"I'm Lucien Hart..." His deep voice brought Keiran to raise a glance at the transferee.
Strangely, Keiran couldn't take his glance off to the new kid. His piercing, steely look made him feel like he had been instantly frozen.
"Why does it feel like I've already seen those eyes?" The boy thought.
When Lucien noticed Keiran glancing at him, Keiran hurriedly averted his gaze. Keiran noticed an unexpectedly unusual aura surrounding the newcomer.
"I think he's still shy, but don't worry. I'm sure all of you can be friends soon." The teacher awkwardly uttered when Lucien didn't say anything apart from his name.
"So, you can take that vacant chair beside Keiran." Keiran remained seated upright as he observed the transferee approaching the empty seat next to him.
"Oh, and by the way Keiran. Can you take Lucien on a campus tour during the break?" Keiran's eyes widened in bewilderment. He's been stressing about saving their club, and now their adviser wants him to take this mysterious-looking guy around the school.
"Is it alright with you Keiran? "
"Ah, yes ma'am." He answered.
"Alright, so now let's begin our new discussion for today. Get your textbook and turn it to page... "
Following the teacher's instructions, everyone took their books and turned them to the relevant page while paying close attention to the discussion.
Despite appearing to be looking at his book, Keiran's mind was nowhere to be seen. He's too focused on the assignment the teacher gave him earlier. He discreetly turned to Lucien and saw the details that had before escaped his attention.
The young man was so preoccupied with the newbie that he failed to see that Lucien was already glancing his way.
"What?" He coldly asked which made Keiran come back to reality.
Keiran didn't trace even a pinch of expression in his eyes.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stare." The boy apologized and awkwardly went back to the textbook.
Damn it Ran, how could you get yourself busted?
He frustratingly mumbled to himself before slightly leaning towards Krist who was sitting in front of him.
"Psst! Krist." He minimized his voice to avoid disturbance in the class.
"What is it?" Krist replied.
"Can you come with us later? I don't think I can act normal with him." He asked.
"Oh sorry pal, but I need to be at the library to research for our report tomorrow. Why don't you ask Rytz instead?"
"Eh? Okay fine, I'll just ask her later." Keiran sighed.
"So, Keiran. What is saltwater intrusion?" He suddenly froze when the teacher called his name.
"Oh boy, I didn't catch up with the discussion." He said to himself with utter dismay.
"Great! Keiran, now all eyes are on you. You did great!"
Keiran awkwardly stood up and looked around.
"Excuse me, ma'am, can you please repeat the question?" Damn, his knees are trembling.
"Explain what saltwater intrusion is. That's the question, Keiran." The teacher repeated the question.
"Uhm... Saltwater intrusion..."
"Saltwater intrusion refers to the intrusion of seawater to any other forms of water, specifically freshwaters like wells." Everyone was stunned when Lucien suddenly stood up and answered the question instead of Keiran.
"Very good, Lucien. I hope everyone heard that. You can now take your seats. Again, saltwater intrusion... " The teacher resumed the discussion.
"Phew, thanks for saving me." He whispered to his seatmate.
"Why don't you just listen attentively instead of looking at me?" It was a whisper but enough for Keiran to hear.
Keiran's brows crossed and looked at him with a confused expression.
"W-What?" Keiran uttered in disbelief, but he was totally ignored by the other party.
Keiran just breathed deeply to calm himself before drifting his attention to the discussion.
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"Ugh, I can't believe Ms. Cruz tasked me to be that newbie's student buddy for nearly a month," Keiran whined as soon as he entered their club room and seated on one of the chairs at the meeting table.
"Come on, you're his seatmate, so you automatically became his student buddy, right?" Krist chuckled.
"He's right, besides, it's not like you'll be together forever, right? Unless you have a change of mind and become friends with him." Rytz giggled.
"Be FRIENDS? with HIM? That's impossible, it's obvious he doesn't want anyone near him. It feels like he was a predator preparing to eat its prey anytime, tsk! " Keiran whined like a child.
"He even told me I was nosy." He resumed.
"He just told you to listen to the discussion and stop staring at him. Which means you staring at him was making him uncomfortable." Krist corrected.
"Wait, are you taking his side?" Keiran looked pissed.
"Hahaha. Of course not, just telling the truth." Krist chuckled at his friend who was pouting.
"By the way, didn't you take him on a campus tour during the break?" Rytz suddenly asked.
"Yeah, thanks to both of you I went with him ALONE, tsk!" Keiran rolled his eyes.
"Oh, something came up earlier so I wasn't able to come with you. So, how was it?" She asked with eyes filled with anticipation.
"It was so great that I could barely utter a single word with him." He intended to put a sarcastic tone in his voice.
"I ended up looking stupid babbling about the places we stopped or passed by, but I didn't get any response from him aside from him just simply staring at me." He ranted.
"Besides, I can't help but be intimidated by his cold gazes and expressionless face. It feels like he's going to devour me anytime." He continued.
"Come on, he might look unsociable and scary but I believe he's a good guy." The girl commented.
"Yeah, and besides didn't he just transfer? So, it means he hasn't joined any clubs yet."
Rytz snapped her fingers and looked at Krist with excitement.
"You're right! Keiran, why don't you invite him to join our club? By that, we could finally save it right?"
Keiran looked at them with crumpled brows.
"You sure about this?" If it's for the club, he'll probably do anything just to save it.
"Why not? He's your student buddy, and take note, he's also your seatmate so you are probably the one who's closer to him. So why not convince him to join us rather than beating ourselves and handing out flyers to others who aren't even interested, right?"
"I'm with her." Krist agreed.
For a while, the boy was silent and spaced out. Then, they heard him sigh.
"Ok fine, I'll convince him, BUT, both of you should also help me."
"Sure!"
________________________
After class, Daemond silently stood up and was about to leave when someone suddenly held his hand and stopped him.
"Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to startle you." Keiran immediately released his wrist as if he was burnt when Lucien's cold piercing eyes turned to him.
"What do you want?" He said in a firm emotionless tone.
Keiran gulped and took a deep breath
"Uhm, I just want to inform you that everyone needs to join a school club for extracurricular involvement. Since you just transferred here, would you mind joining our club?" He smiled awkwardly to hide his agitation.
"No" Lucien replied and walked away.
"But--Hey!--" Keiran tried to stop him again, but the young man already left the classroom before he could utter a word. Keiran didn't have a choice but to sigh in dismay. That was one straight response he got.
"Just so you wait, Luci-- Luca-- ugh! whatever name it is. I will do everything to make you join the club, tsk!" Keiran uttered while glaring at the door.