"Raen?" Mum called for my attention. I 'hm?'ed.
"Do you want your hair cut again, I'm done with your brother's now." she said, and I shook my head, not taking my eyes off the screen but smiling gratefully.
"No thanks mum, it's still short enough." I said, and there was a few beats of silence before she came into my room and brought a lock of hair to the front of my face. I blinked. My hair isn't that long, when...? She sighed when I looked up at her, confused. I even allowed myself to be beaten this time.
"It's been three months since I cut it last." she said, and I blinked up at her owlishly before shaking my head.
"No, mum. That was like three days ago." I argued weakly, still staring at the lock of hair that was supposed to not be there. She raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged helplessly.
"I didn't know my hair grew that fast." I said, forcing her to roll her eyes.
"Raen. Come on, time for a cut." she said. I grinned, nodding and letting her drag me out of my chair and into the bathroom, where Carter was washing his hair, head stuck under the faucet. She sat me in front of the full body mirror and put a towel around my neck.
"Anything specific?" she asked. I shook my head, looking down into my lap when I held the gameboy I grabbed before she pulled me out my room.
"The usual almost-boy cut. Leave my fringe though, it looks cool." I said. She 'yessir'ed distractedly as she combed through it.
When she was done, I looked up to see someone I recognized.
"Oh, so that's what I thought was different when I looked into the mirror last night."
--TIMESKIP--
"Shut up, it's just a few blocks away. I could walk there." Carter said, and I glared holes into his head.
"Yes. You can walk there." I said, and he huffed out a sigh.
"Raen. This for the Championships. Is going outside really going to stop you from joining a team?" he asked. I fidgeted in my seat before groaning in frustrated defeat.
"Fine!" I growled out, crossing my arms and looking pointedly out the passenger window. "Just for the Championships." I grumbled. He nodded, a smug grin settling over his lips, making me frown even more.
The car stopped, and he turned it off.
"We're here." he said, and I fidgeted under the stares we were getting as I undid my seatbelt. I guess Carter was really popular, to have so many people looking for his car.
"How many people do you even know?" I asked, somehow annoyed, and he laughed as he came around to my side to help me get out of the car. I gave him a look as he held his hand out and got out myself, slamming the door shut and taking slight comfort when he winced at the harsh sound.
"Lots. But they're not staring at me. They've never seen me drive anyone here before, and they haven't seen you before. You're the centre of attention right now." he jeered. I looked around with wide eyes, and felt my heart rate go up.
"Carter, I-" he shushed me gently, taking my hand and rubbing soothing circles into the back of it.
"It takes some getting used to, but don't let them get to you." he reassured me. I nodded in response, not trusting my voice to work under the intensity of all the looks I was getting.
"I'll take you to Matt's class, he should be finishing up about now. Go with him to the tech room, kay? I've got to go to class as soon as I leave you with him." he explained. I nodded, taking a deep breath when I heard a bell ring.
Students fled classrooms like they were personally offended by them and disappeared into other rooms just as quickly. I looked up at the sign over the room we were currently standing in front of. It said 'AP Biology' on a laminated sign stuck to the open door by thumb tacks. When almost all the students had piled out of the room, Carter held out a hand to one guy.
"Matt!" he greeted, and the guy's face broke out into a huge grin. This guy... did not look like how I expected him to look. His silence while playing on our ex-team made me think he was a loner, reserved and quiet, but whoa, nope. He had silver hair, first of all; a grin that made everything seem ridiculous; and seemed to be quite popular, judging by the people who greeted him as they left. And he had tattoos, for God's sake.
"Carter!" he said, doing the one armed hug that most guys do.
"Hey, so I gotta run. AP Chem. Take Raen to the tech room without any detours. I do not need her getting lost." Carter said, a dangerous aura surrounding him. Matt seemed to get smaller in comparison, until he nodded meekly. Carter's evil vibe vanished, and Matt looked down at me.
"Raen, huh? Nice to finally meet you, then." he said. I nodded shortly, shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot, shouldering my laptop bag's strap nervously. He grinned.
"Come on, don't be shy! We know everything about each other, you're like my best friend now, gurl!" he said, putting on a heavy valley girl accent. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Hi, Matt." I said, looking up at him. My hood slid off slightly, and he smiled.
"Good, I can see you now. Whoa, your hair's really short. I pegged you as someone one wouldn't have time to cut it." he said, and I shrugged.
"It gets in the way of stuff. Last time I didn't cut it I ended up spitting it out of my mouth while trying to communicate with the rest of my ex-team." I said, and he cracked up as we went down the hallway, people giving us odd looks again. I pulled my hood down a little more, not oblivious in the least to the disgusted and judging stares I received from the onlookers, from girls and boys, respectively. Matt threw an arm casually around my shoulder.
"Don't pay them any mind. They want you to feel inferior." he said quietly. I looked up at him with slightly wide eyes and nodded, muttering a quiet 'thanks'. he merely hummed in response, taking me down several hallways and through a bunch of doors, going so far as to even walk into an ongoing class, wave to the teacher, and leave through the door on the other side of the room. I hid from everything and everyone.
Someone stuck their foot out to trip me. I stumbled, losing my footing, but caught myself on someone else's desk. If I fell, I would have hurt my laptop. With the thought in mind, I death glared the girl into popping her bubble gum and looking to the floor submissively. It made me think of the times I was underestimated and shoved my victories into my ex-teams' faces. So I said what I usually said when they acknowledged me, finally.
"Good boy."
There was silence as Matt walked me through the rest of the room, everyone keeping their feet to themselves. When we got out, Matt was squealing like a kid.
"Oh my God, that was so cool!" he said, and I raised an eyebrow.
"What was so cool?" I asked, confused. He gasped dramatically.
"You! You were awesome!" he said, and I 'oh'ed faintly.
"She tried to trip me," I began, and he nodded, expression changing to a dangerous one as he looked back at the door.
"I know. I'll make sure it won't happen again." he said, and I shook my head.
"It's okay. I just got mad that she could have made me fall and damage my laptop. Then I couldn't play League anymore." I said, and he stared at me for a few seconds before moving slowly over to a wall and banging his head against it. He came back over to me, forehead red and possibly bleeding.
"Okay, I'm done. Tech room's not far from here." he said, and I 'oh, okay'ed.
"Hasn't class started?" I asked. He nodded.
"It has." he said, sending a cocky smirk to a girl on her way to her class, making her trip suddenly, almost falling. He chuckled lightly.
"Why aren't we going faster so you don't miss class?" I ignored the smug expression he wore.
"I'm not usually early for that class anyway. When I'm actually there, of course." he shrugged. I was a little confused, but shrugged it off. Not my business.
We came to a room that was labeled 'Tech Room 4' in the same fashion as the AP Biology room. The door was closed, So Matt reached out to the handle. I grasped his wrist, looking up through the glass pane at the.thing hovering above it. I pulled him a few steps back before opening the door. It swung open with us still outside.
Where anyone entering the room would have been, now lay an empty bucket. Around it was water, gradually being soaked up by the wood.
Silence~
"Damn it." someone said. I peeked inside as Matt rushed into the room. There was a teacher at the window, tending to a plant. The students were looking at Matt and I with wide eyes. Noticing something, I reached out to stop Matt again, having looked around for any more assassination attempts. I grasped his shirt collar, stretching quite a bit, and -again- pulled him back. He had already tripped the wire though, so -AGAIN- something fell where he was supposed to have been. A sack of flour. White dust rose, coated my jeans and the hem of my black hoodie and I twitched. This hoodie had Jungkook's name on it.
"Fucking hell, stop doing that!" the guy at the back - a red head- whined. I sent him an unamused look, rolling my eyes as I looked from where we were to where he was. Matt would take the shortest route, but that most likely wouldn't be the safest path. So I tugged on his sleeve, ignored his gaping mouth and led him around all the chairs and then to the back, where he was off once I let his sleeve go. In a second, he was on that other guy and fake strangling him. They were stopped by another guy, who wore a mask over his mouth.
"Matthew." the guy said, making Matt look up with curious eyes.
"Who is this?" he asked, gesturing to me politely and pulling his mask down slightly to offer me a friendly smile. I returned it unsurely.
"Oh!" Matt said suddenly, letting go of the guy's neck. His head fell back against the wood and he made a sound of pain. I winced.
"This is Raen." he said, and the two of them were quiet until the teacher cleared his throat.
"If this is League business, you'll distract everyone else. Go to tech room 3" he said. Matt nodded, gesturing for me to go along with it. Before we left, I apologized to the teacher for taking up his time. He told me it wasn't any different than any other day.
"So what's in Tech Room 3?" I asked. Matt shrugged.
"Only our totally super secret base!" he exclaimed, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Right. Totally secret," the one with the mask said, and I laughed.
"I'm Kevin. Don't listen to a thing he says. It's all in his head, so I advise you just hit him when he does or says dumb things." Kevin said, and I nodded, jokingly promising to write it down. He ruffled my hair and agreed with an amused voice. Once at a door labeled 'Tech Room 3' Matt swung it open and sung a 'good morning' in a high pitched voice. Someone groaned.
"Somebody shut it up." the voice said, sounding groggy.
"Seconded." Kevin
"Thirded." Red head.
"Fourthed. I'm Eli, nice to have you here." said a new voice. A guy with glasses came into view, holding a desktop monitor in his hands. I nodded in greeting.
"I'll do it if you don't stop being so weird." I mumbled. Everyone was quiet, until Matt giggled. I stepped on his toe.
"Shh. I can see why they want you to be quiet." The guy was everywhere. Literally all over the place with his actions.
"...I'm sulking." Matt said, pouting and staring at a gradually darkening corner.
"Wow. Nice going, you've actually managed to make it quiet." the red head said, and I shrugged.
"He can be quiet when he wants." I said, referring to Matt when he was playing League. I'd never have guessed he was the same person.
"Whoa, nope." Matt was suddenly recovered from the damage dealt and was next to me in an instant.
"We are not here to start a rebellion against Matthew. We're here so you can all test Raen's skills." he said, and Eli looked up immediately. A dark haired guy with something akin to fangs came out yawning.
"You're Raen? I thought you were a girl. You look like a guy. I'm Mark, by the way." the sleepy one said. I shrugged.
"I do tend to have that effect on some people, but I am female. I guess you're the team Matt was talking about?" I asked, and the red head nodded.
"Yep! We're Shadow Hunters!" he said, posing ridiculously. I blinked.
"I'll take my chances at the Championships next year." I said, turning on my heel. Mark burst out laughing and Matt was rolling the floor.
"Whoa, no, wait!" the redhead pouted. I gave him a blank stare.
"Are we really called Shadow Hunters?" I asked. Eli shook his head, a smirk playing on his lips.
"No, Raen. We don't have a team name yet." he said, and I released a breath.
"Thank God." I mumbled. I then blinked. Wait a minute.
"Hold up. Shadow Hunters?" the redhead nodded. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Malec or Clace?" I asked, and he answered without any hesitation.
"Malec." I smirked, the first semblance of a smile I'd given during my time at the school.
"Be my Parabatai." I said, holding my hand out. He took it with an equally as overjoyed yet serious face.
"I will be your Parabatai."
We stood there for a few silent seconds before releasing each other's hands. I nodded in satisfaction.
"Okay, we're done now. Should I set up my stuff?" I asked. Matt looked from me to the red head and back again.
"I don't like this sudden relationship-ing. But yeah, get settled and we'll have a team battle." he said. I took out my laptop from it's bag and opened it up, powering it on.
"Reltionship-ing?" I repeated, and he nodded. The red head shrugged.
"What would our ship name be?" he asked. I blinked.
"Dunno. What's your name?" I asked, and he snickered.
"Alec." he said, and my jaw dropped.
"No. Way." I said, and he nodded.
"Like... Alexander?" I. WAS. SO. HOPEFUL.
"Alexander Forrest." he said, eyes twinkling with mirth. I was openly gaping at him now.
"Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. By the Angel, holy Shisus Krist. I need Jisoos right now. Oh my hearteu, this infires me. Alexander Lightwood. Alexander Forrest. Sugar honey iced tea." I rambled, and everyone's jaws were on the floor by the time I was done.
"You're a KPop fan?" Mark and Matt asked.
"You watch anime?" Eli and Kevin asked.
Both questions were ignored.
I was just vibrating out of my skin.
"I'm Raen. You're Forrest." I said, and Alec's eyes widened.
"RaenForrest. Rainforest." We said at the same time, gesturing to each other, before breaking out into giggles.
"Okay! Now that everyone is happy and are apparently shipping themselves!" Matt's voice made us stop. He sent a look in Alec's direction, then one in mine. I grinned sheepishly, as did Alec.
"Your computer's on. Nice background, by the way." Matt teased. I ignored him, looking away as I clicked on the League icon, effectively covering up the picture of me hugging a giant panda toy. It connected fairly quickly, and I was surprised but didn't say anything in fear of it hearing and going slow.
Shut up, it has happened. I say 'wow, it's going really fast this time' and BAM! It stops.
Grr.
"Ready?" I asked, unhooking my headphones -not the cat eared ones, those were for when I was at home or at special occasions- from around my neck and putting them over my ears. I heard Alec's voice as he gave me a thumbs up from his side of the table, in front of his own computer. Everyone else was at their own laptop or computer too.
"All ready to go, captain." he said, and I saluted as I accepted the group thingy.
"Whoa, you're playing as Ahri?" Kevin asked, and I nodded.
"Yup." was my only answer.
We began, and I cussed.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked.
"I haven't logged out of the level three account." I said, and he 'oh'ed.
"We can start over." he said, but I shook my head.
"Nah, it's fine. What level are our opponents?" I asked.
"I'm fighting one that's level nineteen." Mark said, not so sleepy anymore. I 'hmm'ed.
"Level three will do." I said, mostly to myself. I didn't see Matt smirk.
"Don't hold anything back like you did when you messed up the team." he warned. I felt myself become Ahri as I launched fox fire at the enemy.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Matt." I said, and he 'tsk'ed.
"We're supposed to be testing your abilities, Raen." he said, and I laughed as I killed an enemy player.
"If you insist. Whoever's playing as Annie, get out the way." Almost immediately, Annie's character on my screen moved away with such speed I was impressed.
I smirked.
"Good boy." I was aware of the purr I tended to get in my voice when I was about to win, and didn't try to hide it. These guys were my future team. They'd know it eventually.
Twelve minutes later, six enemies had been slain by Ahri, and I grinned as I took my headphones off.
"So. I took a little longer because the level three skills are significantly weakened compared to the other account, but one down every two minutes is good enough, right?" I asked. I didn't get an answer until Matt looked at me with wide eyes.
"Raen..." he said, trailing off. Eli blinked at me. Slowly the others took off their head gear.
"We've never finished a battle that quick, holy shi- dude!" Alec jumped up suddenly, only to get hit by Mark.
"O-Oh. I- um." I was'nt sure what to say or do. I didn't take compliments very well.
"You were awesome, Raen." Matt said, and I smiled awkwardly.
"Thanks." I replied, and Eli came over to me. He put a hand on my shoulder.
"Raen, you're probably more advanced than us. With this in mind, do you still want to be on our team in the Championships?" he asked. I blinked at him as everyone was quiet. Then I broke out into a grin.
"Hmmm~ Depends. One on one. Come on; I'll test your skills this time."
______________________________________________________
I've gotta admit, this is actually kinda fun x3
So,
Tell me watcha think?
:3
~Anna
FAN
VOTE
COMMENT