Drystan angrily walked towards their classroom, and everyone seeing him made way instinctively. He was fuming so early in the morning and it was just because of an argument he had with Galene over the phone. He wanted to meet her earlier so he could look over the schedule to make some changes but Galene refused saying it wasn't that urgent.
He let out a deep sigh and calmed himself down. It had been a few days since her conversation with Galene and she had changed since then. She was now more on edge around him and she always seemed like she had little to no motivation right now. When he asked her about this, she just shrugged him out without even arguing with him.
It was out of his whim to call Galene earlier but now he was the only one annoyed at what happened.
"Damn it, why do I care so much about it anyway"
He admitted that it wasn't like him at all but if Galene was to hinder their group then he wouldn't stand for it. He wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Drystan turned around the corner and was about to walk up the stairs when he heard voices.
"What do you think you're doing? Not answering any of my calls or texts? What? Because we had only been going out for weeks you think you can just ghost me?"
"Ghost you? We literally go to the same school. What are you fussing about anyway? I used to not call or text you for days before"
Drystan froze, he couldn't recognize the man's voice but she could recognize Galene's. He froze and thought about how Galene was in a relationship but he never knew. And he even mistook her for liking Malkiel when she was dating someone all along.
"We rarely even go out. Heck, do your friends even know that you have a boyfriend? Almost no one in our school knows?"
"I think you're mistaking yourself"
"What?"
Galene was annoyed at this point. She has so many things on her plate right now and then this man in front of her drags her near the stairs only to spout nonsense.
"I never said we were in a relationship. Going out and being in a relationship are two different things. Since I don't believe in courtship, I told you that we should go out to know more about each other"
Galene stared at the man in front of her, she couldn't even bother trying to remember his full name, all she knew was the nickname she had given him, something that would remind her of him. She became interested in him after he confessed to her and she found out that they both like books. She wanted to give him a chance but who would have thought that he would mistaken her intention?
"What did you just say?"
"Look El, let's just end this here, I'm not really in the mood for any of this and truthfully I don't find you interesting anymore"
"Hey, you bitch"
Drystan who was standing in the middle of the stairs held his breath as he listened to Galene and the man named El's conversation. He figured it would be awkward for them if he was to come out now so he wanted to just leave right there but then he heard Galene's pained voice.
"Let me go, What the hell"
Galene gritted her teeth as she stared at El who was now staring down at her, his hand holding both of her hands on top of her head, her back against the wall.
"You think you can just play with anyone like that? Just because I confessed to you?"
"If you didn't like that then you should've refused. I told you I didn't like you at first but I wanted to try. Was that so wrong?"
"That bitchy mouth needs to shut up"
Galene's eyes widened when he raised his other hand, ready to strike a hit to her face. She was panicking now, all the anxiety rising up to her body as she closed her eyes. But no hand landed on her, instead, she could feel someone remove El's hands from her.
She opened her eyes only to see Drystan standing in front of her.
This was going too far, Drystan thought as he glanced at Galene who was now trembling. He let out a sigh and faced the man that he just pushed back earlier.
"You... you're Drystan"
"Glad you knew"
Drystan held one of Galene's shoulders and hid her behind him. Galene who was now on the verge of having a panic attack leaned her head on Drystan's back and breathed slowly to calm herself down. Drystan could feel Galene's breath but he had no intention of saying anything towards her.
"Move, This is between me and her"
Drystan glared at El which the other man was surprised at. Drystan could already tell from the get-go what was happening and truthfully he didn't want to meddle. But the moment she heard Galene and saw how he was going to hit her, something snapped in him.
"You were about to hit her weren't you"
"So what? She deserves it"
"Whether or not she deserves it doesn't give you the right to raise your hand towards her"
Galene who was silently listening, widened her eyes. She couldn't believe that Drystan was standing up for her. He was also protecting her right now.
"What? I heard the two of you were in the same club, but don't tell me that that bitch is also playing around with you"
Drystan could feel his anger reaching its limit, someone was ridiculing him but what made him angrier was the fact that someone was looking at Galene like that. He was about to retaliate when he felt Galene grabbing the back of his shirt. He looked back only to see that Galene stopped trembling and was glaring at El.
"Don't get it wrong, Zael was protecting me as he is the club leader. And I'll be clear now, we're done so the next time you try to approach me, raise your hand on me or even try to dare talk to me. I swear you won't see daylight anymore"
Galene spoke in such a terrifying, quiet voice that it even made Drystan's blood grow cold. El who was only seeing this side of Galene for the first time stuttered.
"I– I was only trying to clear things up between us"
"Enough, whatever thing we had going is ending now. Leave"
El was about to say something to retaliate but stopped when he saw how the other passing students were throwing glances at them. They were making a scene and that was the last thing he wanted. He hated being humiliated the most, so after throwing one last glare at Galene, he left without another word.
Drystan stared at Galene who was now staring blankly at the floor. He scratched his cheek before putting both of his hands on his pockets. He leaned on the wall when Galene went near him and rested her head on the wall.
Galene's eyes were now shut close and Drystan stare at the new expression she had put in front of him. This was a first, he never knew Galene could look so peaceful like this.
"You okay?"
He unintentionally blurted out to which Galene quickly stared at him for. She raised an eyebrow at Drystan's unexpected question. She was starting to be thankful that he had intervened earlier but if he did it out of responsibility for the club then it was starting to get on her nerves.
"It's fine, if you think this'll affect club activities, it won't"
Drystan was taken aback, it was true that he did thought that if something were to happen to Galene it would surely affect their group. However, from the moment he stood up for her until now that he had asked her, the thought never crossed.
He was genuinely worried about Galene for the first time and he didn't realize it until Galene said so.
He covered his mouth as the realization hit him, he felt his cheeks warm up. Why was he worried for Galene? Did it mean something deeper? Or was it because he does think of her as a friend. Right, that was it, she is a friend. He thought to himself.
"I just thought I needed to ask because it looks like you're not yourself these past few days"
Galene raised an eyebrow at his intriguing comment, she didn't know that Drystan was keeping an eye on her this past few days. She felt like she was under surveillance and it just didn't sit right with her.
"I'm sorry if it looked like that to you but I feel like a broken record here now. Again, it won't affect the activities so enough worrying about it"
Drystan could feel another surge of anger rise up inside of him.
"Can you not misunderstand my intention? Why would you even think that I think it'll affect the activities?"
"Because that's all this is for you"
"What?"
"You care so much about your band that you want everything to be perfect so I'm just relaying your own message to you. I won't do anything that'll bring harm to it so stop butting in my own business"
Drystan who was too angry and dumbfounded could only stare at Galene. Galene didn't even raise her voice but he could feel her anger in every word she let go. He didn't understand why Galene would misunderstand his intentions and was about to ask when they both heard a voice coming from the stairs.
"What? Galene you went here early? You should've called me, I was bored the whole morning"
"Bored? Quincey I bet you just slept till an hour before you got here in school"
Galene and Drystan both turned around to see Quincey and Kenzo walking. Quincey immediately raised an eyebrow at the two when she saw the tension between them.
"Ahhh were the two of you arguing again? Tsk tsk tsk, my friend that's not good"
Kenzo threw an arm around Drystan's shoulders and urged him to walk, leaving only Quincey and Galene. Drystan couldn't do anything when Kenzo half dragged him, he probably thought that the two were fighting and wanted to alleviate the situation.
But Drystan found this to be annoying, he wanted to clear things up with Galene but now he missed his chance.
"What happened?"
Galene looked at Quincey who was now elbowing her, urging her for answers.
"I'll tell you after class, right now I'm just pissed off."
Quincey shrugged and decided to drop the topic off. She had been friends with Galene since kindergarten and she knew that Galene was not someone who was easy to get seriously angry.
"Sure, by the way you got the tickets?"
Galene nodded at Quincey and just directed her attention to their new topic.
"You sure about this plan?"
"Yea, I got one for Malkiel too"
Galene shook her head at the thought of Malkiel going along with their plan to eventually ruin Serenity and Jace's toxic relationship.
"Still can't believe you got him on this plan"
"Well, he is in love with Serenity. Of course he would do anything to ensure she's happy"
"And I can't believe just how much of an idiot Serenity is"
"Hey, right now are you badmouthing our best friend?"
Galene laughed at Quincey's question.
"It's not badmouthing if she knows it herself"
Quincey laughed along and somehow she knew that Galene's mood had lighten up a bit. They stopped walking when Drystan and Kenzo stopped just right in front of their classroom.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Well, ladies first"
Quincey just scowled at Kenzo and dragged Galene inside. Galene threw a glance at Drystan who was noticeably avoiding her gaze. Well, she had already expected this outcome since they were basically arguing before Quincey and Kenzo came.
"Why are the four of you together?"
Malkiel asked the moment he saw the four of them enter the classroom. Galene immediately felt repulsed by the fact that someone might have seen the commotion that happened earlier.
"We're not together!!"
Both Galene and Drystan reddened the moment they realized that they shouted too loud at the same time. They glanced at each other only to look the other way after a second.
We met these two arguing SILENTLY by the staircase"
Quincey smilingly pointed at Galene and Drystan to which the two flinched. It would certainly look like something was happening between the two of them with how she emphasized the word silently.
"I won't talk about it"
Galene muttered before sitting in her chair, Drystan only sat on his seat without any word. Galene was certainly grumbling but then decided to steer the conversation away.
"Anyway, Serenity I have two extra amusement park tickets, do you want to have them?"
Serenity instantly turned around in Quincey's direction her eyes gleaming.
"Two?"
"Yea, for you and 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. And somehow Quincey and Galene knew this, she was always finding some ways to spend time with the jerk.
"Thank you!! But why do you have these tickets?"
Serenity gleefully said as she tucked the tickets in between the pages of her book. Quincey grinned as she pointed at Galene.
"Well, it was actually Galene's and her ex-fling"
Drystan flinched at the mention of Galene's ex-fling. He was pondering if it was the same guy she was arguing earlier. Questions instantly invaded his mind, were they planning on going to that amusement park? Was she really serious when she said that it was nothing serious between them?
"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.
She shouldn't care but it would be awkward to even tell everything to them at this moment, especially not when Drystan saw her earlier.
"I've had enough of him and got bored so I ended it alright"
Somehow hearing Galene explain it shortly made Drystan relieved, even if he was closing his eyes, he could still hear them talking. Turns out he didn't need to question what happened earlier, Galene had enough of him, it was the same thing she had told El.
There were no inconsistencies in her words and yet why was he so relieved to know that?
Drystan opened his eyes only to steal a quick glance at Galene.
He couldn't erase it.
The image of Galene trembling behind him, her demeanor the moment she leaned her head on that wall. Today, he saw a different side of Galene that he never really saw before.
It wasn't refreshing, to say the least, rather, he felt conflicted when he felt Galene tremble out of fear.
It made him angry just remembering it.
And he just couldn't explain why.