Chapter 2: The Transfer Students Part 2

"I thought you were going to be late," I whisper to Jace as he takes his assigned seat right next to me. "Did you two have a heart-to-heart talk? Am I expecting you to have a boyfriend by next month?"

He rolls his eyes before giving me a grin. "Leandre being the new guy saved me from the wrath of Mrs. Dane. She was looking forward to meeting him," He ends his statement with furrowed eyebrows. "And I'm waiting for my soulmate, Nikki. I'm relieved to know that person isn't him." He shivers at the thought of him and Leandre being soulmates.

"Lucky you, then. You should take him out for a date. You'll never know he might be your soulmate," I joke and wink at him before opening my textbook. "Did you bring your book?" I turn my head to face him, wondering if he was listening to what I was saying at all.

Jace gazes directly at the desk in front of him. Both of his arms are on the desk as he fidgets his fingers and purses his lips.

"Jace? Are you okay?" I interrogate. It's not like him to just stare off blankly into space.

"Hmm?"

"Do you have something in your mind? It seems like you're distracted," I ask while keeping eyes on him.

He shakes his head and chuckles at my reply. "It's nothing. I just realized I forgot to do the assignment for the Social Sciences class. Can I copy yours?"

"Are you sure that's all?" I ask to make sure. He doesn't budge which causes me to sigh. "Fine. I'll give it to you during lunch."

Leandre had to introduce himself again. I have no idea if it was really necessary since the teachers probably know him and Xandrine by now considering the fact that they are the only new students that joined our school when half of the semester has already passed.

Like earlier, those who do not know him are gawking. That's understandable considering he's the epitome of a god with his good looks and hot body.

I huff out a breath in frustration. Should they be doing that? Of course, not. They shouldn't be staring at him with heart eyes! Still… it’s not like I can do anything about it. I grab the water bottle in my bag and take a drink.

"Do I sense jealousy?" Jace teases while leaning toward me slightly.

I choke on the water I was drinking and begin coughing. This made the others divert their eyes and attention onto me, including Mrs. Dane.

"Are you alright, Miss Summers?" Mrs. Dane worriedly questions. She slowly walks towards me.

I nod my head as I compose myself. I glower at Jace for asking me that question. The idiot is trying his best to hold in his laughter. Great. I embarrassed myself in front of the new guy.

----

The noisy cafeteria was already full of students the moment I arrive. Of course, the students are busy chitchatting with each other. Some are trying to buy their food while some are studying while eating. I search around for an empty table so I can wait for my friends. I manage to find one near the window and take my seat there. I grab the paper bag and water bottle from my bag.

Where are they?

I grab my phone to text them only to find four messages from Elina, Caleb, Kathleen, and Jeremiah. Caleb and Jeremiah mentioned that they had errands to run for the organization they joined last year. Elina and Kathleen said they had to go to their out-of-school organization meeting.

To: Jace

Hey Jace! Where are you? I'm already in the cafeteria.

My phone beeps. It did not take him too long to reply.

From: Jace

Sorry, Nikki. I'm in a meeting with the group I joined last year.

Oh. I guess this means I'm all alone. And how did they even get to join a group? I turned sixteen last year, why am I not allowed to join?

"Hey, Nikki!" A familiar blonde makes his way towards me. He sits right in front of me, with an apple in his hand. He was wearing a light blue button-up shirt with a white shirt underneath paired with black jeans.

"Ryan, nice to see you today."

He gives me a smile at first but then he frowns as he observes I was sitting alone. "Huh? Your friends are not with you today?"

"They had a meeting with their out-of-school org."

"That's a bummer. GTG. My friends are calling me." He salutes and runs towards his friends.

Ryan is one of the people at school that I am friends with. However, he is one of the popular kids so we don't really hang out that much. I like to stay away from popular people as much as possible. Sometimes being known creates more drama than one would want to handle.

I open up the locket and read the message again. I have already memorized it by now. Mom gave it to me when I turned twelve. Somehow, it speaks about how she wishes to always keep an eye on me to keep me safe from harm. What I do not understand is the part where it states that she'll forever miss me.

What's that about? It's not like she's dying anytime soon. She's obviously healthy.

"Hi, Nicole."

I look up and see Leandre with a tray in his hands. He puts the tray down the table and sits with me. He has two plates of burgers, two large fries, and three boxes of orange juice. That seems like a lot but I guess he's one of those guys that eat a lot of food yet still remains in shape.

"Hello, Leandre." I manage to say despite my surprise. "You're not going to sit with your friends?"

The scene earlier with him flashes in my mind once again. Not gonna lie, what he did was confusing and made no sense.

"They seem to be alright on their own," he replies nonchalantly, glancing at his friends which made me glance in the same direction. His friends and his sister are busy laughing and talking with each other. "Plus, I thought maybe you could use the company."

I smile at him and reply, "You didn't think wrong. All of my friends are out of school as of the moment."

"Wait, we're allowed to go out during lunch?" His eyes widen in surprise.

"Well, yes. As long as we're not late for the next period," I explain while finishing my sandwich.

He puts his right elbow on the table and his chin at the palm of his right hand. "In our previous school, we weren't allowed to go out at lunch so we were always stuck with the food in the cafeteria or packed lunch from home."

"Really?" Did he go to a private school?

"Uh-huh." He drags on. He bows his head for a while, probably saying thanks for the food he has. "Right. I bought these for you." He puts a burger along with fries in front of me just when I finished my sandwich.

"You don't really need to do that. If you wanted to sit with me, I'm cool with it."

"You need to eat more food though. I'm pretty sure that sandwich wasn't enough for lunch," he elucidates, trying to make his point. "Just think of it as a treat from me to you."

Today was the only day I asked for a sandwich because of the essay I need to finish by Wednesday though.

"Alright. I'll treat you next time."

He smiles victoriously which makes me frown. He's only doing this to gain my friendship, right?

----

"Nikki. You shouldn't really be spending much time with that new guy. I think he's trouble." Valerie suddenly says while our teacher discusses the difference between society, culture, and politics.

We sit next to each other during social science class since the teacher seated us alphabetically. I turn my head in her direction. Her eyes are still on the teacher.

"Why is that?" I ask in confusion.

She sighs and whispers, "I can sense it."

That is not the explanation I was hoping for but I guess she does not want to say anything about it yet. I hope the other people in our class did not hear her. It might cause a big problem if it was spread all around the entire school. Valerie is one of the popular kids after all. People might take her word for it.

I decide to not pry further into the subject and focused on listening to the teacher instead.

Jace was not around for class today. I must say, that idiot sure is lucky. Ms. Tatiana did not collect the assignments today and gave an extension.

The rest of the day goes by a blur. The last period has just ended and all of my friends are nowhere to be found. Did they just ditch me? If they did, maybe it's time for me to find new friends.

If I can.

If they no longer wanted to be around me, they could have just told me.

"NIKKI!" I hear Jace's voice from the hallways.

This imbecile. What the hell is he thinking calling me while there is a sea of people in the hallways? He knows very well that I despise having eyes on me.

I mentally hit my forehead at his actions. Keep calm, Nikki. This idiot is your best friend, even if he has not been telling you anything this entire day and has coincidentally been very busy as well including the rest of your friends.

I put the books in my sling bag once again. I'm going to need to study those lessons if I don't want to fail my classes.

"I'm sorry I wasn't around during lunch," Jace says just as I close the locker.

I raise an eyebrow when I see that he is doing the puppy dog eyes and was pouting. I grimace at his antics and question, "Is that supposed to be a duck face gone wrong?"

"You are so rude, you know that? I guess it's understandable since you were alone during lunchtime." He follows closely behind me.

"Of course it's understandable. You all left me at school to rot. How dare you!" I reply angrily without looking at his face.

"Okay, okay! I get it. You're mad. But we had to plan early for January programs and activities," He replies defensively. He doesn't wait for me to respond before changing the subject of the conversation. "Is your brother coming to get you today?"

"No. Valerie also texted me that she's going out with friends today," I mumble and cross my arms in front of me.

"Perfect! We'll take you home. We can get ice cream while we're at it too."

We arrive at the parking lot, and I immediately spot Jeremiah's black sedan. The windows are wide open and I overheard Jeremiah say, "Alpha Chris will need to tell her soon."

Alpha? Chris? As in my brother Chris?

I make my presence known while knocking lightly on the door. "Who is Alpha Chris? and why is he called Alpha? Is this one of those stories which center around the omegaverse?"

Jeremiah's eyes widen as he hears my voice and Kathleen definitely jumped in surprise back there. "Nikki! Come in. We'll take you home!"

"Why are you people jumpy after meeting Mr. and Ms. Transferee? They seem like nice people,” I interrogate immediately.

These people do not know how to keep secrets.

"We're stopping by Dairy King on the way back. We're getting ice cream!" Jace interjects which covers up my question.

"Fine, then. Keep your secrets." I raise my arms up, giving up on the thought of them telling me anything about the current situation. "I swear if you people entered a gang, I'm going to kick your asses."

Kathleen giggles at my statement and replies, "No need to worry about that Nikki. I assure you that's not it at all."

Her response did not ease the suspicion inside my head. They definitely are hiding something... but I'm sure they'll tell me about it soon.