Storm slightly raised his head just enough to scan around him, eyes glinting with the sharp realization that he was, in fact, surrounded.

Around him, all the students seated in a perfect circle. The way the desks had been arranged. The eerie tension. The serious faces. The candle someone had lit for ambiance and aesthetic—it all reeked of a cult gathering.


And Storm? Oh, he was clearly the sacrifice.


The janitor, fixing the bangs of his fake wig, was constantly wiping and mopping the floor, only outside the classroom door, the same patch of floor, as if trying to catch someone's attention.

Storm glanced at him. Then at the mop.

"Quick. Call. Ceo. Report."

The morse code signaling with the mop looked clumsy, but Storm got the message.

He abruptly stood up.

"I think I have somewhere to go."

"Storm, you get this is a grave matter?" The class monitor questioned.

"I—I understand but, I really have to—"
"Excuses?" Annie interrupted.
"No. It is an actual excuse—I mean matter—I meant my homework! I left my homework at home!"
"I think it's right here." Annie took out the notebooks from his bag.

"No—no—The teacher asked me to—collect the ID card…Yes! Today!"
"You already got it on the first day. You are wearing it right now." Mia said, with an expression of 'one of us must either be dumb or blind'.

"I mean I left my phone in my room."
Tia coughed slightly, pointing at his hand. Storm glanced at her. Then at his hand. And the phone in his hand.

"Oww—I meant the—I mean the goldfish! Yes, the goldfish! I need to water the goldfish!"
"But," Pacific chimed in, "You don't own a goldfish, Storm."
"I do! Just bought one yesterday!"
"We live in the same dorm."

"Ohh yeah, we share the same dorm room, wait I meant—look, I never intended to reveal since it is a very dangerous secret. You see, I signed a Blood pact with the crescent wolf tribe and it's a red moon now. I might transform any time."

"Should I leash you you right away or wait till you transform and howl?" Mia grinned.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll keep the window open for your dramatic exit." Lia pointed at the window.

"Mr. werewolf, it's 10 Am in a random morning, zero chance of a red moon appearing anytime soon." Tia scoffed.
"By the way, You look more like a cat." Lia added, "A white cat…with the personality of a black cat."

The class looked at him with suspicion while the trio judged him hard.

Storm looked defeated. "This never happened. Delete this interaction from your memories, all available timelines and parallel universes."

"You bet!" Annie laughed, "I should have recorded that."

"Yes, the bet," the class monitor remembered the reason they had gathered. The bet! That orchid!

"Haaah! I really need to go!"
"But where?" The class cried in unison.
"Bathroom!"
"We'll escort you!"
"I don't need an escort to pee!"
"You do! We need to protect you!"
"I am capable of protecting myself."
"I'm nearly a second away from wetting my pants."
"Ok run fast and come back faster."

Storm ran to the janitor room, kicked the mop bucket, removed the tile from the ground, took out a phone and received the call.

"Yes, Mrs. Garden."
...
"...I was being held down by the students."
...
"...They were protecting me."
...
"...From your son."
...
"Dumb. Very dumb"
...
"Why? Because he thinks I am a girl just because I have long hair!"
...
He rolled his eyes.
"Because He's still calling me 'babygirl' and 'Barbie'. And asked me to be his girlfriend."
...
"No! Am wearing boys uniform! Why would I crossdress for THIS mission! He's the only dumb in the whole school who keeps misgendering me!"
...
"He gave me a diamond necklace. With his name. Engraved. Said it would help me 'feel close to him."
...
Storm pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes twitching slightly.
"…Yes. Someone recorded it."
...
"…Yes. It went viral."

He winced.

"The title of the clip? 'Dumb doomed delusional billionaire playboy pins the Cinderella'."

"…I don't know who wrote that. The internet. His fans, probably."

He paused to let her talk. His jaw clenched tighter with each passing second.

...
"'She's Taken'? It's a fan page. For me. HE made it. "

Storm leaned against the wall and let out the sigh of a man reevaluating all his life choices.

"He even posted fake confessions on the school anonymous forum quoting it to himself by me."

...
"…Ma'am, I'm going to need hazard pay. He even made a bet with his friends on me."

Another beat of silence, then a sharp sigh.

...
"… 'Let him chase'? Ma'am, he's wearing sunglasses indoors and asking me to go on a dinner date in a random hotel in Paris ."

Storm blinked.

...
"No. Not even ironically."
...

Finally, after a long silence on the other end, he spoke again—flatly.

"Yes. I'll 'try to manage'."

The call ended.

Storm closed his eyes and leaned back against the door, muttering to himself.
"…I survived 3 sniper fires, seven mafia executions, 14 bullets, a bear attack and a plane crash. But it'll be 'THIS' boy. This boy who finally kills me with his -70 iq."


~~~


Rewind to the second day, Orchid had been following around Storm dumping all his pick up lines on him, from the math class to cafeteria to English to gym to science to library and the gate of the school when Storm had to finally use his secret assassin methods to escape from the noisy playboy.

"Are you French? Because Eiffel for you—wait no, are you Google? Because you've got everything I'm searching for—wait, WAIT, are you Wi-Fi? Because I'm feeling a strong connection—"

"Are you element 111? Because all you talk about is Uuu."

"Wait. Was that a compliment? Am I something shiny?" Orchid grinned like the dumbo he was.

I am calling you unstable, man made and radioactive."

Orchid had the face on which screamed 'I am trying my best to understand this level of intellect but I am so dumb, I can't comprehend anything.'

"and a brain so short spanned, it disappeared the second it was created. Just like uuu. Just like you."

But this couldn't stop Orchid. He went on and on and on! While the class hooted at every comeback and the teacher, facepalmed, trying to get the attention of the class going wild.


"If beauty was a crime, you'd be hanged."
"And you'd be on parole, for a failed attempt at charm."

"Woooooo" the trio, Lia, Mia, Tia screamed.

Maya recording the lore keeper  shouted, "Get his dumbass!!!"

"Are you a magician because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears."
"You should disappear too. Poof. Now."

Another wave, now even the teacher chimed in, "Sheesh! this new kid got potential."

Right then the bell rang and the students started moving towards the cafeteria for lunch. That was when brilliance flew away from the window as if scared from the very shadow of his highness, Orchid.

"What about a lunch date—wait—a lunch date in paris—at my penthouse hotel that overlooks the Eiffel. Bet you haven't seen the tower that close—"

"I burried a body at the backyard there."
 
Storm reminisced how he spent an entire hour cleaning the blood off the floor of the seventh floor of the Eiffel. It was such a hectic to clean the blood without enough water. He then burried the body in the backyard of a nearby hotel. He didn't knew it was Orchid's penthouse!

"Oh you don't have to make up such silly stories."

Orchid took out his phone,clicked here and there on the screen a few times.

 "I'll take you there for lunch right now, at my penthouse next to the eiffel—with rose decor imported fresh from the Versailles' Secret garden and an ensemble of violinists playing 'Ernst-The last rose of summer' in the background. A perfect first date for my perfect beauty."

Orchid extended his hands up dramatically, fixing his sunglasses, Arms wide, eyes closed, spinning around in circles around Storm who was getting ready to go to the cafeteria for lunch.
 Yes, you pictured it right, a theatre kid off his meds. The one playing the role of the tree in the background. The one that over does everything but still gets ignored.

"Also, You can drool over my shirtless marble statue right in the centre of the hotel. It's a landmark site. Girls line up for hours to take a selfie."

Annie whipped out her phone showing her the Google results.

'Girls line up to kiss abs of the statue of the heir of the garden group of companies for good luck, gdp under tourism sector triples in a week.'

"What the—"

"National treasure, right? Even UNESCO tried to list it as a cultural treasure but I declined, gotta keep a low profile."

Before anybody could even process the 'shit—uation', the curtain flapped dramatically and everybody's hair was a mess, aside from Storm and Orchid's.

Why? Obviously because they are the main char—

No! Because Storm had tied his into a ponytail, straight and sleek. Genes probably.

While, Orchid? Oooh no secrets here.
Just loads and loads of hair gel, the one that's probably banned in seven countries.

"Look, the rides here. Let's go, Aphrodite—"

"He's gone."
The class groaned in unison, but unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately)– with the chaos he had just created by summoning his private helicopter to the school for a lunch date with the 'girl' he had just met a day ago, for sure, everyone's ears and hair were busted.

Even the principal came out to investigate the chaos, only to find a helicopter parked on the West building's helipad.

Helipad at a highschool?
What's impossible when you're the richest kid in the world.


The school speakers announced asap;

"Attention students: The helicopter on the rooftop is not a part of Evacuation Drill, it belongs to Orchid Garden. Again. Without permission. No, he did not notify us. No, we can't do anything about it. Yes, it's because he owns most of the shares of this school. No, it's not possible to hire aerial security. Yes, he's dumb and No, we can't do anything about that.  No more questions. Resume your classwork."


…and the noise finally calmed down.


And yes, as usual, the delusional prince deluded himself yet again, "Awww, babygirl's too shy for her first date with me?"


Everybody facepalms collectively.


'money can buy penthouses, statues, helipads, maybe the whole school or probably happiness too but it sure as hell can't buy common sense.'