Traces of You

Chapter 3

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It had been a week since the art room incident. He still couldn't grasp the reality of what he saw, or really, what he thought he actually saw.

It was the clearest image of a person he could find. There were no parts of her that were missing, there weren't even signs of floating body parts. The only thing that really bothered him was the fact that she seemed to disappear at worst moments. Or was he really just slow on the uptake?

In the middle of his rampaging thoughts, he stopped in his tracks.  "....don't know....really kill me...". A conversation nearby caught his fleeting attention.

Behind the wall, that was needed to pass in order to reach the school, he could hear the voices of two young women. He wasn't one to stay and listen in but he couldn't avoid passing by them if he wanted to get into the school building.

"Terra, it's okay. It happens. We'll figure it out," a soothing voice comforted.

The girl, who he assumed was Terra m, let out a shaky voice. "Shit. My parent's will actually kill me. They'll never let me out again. They don't even know I have a boyfriend."

"They'll understand, everyone keeps secrets from their parents," the second girl added.

"But my parents are so fucking strict with things like this. They're definitely gonna take my phone away, make me break up with him and make sure I never have contact with anyone ever again," Terra cried. "What if they send me to a fucking boarding school?"

The other girl frowned and patted her back." They aren't going to send you boarding school."

"Oh god, it's gonna be even worse when the school cancels my recommendation to university," Terra mumbled worriedly.

"It's. . . it's not like they can kick you out just for nudes," the girl said.

Terra groaned frustratedly before rubbing her face and grabbing the girl's shoulders. "Please, can you please say that the nudes were yours?"

Myles eyes widened in shock. Who on earth would ask that of their friend?

"Huh," the girl stammered.

"Please? You're my friend, right? You can at least do this. It's not a big deal for you. Your parent's aren't as strict as mine. And—and, you're not going to university anyways," Terra encouraged frantically.

Miles frowned in distaste. Frankly, in a situation where even if the whole world wanted him dead, he would never ask his friend to disguise as him, even if it was for a split second.

"They still might dislike something like this. . ." she murmured softly.

"Like this?" Terra repeated in anger. "You're not gonna suggest I did something disgusting, right? After you just comforted me, you probably secretly think like my parents? What a fake snake," she spat.

"What? No, I didn't mean it like that! Nudes aren't the worse things in the world," she said through flustered.

"Exactly! Which is why it will be fine if you just cover for me this once," Terra said.

"But—"

"Please, Nina?"

The silence between the three of them was defiantly stiff. He really wished he hadn't walked into the most obscure situation this early in the morning. Especially when he was already bombarded with other raging thoughts.