudden he was proposing a breakup? Was it because she forced her to go to the amusement park? If he really hated it then he would have opposed it with all his might.
"Oh my God Serenity why don't you just stop? You sound so desperate right now, It's not a good look on you"
Serenity threw glares at Hyacinth who had a wide grin plastered on her face as she inched closer to Jace as if they weren't close enough right now.
"She's right Serenity, you should stop now"
All gazes flew to the owner of the voice who was now walking towards her. She stared at Malkiel who had a cold expression plastered across his face. Her words instantly got caught in her throat as Malkiel moved closer to her.
He looked at her fear stricken face and immediately felt his anger rise up. He took off his hat and made Serenity wear it.
"Wha—"
"You should stop going after a cheater like him, he made his choice and he'll only break your heart more"
Serenity froze as she heard the coldness in Malkiel's voice but what made her heart ache more was the fact that Malkiel called Jace a cheater. Did he know? Did the others know about it as well?
"Cheater? Ha, I recognize you, you're the band member of that lousy band aren't you? Here to rescue the day it seems. Looks like Serenity called you here, so who's cheating who now?"
Malkiel hid Serenity behind his tall frame before staring at Jace right in the face. He finally understood what Quincey had in mind as a plan when he saw the forming crowd behind Jace. He guessed all those pictures and stalking was now paying off.
"Why don't you turn around? That way you'll see who's the real cheater"
Serenity peeked from Malkiel's side just in time for Jace to turn around to be faced by multiple women, all whose expressions were laced with anger.
"Broke up with Serenity already huh?"
"You said you were working today"
"You said Hyacinth was just a friend"
"We only celebrated our first month last week"
Serenity gaped at the countless women both young, old and of the same age as her who were starting to bombard Jace.
She flinched when all the girls started to run towards Hyacinth and Jace. Some were clawing and pulling Hyacinth's face and hair while most of them went to beat up Jace. Not a moment later, countless security were making their way to the commotion.
Before she could even utter another word, Serenity felt a warm hand grab hers. She looked up and saw Malkiel who was now smiling at her.
"Let's run away"