I walk around the school campus with a lot on my mind. I have a lot of worry right now and I don’t think classes are even helping because of the amount of reports that I have to do. I still have to search for my best friend’s missing soul.
Thinking about Kellar just makes me feel guilty, because sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still see his bare chest during the time that we spent bathing together in the spring. I try slapping my face to get rid of the thought.
“Am I perhaps a pervert?” I wonder aloud. My sister can be a little bit of a pervert sometimes, so maybe it is in our genes.
I have to stay focused! Remember, the spirits told Arcie to tell me that Javi is the key to knowing where Kellar’s other soul is.
“Meow!” I stepped back in surprise when I saw the little cat that the president had somehow adopted in their clubroom. Seeing how it looks clean, healthy, and now has a collar made me smile.
“Hi.” I crouch down to pet it. “What are you doing here? Where’s Leo?” Talking to animals, even though I can’t understand them, has become a natural thing for me as I live with tamers.
Ivah, the little kitten, surprises me when it suddenly jumps up and snatches the ribbon on my uniform.
“Ivah? Ivah!” I try calling out to the cat, but it seems like it doesn’t have any plans to listen to me when it begins to run off elsewhere. Sometimes, I really wish that I was a tamer instead. Maybe it would help me in this situation. “Wait up!” I run after the cat even as it starts to head for the back of the school.
Where is that cat even going? I need my ribbon. I cannot lose it during inspection or I will be sanctioned for wearing an incomplete uniform.
As a model student who is still struggling to save face in high school, that poses a problem for me because I would lose all the benefits that would come with it, such as skipping club activities.
“Ivah, get back here!” I tried my hardest not to yell so I would not attract the attention of the other students. But when you are chasing a little kitten, it is pretty hard not to yell since that’s all I can do. Well, technically I could freeze its paws or make it slip, but that is just too cruel and risky. “Ivah!”
When the kitten decided to head inside one of the classroom's open windows, Hailey May Collins—the most popular and cool girl on campus—decided to use the window as an exit, making me gasp and pause.
“Huh?” The red haired beauty stares at me for a second before jumping down to stand before me. “You saw nothing.” She tells me before I hear Xander, the school’s vice president, calling out from the room that she was just in.
“Hailey! Come back here!” He screams.
Hailey flinches before she waves at me. “That’s my cue to leave. Don’t ask any questions about why I am not using the door. Doors are for fools.” She says before heading towards the other way to run.
“Damn that girl!” I was surprised when the vice president suddenly used the same window to get out of the room. He did not even acknowledge me as he ran after Hailey.
What’s going on? Why is the vice president running after the school’s cool girl?
“Stella, what are you doing here?” As if my brain could not get any more confused, their president, Leo, leans on the window edge to greet me. I can’t tell if he is happy or surprised to see me from his expression. Maybe it is a mixture of both.
“Sorry, Leo. I was looking for Ivah. She took my ribbon. Do you know where she went?”
“She took your ribbon?” As expected of another model student, he understood that missing parts of your uniform can be very troublesome when caught by professors. “Hold on, Stella. Um…do you want to come in?” He offers and steps aside from the window.
Leo and I had a brief exchange before his cheeks started to burn at what he just did.
“I-I’m sorry! I mean you can come in through the door and not the window.” It’s my first time seeing Leo acting this way. I usually see him as a strong and confident student who attracts every girl’s attention. Seeing this side of him is actually cute and refreshing, and yet I feel so bad.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” I assured him, trying my very best not to laugh.
He lets out a breath, running his hand over his head and ruffling his blonde hair. “Hailey and Xander just keeps using the window as a door these days that even I got confused. I’m very sorry. You’re welcome to come inside, using the door, of course.”
“That’s a pretty long way compared to the window.” I joked, earning a small appreciative smile from him. “But I am good. I just need my ribbon.”
Leo smiles, cocking his head to the side. “Right. Hang on. I’m pretty sure that Ivah slipped inside while all the commotion was going on. I’ll go and look for her hand and have her apologize.” He says before he starts to disappear in the room. I could hear him yelling and calling for the cat in such a strict yet loving manner. Somehow, it reminded me of a certain tamer back in the magical realm and also of my quest to search for the other half of his soul.
“Here.” My attention is brought back to Leo, who seems worn out. On one hand, he has my ribbon, while on the other, he has Ivah. He breathes out tiredly. I could not imagine what he did to get that tired, but looking at how his perfectly combed hair is ruffled, I can pretty much guess that the cat had something to do with it. “Stella?” He calls for me when he notices that I am staring at him.
“Oh, sorry.” I bit my lower lip when a chuckle escaped my lips. “Thanks, President Leo.”
“President Leo?” He repeats with a raised brow. “I think we may have a lot of encounters with each other for you to address me as such, right? Just call me Leo.”
“Thanks, Leo.” I say, taking my ribbon back that Leo handed to me before looking at Ivah. “You’re a naughty girl. You already have such a pretty ribbon with you.” I scratch her chin, earning a satisfied purr from her.
Leo laughs, taking Ivah’s paws and putting it close to her mouth. “I’m sorry, miss Stella. Please forgive me.” Leo imitates what he guesses would be Ivah’s voice if she could speak.
I was so flabbergasted at how cute Ivah looked right now and how Leo voiced her that I had to cup a hand over my mouth. I tried not to show much expression on my face, so I decided to keep busy and ride along with his rouse. “I’ll bring you a prettier ribbon next time, so try not to take mine because I'd be in trouble if you do that, okay?”
“Wowie. Will I be as pretty as Stella if I wear a ribbon given by her?”
I laugh fully this time. “What does that even mean?”
Leo shrugs, grinning while he plays with Ivah’s paws. “Hey, I am only telling you what’s on her mind. This is all Ivah.”
I laughed while shaking my head. “What? You’re a tamer now?”
“A what?” I was so distracted that I completely forgot that I was not in the other realm right now. “A tamer? What’s that?”
“I-It’s-”
At that point, Ivah begins to squeal with joy, diverting Leo and I from the subject at hand.
“What’s wrong, Ivah? You enjoy the attention, you spoiled cat?” Leo rubs her chin and kisses the top of her head. I feel more than relieved that I no longer have to explain myself and silently thank the cat for its distraction.
“So this is where you are, Stella. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
That voice, what is he doing here?
Leo has to look up from cuddling with Ivah to look at the stranger before him. It was a split second, but Leo looks surprise - a look that he quickly masked into a friendly smile. “Are you new? I don’t seem to recognize you at all. Moreover, how did you enter the school premises without a uniform?”
Chace, who was wearing a simple shirt and a blue jacket, turns to Leo with a cold gaze, which he quickly wipes away when he grins and shows us an envelope. “Hello, my name is Chace Cleaveland. I am a foreign exchange student, so I am hoping that someone could help me out?”