SSHS 114 It was the day that they had to return to the school after a week- long rest. It was the day that they will relieve the experiences, the bonding that they had over the rest week. The day of their return, they will know the standing of each other in the societal ladder, they will know how the people around them will treat just based on their overall score of their exam. Aside from all of those, three students were dreading the day that they come back to the school. They are sure that they do not need to worry about their scores since they are known to be achievers, but the incident last rest week was the thing that would put themselves in a tight rope. As the students are flocking all the bulletin boards in the school as they enter the school grounds, these three students were not even bothering to do so— after all, they are indeed aware of their standing when it comes to scores— but they are really doing their best to be stealthy when walking through the corridors and to no
SSHS 115It was… anti-climatic. Normally, in novels or any media that involves spies, missions and undercovers, it was always with the non- stop and packed with action. There was always an explosion somewhere, the anxiety inducing stand- off, the witty banters between enemies and the undeniable chemistry between the leads. But now, it was all the opposite of it all. It was anti- climatic to the point that the normal things that can be seen from a spy novel are nowhere to be found in this place. Although that is what was expected by the two rookie undercover spies as they were called to the office of the Dean, all that happened is that they were informed of the progress of the mission: about the intruder during the Halloween Event and who might be the accomplice from the primary suspects that they have observed. However, when Hestia and Albert were informed of the happenings, it was already over and solved. No further assistance was needed from them nor was there a chasing scene or
SSHS 116 With a wide smile and that familiar humming, the brown haired third year skipped and jumped her way to the place where her favourite people are. She would often stumble upon some students who were already in the school in such an early morning— and in the cold week of November at that. Even though her article of clothing was a bit thin compared to the other students by the hallway, she was okay with it. In fact, she rarely feels cold, and when asked, she would reason, “I have a personal heater inside of me.” which would earn a weird stare or a funny reaction. Nonetheless, Freya was always greeting the people she passed by. Since it was the first day of the week, and the very day of the viewing of scores, and Freya made it a goal to herself to be extra early to avoid the crowd of students flooding every bulletin board at school. Although in her perspective, the score she has was ‘okay’, she knows to herself that if those scores were to be reported back to her parents, she w
SSHS 117 The fear and the adrenaline rush was long gone as they stayed cooped up in their Student Council Office, but Freya can still see and feel how the Student Council President, the Student Council Treasurer and the Student Council Auditor were still shaking up from the previous incident they have experienced. Although, Freya has taken it into her own hands to gather the things that the three of them dropped on the corridor for the sake of speed. She looked at the direction where Hestia was working with her duties as the Student Council Vice President and she seemed fine and calm. It is either she was not part of the whole incident or that she does not care at all. ‘Or maybe I can’t really read her at all.’ Freya thought to herself as she arranged the three bags she had in hand to one of the sofas inside the Student Council Office and also proceeded to brew some tea for the four Student Council members. She observed how they were acting: Hestia was helping Damian with the pape
SSHS 118 The situation was this: Freya and Excami were having a fun chat in one of the sofas as they drink tea and eat some biscuits, Damian and Hestia were talking in a wiper- like tone as they were reviewing one of the papers submitted by the Science Club— it was a proposal for an early Science Fair. Then there was Arthur who was still in a ball, shedding tears as he mourned the death of his gadgets. Although a remedy was given by Hestia, saying that, “We can make the students pay for the damages, surely, with the cameras in the halls, we will be able to identify them and bring them to the Guidance Council Office and there we will have them buy you new gadgets or pay for the repair.” But Hestia’s remedy was ignored as Arthur continued to mourn his gadgets, saying that no amount of money would bring them back like before. “And I don’t want new ones.” He added as he cried some more. In the end, the four people in the room let the Student Council Treasurer to mourn by himself in on
SSHS 119 She looked... completely new. Like she was some stranger and not the same girl they were with just a few months ago. She was... glowing and there was no sign of sadness nor any trauma that can be detected to her. It was like she never experienced any of those nasty things, like she was a real young sheltered girl that was naive to the whole world and was in the comfort of the school and in the warm embrace of her friends. She was smiling so brightly it almost rivalled the cute smile of Freya. She was... completely new. It was as if she was a new person altogether, not the same Yulia that they were talking and taking walks and shopping with just a few months ago. There was a long pause, everyone stared at the person who was just standing at the entrance of the Student Council. None of them dared to move or even say a word, not even Albert. It is either they are in awe or surprised because of the sudden appearance of the person in front of them. Her blonde hair was even brigh
SSHS 120 There were a lot of things to talk about, a lot of things to be clarified about the situation that they are in. After all, it is highly confusing if oneself was to detach from society altogether without any means of contact or even a goodbye. It was like she just… vanished. But now that she was in front of them, looking so fine and better than the last time they saw her, they just thought that maybe her disappearance was a good thing since she looked better now. That maybe her disappearance was her healing and trying to be better. But then again— “At least let us know where you went. We were so worried about you. You parents just said that you might drop out of school due to health issues but based on the last time that we saw you, their reasoning is so confusing and fear inducing.” Freya ranted out as she hugged the poor Yulia so tight she might as well pass out due to lack of oxygen. They were currently all sitting at the sofas inside the Student Council Office, all enjo
SSHS 121 Of all the people inside the room, only Hestia stayed unmoving in her place— on the side of Damian’s desk— as they all rushed to Yulia to give her a hug. Although it is to her relief that the girl finally recovered from all of her wounds: both physically and mentally, she doubts that everyone was keen to this change or improvement. A certain someone who hugged the girl so tight it is far from being a concerned person who dearly missed a friend. ‘And that tone of hers, it is not normal.’ She thought to herself as she watched Yulia laugh and snuggle from all the hugs she received. Still, Hestia ignored such observation and stored it on the back of her mind, to be discussed later when she and Albert are all on their own. It is better to let the blonde girl tell her story and provide clarity to everyone in the room, rather than to break such a delicate atmosphere and question someone based on a mere observation. After Yulia was done telling them all what happened after the bo
SSHS 247After the Thanksgiving dinner that night and that mission, the two rookie undercover spies went on with their days. They went on being the ‘normal’ third years that they are and continued being the third years that they are. No more missions were given to them after the mission about the Montague couple and they do not know if the headquarters of the ISO where sympathising with their shock or if there is really no more mission for them to do. But either way, they are glad that they were able to finish the mission in such a short time and also experience being students as they are.They went on and experienced things as if they were normal people and not some spies who were trained at the very young age. Not some undercover people who are in there for the sake of completing their mis
SSHS 246After the game it was already time for dinner, Damian and Excami won because none of them were able to find out what kind of thing they had and they were all tagged out of the game. It was fun for the most part but what everyone waited for was the thanksgiving dinner and it was satisfying. They enjoyed every bite and they waited for the dessert because it was the star of the dinner the dessert.Then after eating, they lounged a little longer by the dinner table and talked about all the other things, like the fun times that they had in school, the love story between the Montague couple how they met how they fell in love and then almost talked about how they conceived the children but thankfully damien and Excami stopped them before it happened. The Montague siblings almost asked about the families of Hestia and Albertand what kind of stori
SSHS 245Sometime later, it is already the Month Of October and things have been going smoothly both for the Montague siblings and for the two rookie undercover spies and for the Montague couple. for the course of the month of october, Hestia and Albert had been invited for dinners and lunches by either Damian or Excami and would always result for a dinner together with their parents and with that the bond between all of them had grow and become stronger and they were more close with each other than ever before.But there is something that the two rookie undercover spies can not pinpoint at all. because most of the past missions they have been assigned to, they are always making the opportunity to get close to the target; they are always making the opportunity to do something, to create a movement, a pattern, a path for their mission t
Sshs 244The next day, Hestia and Albert walked side by side to their classroom. Apparently, the whole school knew of the incident yesterday: Mrs. . Montague pulled them out for the whole day and never came back until the wee hours of the night. Some people tried to block them and ask a ton of questions about what happened yesterday; questions like: what happened? Where did you go? What did she say? Was she generous? Was she kind? Was she loving and sweet and like a saint when she visited back at the beach house? What did you talk about with her? Such a ton of questions were asked to them and yet they remained silent about it. No comment, no answers, just complete silence as they went through
SHS 243 They ate in silence, up until dessert. No one spoke a word and it stayed that way until they were brought into the library. No one spoke as each of them were encouraged to pick a book in the vast collection of books inside the library. As they sat into the chairs available at the library, only then did the conversation start at the pretence of wanting to know what book they found. “How about you, Hestia? Albert? What book did you pick?” Hestia and Albert then lifted up the books that they picked. Mrs. Montague cooed at the books in their hands and proceeded to analyse them. “Wow! You live up to your personality. Unlike someone else.” Mrs. Montague threw in the shade as she briefly looked at her children who were silently reading with their father on the other side of the library. It was not quite far, but it seemed that the Montague siblings were so immersed in what they were reading that they did not notice the shade that was thrown at them by their
SSHS 242 As the three of them sat in silence without any of them taking a bite of their food, they tried to process the information that was at their table. The Montague siblings have been showing two different personalities and all between being inside the school and at school. If at school, they were glorified as students who are the top role models; a fun and energetic one and a gentle ruler, both were on ground and knew how to touch some grass. At home, they are the arrogant siblings who think they are better than anyone and will not even go down to their current level. It was as if they know the a person with the same name and yet still different by how they act.&nb
SSHS 241 A new school year started right before their eyes. Without any mission to worry about, time passed by the two rookie undercover spies and with barely any notice, they were in their third years. There were a lot of things that happened but they were used to it and it passed by them like a flash of the camera and after that, it was already in the middle of the month of September. The voting for the new Student Council began and the whole school was bussing with noises and the representative of the running Student Council President was shouting and getting people to vote for their candidates. “Please vote for…” one student shouted. “No, please vote for…” another student shouted. It was the start of the shouting battle between the two parties running for the Student Council President position. It created so much commotion that Damian had to step up and break the commotion apart. “Enough with this! This is so immature of you! Can’t you go and make your da
SSHS 240 As the surroundings dimmed into darkness, the light sensors in the gymnasium began to light up. Freya’s eyes adjusted from the dark and into the light that the sensor lights brought up. She shielded her eyes with her hands from the sudden light and that was Albert’s cue to remove himself from the sight of the Senior Cheerleader and go behind her. This is not to catch her off guard--- oh she was already caught off guard by the time she mentioned the Pandora’s Box--- but it was his way to not let Freya do anything anymore that will put herself into more danger. It is better if she just surrenders to them in a plain and simple manner.&
SSHS 239 “By the way, how were the Montague siblings? I have not heard from them after that incident with Arthur.” Albert asked. The two rookie undercover spies were roaming around the campus, taking a leisure walk as they passed by some of the students who were headed for their extra curricular activities. The two of them do indeed have some activities too but it was all done. Hestia is done with her paper works and scheduling for the Student Council and Albert was also done with his portfolio for the Photography Club with the theme of ‘After Christmas’. There was a moment of silence to the part of Hestia before she answered the inquiry of her spy partner. “They have been normal, acting as they always have as far as I am concerned. Although Excami now has her guard up always and was weary of everything and everyone, she is as cheerful as ever. Well, it is Damian who changed. He became more strict and protective of his sister, and he also became colder.” Hest