"Ready to be an average student?" Kyle asked jokingly as we got out of the car.

I shrugged. "I've been doing it my whole life. Except, like, a billionaire average student."

Kyle smirked. "I'm guessing that's a no."

I turned to him with a serious face. "Would you rather I be normal?"

"What? No, I—" Kyle looked shocked, something I don't see quite often.

"Then I'm perfectly fine being my weird self." I told him, and he shook his head. He loosely put his arms around me and his hand on my hip, and I gently leaned into him as he placed a kiss on my head. 

"Ever notice how much PDA we do?" I murmured.

"We can't help it because we're so in loove," Kyle said, and I cringed at the way he accentuated the word love.

"Don't say it that way ever again." I groaned, and Kyle let out a throaty laugh.

"Hey, are you saying we're not?" He whined, and I replied by sticking my tongue out and grinning at him before throwing my bag over my shoulder and skipping away.

Classes progressed as normal, but by the hour before lunch everything flipped around. Kyle got a phone call and when he answered, his face lit up and became focused tenfold.

"What happened?" I asked urgently.

"People from the Office just called me saying they might have found a major lead, I need to head there immediately."

Kyle's face was lit up, energized, and I knew this was how he was at work, doing a case. He loved it so much, and I understood what Brook meant by he was obsessed with his job. But it wasn't time to think about that.

"I'll go with you." I said, but Kyle shook his head quickly.

"I got another officer heading this way, you have to stay here. It isn't your job to be working this case, it's to go to your classes and live your life as normally as you can."

I sighed. It was tiring to be told I had to stay out of my own business.

When my temporary bodyguard arrived, Kyle left in a hurry and left me standing at the school gate, feeling defeated. I glanced up at the new officer, wearing relatively casual clothes but definitely not a high school student. 

"Hi, I'm Cass." I introduced myself, trying to be polite.

He smirked. "I know. I've met you several times when we were investigating at the Office."

I flushed scarlet. "Sorry..."

"No, it's fine. I'm Dylan." 

"Not to be rude but...you're not planning to come to my classes, are you?"

Dylan laughed. "No, of course not. I'm here as a school inspector, and I'll be keeping tabs on you."

I nodded. "Well, thank you. I have to get to class now..." I said, waving to the direction of my classroom awkwardly.

"Please. Go ahead." He said, smiling, and I turned around and tried to walk to my class as casually as possible. 

Class was even more boring with Kyle gone, and I doodled away on my notebooks. I kept on looking up at the clocks, waiting for when I could get back to the Office. Or even until lunch. I had to actually eat well today.

After an eternity seemed to pass, finally class let out for lunch and I grabbed some food from the lunch line and I made my way to a nice, in-door place to eat and read when a familiar voice called my name.

I turned around and smiled, "hey Zayden."

"Hi." He said, looking around, "where's Kyle?"

"He had an...errand." 

Zayden nodded in understanding, not seeming to be interested in what Kyle was up to now. "I've been wanting to talk to you. Want to eat lunch together?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Zayden and I walked to the empty Common Room, where a small fire place was blazing with life, radiating heat to the room. We settled on a couch, and I took out the sandwich I had gotten and took a bite out of it.

"So about the other day..." Zayden started.

"What other day?" Honestly, so many things had been going on in my life that I didn't know what he was talking about.

"You know, with me and Alec..."

"Oh!" I said in realization. I had completely forgotten about that incident.

"Alec said you reacted really well but...are you okay with it?"

I took a second to think about it. I honestly hadn't given it much thought. Of course, I was fine with them being gay. But Zayden and I also have somewhat of a "past" and that made me confused. Was Zayden literally not into me at all and all the other girls he'd hooked up with? Or was he like Alec, bi? And how do I feel about my "ex" getting it on with my brother, who was his best friend? The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't care. I had moved on from that terrible night, and I was so happy with Kyle right now. Zayden could do whatever he wanted, honestly, and if it was with my own brother well then so be it.

I shrugged. "I don't really care much. You guys are both players, I think you two go well together." I hadn't even thought of my words as they spilled out. I didn't even think it would be rude, it was just plain fact.

Zayden cringed slightly. "Well, yeah I guess. Alec and I are really close friends as well though, and I don't know about him, but I'm not actually getting into this too lightly. In the end, I don't want to lose him as a friend just for some fling I wanted to have." He ran his hands through his hair. I suddenly realized he was actually distressed and seeking for advice. 

I didn't know exactly what to say, for I seemed like the weirdest person to ask. But I then realized he didn't have anyone else to ask either. 

"Well, I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Like I said, I don't want to lose him as a friend but also, he's really nice to kiss."

I scrunched my nose. "I did not need to know that but alright...so you sound like you like him? My brother also seems like he likes you a lot because he's so scared of being found out that he's gay I doubt he'd risk it for someone easily."

"You're really just letting your words out, aren't you?"

"Sorry." I murmured, "I don't really have a filter today."

"No, honestly, I appreciate it. And I think I owe you an explanation for you know, the things I did."

I turned to him, focused. 

"To be completely honest, I wasn't into you at all during the...uh...bet." He rushed in quickly so as not to offend me, "but I wasn't into any girls. I just played around with girls because everyone does it in our group. You know how it is. But anyway, I really did like hanging out with you. I still think of you as a friend, like now. I really needed someone to talk to this about."

"Yeah, no problem." I said, feeling a little awkward.

"So I knew that I was gay all along, but I thought no one else was in our group. But voíla, one of the hottest guys and my best friend is gay. Who'd a thought?"

I nodded along, but I was really getting uncomfortable with him telling me how he had never been into me but had the hots for my older brother.

"Look, I think if you like Alec, you should go for him. And if you don't like girls, it's fine, but stop messing with them too. I think you and Alec should have a discussion of where you want to take your relationship to."

Zayden looked quite thoughtful as he said, "Cass, I can't imagine how weird this must be for you, but right now I'm so thankful for you. I'm so glad I have someone around who's understanding like you."

I smiled genuinely. "Of course. And it's not even that weird for me, I don't even think of...the past that much anymore." As those words left my mouth, I realized I really meant it.

Zayden leaned in to give me a (friendly) bone-crushing hug, and I laughed as I hugged him back. Suddenly Zayden's phone beeped, signifying a text message. He retrieved his phone and looked at his screen as his eyebrows pulled together.

"What's wrong?" I asked, watching his concerned face.

"It's my friend...he says he needs me. Sorry, I have to check this out."

"Go ahead. I'll be here." It's not like I'm not used to being alone, I almost added, but I stopped myself. How pathetic would that be?

Zayden's footsteps faded into the distance as he exited the Common Room, and I sat quietly munching on my sandwich. I considered looking for Dylan, but I didn't feel like getting up and making myself visible to everyone around. 

A couple minutes passed, and I heard footsteps again. I turned around, "wow Zayden that was fa—"

But I stopped in the middle of my sentence because the person there was most definitely not Zayden, or even a male. Or even a student. Or a teacher.

It was Roselle.

I stood up quickly. "Why are you here?"

Roselle let out a breathy laugh. "To talk to you, what else?"

I muttered a few incoherent string of words as I looked around frantically for Dylan, as if he'd appear out of thin air.

"That new guy isn't nearly as good as keeping tabs on you as your boyfriend, don't you think?"

I chose to ignore her. Maybe if I didn't listen, she'd grow more frustrated with me.

"Come on, let's sit. I want to have a nice discussion with you."

"We can talk standing." I let out through a clenched jaw.

It was Roselle's turn to ignore me as she walked over to me, sliding a gentle hand around my shoulders and pushing me down onto the chair. For some strange reason, I let her sit me down. She sat down beside me, smoothing out her creaseless pants.

"You don't have to worry about privacy. Your bodyguard won't be coming back for....let's just say a while. And Zayden is passed out in one of the classrooms." She rushed to continue as I was about to interject. "Don't worry, he's perfectly safe. Can you imagine all the shit his parents would give me if I told them I killed off their son in order to reach you?"

Strangely, the thing that shocked me was that she swore. I had presumed she would be more classy and professional.

"Are you still working with the Rhodes?"

Roselle pursed her dainty lips into a smirk. "More like working for us. They're quite regretting their decisions of combining forces with us, but they have too much dirt on their hands to back out now."

"So you're basically admitting what you're doing is criminal activity."

Roselle actually looked disappointed as I said that. "Cassandra, you're a smart girl. I thought by now you'd understand that the Shadow Legion is not a criminal organization. We're vigilante in the way that we do what we think is right."

"That doesn't justify anything at all. How can you possibly think what you're doing is right? You kill people to get what you want. You act like you're correcting the world, but all you do is stream death and chaos from unsuspecting corners."

Roselle sighed. "Oh, the brainwashing they've done to you. If you joined forces with us, you'd understand that we are correcting wrong things. I can't deny the deaths that we've caused but, collateral damage is inevitable. But we try to limit the deaths. We really, really do."

"I don't get it. Why can't you just go and hire another girl to do this job as the heir?"

A flash of frustration passed Roselle's face. "It's tradition. And blood relations, they're so much more important than you may think." She put her hand on my wrist, rubbing circles into my hand. "We're family." 

In that moment, through all the lies she'd said, I could decipher what she meant as clearly as an open book. She couldn't hire someone else. She didn't want to be begging for me to join them. But someone was stopping her, telling her that I was the only choice to be the heir. 

"Didn't stop my mom from leaving." I murmured sarcastically.

Roselle looked down, a sad mask coming over her face. I couldn't tell if she was acting. "Yes, well, your mother just didn't understand. But you have your mother's passion, but you are wiser than she was. I can tell you'd be able to make the right decision." 

I looked at Roselle dead in the eye, this woman who was my aunt and had the exact same shade of irises as me. That moss green shade made her look beautiful yet completely guarded.

"I think I can make the right decision as well." I finally told her, being as vague as possible. My tone sounded final, and I was instructing her to leave. I was thinking of a plan, and it seemed like it might work. But I had to think it through without Roselle murmuring sweet, fake words to me.

Roselle's face gave away nothing as she stood up. "I'm sorry sweetie, but we're done waiting. You have to give us a response in 24 hours. If you don't give the right answer, we'll have to start more violent methods. And you know how we hate violence."

I stood up as well, and had to fight down a snort. I tried bringing a glimmer to my eyes, like I was letting her in on a secret. "Don't worry, you won't have to wait that long."

Hey guys~! I'm so sorry for such a late update, but writer's block + school isn't a good match. I think I'm going to re-read this story for myself to get a better grasp of what I had in mind. I have a lot of work to do, so please be patient with me! I love you all so much!

Happy Holidays!

xxx