KAYLA

After Kei sat down, the homeroom session just went on with Ms. Ferino blabbing about revised school rules and all those boring stuff that nobody cares about. To prevent myself from falling asleep, I set my ears towards Kei and Rob’s conversation. They seem to be having a good time, it’s hard not to get curious!

Eavesdropping on them wasn’t difficult at all, since they talked quite loudly – the hard part was deciphering it. Other than "Bryan Robson" and "goal", I can’t seem to understand anything. In fact, their voices were getting too loud and when they started singing "Glory glory Man United", Ms. Ferino had to stop and scolded the two!

“Bellrose, Brighton! I know both of you are excited to meet a fellow Manchester United fan, but you two can discuss all about it when homeroom is over!”

“Yes, ma’am…” they replied in unison. And three seconds later, they continued again - this time in a hushed tone.

I gave up listening to them. Hrmph, boys!

Anyways...back to Elle; not a single word came out of her mouth since the Viscount of Valenfields walked into the classroom, and I sensed that something’s not right here; Elle might be shy around new people, but she’s doesn’t get cold feet around hot boys that we get too excited about - in fact, she’s the only one who could face them boldly because she simply didn’t have any special feelings towards them (in which it usually trigger misunderstandings between the guy and Elle, but she rejected them anyway should a confession happened). But she’s been hiding her face and refused to look at him, except when the Viscount walked by where I noticed earlier that the two were exchanging quick looks.

I wonder what’s behind all that?

Hold on- could it be...?

ROBERT

Half an hour later, Ms. Ferino finally finished with our first roll call and handed out the school’s complimentary starter packs - stationery set, school agenda, student handbook...all those stuffs. And then, she released us from the class and gave us time to put our belongings in our new lockers until the bell rang for our next classes.

While I was busy resetting the code for my locker’s electronic keypad lock, I glanced towards Kei. Bollocks, ain’t he a lucky bastard! His locker was located right between the winner of Miss Sterling contest and its runner-up! Well, there’s nobody to blame here except the Goddess of Fortune herself - our lockers were assigned according to our first names’ alphabetical order in class. With this kind of situation, I bet the journalistic club’s gonna be busy ‘till the end of the school year! I could even guess next month’s student paper headline already: Sterling’s prima donnas and former best friends goes head-to-head for The Viscount of Valenfields!

...Bloody hell, Rob - Stop! You're turning like one of those girls who do nothing but trash talk about each other, assume things, and watch bloody awful soap operas! Bollocks, I think my sisters had probably brainwashed me during those three dreadful months in Mykonos!

After I’m done with the locker code setup, I started arranging my stuffs until I heard a loud clattering noise coming from the other side of the row - someone had accidentally dropped her belongings to the floor, it seems. I looked up to take a peek, and knew immediately that it was Maurelle because nobody else in our class had their entire stationery set pink-colored. I'd help her if I were closer to her, but my locker is too far from her. Besides, Kei had already kneeled down and helped her gather her stuffs - which is nice of him. Maurelle, on the other hand, was blushing like a boiling kettle pot as she tried to pick up her stuffs clumsily. Whoa, at long last! A prince charming finally made the stubborn Angelī Musicæ fall on her knees?

"...Still the clumsy little girl I know. You haven't changed a bit after all these years, Elle."

Hold on, did I heard that correctly? Elle?

I thought I was mishearing things. But when I looked around, I knew that I wasn’t alone; others had also looked away from their lockers as well, their ears were literally stretching out towards Kei and Maurelle.

Back in class, Kei acted like he didn’t know anyone, and Maurelle didn’t say anything either. I’m pretty sure that I’m only one who introduced myself personally to him so far, but the way he talked to her was like they’ve known each other for a long time; nobody mentioned Maurelle Whittman by her nickname except her closest friends and family, so Kei must be more than an acquaintance.

“...Keishi...”

...Hold on, what did Elle just called him? Kay-shee?

“Yes, Elle?”

-there! He said it again!

“You…you’re really…Keishi, right?”

Kei snorted at the question. “Of course! What, you’d think there’s another Viscount in Valenfields with a weird Japanese name and a weird pair of eyes?”

And that’s the moment when Maurelle grabbed her shocking pink binder from the floor and bludgeoned the Viscount of Valenfields in the head. Hard.

“OWW!”

Bloody hell! Am I seeing things? Maurelle Whittman, the kind and gentle Angelī Musicæ, just brutally smacked a guy's head with a binder? Did her soul got traded with her older sister this morning?

Meanwhile, Kei was still on the floor, rubbing his forehead.“Geez! That hurts, Elle! Why did you hit me all of a sud-OWW!“

Elle gave him another bonk on the head before he managed to finish his sentence. “You’re such a jerk, Keishi!” she cried, and then whacked him some more as she continued yelling on the poor fella. “You suddenly popped in my class and act as if we didn't know each other! And, the last time you called me from Dusseldorf, you said nothing about returning to Anglova! NOTHING!”

"Okay, okay! -Oww! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!” he begged, while trying to fend off Elle’s binder attack. “Look, I was going to explain what happened...”

"You could’ve just called me or come visit me at home before school started! And don’t tell me that you have no time for that!”

When Elle stopped to catch her breath, Kei suddenly burst out laughing. Twitching one of her eyebrows, Elle asked “What’s so funny?” - the very question I wanted to ask him myself.

“Oh, Elle...your angry face is still amusing as ever! Ahahahahahahah! Definitely worth getting beaten in front of everyone on my first day of school!”

“So you did it on purpose?!”

“Yep! Ahahahahahahahah!”

As Kei laughed his ass off uncaringly, Elle formed her hands into balls of fists as she snarled like an angry hound.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were still gathering the pieces of of our shattered minds. Bloody hell! Never in my life I had thought that I would see the sweetest, kindest girl I ever know turning mad like a beast - yelling and bludgeoning a guy with a binder to boot! The Maurelle Whittman that I grew up with in this school was a crybaby who would easily weep on even the smallest pranks, and since then we always treat her like a fragile piece of glass.

When Elle lifted her binder again, Kei hastily raised his arms by reflex to defend himself. Like him, I thought that she would start hitting his head again. But instead, she just shoved the binder into her locker and then grabbed all her other belongings from the floor in a swipe - including the ones that Kei had stacked on his laps, and shoved them into her locker. She then turned her back towards him and busied herself with the contents of her locker.

“Elle-”

“Don’t even talk to me anymore, Keishi!” Elle snapped.

Kei sighed and stood up. “So...you won’t even talk to me, huh? Are you mad at me now?”

“No I’m not!” she barked. “Because I know that if I stay angry at you, I would just amuse you even more!”

“Well...if you’re not angry, why did you hit me with a binder?” he asked.

Her hands abruptly stopped, and for a moment, the hallway became completely silent. However, the two didn’t seem to realize yet that that the whole floor had their eyes on them.

The silence, however, was broken when Elle faltered an answer. “I, uh, I-I’m just...I'm just disappointed!”

The whole hallway exploded in hysterical laughter - including me.

“What’s the difference?” I heard Kei asking between his laughs. But Elle didn’t even bother to feel ashamed. She quickly grabbed her binder and pencil case, and then slammed her locker door so hard that it echoed throughout the hallway.

“Hey Kayla! We have French Literature class together after this, right? Let’s go! I don’t want to see Keishi’s face any longer!”

Kayla, who obviously haven’t paid any attention to her locker since the start of the whole commotion, was astonished. “Oh! I-uh…I haven’t finished tidying up my locker, Elle! C-can you please wait for a little bit?” she stuttered, and quickly turned herself towards her locker and started fiddling with its contents hastily.

Elle obviously realized that Kayla’s gonna take a while, and then she turned around and walked away with a groan. “Fine, I’ll just go by myself!”

But before she managed to went off too far, Kei grabbed one of her arms. “Hey! Wait for me, will ya?”

Elle looked bewildered with the request. “And why do I have to wait for you?!”

“Well, I haven’t finished tidying up my stuffs because I helped you picking up your stuffs,” he said. “And, I’m also having French Literature class after this. I still don’t know my way around the school, and I prefer to go around with someone that I know pretty well! So…walk with me to class? S’il vous plait, mademoiselle?”

Obviously, the younger Angelī Musicæ was still furious. However, judging by the sly smile on Kei’s face, he already knew that she couldn’t refuse. After a few long seconds of intense staring towards each other, Elle finally sighed in defeat.

“Fine!” she snarled. “Just don’t take too long or I’ll leave you!”

Kei finally let go of Elle’s arms and smiled. “Alright, ma’am - I’ll be quick.”

He then returned to his locker, and began tidying up his locker while she grunted and waited behind him impatiently.

“Better not start your first day of high school with a grumpy look on your pretty face all day, Elle! You don’t wanna start having wrinkles on your face at this age and have people call you ‘granny' by the time you turn seventeen, right?”

Her eyes widened, and then she looked away with her cheeks blushing even more. Although it’s pretty clear that she’s still upset, but his words had magically vanished all the angry lines on her face. Bloody hell, he really knew how to talk to her! I guess they’re really old friends.

I wonder how long they knew each other already, though? And how come Elle never told us about him?

Just when I thought about that, Kei closed his locker door. “Okay, I’m done. Let’s go!” he said, and took Elle by the hand before he went off.

And that’s when everything fell apart - it’s like thunder had struck in the middle of the hallway and grilled our brains.

As they walked hand-in-hand towards the elevator, everybody turned their heads towards them with their mouths gaped. Elle covered her face with the binder that she carried with her free hand, while Kei just strolled away casually as he whistled a happy, cheery tune. One of the elevators flung open precisely when Kei and Elle had just stopped in front of them, and they walked in immediately. Elle pressed the button, and as the door closed, their hands were still clasped together while Elle hid her face under her shocking pink binder.

And three seconds after the elevator went off, the entire fourth floor hallway literally turned into a massive apocalypse - all the boys and girls were screaming in shock.

I guess the Viscount of Valenfields have just started World War Three.