Chapter IV

Be aware of switching POV's.

Mikael’s POV

“Just a reminder, class, that your first assignment is due this Thursday; I will not accept late entries, you hear?!” yells my English teacher. Like I care. 

Then I remember Esteire’s suggestion of checking in on Elisa. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt, I think. I have nothing better to do; I’ll ask her after school.

---

I see Elisa walking through the corridors away from the exit. Hm? Where’s she going? School’s out.

“Hey you!” I yell at her.

Startled, she whirled around with a look of surprise that turned into disgust.

Whoa. Didn’t know Miss Dainty could make such a look.

“What do you want?”

“Hey now, I just wanted to see what you’ve done on the assignment.”

“Oh really? But you said you didn’t want to be partners with me.” A look of suspicion crept across her face.

“Okay already. I’m just curious. Anyway, we’re already marked as partners, so I might as well see what a lousy job you did,” I tease.

“Hey!” she proclaims, “You can’t say that considering you didn’t even help me!”

“But didn’t your sister help you?” I remind her.

“How’d you know that? Wait,” she said, seeming to a form a new thought in her mind.

“Did my sister ask you to do this?” Well, she’s perceptive, I think.

She took my silence as a yes.

“Well, sorry. I’m busy as of the moment.” And with that, she resumed walking towards her destination. 

“Where’re you going?” I say, coming up beside her.

She walked a little quicker. 

“You wouldn’t want to go there, so you don’t have to follow me.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. I was only teasing. Tell me,” I insist.

She was furiously power-walking by now.

“You didn’t answer me,” I say, grabbing ahold of her arm to try to slow her down.

A look of shock came across her face at my touch.

She yanked her arm away, swiveling around to face me.

“Don’t you stop me like you care,” she says with defiance. Miss Dainty has spunk.

I put my hands up in surrender. 

Releasing a sigh, she started to turn around when we heard another voice.

“Mikael! How many times do I have to tell you to not be rough with girls?!” 

Oh, no. Mr. Obnoxious is here.

Reflexively, I pulled Elisa with her back facing me into my embrace, peeving him.

“Sebastian!” Elisa exclaims, caught in my hold.

“What are you doing, Mikael?” he says crossly.

“We’re partners for an english assignment. I was only asking to see what she had done so far,” I say innocently.

“Is that so?” he says questioningly at Elisa. She nods in admittance.

Looking back up at me, he continues, “That’s still no excuse to treat her like that. Anyway, she’s coming to the Student Council Meeting.”

“Oh lighten up, Prez. Elisa here doesn’t want to sit around in a stuffy meeting like that. Do you Elisa?” I say, murmuring into her ear. 

I could see her face redden at my closeness. 

Satisfied, I release her. With my arms wide open, I say to her, “It’s your choice.”

Eren’s POV

I see a girl hiding behind a corner. She has long, black hair and is a little shorter than me. I’m five nine.

“Who’re you spying on?” I ask her, coming up behind her.

She turns to look at me. I almost do a double take as I see her bewitching face.

“Looking out for a sister,” she responds casually.

I stare at her blankly.

“Well that’s an odd response,” I think out loud.

Her mouth curls into a little smile at my comment.

There are some loud voices around the bend. I look around her. It’s Kael and Seb at it again. But who’s that girl? Is that this girl’s sister?

I look back and forth between them. Although they were both very pretty, I couldn’t see much of a correlation in their features.

“Do you always spy on your sister like this?” I ask her.

She smiles a little wider and shrugs.

“I guess it just became a habit of mine. She’s never been to a school before, so I want to make sure everything goes all right.”

“That’s kind of you,” I respond.

She’s silent. 

A different look shadows her face, changing from the warm one I had just seen her gaze at her sister with.

Out of the blue, she asks softly, “What do you think of love?”

She inclines her head at me, staring from an angle. 

At first, I’m startled by her sudden, unusual question, but then I feel my face darken as I respond.

“Love is a burden that brings lasting pain.” 

She’s seems startled by my harsh answer. But it’s true. I don’t believe in love anymore. Ever since... I shake my head. No Eren. Don’t think about it anymore. She’s gone already.

“I see,” she says quietly, turning her head away from me.

I wonder why she asked.

Without warning, she jerks back, almost crashing into me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, puzzled.

A person is standing over us. Kael. And he’s incensed.

Then he sees the girl, and his gaze softens a bit. I guess he knows her.

“What’re you doing here? Watching over your sister again?”

She glares fleetingly at him and straightens herself up.

“I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing?”

I look at her, impressed. There’s a handful of people, much less girls, who talk back to him like that.

He gives her a playful look before reverting back to his irate expression.

“It’s that Sebastian again. Supposedly she joined that tedious Student Council and has a meeting to attend.”

The girl was trying to restrain a smile. Kael saw.

“It’s not funny,” he mumbled, his color rising. Was he blushing?! 

An idea forms in my mind. This was a rare chance to tease him.

“Hey, Kael,” I start, “Am I imagining it, or is that a blush I see?”

I lean in to take a closer look for more effect. He lightly shoves me away, snarling back, “You’re just imagining it. Ha me! Yeah right.”

“Tee-hee!”

Kael and I whip our heads around at the sound to only bonk our heads together. Kael swore while both of us looked up, rubbing our heads, only making the giggling turn into laughter.