21 Bonds - Part 1 (2/2)

She waves as she continues walking forward, not even looking back to properly say goodbye.

Does she really have to go out of her way to print things out? Well, I suppose it wouldn't be Jen if she didn't give it a hundred percent. Her victory in the vote is pretty much a given at this point, but it says a lot about her work ethic when she's still willing to go all out despite her assured victory. It wouldn't be weird to say that no one will dare to go up against Jennifer. It would be plain embarrassing to not get more than a single vote in a class election, and I'm almost one hundred percent certain that even if the most popular guy in our class ran against her, he still wouldn't get more than 1/10th of the class' votes.

She's just that much more charismatic than everyone else.

And somehow, even when she slips into that teasing habit of hers, I still find myself hung up by her every word. Call me messed up for it, but that's just the kind of person she is. Even when she says something condescending or hurtful, it sounds more like playful fun than anything else.

I think of this a lot but, if it hadn't been for Chase then I never would have spoken up against it. After all, I hadn't even realized how badly it was affecting me until he spoke up about it.

I guess he just has a talent for going against the flow of things, even if he does look like a loser for it.

I remove my phone from my bag in order to scroll through the contacts list. For now, I should call to find out where he is.

There's no guarantee that the nerd club is happening today after all. It'd be better for me to find out before I waste a bunch of time walking all the way over there. My bus leaves in a few minutes after all.

…

Ah, that's right. I never got his number, did I?

Geez, how could we both be so absent-minded? I guess I'll have to try my luck after all.

After slipping my phone back into my bag, I head over to the second floor in search of my objective; the Sci-fi/Fantasy club room.

It's the school sanctioned home of the geek circle.

I'd heard rumors that this was once a healthy club of twenty members last semester. Luckily, even if the club still had such large numbers, entering that room wouldn't scare me as much as any sports club would. After all, my Androphobia doesn't act up as much when it comes to nerds and the like.

Regardless, I won't have to worry about entering such a crowded room. That club is, fortunately, now a shell of its former self. Today, there are only five members: Chase, his two geek friends, the club president and his girlfriend. That's a net loss of 15 members since the semester began.

Surely the entire club wasn't made up of seniors, so what on earth could have possibly caused this sudden downward spike in membership?

Well, the answer to that question would be Nicholas Albert. That kid stands out as obnoxious even among the other geeks of Sunchester High. He is loud-mouthed and annoying to the core; the complete opposite of the graceful Jennifer Swift, who already stands tall at the top of our entire year. You might call her a proud lioness; the respected and revered queen of the freshman jungle. And Nicholas… Well, he's more like a rowdy Baboon than anything else. It's not surprising that his personality clashed with almost everyone else at the club, but what surprised me more was how everyone ended up quitting over it. Was his personality really that bad? When I heard the story first hand, I couldn't believe it myself.

The whole thing makes me second guess my entire thought process from back when I decided to pretend-date one of his friends. I'm surprised that it went over as well as it did considering the group's history.

I guess I should thank Chase for not being as much of a dweeb as the other two. Though, he's still kind of a dweeb sometimes.

I sigh as I've finally arrived at the door.

”Haaa... So? Why are you two out here?”

Before me are the geeks I'd just been thinking about moments ago: Sigmund and Nicholas.

They're standing just outside the door looking somewhat impatient about whatever's going on.

”Uh, are you lost? In case you didn't know, honey, this is our club room. And for reference, it's also thot-free zone so feel free to get lost asap. Thanks.”

Right, because this is EXACTLY what I wanted to get into right now…

”Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that this was your club room. Judging by the smell I could have sworn that this was where the school burned its garbage. And anyway, isn't Reyna in this club? You need to get over that misogynistic attitude of yours.”

”Heh, whatever. I don't wanna talk about this with someone like you. We're waiting for Chase to open up so we can start club already.”

Wait, huh? Waiting for Chase?

”What do you mean? Is he locked in there or something?”

”And why on Namek would I answer that? You're not one of us, woman. Get lost.”

Right, this one's completely hopeless.

I turn my attention to Sigmund, who looks a little flustered by our hostile conversation.

”U-um, Chris-sama said that Chase-dono took the keys from him for something taisetsu so we've been matteimasu for him to open up.”

Can you speak English, please?!

”Wait, open up? Then he's…”

He's still in there?

With her?

Does this mean that Chase and Momo are still trapped inside?

After all this time? Then…

”…”

I feel uncomfortable all of a sudden. Momo and Chase being together unsupervised just doesn't sit well with me. I mean, come on Momo, why with him?! You can do better than that, right?

Ah whatever, I need to calm myself down for now.

”Haa.”

I exhale softly.

In any case, there's no point in them hiding for this long if they're already cornered. The two of them should just fess up and get this over with as soon as possible, or Momo and I are gonna miss our bus home.

”H-hey…”

”…”

Sigmund and Nicholas stare at my back as I walk past them and face the door. I'm going to have to call out and end this right now. The truth is, Chase and I have probably been delaying this for far too long. We're going to need to have a long talk about everything between us.

Thinking that, I lift my hand to knock on the door and call out to him.

But.

The moment I flick my wrist, the door, which was previously still all this time, violently swings open.

The sudden movement left me in a state of shock.

”H-huh? Chase?”

Before I could gather my thoughts, I'm faced by the person I had come over to see in the first place. He looks disheveled and almost tired, as if he had just woken up and was late for class. His hair was a mess and his eyes clearly seemed to communicate panic.

”Ah, Scarlet? Sorry, I'm kind of in a hurry right now. Can we talk tomorrow?”

Huh? Tomorrow? But Jen said it had to be now, didn't she?

”Um, actually…”

”Sorry, and thanks! See ya!”

He hurriedly rushes past me without paying much attention to my words and runs off toward the first floor staircase.

Well, at the very least it doesn't seem that Momo is with him, but…

He had absolutely no interest in what I was about to say.

”W-what on earth was that all about…?”

That was completely unlike him. He hasn't turned me down like that before today so I'm at a loss as for what to do right now.

And it seems that Nicholas also shares my sentiment.

”Dammit, he left before we could say anything again.”

Wait, again?

”What do you mean?”

”Ugh… You're still here? Why don't you just go away and fix your ugly makeup or something?”

”No way, is it ruined?!”

I pull my compact mirror out of my hand bag and begin checking on my face.

”Hahaha! She actually checked! That's rich! Hahahaha!”

”…”

I almost smack him for laughing, but I somehow manage to keep myself composed. I carefully close the mirror and place it back into my bag.

”I'm not sure what was so funny about that. Maybe you should, I dunno… take a hint from someone who actually cares about how they look? That way our janitors won't get called out all the time for letting cockroaches run through the halls all the time.

”Huh?! No matter how you look at it I'm human! Get your eyes checked, dude!”

”A human? Don't be silly… Oh wait, you're Nicholas aren't you? Sorry, you're so disgusting that I somehow mistook you for a cockroach. I'm really sorry, it won't happen again.”

”What'd you say, bitch?!”

”H-hold up man, calm down. You promised that you'd be nicer to Chase's girlfriend, remember?”

Sigmund, calms his companion as he was about to continue the slew of insults.

I stand corrected then. Nicholas really is that bad. Geez, why am I forced to deal with this bigot so regularly?

”Sigmund, what did he mean by 'again'? Is Chase really always in a hurry to leave school at this hour?”

The two of them turn to face me curiously.

”Huh, seriously? Even you don't know, Scarlet?”

Then, they turn their backs on me to whisper between themselves.

”What should we do then, Nick-kun? I thought you said she knew about Chase's secret life. If she doesn't know why he leaves all the time, then…”

”D-don't be ridiculous! Of course she does! This is probably just unrelated to that…”

Huh? Secret?

”Hey, what are you two talking about over there?”

”N-nothing!”

They're strangely flustered. Does Chase have something that he doesn't want me to know?

Then, Jen might be right after all… Leaving him alone for a week was too much. Even putting the Momo thing aside, there's no guarantee that he hasn't been meeting with another girl in secret.

If that's the case then I can't be wasting time right now. I need to stop him before my standing with the popular kids is ruined.

”… Give me Chase's number.”

The two of them go eerily quiet for a moment.

It's a bit much, especially for these two loud-mouthed geeks.

”Chase's…”

”Number?”

”Yes, his number. Are you both deaf? Hurry and give it to me.”

”No, I think there's a bigger problem here. Scarlet, you two have been dating for over a week now and you don't have his phone number yet?”

… Oh.

Aha.

Ahahahahaha.

How embarrassing…

I didn't stop to realize how that sounded at all.

”No, it's just that I… I just don't have my phone today, that's all. Look, just lend me yours! It's really important!”

Nicholas puts his finger to his chin.

”Hmm…Well, even if you say that…”

Huh? Wait a minute.

Don't tell me…

”We don't actually have his number.”

They're just as hopeless!!

”Actually I don't think I've even seen his phone before. Have you Nick?”

”Nope, I wonder if he even has one to begin with.”

Don't be ridiculous, of course he does. You two were just too absent-minded to grab his phone number. Well, not that I'm any different. Idiot, Scarlet. You big idiot!

Still though, where does that leave me?

”Um…”

Sigmund speaks up while checking his phone.

”If you wanna go after him then you'll want to take the metro to the city. If you miss him there then you're on your own though. We have no idea where he goes afterwards. It should leave in about five minutes. If you run you just might make it.”

F-five minutes?! Just how far away do you think that is? It's no wonder he was in such a hurry then!

”Ahh! What should I do?!”

There's no time to think! I have to try making it! My high school career depends on it!

Before I knew it, I had already broken into a sprint through the hallways.

Let's just hope I don't get stopped by any teachers…