Wellston Private High school was bathed in a golden light as the early morning began. The earth had started to warm and the dew began to thaw as the sun pulled itself up into the sky.
Despite the change in weather, students still stumbled their way down the sidewalks and onto school grounds, their obligations to classes outweighing their need for sleep.
Watching this scene from the roof, Arlo couldn't help but wonder why he was up there at such an early hour. The blonde didn't have any reason or right to call the roof his own. He no longer had the right to loom over everyone that began walking in the gates or to watch the sky change colors.
Now that he was no longer a royal, he wouldn't be allowed up here anymore.
A part of him was going to miss this. Spending early mornings sipping his coffee while watching the sunrise. He could normally do whatever he wanted in the mornings. Now though, he had no place up in the clouds, not with his title in the hands of another.
John was officially king now, rank one. He had the school clutched in his fingertips and with it, the royals. But who was going to listen to him? He may be at the top, but to Arlo, he still only had as much use as a cripple and was only as useful as his mouth. The ravenette couldn't get a single thing done on his own and had little to no reasoning for how he went about things.
None of the royals or high tiers wanted to listen to such an aggressive and loud-mouthed idiot and the other tiers didn't want a maniac sitting on the throne.
But it was too late. Rules were rules and even Arlo had to follow them.
There was a part of him that was actually relieved to have the burden of being king off his shoulders.
It was empowering being at the top, but when you're king, you have to do so much to keep everyone in line. You have to sacrifice your time, your energy and even a bit of sanity to get anything done.
Being king for almost three years was nothing short of a miracle. Arlo had relished in being able to keep most of the school under lock and key.
Now, he strangely felt free somehow; maybe even a bit relived. He had nothing holding him back anymore, nothing tying him to the hierarchy.
Arlo sighed as he took a sip of his coffee, to which he almost choked on when he heard the door to the roof open.
The blonde was half expecting a certain ravenette to come walking through the door, ready to toss him off. However, his mild shock turned into relief when he saw that it was just Isen. The orange haired male looked up, slightly surprised at the blonde being on the roof at this hour. "Arlo? Uh...sorry, didn't expect to see you here."
Arlo sighed. "What are you doing here Isen?"
Isen rubbed his neck. "Oh, I was looking for someone else."
Arlo nodded slightly. "Remi I take it?" The other teen nodded. "Yeah...I tried calling her but she wasn't picking up. Anyways, I'll just leave..."
The teen was prepared to walk straight back out the door when the blonde stopped him. "Isen, stay. Who knows when you're ever going to get the chance to come back up here."
He looked at the former king, still uncertain. "You sure? If you want some time alone, I can just come back lat-" "Isen." The orange haired male took that as his que to shut up, eventually joining Arlo as they watched the sky through the fenced wall.
Isen peered down below them. "Didn't think you would be up here after everything..."
Arlo shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "After today, I won't be. I just wanted to enjoy this one last time." Isen only nodded, keeping his questions to himself.
An uncomfortable silence eventually loomed over them. Arlo could tell Isen had something on his mind. "I take it something's troubling you?" The teen opened his mouth to say no but stopped after a second.
Instead, Isen sighed and rested a hand on the fence, lacing his fingers through the wire. "Yeah..." The blonde looked at the other male, impatiently waiting for him to speak. Isen eventually let his thoughts flow. "This whole situation feels so stupid..."
Arlo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? You barely had a hand in this madness." Isen looked back, his face holding a somber expression, one that the former head of the school press rarely showed. "I mean that this whole situation could have been avoided."
Arlo set his coffee down on the ledge. "Isen, even if we avoided John, there would've been no guarantee that he wouldn't eventually snap. Just accept it; there's nothing we can do."
Isen gazed down. "Arlo, don't you feel slightly bothered by this? Cecile is Jack, you and Blyke are off the roster and this school is falling apart by the hands of a mad man."
Arlo looked away slightly.
As much as he hated the position they've been placed in, this was their new reality. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he wanted nothing to do with the state of the school. He couldn't do anything even if he wanted to. "Isen, these past few months have been nothing but a nightmare. Things have gone from bad to worse and nothing we could've done would've changed it. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not king anymore."
He looked back over as Isen plopped himself down on the ground. "Arlo, we screwed up. Even you have to admit that. I get that John is an absolute psychopath, but we still could have done more to stop this from happening. You may not be king anymore, but the students are still looking up to you for guidance. They can't look up to someone like him!"
Arlo rolled his eyes. "John is the strongest among us and those who have the power, stand at the top. Whether we like it or not, he is the king, Isen. It didn't matter if he took the throne when he got here or when I graduated. We can't change the fact that he's stronger than us. I can't do anything Isen. It's out of my hands."
Isen leaned his head back against the concrete wall. He knew the blonde was right, but deep down, he really wished the ex-king wasn't.
Isen stared up at the sky, losing himself in thought. "Arlo, what can we do?"
Arlo let a small 'tsk!' escape his lips before looking over at the male. "How should I know Isen? I don't have the answer to everything!" Isen moved back a bit, surprised at the ex-king's words.
The blonde sighed and looked away.
What was he supposed to say? He was just one person yet everyone acted like he was this all-knowing god who could solve every problem that came their way. "Truly Isen, how am I supposed to know? I'm not a fortune teller. I can't solve everyone's problems. Besides, why should anyone trust my judgement right now?"
Isen just looked at Arlo, not knowing how to take this information.
He wouldn't say that Arlo was as bad as John, but he wasn't a great king either. He had let things slowly slide into chaos over personal agendas. Arlo pushed people into molds they could never fit or fill. It was his way or no way and Isen hated that part about the blonde.
But right now, he would take that over Johns wrath any day.
The two jumped a little as they heard the vibration of a phone, cutting their conversation short. Isen quickly pulled his device out of his pocket as it continued to vibrate. "Ah, it's Remi." He quickly picked up with a 'Whatsup?' before Remi's voice poured over the line. "Mhmm...ok. Arlo's here as well. Do you want him down there too? Ok. Yeah, we'll meet you there." He looked up at the blonde as he hung up.
"Remi wants us to meet up with her to help finish setting up the safe house since we're opening after school today." Arlo nodded. "Let's get going then. I don't want to overstay our welcome." Isen nodded before standing up and brushing himself off. The two of them walked out the door and briskly made their way downstairs to the second floor. Arlo took one last look at the scenery behind him before turning away and leaving.
As much as Arlo was glad to finally have a bit of freedom, there were some things about being king that he would miss.
.
.
.
.
Being at school early really had its perks. Fewer students meant no clogged up hallways and no clogged hallways meant all the space to walk as you please.
When you have hundreds upon hundreds of students packed into one building like a can of sardines, finding space for yourself becomes one hell of a challenge.
That's where school clubs come in. They were places to enjoy your talent, a place to unwind before or after a chaotic day. Though clubs varied greatly at Wellston. There was anything from sports to books, to even video games. There was almost always something for someone.
Arlo passed by all the classrooms that were already bustling with activity. People in drama club were rehearsing for a play as they belted out lines from Spearshake.
The students in art club were quietly focusing on their canvases while getting lost in the music from their headphones. As the two passed by, Isen could hear a student gasp before yelling out a concoction of slurs as the sound of something spilling all over the floor was heard. "Dammit Kairina! It looks like a murder happened in here!" "Well how was I supposed to know that some *sshole stored the red paint away without a lid?! Can someone grab me a towel or better yet, another uniform?!" Isen cringed at what the scene must've looked like.
Even though the music club had begun to wrap up as they were passing by, Arlo could see a student with neon salmon hair with bright yellow tips, rocking out on an electric guitar. She was putting her heart and soul into one hell of a cover of 'What I've done' by Lincoln Park. He could hear the other students singing along to the lyrics and cheering as she continued playing. The ex-king would admit that it would've been a good performance...until he saw the girl step on her aux cord and disconnect it. The speakers popped as the sound cut out before she reached the last chorus. The class groaned in disappointment as the girl facepalmed herself.
Soon, they came across room 224. Upon arriving, they found Remi already setting up board games and stuff of similar nature.
Remi looked up and beamed at them. "Hey guys! Just in time! I need some help moving the laptop tower over to the socket."
Isen's eyebrows went up as he saw the pristine set of laptops sitting towards the corner of the room. "L-Laptop tower?! When the hell did we get one of those?!" Remi shrugged. "Dunno. Keene said they had an extra charging tower and since there's going to be a lot of students here who might need them for work and stuff, he allowed us to have it."
He only shook his head in disbelief. "Keene either has a lot of faith in us, or he really does not care about these laptops...I just hope they don't get wrecked. I'm a broke high school student and I don't have the cash to pay for this..."
Remi only stared at him. "Isen, we go to a school where at least one wall gets blown up every day. I'm pretty sure they can afford a few $500 laptops. Not only that, I'm not the one who has a hoarding obsession with pens and goes out to buy a new one almost every week."
Isen was about to come back with an argument, but found that he had none. Instead, he only sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Fiiiine...but if those break and they ask us to pay, don't expect me to chip in!" Remi rolled her eyes but chuckled.
Arlo and Isen carefully rolled the laptop stand over to the wall and plugged it in. Isen checked that all the laptops were charging before standing up. "Alright, we're all set." Remi smiled. "Thanks Ise-" She stopped midway as she heard the door slam open, revealing a very tired and grumpy looking red-head.
"B-Blyke?" The male in question was a mess. His tie hung loosely around his neck, he had bags under his eyes and half his hair was sticking up on one side. If they didn't know any better, they would've thought the teen had just risen from his grave instead of his bed. "Sorry I'm late...I overslept." Remi waved her hands slightly. "No, no, it's ok! There wasn't much left to do anyways. We're just setting up the laptops and games."
Blyke nodded. "Do we need any more chairs or things like that?"
Remi shook her head. "Nope. We have almost everything except some chalk for the boards in case anyone wants to write or just goof around with them. Anyways, I was planning on stopping by the cafe and grabbing us all some breakfast or something. You want anything?"
Blyke covered his mouth as he yawned. "Yeah...I'll take a large coffee, extra espresso please." Isen gave a dramatic gasp. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Blyke?!"
Blyke only looked at the three of them in confusion. "What?" Remi raised her eyebrows. "Uh...it's just...we've never seen or heard you like coffee before. Usually you have tea or juice first thing in the morning."
The red-head only stared at them. "I need caffeine. I'm not going to stay awake without it." The girl only looked at him before looking at the others. "Anything you guys want?" Arlo and Isen both just wanted a bagel and coffee.
Remi nodded, leaving to grab everything before the cafeteria started filling up.
...
Focused eyes peered eagerly around the corner, his gaze locked on the lightning rod that was walking away. He was hidden behind a row of lockers, completely out of sight and out of range from her passive. He carefully crouched down and pulled out his radio from his belt.
"She's in my sights...should I engage?" A voice crackled over the small box in his hand. {"Negative."}
His eyes widened in shock. "What? But she's a target on our list. Didn't the boss want us to take care of her?" {"Please. She's barely a threat right now and even then, we'd have no problem with her. We have bigger fish to fry."}
He bit his lip. "Ma'am, what if she,or any of the others for that matter, catch on? I'll have to take care of them." It was silent for a minute before the voice piped up again.
{"No. We don't have time. The boss wanted us to make sure we had them in one room before they make their move. If you pull your usual sh*t, we could lose our only opportunity. We are this close and I will not have you f*cking anything up today. Don't screw this up, or I'll personally hand you over to the boss myself. Is that clear?"}
Immediately, he went pale but nodded his head. "A-Alright...I understand..." {"Good. Now, go scout out the main entrance and alert us once you see him."}
"On it..." With that, he shut off the device before he blended back in with his surroundings, out of sight and out of mind.
Chapter 2: end.