The Prince and The Wolf

XXV

Chapter 25: Absence

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"A substitute!" The room was buzzing with excited students. The English teacher was absent, some students walked straight out, deciding to cut class. The sub wrote "Study Hall" on the board and sat in a corner with headphones on and a look of utter boredom. His eyes skimmed the room briefly before looking back at the papers in his hand.

Min sat down and took out her sketchbook. Might as well do a little planning for the next chapters.

Someone plopped down their bag next to her. She thought it was Carl and didn't look up, hoping he would catch a glimpse of her drawing and ask her about it.

She breathed in cologne.

A hand covered her sketchbook and blocked her from drawing. She heard him smile and then he removed his hand.

"Good gracious." She muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes. She didn't bother looking up and continued sketching. She knew who it was.

Kade noticed that she was ignoring him. Oh, whatever. He took out a notebook and start scratching away. Min, finally curious, peered sneakily at his writing.

"The project." Min flinched, quickly looking back at her sketchbook.

"I wasn't looking." She defended.

"Suicide's Note, Langston Hughes."

"I bet that's not what Chloe picked out, huh." Min muttered to herself, eyes on her drawing. "It also doesn't sound like something Mr. Perfect would pick out."

"Well, it's short." Kade replied. "And easy to remember."

"I was about to make a dick joke and then you said the second part." Min wheezed, laughing a bit.

"Jesus Christ." He breathed.

Min bit down on her bottom lip to stop laughing and tried to refocus back on her drawing. And then she noticed Kade twirling the pen around, tapping it against his paper as he concentrated on the words.

"Have you always done that?" She asked, pointing her pen at his hand. He glanced at his hand, then at her, stopping the fidgeting.

"Stop staring at me." He teased, kicking her leg gently. She kicked him back, although slightly harder.

"You're always fidgeting with something. Like your phone, or your pen, even at the piano. You're so restless."

He seemed taken aback and didn't respond. "I'm really not." He answered softly.

Min smirked. "Do you like fidgeting with girls' hair too, Mr. Player?"

He leaned closer. "Oh, I wouldn't say just their hair..."

Min squeaked and then started laughing, shoving him back, laying her head on her folded arms. She smiled smugly up at him, who was looking down at her with an entertained expression.

"Virgin." She mouthed.

He mouthed something back but she couldn't decipher it. She sat up. "What?"

He leaned in closer to her ear.

"Cent."

Min shivered involuntarily and shielded her ear with her hand, a stunned look dawning on her features, she leaned away from him. Then she laughed clumsily and pushed a palm against his face. "What the heck was that sensual 'Cent'?"

"You don't like it when I scream it, so I took it down the other path."

"God, out of context, we sound like weirdos."

Kade let out a sigh and looked down at his notebook. "I wonder why... it's called 'Suicide's Note'."

"It's like death joined themselves with the place where death takes place a lot. The alluring waves of the water." Min blurted out, not really thinking much about it.

"Maybe even suicide abandoned us."

Min stopped drawing for a moment and watched Kade's downcast eyes, his eyelashes fluttering when he blinks.

And then she smacked his cheek again.

---

It's been days since he left the classroom. He was still absent from school.

Might as well be wiped off the face of the earth. Min sighed, typing up the remaining parts of the story herself.

"He just got up and left?" Le asked, shocked. They had met up a few hours before for their Friday meet. This time they got crepes to snack on, letting the wind blow through their hair as they sit outside on one of the tables. It was their first time trying it, the storefront was modern and strewn with fairy lights.

Min got the chocolate drizzled topped with cookie's and cream ice cream and Le decided on the one topped with berries and strawberry ice cream.

"Yeah." Min mumbled sadly through the crepe resting on her mouth.

"That's interesting." Le commented, brushing her hair back to take another bite.

"Maybe he hates me now."

"I'm not sure. But that was a rude move. Maybe he had a reason?"

"And pray tell, what is his reason for being absent for the rest of the week?" Min asked, sighing and putting down her crepe.

"He was sick with a huge fever!" Le suggested with a mischievous smile. "Feverish from your smothering love."

Min laughed then, but now thinking back on it, she felt really stupid for hoping that maybe it could be true. The big bad wolf, feverish from her love? He was one of the guys that many girls had affections for. They were quietly showering him with love.

She was only one among them, loving him from a distance.

And she was even lucky to be able to get a response out of him. And why? Over a donut? How lame is that. I dragged him into my affections because he ate a donut.

She leaned her head against the wall, feeling sorry for herself. She missed him. That was the truth. She wanted to clarify every thought in her head and meet him. But she saw no chance. Where would she find him?

---

"Why are you calling me, Prince?" Kade adjusted the earbuds, twirling a pen in his hand as he sat in his little office.

"I want some advice on my poem." He answered, slyly.

It was a Sunday, and he had time to kill.

"I'm on my way to somewhere currently, namely, the grocery store."

"For what?"

"Ran out of milk and I need to buy some cereal." Min answered, humming something that Kade couldn't decipher. She's in a good mood, he noted.

"Something good happened?" He pried.

"I just thought of this really cute scene for my story..." Kade heard the chatter of people and presumed that she entered the store. "It was so cute and it worked so well with the whole plot, made me really ha—"

There was a gasp and Kade heard the thud of something dropping onto the floor. And then the line went dead.

"Cent?"

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I have turned part of chapter 1 into a comic, check it out if you'd like. Link at the bottom.

Chapter 24 also seems to missing a little section, I fixed the mistake.