Star-Crossed

Chapter 18

SELA'S POV:



It's already 11 in the evening when I decided to sneak out of our room and went to sit on the same bench where Abby and I last talked.

I couldn't help but shuddered as a cold wind gushed through my skin. Being alone in this huge quadrangle in the middle of the night sure terrifies me and I could just only hope that Abby will show up already.

Honestly, I'm not really sure if Abby will come here tonight but a small part of me believes that she will that's why I'm here, taking the risk.

And it's not like I just want to see her for no absolute reason. I need to tell her what I saw.

"What are you doing here?"

My eyebrows furrowed.

That's definitely not Abby's voice.

I looked up and was greatly surprised, seeing who's currently standing in front of me."Dana?"

"You look surprised to see me. Shouldn't I be the one having that expression?" she asked, eyes void of any emotion."What are you doing here?"

"I--" I trailed off, not really knowing what to answer."Where's Abby?"

Her eyes twitched."What?"

I gulped, realizing that I should really stop constantly looking for Abby as if we're close.

"Aren't you also the one who went to the office and successfully got an application meeting with Abby?" she paused, snorting."It seems like you have a lot of business with our president."

"I just needed to talk to her. This is important."

She stared at me for a whole minute before letting out a sigh."Abby is busy. And I'm the one in charge of roaming around the university tonight. She's not coming so just go back to your room." she said and was about to walk away from me but immediately stopped when I stood up and spoke.

"Thank you for saving Jem, Dana."

She then turned to look back at me, eyes once again not showing any emotion as she asked,"How is she?"

"She got sick but.... I think she's already fine. She'll probably be able to go to our class again tomorrow."

"I scared her that much, huh?" she mumbled, letting out a bitter chuckle.

"What?"

She shook her head."It's nothing."

"She's grateful, you know."

"Did she tell you?"

"No, but I know--"

"Yeah." she scoffed."Go back to your room now. I know you're strong and all but rules are rules."

"She's truly grateful." I firmly said and that must have annoyed her because she just turned her back at me and walked away, leaving me behind without saying any words.

I just sighed as I went back to sit on the bench.

I clearly heard what Dana said. She must have thought that Jem got sick after seeing her demon form.

I still haven't talked to Jem about the incident but I'm sure she doesn't feel like that.

And yes. Even if Dana already told me that Abby won't be coming tonight, I will still wait.

Because a part of me still believe that she will come.

"Are you waiting for me?"

My eyes grew wide as I turned to look up at the girl who's surprisingly grinning down at me.

I just watched her as she tilted her head to check at the direction where Dana went off before taking a seat beside me.

She was grinning and I never felt this confused in my life before.

I thought she would somehow look stressed and deflated because of the things she had to do as the student council president, but here she is, smiling brightly at me.

Not to mention that this is also the first time I've seen her this happy.

"Missed me?" she asked, proud smile playing on her lips.

"No. Dream on."

I don't know why but there's just something about the way she's smiling that irritates me.

She didn't say anything and just kept on dumbly staring at me with that sickening smile on her lips.

"Can you stop?!" I snapped, glaring at her.

"You missed me, right? Couldn't blame you since you didn't see me the whole day. Must have been hard for you."

My eyebrows couldn't help but raised at that."What's with you? Are you Abby?"

"Of cou--"

I gasped, suddenly remembering what happened to Jem."Are you a doppelganger?"

She laughed."I doubt anyone could copy someone as powerful as me."

And that's it. There is no way this is the same Abby I know.

I better go because this just screams danger.

I stood up and was about to escape when I felt her hand on my wrist, pulling me back on the bench.

My face landed near her neck because of her hard pull and that's when I realized something.

"You're drunk." I asked but it came out like a statement.

She chuckled."I'm not. Just had a few shot."

I looked at her.

As far as I remember, Sheki told me that Abby does not go to bars because she doesn't drink.

"If I have known that alcohol tastes this great, I would have been a regular on the bar every Friday nights too."

"Why did you drink?"

"For no reason." she answered, shrugging."It just so happens that I found out Michael has a stash of alcohol in the office."

"You wouldn't even bat an eyelid on that if you don't have a problem."

She chuckled."You talk as if you've known me for years. Are you Rans?"

And that's it!

A drunk Abby is just as worse as a doppelganger.

I'm leaving.

I was about to stand up and leave for the second time when I suddenly hear her speak.

"This is killing me. I don't know what to do, Sela." she muttered and as I turned to look back at her, I saw her staring up to the night sky."Why do Black Shadows even exist? I just want to kill them. All of them so that there is no need for innocent people to sacrifice their lives anymore. But guess what? I'm not that powerful."

"Abby...."

I'm at loss for words.

I certainly didn't expect to see Abby like this.

"Rans is right. If I go and attack them there, I'll just end up dying in vain. But I--" she paused, eyes now locking with mine."As the President, I need to do something, right? I have to--"

"Ssshhh." I shushed her."Being the president doesn't mean you have to do things on your own. There's a reason why you have other members."

She snorted."And here I thought I would have you on my side but you're just saying the same thing as Rans."

I hate to say this but....

"That's because Rans is right. Don't do things on your own, Abby. Please. You're not alone. You have the student council members. You have the students. You have me."

She stared at me. Eyes boring hole into my soul that I can honestly feel my insides shaking."I have you?"

"You have me."

She smiled. A beautiful smile which will probably stay on my mind for a few days."I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you before. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you when you needed a friend. Believe me, I've always wanted to just reveal myself to you, comfort you and let you feel that you're not alone but.... I couldn't do that. That's just way beyond what I have been ordered to do. That's--..." she paused when she saw me tearing up."W-Why are you crying?"

So I am right.

Abby is the one who has always been protecting me from my bullies.

Those times where everything seems to go wrong and I just wanted to give up on my life, something will suddenly happen that would put a smile on my face.

And it's Abby's doing.

Abby has been watching me ever since.

And that's probably the reason why we feel this kind of attachment towards each other.

I shook my head."Maybe the reason why I'm here and still breathing is because I didn't really feel alone before. Maybe because I felt that you were always there for me that I didn't think about giving up." she was frowning so I continued,"Abby, you didn't need to show yourself physically for me to feel like you cared about me because I could feel it. The feeling that there is still someone who's rooting for me... I felt it."

She smiled."Starting from now, you have me. I will always be here for you. I promise."

Maybe...

Maybe Drunk Abby is my new favorite kind of Abby.







--






I slept at around 12am after I finished talking to Abby and woke up at 8am to check on the direction near the forest.

I plan to met with Abby last night to tell her about my premonition but after she told me all of her worries about protecting this school, I came up to a decision that there is no way I'm still going to tell her about it.

For the sole reason that my premonition is exactly the thing that she's worrying about.

However, I doubt I should keep this kind of information to myself only.

I'm planning on telling about this to Rans instead.

I'm not sure if she's going to believe me--scratch that. I'm sure she's not going to believe me. Who am I to have the powers to see the future anyway? Especially since I heard no one has this kind of power before.

But I still want to inform her about this.

It's just her choice if she will believe me or not.

I just had my gaze at the forest when I felt my phone rings. It was a message from Sheki asking me where I am and that I should get ready for our class now.

I looked at the time on my phone. It was already 9am. I couldn't believe I was standing up here and just looking at the direction of the forest for an hour now.

If I got it right, my vision happened right after my alarm went off which is 8:30am. And now that it is already 9am, I'm quite sure my vision won't happen now.

With that, I texted Sheki that I'm on my way back before actually walking back to our dorm building.






--




"Jem, are you really okay now?" I asked Jem as soon as she took her seat in the classroom in front of mine.

She beamed."Never been better."

I chuckled."I can see that. It seems like you really miss school."

"Well, it's fun learning."

And I don't doubt her about that. Among us, Jem is actually the one who looks like she really enjoys studying.

I then glanced at the still empty chairs on the front row.

Abby and Rans are still not here.

Are they not going to class again?

And as if on cue, the classroom grew quiet as our eyes followed the two figures who are entering the classroom.

The two just both sat on their seats, unbothered by the amount of stares everyone is giving them as always but not until I saw Abby cast a quick look on my direction and even flashed a small smile before completely occupying her seat.

And I was stunned.

Sure, we're on talking terms. And Abby has already given me a lot of smile that were a hundred times better than that small smile. But this time is different.

Abby actually dared to acknowledge my presence inside our classroom for the first time.

Yes, for the first time.

I felt all tingly inside but I decided to keep it especially after hearing Sheki speak beside me.

"Tell me I'm just imagining things."

"Huh?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"I think I just saw Abby glanced and smiled at you so tell me I'm just imagining things!"

I chuckled."You're just imagining things."

She let out a heavy breath."I knew it. Ugh! It's because of my lack of sleep."

I don't know how sleeping at 9pm and then waking up at 9am can be considered as lacking of sleep when that's like a solid 12 hrs of sleep.












--





A little bit nervous, I knocked on the door of the student council office and just stood still while waiting for someone to open the door.

I can still remember the first time I went here to make an application meeting for Abby.

And now, I'm back at this again.

And it's funny how I feel a lot more nervous now compared to the last time I've been here.

Maybe it's because it's Rans.

That girl looks really intimidating. She almost looks like one of my bullies in my past school.

Then suddenly the door opened and my eyes widened, seeing Justin in front of me.

He looks surprised to see me too but after gaining back his self, his lips pulled back to flash a big smile.

"Nice seeing you here again. Hello Sela!"

I returned the smile, though a bit awkward. Like hell, he's giving me that huge smile probably thinking that I'm here to see him. I don't want him suddenly getting disappointed when I tell him I'm not here for him.

"Hello, Justin."

He widely opened the door and gestured for me to come in."What brings you here?"

"I... Can I talk to Rans?"

"Rans?" he asked. If he's disappointed, he did good in masking that.

"Yes, I--"

"Last time, it was our president. Now, it's our vice. Will you look for us according to our position? Ugh! I'm gonna be last." he joked even ruffling his hair in feign annoyance.

I chuckled."I'll make sure I'll look for you next."

"I'll keep that in mind." he smiled."Wait. I'll get Rans."

Just a minute after Justin left, Rans showed up in front of me and I didn't know why but I think I kind of took a single step backward with her sudden appearance.

There's just really something about her aura that screams like 'Peasants are not allowed to talk to me'

She didn't say anything and just blankly stared at me as if saying that I should be the first one to talk since I am the one who needs her.

And so I did.

With just a little stuttering.

"C-Can we like.... talk somewhere... uhm...private? J-Just the two of us."

She kept her stare at me.

She's probably thinking who am I to make that kind of demand from her.

She's probably going to throw--

"Follow me." was her only words as she went straight to the door and walk out of the office.

--

A/N:

Sorry for the late update. I'm a slowpoke. But writing this isn't really easy, you know 😭