Caroline sat in the spot she had at the first meeting, patiently waiting for the other students and Andy. She had her unfinished painting from the previous class in her hands; she brought it due to the instructions to in the email Andy had sent out to all the members. She thought about the way Andy had approached her that morning in the café; he was.. different. Sweeter, more light in his eyes. She just couldn't shake the thought of it. He was such a peculiar character.
Andy stepped into the classroom before the rest of the students, unlike the last course.
"Good evening, Caroline!" He said cheerfully.
"Hello, Andy," she replied quietly.
"I'm so happy you showed! Well, what do you say? Would you like to help me with this lesson?" Andy asked.
"Uh, well, what would I be teaching?" She asked curiously.
"Simple, the best way to complete an unfinished masterpiece when you've run out of acrylics! We're switching over to oils today," Andy said with a smile.
"O-Oh, well, sure! I think I could help, maybe," she said.
"Splendid," Andy said, the rest of the students entering the classroom and finding their seats. He waited for them all to sit and get settled before looking at Caroline.
"Are you ready?" He whispered. She nodded shyly and he reached out for her hand, and she took it. He helped her out of her seat. She stood up in front of the rest of the class.
"Alright everyone, this is Ms. Caroline. She will be helping me teach our lesson today," Andy said, introducing her. She waved shyly and looked to Andy for direction. Once he helped her start the lesson, she just explained what she knew, and she was a natural.
Andy walked around the room, occasionally glancing up at his help at the front of the room, smiling at her. Every once in a while, she'd catch him looking, and she'd shyly look away with a small grin. She found it a little hard to focus on the lesson. What was up with him?
It was like he was a whole new person. He seemed chipper, he had new little sparkles in his eyes. He seemed a little more shy yet still bold all the same. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was it just that he was a newly single man? Was it just that he was trying to distract himself from Darien? Whatever the reason, she wasn't really going to complain.
Suddenly, two men in police uniforms entered the classroom.
"Andy Blackwater?" One of them asked. Caroline paused and stared.
"Yes, that's me. What's the problem, gentleman?" Andy asked.
"We've received a few reports about you," the second one said. "We have reason to believe you've assaulted another student."
Caroline's eyes went wide in shock. She covered her mouth. The other students just watched.
"Me? Assault? I think you guys have the wrong man," Andy said.
"We're going to have to take you in for questioning," the first cop said. The second one cuffed Andy and began the arrest, reading his Miranda Rights. Andy gave a sad look to Caroline before being escorted out of the classroom. The rest of the students looked to Caroline for instruction.
"Uh, well, I think it might be best if we cut the class short tonight, wouldn't you all agree?" She asked them. She received a few nods and they packed up their things. She decided to sit down on the desk and call Seth before she left herself. It rang for a few moments before she heard someone pick up.
"Hello? Caroline?" Seth asked.
"Um, hello Seth," she said.
"What's going on? Where are you?"
"Well, I went to Andy's night class again. I didn't want to tell you because I know you don't like him," she explained.
"You're right, I certainly don't. Especially not after today."
"What happened today? Andy was just arrested by two policemen. They said something about assault," Caroline said.
"Yeah, he nearly raped Darien this morning. They've been looking for him all day," Seth said. Caroline just sat there in shock, not muttering a word. She just couldn't believe it. Tears filled her eyes.
"Caroline?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Is Darien?"
"He'll be just fine. He's very shaken up but I think he'll be alright."
"Good. I'm coming home now."
"I'll see you then, Love."
He hung up. Caroline just sat there for a few more moments, thinking, denying, growing angry and sad and confused. She stood up and collected her things, making her way back home to her favorite boys.
***
Andy sat in a little room, waiting to get questioned and inevitably charged. He sighed and rubbed his temples, knowing he fucked up, and he fucked up bad. Still, he sat back in his chair and waited to get what was coming to him. He suddenly felt very sick to his stomach and his lungs felt like they might be getting squeezed. What had he done?
He thought about Darien. His beautiful brown locks, his eyes like honey in the sun. He remembered meeting him for the first time in the café, hearing his kind voice and wondering just how he could make the boy his, and then he did, and they slowly faded and drifted. He grew abusive, he saw that now. He could no longer blame Darien for seeking out another man. The sweet face of his ex boyfriend turned to fear as he was trapped under him just hours ago. He felt like filth.
A woman entered the room, greeting Andy and sat down across the table from him, placing an envelope down in front of her. Andy wondered what was inside, glancing at it before looking at the lady's face. She was older than him, but still young. She had blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and hazel eyes. She seemed nice enough.
"Am I going to jail?" Andy asked her.
"That depends on the information you give me, Mr. Blackwater," she replied.
"What information? That I assaulted Darien?" Andy asked.
"Is that a confession, sir?" She asked.
"If you want it to be," Andy said, nonchalantly. "You and I both know I hit him."
"Did you leave him bound to your bed when you fled the scene?"
"Yes, I panicked."
"Did you or did you not force a kiss, or multiple, on your victim as well?"
"Yes, I did," Andy said.
"Well," she began. "You've made my job a lot easier."
She pulled out a picture of Darien's face, a big bruise on his cheek with a marking in it.
"One last thing, can you confirm that this marking came from that ring on your finger, Mr. Blackwater?"
Andy took the ring off his finger and passed it to her, allowing her to examine and compare it for a moment. She nodded and passed it back, writing a few things down on a sheet of paper.
"I appreciate your cooperation," she finally said.
"I have no reason to lie. I did what I did and I shouldn't have," he said.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," the lady said, stood up from her seat and exited the room. Andy closed his eyes and let the silence surround him.
***
Caroline finally made it back to her dorm room, where she found Darien and Seth attempting to lighten the day's mood by playing video games. She closed the door behind her, shyly smiling at the two boys. Darien seemed completely heart broken while Seth had become incredibly protective.
"Hi, guys," She said as she went over to her bed and sat down.
"Hi, Caroline," Darien said quietly.
"How ya feelin, hun?" She asked sadly.
"I'm doing much better than I had been this morning," Darien said and smiled at her. She smiled back.
"I'm glad to hear that," she said.
"I'm still furious about it," Seth said. "I might go take a walk if you can stay with Darien, Caroline."
"It's okay Seth, I'd be fine on my own," Darien frowned. Seth sighed and nodded.
"I know, I know, I'm just so worried about you," he said.
"It's okay, Seth! I'll be here with him unless he decides to go out," Caroline said sweetly.
"And I don't plan on going out! I'll be fine," Darien said.
"Alright," Seth said, crawling out of bed. He leaned over and pressed a big, long kiss to Darien's cheek before grabbing one of his back packs.
"I'll see you guys later," Seth said, walked out the door and shut it behind him.
"So," Darien said. "You're friends with Andy?"
"I wouldn't say friends, I did enjoy his night class, that's all. He invited me to help teach the most recent one," she said. "If if bothers you, I'd be more than happy to lose all contact with him."
"No! Don't do that, I don't want to control who you talk to. I promise it's okay," Darien said, smiling sweetly.
"He just seemed different today, so different I almost couldn't believe what Seth was telling me about you," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"He approached me in the café while I was doing some school work there," she said. "He was so... innocent, sweet, it was as if he was a whole new person. He was incredibly charming and I couldn't help but become more curious about him."
"That's exactly how he was when I first met him," Darien said. "I wonder what's wrong with him?"
"Maybe he has some kind of disorder," Caroline suggested.
"That's a possibility, but wouldn't I have seen it by now? I mean, we were together for quite a bit," Darien said.
"True, you're right," Caroline said, thinking hard. Darien went back to playing his game. Caroline's phone buzzed.
1 New Message
To: Caroline
From: ???
1:37 pm: Hello, is this Caroline? It's Andy.
Caroline looked up at Darien, wondering whether or not to tell him that Andy had texted her.
To: Andy
From: Caroline
9:47 pm: Yes, this is Caroline. How did you get my number? What happened to you?
To: Caroline
From: Andy
9:48 pm: I had your number in my records for my class, remember? I just got out of the station. No jail time, but I'm receiving a big fine for my assault on Darien.
To: Andy
From: Caroline
9:50 pm: Jeez. If you don't mind me asking, why did you assault Darien? How were you able to act so sweet with me the next day?
"Andy is texting me," she finally told Darien. "He got my number out of the roster for his night class. Weird."
"Ew, that is weird," Darien agreed. "What's he talking about?"
To: Caroline
From: Andy
9:52 pm: I don't really know the answer to those questions myself.
"He received a fine for assaulting you, no jail time," she said.
"Well, I suppose something is better than nothing," Darien said.
"He said it was a big one, so," Caroline said. Darien nodded and thought for a moment before directing his attention back to his game. Caroline laid down, stretching out.
To: Caroline
From: Andy
9:59 pm: When can I see you again?
***
"What the actual fuck are you thinking?!" The Phantom screamed at Z, standing in front of him in full costume, furious about the night of the ball.
"It's for the best, you know damn well that Blue Warrior goes to that academy. We've narrowed it down as far as we could, and everything points to a college student," Z said, lighting a cherry cigar and putting it in his mouth.
"Wonderful, but to cause a scene like that?! He's going to try to flee, sir! We'll never, ever get him if that's the case! And, on top of that, I'm a student too! You're endangering my identity!" He shouted.
"Calm down, damn it," Z said. "You're getting yourself worked up for no reason.
"No reason?" Seth began. "This operation has been the slowest one yet, simply because I'm trying to balance my student life and my villain life. This shit isn't easy, Z! I don't need you prying into my personal life as well."
"Well then, let's get a move on, shall we? The whole bank situation, did that hurt the Warrior at all? Did that do anything for us?" Z asked.
"As far as I know sir, he walked off just fine. It didn't do anything to stop him," The Phantom admitted.
"Fuck," Z muttered. "We're going to have to think of something else."
"I could go outside and break some more shit," Seth suggested.
"No, no, the news reporters are getting enough of that already. We need to spice things up," Z said.
"I'm a super villain, not a fucking entertainer," Seth said.
"Still, we want the world to know how powerful you are, don't we? Of course we do," Z said.
"I guess so," Seth said, crossing his arms. He looked down at himself, admiring his disguise, missing the feeling it gave him. He had power, he was big and bad, he could do whatever he wanted. He missed this.
"How about a hostage situation?" Z suggested, literally looking through a filing cabinet of plans.
"Ooh, maybe. Who and where?" Seth asked, intrigued.
"There's always the old folk's home, a day care, any random house on the street," Z went on.
"The day care, that's right by the university anyway, isn't it?" Seth asked.
"Eh, I mean, it's not all that far away," Z said.
"Let's do that. I can keep a couple kids in there and it'll lure him right in, I just know it. He seems to be a total softy," Seth grinned. "He definitely has kids or wants them one day, I can feel it."
"Perfect," Z said, pulling out some papers. "We start the operation tomorrow at 1:30 pm. Don't be late. Go directly to the day care. You know what to do."
"Yes sir," Seth nodded and smiled under his mask. His body boiled with ill spirits and evil. He felt so warm, so hot to the touch, and he missed it.
He hadn't done anything like this since Darien got hurt despite all of Z's signals to come back. Now, he finally has, and it felt sweeter than anything. He made his way into the abandoned bathroom once again where he could change back into his normal clothes. God, he missed doing this.
"Next step," Seth muttered to himself. "Find that god damned Warrior. No matter what it takes."
***
A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the delay in this chapter, I work Thursday-Sunday so those days might be where my consistency slows down just a little bit! I hope you guys like this chapter and I'll be back with more soon!