212 Surprising News (1/2)

When school ended came the time for us to make our way over to the club room in the secondary building. The walk over there wasn't anything special since we've taken this exact route every day for almost the entire school year up until now. Come to think about it, since it is technically the beginning of Spring now, that means that it's almost an entire year since I got the Socialization app. It's still somewhat early to be thinking about the whole one-year anniversary thing because there's still an entire season to go until summer, but I still feel as if I've been through a lot in the short time that I had the app installed.

”Hope you're ready for Erith,” Irina tugged on the sleeve of my blazer and whispered to me.

”I think I'll manage,” I bitterly chuckled as I waited for Loyd to unlock the clubroom door.

Since Loyd is technically the club leader, he has the keys. That means that no one is in the clubroom, so I can still relax for a bit longer until the eventual confrontation with Erith. What does she want though? She talked about wanting to see who the person was that lured Luna away from her usual social circle, but that could mean a lot of things. Ever since this new timeline replaced the old one, I still have not grasped clearly what is different in its entirety.

”Nervous?” Muria smiled,amused by my countenance of discomfort.

”Somewhat,” I sighed.

I followed Loyd and the others into the club room, and I had to stop myself and think for a second. I almost subconsciously made my way over to the seat by the window where I sat when I was Alvelyn. Now that I am back as Alevian, and the real Alvelyn is there, that means my seat is back to the one by the doorway at the very end of the long, rectangular table.

”Still not used to being back?” Noah whispered to me in a cheeky manner.

”Somewhat,” I muttered back.

”So what do you think?” he grabbed a chair and sat down next to me. His gaze was over at Loyd, and I followed his gaze to where Loyd was. At that instant, I caught a glimpse of Loyd looking up and glancing over at Alvely, holding that stare for a few seconds, and then looking down at the homework notebook that he had taken out from his school bag.

”Right,” I sighed and frowned. ”That's a thing.”

”What're you gonna do about it?” Noah asked me in a soft whisper.

”I don't know,” I responded. ”Knowing that Alvelyn is technically me, I'm kinda against her being with a boy... Just the thought of me—you know what, it's kinda disgusting for me to even think about that.”

”Wow,” Noah whistled.

”But it's her choice,” I ultimately said. ”I guess it's the same for her, so I'm not gonna do anything to try and interfere. She has her own conscious now, so my thoughts aren't the sole determiner for her decisions.”

”Pretty mature of you to think that,” Noah chuckled.

”Shut up,” I looked down at my phone that I had just retrieved from my pant pocket.

Noah then continued to stare at me for a bit, keeping his eyes open as he gazed at me. However, after a few seconds, he seemed to be bored so he got up from the seat next to me and moved over to where he usually sat opposite of Loyd. Then, he started chatting with Loyd to pass time. I didn't take part in their conversation. Instead, I was trying to relax by reading a novel on my phone. It's been quite some time since I've read this novel. I didn't have the chance in the past month when I was Alvelyn, and I didn't come to reading it while at home so the story of this novel is a bit hazy to me, but I'm pretty sure that after a while I'll remember.

Reading something did somewhat distract me from Erith, but when there came the sound of footsteps at the door, my heart started palpitating. For some reason, I was quite nervous and somewhat anxious about the whole situation, even though I know for sure that no real harm would come to me. To be fair, I don't think anything would happen. Erith is a nice girl. I learned that when I was Alvelyn. However, it's still somewhat unsettling for me.

”Hey yo,” Zaksus slid open the door and greeted us. On his face was a pleasant and joyful smile, indicating that he's in a good mood.

”It's you,” I let out a sigh of relief as I brought a hand to my chest to calm down my palpitating heart.

”What do you mean it's me?” On Zaksus's face was a confused expression, but it was only for a brief period of time. The smile on his face quickly returned as he took a seat in his usual spot.

”You're awfully happy for a Monday,” Loyd commented. ”What's the news?”

”It's almost Spring break,” Zaksus explained.

”That's it?” A look of disbelief appeared on Noah's face. ”You got all excited for that? It's still weeks ahead of us.”

”Let me finish,” Zaksus complained. ”The basketball team's gonna be doing a week-long camp with other school's teams for the first week of break where we're just gonna play for the entire week straight.”

”And you're excited for that?” the look of bewildered disbelief on Noah's face transitioned to one of a genuine confusion.”

”Yeah,” Zaksus nodded. ”Cause ball is life.”

”Come to think about it,” Loyd said as he looked over at me. ”Alevian, you're a huge basketball fan, aren't you?”

”Y-yeah,” I said, looking up from my phone to see a look of pleasant surprise on Zaksus's face.

”Alevian's pretty good too,” Loyd added.

”Really?” Zaksus said as he looked enthusiastically over at me. ”Did you see the game last night? The Royals vs the Vanguards?”

”Part of it,” I answered, thinking back on the time that I spent as Alvelyn sitting in front of the living room television.

”We should definitely play sometimes,” Zaksus exclaimed.

”Huh?” I chuckled in disbelief. ”Me versus one of the nation's top high school prospect? That sounds kinda fair.”

”I'm not saying one-on-one,” Zaksus continued. ”Stop by the gym sometime after school once we're done with the Spring tournament. That's our last big competition so after that, we just play every day.”

”Maybe,” I nodded.

Just as I was about to look down and return to my novel, I saw Alvelyn glancing over at me. On her face was a rather interested look. Is she also interested in the sport? I guess if she's the female version of me, then she'll probably like the sport as well.