SSHS 217 And yet, even if they arrived at the decision to not talk about such matter, the curiosity and the need to know for the answer behind their questions continued to probe inside their brains. It was so constant that it was getting hard to ignore and for it to be shoved back in to the back of their minds. And in the end, curiosity won. “Hey, Aaron, I have a question.” Albert started. Such statement caught the attention of the Basketball Star Player as he stopped what he was doing and curiously looked at the male undercover rookie spy. There was a bit more silence before Aaron gave the nod that signaled that it was okay to ask whatever question he has in mind. “Okay,” Albert cleared his throat for a moment. Some of the pudding still stuck in his throat. “So, before autumn, have you been here? In this café?” there was a tone of uncertainty in Albert’s voice. Hestia noticed it but never pointed it out and just continued eating her dessert. Such question tinkered in Aaron’s mind a
SSHS 218 Aaron already expected this. That he would be the last option that they could have when talking about trying to save Arthur, or at least to convince him to join their side. He already expected this, he knew that this was coming, he even ‘trained’ himself--- both mentally and emotionally for this--- but in the moment of it all, when it was finally announced to him that he is indeed the last resort for this thing, he cannot help but feel nervous and unsure. “Okay.” Was all that he could utter at that moment. He knew about this, but the moment it self being true is a new kind of truth puncher. “Okay, I can do that.” He repeated and tried to coat his dry throat with the remaining drops of coffee in his mouth. He was trembling a little, he knew that, but he cannot help but to do so. This did not go unnoticed in the trained eyes of the two rookie undercover spies. They noticed the trembling, and the uncertainty and being unsure laced in the voice of the Basketball Star Player. T
SSHS 219 The panic is evident at the face of the Student Council President. And what h is feeling is a valid one--- who would not panic when they have just mysteriously lost contact with their sister without any possible explanation, and contradictory of the character of their sister as well. But despite all that, Damian tried his best to calm down and not panic as much as he did in the beginning, too much emotion would only be detrimental to his well- being and cloud his judgment. Hestia however, was trying to do crowd control. Damian’s little outburst a while ago had attracted a lot of attention including those who are outside of the building. “Please, there is nothing to see here. Please return to your businesses and leave us be. It is almost time for your classes, please be a punctual student and go to your classes, now!” Hestia pleaded towards the crowd as they continued to push through the barrier that her hands made and into Damian who was focused on his phone. She tur
SSHS 220“Arthur, what business do you have with the Student Council?” Damian asked almost immediately once they saw each other. For some reason, Damian’s hold to Hestia became a little bit tighter and that he attempted to hide the Student Council Secretary behind him, as if he does not want Arthur to ever see the girl. Hestia noticed such little details, but she cannot think of the reason why as of the moment. She was focused on the matter, why Arthur is in here. She looked at the former Student Council Treasurer and tried to observe him, tried to see if he has some mannerisms that are not there before, or any sign that something is not right. Well, something is not right in the first place. ‘But why is he here? Shouldn’t he be at that place by now? Aaron and Albert are already waiting for him.’ Such thought run inside Hestia’s mind but remained unanswered. Arthur and Damian continued to face off and stare at each other as none of them decided to speak. The fourth year male student h
SSHS 221 What was Excami doing there? Why was she there? Did someone put her there? Was she bullied? What exactly just happened then? Such questions ran inside Hestia’s mind, and she cannot help but panic internally. She just wanted to bolt right outside of the Student Council Office and grab Damian so that they could run to the gymnasium that Aaron and Albert are currently in. Just so Damian’s mind can be put at peace and that she can calm down. This has become too much entangled that the gut feeling of Hestia a while ago: that this whole thing isinterconnected, seemed to be more plausible than ever. Even then so, a nother thought popped out of Hestia’s mind: could all this be a trap? Is this all a set up? A plan? Were we being played all along? But she cannot dwell at the thought deeper as of the moment. She needed to tend to this first, after all, the safety of the students are their top priority for being a rookie undercover spy inside the La Florence Academy. So, there i
SSHS 222 It took about a full five minutes before the younger Montague was able to calm down the older Montague. It was a very unusual event that it is the unharmed panicking more than the one who is kidnapped. "Are you calm now?" Excami asked, handing the bottle of water to her older brother, whom the latter grabbed in haste drank some more. Damian was clearly panting, catching his breath as he drank nore water, lubricating his throat. "Thanks. But are you sure you are okay? No injuries whatsoever?" Damian asked again, for the nth time as he checked Excami all over again. This time, Excami swatted his arms and groan in annoyance.
SSHS 223 Meanwhile, while the two siblings were nagging each other, some other people were on the other end of the gymnasium so as they could talk privately. They were whispering as quietly as possible, as they were advised by a certain someone to do so. After all, there are possibilities that the place is littered with listening bugs, maybe even cameras. “Please tell me what happened here?” Hestia asked in the most quiet voice as possible. She huddled in with the other three male students around her, not letting the conversation leak out even for just a word. Her grip on Arthur was still as tight as ever, not even giving him a chance to let go. “That, we also do not know.” The Basketball Star Player replied, a bit dejected that he has no answer for the female rookie undercover spy at all. They are as confused as her, not knowing what had happened to the younger Montague and how she ended up in that situation and place, as well as why the original plan for th
SSHS 224 If the Student Council Office is also tapped… then that means… “She heard us talking there.” Hestia was hit with realization and whispered in a slightly loud voice those words. Her hold against him loosened just a tad bit. But it was not enough to ever let Arthur completely free his hand from the grasps of the Student Council Secretary. Her eyes remained the same cold and sharp, but she turned to face Arthur as a way to confirm what she had said. As she faced him and saw him nod, the horror downed on her. “Yes, she heard all that I have said.” Arthur restated, making things clearer for them. “Was all of this part of her plan then?” Hest
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