Lyan
Getting rid of my guys to strike a deal with Ruan was proving to be more difficult than what I had thought it would be.
Yesterday after eating pizza they had stuck to me like gum and we'd spent the whole night on Jack's comfy bed, although for whatever reason they hadn't really tried to start anything, which was weird considering they normally did.
I petted Fluffy from where he was sitting on the bed in between Mark and me and smiled when he jumped up and down with excitement. He was just the cutest. I didn't understand why the guys didn't like him.
I scratched him under his ear and turned around, willing to stay in bed until it was way past midday when all of the sudden the door bursted open.
" What are you doing here?" I screamed at Ruan, anger rising by the second.
Ruan just leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms.
" Shouldn't you be getting ready to go to class?"
That was funny. His question made me laugh so uncontrollably that I almost fell down the bed, and I would have if it weren't for Orus holding me by the leg and dangling me like a potato sack from the side of the bed.
" What's so funny?" Ruan frowned.
" That you think we've been going to classes" Jack snorted.
" Aren't you supposed to go?" Ruan asked, genuine curiosity on his tone. I guessed it was normal. I doubted he had ever gone to class, there weren't any schools on Jinasia, lucky them.
" Supposed to" Mark said with a shrugg.
" Oh" Ruan nodded, agreeing with us. " I just thought you wouldn't like to become monster food, but it seems I was wrong. You're so strong" Ruan's smile had something off as he smiled at us, all his fangs perfectly visible.
What did he mean monster food? Wasn't that supposed to be off?
I eyed Mark, but he shook his head in a silent conversation, so I turned to look at Orus, who had forgotten I was still dangling from the bed and only after seeing me like that did he remember and pulled be back up, apologizing.
" What do you think?" I whispered into his ear.
Instead of answering me Orus turned to look at Jack and they both exchanged glances before they shrugged. Really helpful, really. How would I ever do things without them? Seriously? They were sooooo useful.
I glared at them, they were never useful when they should be, and then I looked at Ruan. I was going to get answers one way or another and if my guys didn't know them maybe the demon did.
" How do you know that, or are you just guessing?"
" Oh, that?" Ruan smirked while he looked down on us. " I just read it at the entrance. It was in a whiteboard, clearly visible"
" What was written there exactly?" Mark asked, his head moving every now and then as if he was having a conversation with himself, which was very likely true.
" It said that class attendance is mandatory, but that the... ranking?" Ruan's tone got doubtful when he reached that word, as if he wasn't sure what it was. " is not and is off."
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that the ranking was really off, but it pissed me that we still had to go to class, but at least I wouldn't have to get good marks, just appear.
I looked at Jack and he was making a face. Orus was looking at me with a smile and Mark was shaking his head, holding a conversation with Oscar.
I looked between us and then to Ruan, who having been here for way less than us had managed to discover what we hadn't all this time, not that we'd really tried. Now that I thought about it maybe we should've looked for real information before deciding everything was going to go according to how we wanted.
" Thanks for the information" I smiled at Ruan while laying back on bed. " But why exactly are you here?"
Ruan looked at me with disgust before sitting on the floor.
" Because we have to go to class"
My eyes got wider and so did my guy's. Fuck, we had totally forgotten about that.
I let Fluffy on the bed, which Ruan immediately pointed at, so I picked him up, and ran to my room.
I glanced at my phone and saw that we were completely late for class. It was so bad that we'd be lucky if we even arrived by last hour. We could do that tomorrow, right?
I started stalling as I grabbed my clothes and twirled them around, faking that I was examining them to get more time, although who was I trying to fool I had no idea. There wasn't anyone else in the room. I really, really didn't want to go to class.
I ended up putting on my clothes, but I wasn't in a good mood when I went to the common room to find all my guys sitting on the couch, already dressed and cleaned up.
" Come on, were going to be late" Mark grabbed my hand and tried to get me out, but I pulled back. There was no harm in trying to get away from class, was there?
" Can't we just stay?" I whined. " It's almost time for the classes to end anyway"
Orus checked his phone and nodded.
" She's right on that"
I gave the biggest smile I could to Orus, he had sided with me and I appreciated it, and then I looked at Jack who seemed undecided between going or not.
" Come on, you know you want to" Ruan grabbed my shoulders as if we were old friends and then he turned to look at my guys, who were eyeing him like prey, or at least Orus was, and growling. " You know how she is, can't you side with me?" He pouted, using puppy eyes.
I looked at them and was tempted to do what he wanted. Those eyes weren't fair! They were like a real puppy's eyes. They were so big and sparkly! No, I couldn't fall for that.
I drew my eyes away from his and found that Orus and Jack were looking at him with disdain, nothing like I had been looking at Ruan. Mark was looking at him with more curiosity than disdain in his eyes, but there was still a little bit of everything in them.
I pulled my eyes away from all of them and looked back at Ruan, who had lost the puppy eyes and was now looking at us with contempt.
" What is the real reason?" I asked, emphasising the word real.
Ruan looked at me and winked. Then he looked at the rest of us.
" There is no reason. It's just that I doubt Ashmoder will be happy if you ended up dead"
I looked at him and saw the truth in his eyes. There was definitely something else hidden amongst the concern, but he was concerned and for now that would have to do.
I sighed and grabbed Mark's hand back.
" Let's go" I groaned.
Orus and Jack sighed so loudly that anyone nearby must've heard and Mark and Ruan smiled at me, though Ruan's smile gave me the creeps and Mark's didn't. Mark's sent shivers down my spine and made my heart beat faster.
Turns out I never should've agreed to go to class. It just turned out that Mister Ress, one of the few teachers I didn't actively hate, had died during the attack, so now the whole class of the undead were being taught by the same pot smelling dude that I had ran away from when I was still figuring out what I was. That was just my luck. And to top it off no other class teachers had died so I'd be alone with a bunch of people that thought that our class made them unable to feel pain and a teacher that just smelled like weed and was in another dimension all the time.
I opened the door fearing the worse and I was right.
I looked at them with disdain as they ran around, the teacher smoking a very weird looking cigar in the middle of the floor, not caring about the mess or the blood at all.
I closed back that door. Did I really have to go inside?
" What are you waiting for?" A soft voice whispered into my ear.
I jumped up at least a few feet and turned around, glaring at Ruan, who was smiling down at me.
" That's none of your business" I glared at him.
" I think it is. You have to tell me what you want in exchange for keeping Fluffy" Ruan said the name with a smirk, as if he thought it was funny "away from me after all"
It only dawned on me then that it was very likely that he had forced us to go to class so that he could talk to me alone, but that theory had more holes than Swedish cheese. There was no way for him to know that we had different classes, he didn't even know our timetable, and he couldn't have known that he'd be paired with me. There were too many loopholes in that theory for it to be it. Maybe he really was worried about me.
Now that I thought about it it would make more sense. He would certainly die by dad's hands if I got hurt even a little bit. No matter what he said I always had the upper hand and I couldn't forget it.
I smirked as I thought about it, happy to have all the power, I would have to try that out. Maybe I could make Ruan act like a dog and beg, or make him explode something. That would definitely be so cool!
" What are you thinking about in that little head of yours?"
I snapped back into reality when something hit me in the temple time and time again in a repetitive motion. I got angry and snapped, taking the finger and slightly bending it as I glared at Ruan, who was laughing his head off.
" I'll tell you. I want you to take something for me"
Ruan immediately snapped back to attention and he stayed still, listening to me talking.
" I want you to take something that has been spelled to stay on a single place. Can you do it?"
Ruan looked at me, trying to decifer my intentions, but I wasn't going to give him any clue. He'd eventually know it, but he'd have to agree to help me first.
" I can do it" He said slowly. " But I need to be in the same room as the object for it to work"
I smiled and turned around.
" Great" I said without looking at him and opening the door. " We'll do it tonight"
Ruan grabbed my hand and squeezed it, then he kinda made puff and disappeared, but I could still feel him nearby. I couldn't put it into words, but I knew he was there, his aura was still tangible around me.
" Aren't you going to go to class like the rest of us?" I screamed to the nothingness. " I thought you were a student!"
The air around me chuckled and then Ruan appeared again.
" Why would I do that?" He asked while his shining eyes looked straight at me.
" Because you're a good student?" And I really, really didn't want to suffer alone, so he had to suffer alongside me.
" Nah, I'm not, but do tell the teacher I was here" Ruan smirked and was gone, this time for good.
Insufferable demon!
I groaned and went inside, getting hit on the head with a sock that smelled like death as soon as I entered.
I grabbed the sticky sock from my forehead and glared at all of them. That was it. It was war.
I took off my own smelly socks, that had seen better days but that I didn't change because I loved the colors and they had been a gift from my parents when I was little, so I tried to keep them as clean as I could and threw it to the nearest guy's head.
The guy took the sock and shook his head, gagging immediately. A wicked grin spread across my face as I took off my other shoe and picked my other sock. If they wanted a smelly war they were going to have a smelly war.
Once the class ended all of us smelled like death, thanks to the socks and even underpants that everyone was throwing around, I only ever threw socks and tried to avoid the boxers as well as I could, and weed, courtesy of the teacher.
As soon as I came out I walked up to my room, not caring if the guys were waiting for me and went immediately to the shower. Luckily it was already last period so I didn't have any more classes for the day and I could rest in peace, but it had just been one class and I was already tired and ready to give up on life. I didn't know how I was going to deal when I had more than one a day.
The few days we had managed to not go to class had been heaven. We woke up late and then played the whole day and we went to bed and ate in town, courtesy of the guys, whenever we wanted, but now that classes had begun again it would all be gone.
I washed my hair as well as I could and once I was done I put on my pijama, not wanting to go out now that today had been such an stressful day, but everyone else had other plans.
I was laying on the couch watching some shitty TV show with Fluffy on my lap and Ruan seating on my left, curiously enough he had reappeared the moment there was something other than class to do, when my guys entered, looking concerned for a second until they saw me sitting on the couch. Then their expressions turned to relief.
" This is where you were?" Orus asked, clinging onto me.
" Yeah, why?" I looked at them as they shook their heads and Mark got red, disappearing into his room.
" We looked for you and you weren't there" Jack's voice was dark and broken, as if he was confessing to his deepest fears. " We thought you were gone again"
My heart ached and I went up to him and hugged him as hard as I could. Having lost Fluffy not that long ago I could tell how they were feeling and it was awful. I never wanted them to feel that way ever again.
Jack and I stayed in that hug until Mark shook my shoulder.
" Go get dressed"
" Why?" I asked Mark. We didn't have anything going on, or at least nothing that I knew of.
"Let's go eat outside, like always"
I looked at their expectant eyes and groaned. I put on my clothes, some pants and a shirt with the bandages still on since we were going out where people could see me, and went back to the guys with a sigh. I really didn't want to do it, but I also didn't wany to disappoint them.
Ruan changed clothes in a second and hid his horns and then he followed us as we went to the town, where we were going to eat at a pancake place, because if I was going out when I didn't want to I was at least getting something good out of it.
" We're eating here!" I shouted as soon as we got close to the bakery, that for whatever reason didn't close until midnight, not that I was complaining.
" Really?" Jack, asked, raising his eyebrows.
" Pancakes for dinner?" Orus asked, dejected.
I looked at his poor face and then at the pancakes and I made a decision.
" Don't eat if you don't want to!" I screamed as I opened the door while I held Mark's hands, the only one who hadn't complained and Ruan followed suit behind us, not really caring at all.
I smiled as I took my seat and waited for the guys to stop groaning and come inside. As I was waiting I could've sworn I saw a shadow outside, lingering just outside of view from the corner of my eye, but when I focused my attention on it it was gone. Weird.
I was hesitating on whether to go out and see what that was about when the waitress appeared with a smile and the menu and I forgot about it all.