I will save the villain!

Winter break (part 1)

   Disgusted, I couldn't bring myself to watch him any further as he turned to leave; Isabelle, like a tool, was used by her own dear brother to kill Rhys. But things will be different now. Because, I'm here. I will save Rhys, no matter what it takes. Even if he dislikes me, or hates me, as long as I can save him...

  'Aubrey,' someone called my name, & when I looked up, I met Lucas's ember eyes glinting in the dark.

  'Oh, Lucas... what...' I noticed his quick breaths, & the spicy chips along with water; so he did bring something to drink. Did he come running here? I thought noticing he was out of breath.

  'I'm thirsty,' I said to him; 'And, hungry,' I added when my stomach growled.

'Oh, yes,' he handed me the water dully as if he was only realizing then that he brought them here; 'You... why are you-'

 'I'm a stand in, supposedly. Could you see my face even from so far away?' What I meant was; could other people see my face too? Do they know it's me dancing?

 But for some reason, he became flustered when hearing that, & it flashed into my mind; oh, yes. This guy who ranks after Rhys in his studies, is actually a dimwit. It was better to speak straight with him.

 'What I meant, was that if you could see my face, could others see too?'

'Ah... I don't think so. It was dark, & hard to see, but I just noticed you were gone from your seat.'

 'Then, it's fine,' I opened the water, & gulped it down with my arm trembling from exhaustion.

'Why... are you standing in for a dancer? Normally, only art class is supposed to perform on-'

'Well, guess I'm not normal then,' I sighed finishing the water in quick gulps, & handed him the 'now empty' water bottle. Lucas stared at the empty water bottle for a long time before he spoke;

  'You can... dance?'

'No, I can't. So, I was actually multiplying numbers on the stage just now,' I answered with a bite of sarcasm as I grabbed the bag of spicy chips from his hand. After struggling for a while with it because of my trembling arms, Lucas took it, & opened it for me. Though he didn't give it back to me;

  'What... hey-'

'Can you do anything else? Sing, or play instruments? Answer honestly.'

 'Oh, I can be honest. I'm honest 100% a day, sometimes 0%, but usually hundred. And, I'm being 200% honest, when I say; just give me the chips, I'm hungry.'

  'I really don't understand why you entered regular classes; did you join because you knew someone particular was there? Someone you knew maybe? Is that how you know me, & him? Because you-'

  'Darn it, this is the effing third time I'm saying this; just give me the f*cking chips, I'm hungry!'

'I'll give it to you only if you answer my question,' he replied, raising the bag when I tried to grab it from his hand; my movements were particularly sluggish because I was tired, & it pissed me off how he was making me more tired.

 'Aagh!' I let out a muffled scream; 'Forget it, I'm going to change my clothes now,' grumbling, I turned back.

  'You can eat the chips if you want it so much, selfish jerk.'

                                                                 ...

     'So winter break is starting just like this,' Lucas sighed sitting back leisurely. I took a bite from the sandwich not bothering to answer; 'Hey,' he called, sitting up straight.

'I told you I'll buy you any dessert you want as an apology. Why are you eating a sandwich? Can it be even considered an apology-'

 'You should've asked where I would like to go before forcing me in here,' I cut him off, gulping down the sandwich with an americano.

 'What? ...I just thought that since you were here before, you liked-'

'I like the coffee from here,' I cut him off again; this cafe... it seemed like the only reminiscence from my life back on my original world. Just as a proof that it actually existed, that I am not from here, & will never belong here. What I went through, those awful experiences I still have nightmares about, just to know that they were real... I'm sitting here because of that reason. How can I live like nothing ever happened? Like I've never even experienced them? The proof is carved on my own flesh, scars I could never erase, & yet... it feels as if I am crazy. How can a person just transmigrate into a novel? How can I be sure that... all those nightmarish hell I've been through is real? What if... that was just my dream? What if it was an after effect of the car accident? What if... this place is my real world, where I originally belong? What if I am crazy?

  Thoughts like this, kept disturbing my mind. So to hold on to the smallest piece of sanity left, I'm willing to waste my time like this. I'm more than willing to befriend that transfer student, even if it's crossing my usual boundaries, even if she sees me as a weirdo, as long as I know that she's from the same place as me. That we both don't belong, that I don't belong here, & that these memories are real. Because, losing this mind of mine, this excellent memory, is what scares me the most.

 'Only the coffee?' this time, it was Allan who spoke; I hadn't noticed that he was still there because he had been remotely quiet.

  'Why? Is there a particular reason you like the coffee?' he asked, & added in details to prove his point; 'There are places that have better coffee than here, this place isn't the best, & it's not so close to the school.'

 The point is that, there is a reason, must be a reason why I like this place, & I suppose it was true but I didn't have the motivation to tell them anything, at all; 'You're right, there is no particular reason why I would like the coffee here from your perspective; So, I don't like the coffee anymore.'

  Allan's expression subtly changed as I kept a close eye on his reaction. On the other hand, Lucas looked shocked, with no intent to hide it or whatsoever. They probably found it weird, how can a person just change their  likes so easily? That's probably what they thought, & it seemed amusing to me; because I could guess, & foretell what actions they would take, what they're thinking. But, they couldn't.

  Like a puppet; though they didn't know, I had them under my control. While laughing, & having fun, they probably thought it was them who were controlling the strings but how can you see such thin threads? How will you be able to see who it leads to, when they're invisible? They can only assume things, but I can see it.

   'Let's go out to another place; I won't consider this an apology,' I said, finishing the sandwich.

After the break, I shall look into the transfer student. But for now...