To Know

Chapter 25

Seraphina walked through the corridor at the end of the school day. The corridors were bursting with students, all ready to leave.

A hand landed on her shoulder and forced her back towards the body. Her heart jumped as she glanced back to see Arlo standing behind her with Holden by his side.

Why? Why was he here?

"We need to talk again." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, we don't."

Her hair fluttered behind her as she spun back and speed walked away. As far as she could.

Holden jumped in front of her, blocking her path. She glared up at him, but he only smirked.

"I'm not giving you a choice in this," Arlo replied. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards an empty classroom next to them. He shut the door behind them with Holden guarding the outside.

He let of her and caused her to stumble back into a desk. She grabbed the edge of the desk to catch her balance before she pulled herself up to sit on it.

"What do you want?"

He sighed. "I wanted to apologise."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry for what I said about John," he replied. "It isn't true. John isn't mentally fit to be king. Not that other shit I said bout him being a late bloomer and other stuff."

"Then why did you say it?" She crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrows furrowed.

"Huh?"

"Then why did you say it?" she repeated.

"You put me under pressure. It's difficult to realise what you have been raised with isn't necessarily true. And anyway, does it really matter?"

"You wouldn't have said it if you didn't believe it to a certain point."

"Look, if you think that because I said something it means that I believe it that's on you."

She sighed as Arlo walked out the room.

Seraphina stood in front of the mirror, checking out the outfit on herself. A light pink sweater hung loosely on her frame, off on both her shoulders, with the black straps of her bra showing and also wore a pair of light blue jeans and white trainers flicked with magenta pink.

She smiled. She turned to the door and walked out.

Elaine stood near her door on the other side, wearing a black dress that reached her knees.

"Where are you going?" she asked. She leant up against the wall.

"Err... On a date." She glanced out the corner of her eye to her. What was she doing?

"Is it with that cripple?" Elaine questioned. Her light blue hair twisted down her shoulder.

"I'm also a cripple." She took a step towards the door and Elaine. "Don't forget that now just because it's me."

"But he's not."

Elaine knew too! Did none of these people plan on telling me? She clearly thought I didn't know!

"So?"

Tears rushed down Elaine's cheeks and she took a heavy sob. "You knew?" She took in another breath. "I-I wa... wanted to warn you about him. He's a monster."

Don't call him that!

She clasped her fist behind her back.

"You don't know him, Elaine," she replied.

She sighed, letting her body go. "Just stay safe out there then."

She walked past her and out the door on her way to the school gates.

At the gates stood John, wearing a pair of beige cargo shorts and a dark blue hoodie. He really hadn't dressed up, had he?

"Hey," she greeted. She walked up to next to him and clasped her handbag in front of her. "How are you?"

"I'm good." He got up off the wall and they exited the campus. "What about you? Did anything happen?"

"Arlo came to apologise." She sighed. "He's really bad at apologising, I actually don't think he's apologised before. He just did it to pain my trust and failed at it still."

"He apologised to me too a few days ago, but he didn't even understand why he should apologise. He just wanted to keep his precious hierarchy intact."

"Oh, was that before or after he walked to me?" she asked. They walked along the fence of the school, away from the gate and towards the town centre.

"It was a few days ago, so... before."

"But I talked to him a few days ago too," she replied. "He wanted to get me to talk to you, but the stuff he said... Uh, what he said was disgusting?"

"What did he say?"

"You don't want to know and I don't want to repeat it."

"Wait, did you talk to me because of him?"

"Well no..." She glanced away, heat rising up in her face. "Kinda thought. I realised you weren't planning on telling me anytime soon. He didn't make me talk to you, although he did want me to stop you."

"But you're not talking to him?"

"No, not on a serious basis." She rolled her eyes. "We go to the same school and used to work together, plus he can't leave me alone. Of course, we're going to talk at some point. But no, I don't actively talk to him."

John nodded, glancing away from her with a gulp before looking back to her. "What move did you choose?"

She stared at him with wide eyes – bright wide eyes with narrow irises that shimmered sky blue. Her heart hammered. Every beat thrummed like a drum, bursting to break out of her ribs.

"Weren't you choosing the movie? And booking the ticket?"

"Errr." John stared at her. "I thought you were."

"Oh great." Sera glanced to the side. "We're going to be late for the movies."

She winked at him and began to run ahead, looking up to the mall ahead of her.

She laughed, the sound radiating around her and bounced off the buildings. John stared at her as she rushed ahead before his own feet pattered against the concrete of the pavement, catching up to her.

A/N: Sorry for the long time without posting and then a short chapter. If you've seen my posts on my wattpad account, you'll know that my exam week finished last week and I decided to focus on revising instead of writing. I was also having trouble writing this chapter and the dynamic between John and Seraphina without a set conversation topic about what is happening around them. This chapter initially carried on a bit longer, but I realised that it didn't match what happened due to breaks between writing.

Anyway, there should be more uploads soon as I'm like two weeks away from summer holidays and have significantly less homework now.

Thank you for reading. Please share your thoughts in the comments.