Staying Neutral

Chapter Fourteen

--

 "John! Arlo!" Y/n pants as she runs over to the two. "Y/n?" The cripple said with surprise as he turns to the running girl. Arlo widens his eyes slightly before letting out a small cough. "Wait... up!" She pants as she finally stops in front of them and placed her hands on her knees from the lack of energy.

 John suddenly placed a hand on her head. "Where'd you've been, Y/n?" He said almost jokingly, which Y/n thought, It's nice to see that he's in good spirits. Maybe I was wrong after all? "Y-Yeah. Sorry that I was pretty absent for a while. Where are you and Arlo heading to?"

"AH," John started, "He said he's going on an errand. I'm just coming along with him."

 "Oh, really?"

 Her eyes turn to Arlo's light blue orbs, slightly narrowing. "Mind if I come along?" Y/n asked. 

 Arlo stood steady, with no signs of movements in his posture. His eyes slightly wavered as he met Y/n's e/c colored ones, but other than that, it seems like not much intent was behind it. Yeah. I'm just paranoid.

 "You can come along, Y/n," Arlo said. "Besides, I need you to be there."

 "Alright..."

 She hesitantly agreed, quietly regretting to ask to come along since she was absolutely exhausted and fatigued. The reason why Y/n offered to come along was to see if Arlo would in any way retaliate if she were to come along with them; Y/n was testing if the Wellston King was hiding something up his sleeve. 

 She walked up to John and swung her arm over his shoulders as the three students walked to their destination.

 If only she knew what was coming.

 If only she'd seen the small smirk plastered over Arlo's face.

 If only she'd trust her gut more.

--

 Why... are we here?

 "Arlo, why are we at Turf Wars?" Y/n asked a bit nervously as John, Arlo, and she stood at the entrance. She fell asleep on the train ride the entire time, so she didn't exactly know where they were heading. The feeling of drowsiness was immediately replaced with slight defensive fear.

 "WHAT?! YOU TOOK US TO TURF WARS?" John exclaimed in surprise. "Um... I don't know if you noticed, but... I'm not really built for this kind of environment. You know, cause I'm a cripple."

 "..."

 Y/n's heart paced as she stares at Arlo before sinking dread dropped inside her. There was something in his eyes, after all. "Arlo. Why did you bring us here?" She says lowly. "Yeah... I thought your errand was to go grocery shopping or something," John adds. The blonde simply raises his arm up before saying, "Relax, Y/n. No one's fighting. I'm just meeting up with some people here."

 "Tch..."

 Y/n's hand quickly reaches for Arlo's hand but was quickly intercepted by the blonde's elbow instantly hitting her wrist. "A-Ah!What are you--"

 His eyes stare emotionlessly at Y/n. "Besides, with me around, what could possibly happen to you?"

 Arlo turns and goes up the escalator, saying to both of them, "C'mon, let's go."

 Y/n rubs her slightly injured wrist before looking at John. "Be careful, John. I'd hate to say this, but maybe he isn't the type of person I thought of him to be." John clenches his fists. "Okay..." Wearily, they both followed suit behind Arlo.

 Their footsteps tap on the dusty ground of the large outdoor field. No buildings were seen for miles under the vast open blue sky other than the Turf War entrance. In the distance, two figures stood there patiently, as if waiting for Arlo's arrival.