Tic tac, tic tac… The clock was the only thing Sophielle could stare at as she was waiting for this class to finish. Normally, she would sleep, but she couldn’t. Her mind was occupied by the plans they had made last night, which would take place just after this lesson. But the time seemed to pass so slowly. She almost wanted to take that stupid clock mocking her and advanced the time to quickly begin their plans. So while waiting, she thought about what they had planned yesterday.

 

Cassy, Jongdae and Sophielle were in her house sitting around the table with serious faces. Sophielle was a lot calmer than some hours ago, thanks to her punching bag used to vent her anger. Now, they were thinking about how they would act. If what Cassy told them was true, they couldn’t just go and ask Nathan to release Lay. He wouldn’t accept, that’s for sure. And if they would go the hard way to take him back, Nathan would surely play dirty or not even keep his promise. They had to find a way to put him against the wall. With a good plan, he would keep his promise and play fair, hopefully. The problem was to find how. It’s been an hour throwing some ideas, but each time they realised they wouldn't work.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lighted up in Jongdae’s head. “I have the solution!” he exclaimed, his hands bumping in the air. The two girls looked at him immediately, eager to know his idea.

“Oh my God! How come I didn’t think about this sooner, I’m an idiot.” Now the girls were even more curious to know. As he saw their expression he began his explanation.

“This solution will solve all the problems: if he’ll play dirty, if he’ll keep his promise or not and even maybe all his little games in the shadows will stop if it works.” He began while leaning his elbows on the table. “All we have to do is to face him in an official duel of the school. Like this all the school would assist at this match and he won’t do something tricky unless he want to lose automatically by breaking the rules. It’s so simple.” Jongdae was wearing a proud smile as he finished. The girls were feeling stupid too because they both didn’t think about this, too. Yet, they were happy because they finally found a way to take Lay back.

“That’s a great idea, but how are we going to do this. I mean, he may not want to fight against us” Sophielle added as she thought of that possibility.

“I don’t think this would happen” began Cassy as she took a thinking position. “Nathan is the type of guy who loves to show off his strength. He will surely accept just to show everyone that we shouldn’t mess with him and to humiliate you at the same time.”

Sophielle and Jongdae scoffed at the same time. “As if he could” they both said.

“Anyway, how do we proceed? Do we just go to him and ask or…” asked Sophielle.

“Yeah, we should do it that way, but in a public place, where a lot of people would see us so he won’t have another choice than to accept our challenge. So, tomorrow during the lunch break we'll challenge him in front of everyone.” Jongdae announced with a big grin.

 

So now, all she wanted to do was to go and challenge Nathan. She was literally counting the remaining seconds of this boring class. 60, 59, 58… at each second her grip on her desk tightened. 30, 29, 28… it was the longest minute that she had ever faced. 10, 9, 8… at this moment Sophielle was almost up and she would burst at any time. 2, 1, 0… Dring!!!

“Finally!” Sophielle screamed while standing up. Everyone looked at her with weird gazes. The teacher was even a little bit offended. But she didn’t noticed those things as she was busy dragging Jongdae with her toward the cafeteria where Cassy was waiting for them.

Like they have settled, she was just in front of the door. She would show them where Nathan was, so they could put their plan in action. When she saw them, she waved shyly in their direction with a little smile. They smiled at her in return.

“Hey! Are you ready?” asked Jongdae as they stopped in front of her.

“Yeah I think so.” It was easy to tell that she was nervous by the situation and it was totally normal.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright, don’t stress too much about this” reassured Sophielle while taking Cassy’s hands and squeezed it to give her strength. Her smile widened and she thanked her.

“So where is he?” Sophielle couldn’t wait any longer and if it was just of her, she would beat him into a pulp in front of everyone right here, right now. Unfortunately, she had to stick to the plan.

“He’s just over there, the table in the center” Cassy pointed a table, or more like 3 tables stuck together so all of his gang could fit. They immediately spotted him. Cassy had showed them a picture of him yesterday while they were all planning. He was tall, taller than Jongdae. His hair were silver and they were long enough to put them in a short ponytail. His eyes were purple and they showed how arrogant he was. His pactarion was an earring on his right ear. It had two pins with a cross each, united by a chain. His guardian was sitting just next to him. His name was Christian Davis. He was a bit smaller than his master, but more muscular than him. His hair and his eyes were dark blue. He had a mysterious aura around him that could warn everyone that they shouldn’t underestimate him.

Sophielle didn’t wait any longer. She was already half way in their direction. The other two followed suit, Cassy nervous of the soon encounter, and Jongdae worried that his master would do something reckless.

She stopped in front of their table, one meter away, Nathan’s back facing her. “Are you Nathan Dwight?”

As he heard his name Nathan’s ears perked up. “It depends on who’s asking him” he answered while turning around. When his eyes landed on her, a smirk appeared on his lips as he checked her up and down. “But for you, sure I am,” he winked at her.

“Good, because I have some business to talk with you.”

“Oh, and what kind of business? If it’s what I have in mind, it would be a pleasure.” He his lips and arched his eyebrow seductively. It was vain, because it didn’t affect Sophielle at all, in fact it was disgusting her more than anything.

“Lay. Free him and give him back to his master” she went straight to the point. At this, Nathan frowned. He looked at her and then he finally noticed Jongdae and Cassy behind her.

“Sorry but it won’t happen” he began looking at Sophielle then turned around and looked at Cassy. “I thought that you said that you would keep your mouth shut. Now I wonder what will happen to this poor Lay”. When he finished his sentence Cassy immediately paled. She didn’t want to hurt Lay. Her eyes were pleading him to not do anything to her dear guardian.

“Stop menacing her !” Sophielle growled. “She was right to tell me this because I will end this little game of yours for once and for all.”

Just before he could snort or reply something, two guys came beside him and one mumbled something in his ear. They were quite beaten up and they were familiar to the trio that stand in front of the gang. They were the ones Sophielle had a pleasure to beat up yesterday, the ones who attacked Cassy. Sophielle couldn’t stop the smirk that came on her lips as she looked at them.   

Nathan frowned at what they were saying in his ear. He finally turned to them. “So you’re the one who beat up my friends?” he asked Sophielle with an indecipherable face.

“Yeah! So what? They were bullying my friend, I just couldn’t ignore it.” She said matter-of-factly.

“You know, I can’t let you off the hook like this with what you did. But you seemed to be a clever girl so I will let this one pass if you stop your stupid idea of saving Lay and if you don’t bother my friends anymore. Understand?” He was wearing an arrogant smile, acting like if he was doing them a favor.

“Sorry but no. It won’t happen and you know what? Nathan Dwight, we, my guardian Kim Jongdae and I, Sophielle Argent, challenge you and your guardian Christian Davis in an official fight in the stadium!” she exclaimed, her voice loud enough to catch the attention of all the students in the cafeteria that suddenly got quiet. By then, Jongdae was standing beside his master, arms folded, a smirk plastered on his face.

Nathan and his gang were surprised by her declaration. Now he seemed quite irritated by them. “Why should we waste our time on two little bugs? It would be no fun.” He threw them a dirty look.

“Are you afraid to fight against us?” asked Jongdae while raising a eyebrow. The students started whispering to each other.

“I never said that!” he exclaimed as he didn’t want something like this to menace his reputation. He was one of the strongest students in this school, he couldn’t afford showing any sign of weakness to the other students. This will just put trouble in his business. “I just said that it won’t be fun,” he rectified.  

“But I know how it could be a little more entertaining for you” Sophielle declared. Nathan raised a eyebrow at her, signaling her to continue. “We could make a bet. The winner of the fight wins something from the loser.” She suggested.

Nathan laughed as he heard her proposition, leaning forward in the same time. “Ok, and what would you win?”

“Simple. You free Lay, he returns to Cassy and you don’t bother them anymore.”

"Figure", Nathan said as he stood up and took two steps forward. “Okay, but if I win, you’ll join my gang. If you manage to beat my freinds on your own, you must be quit strong. And I like girl with a feisty persona. I’m sure that I will have a lot of fun with you.” He reached his hand to grab her waist but a hand stopped him.

Jongdae had a tight grasp around his wrist. “Don’t you dare touch her. And like hell, I will let this happens.”  He growled dangerously while glaring dagger in his direction.

Suddenly, Christian grabbed Jongdae’s wrist and sent him a warning gaze. “And I advise you to not touch my master.” The two guardians were in a glaring contest and they released their grips after a few seconds. They returned near their master, Christian beside Nathan, Jongdae beside Sophielle, but a little bit before her.

“So is it a deal or not?” asked Nathan, looking at Sophielle with a confident smile.

“Deal ! Friday at 6 PM in the stadium” she responded immediately.

“See you Friday,” he exclaimed with a smug smirk on his face.

The little trio exited the cafeteria, a lot of students watching them curiously. When they were out of sight, Jongdae turned Sophielle around while holding her hand.

“Why did you accept his request so fast without thinking or talking about it with me?” he asked calmly even if he was quite angry and anxious about her decision. He didn’t like at all the bet they’ve done. He knew they would do their best to win, but if they lost, he didn’t want her to fall in Nathan grip.

When she saw the look in his eyes, Sophielle softened and smiled a little. “Hey, I didn’t really have the choice. He would have refuse and we wouldn’t have another chance to save Lay. And besides, I expect nothing from us than winning this fight” she finished with a wink that made him smiled a little. He ruffled her hair and then they turned toward Cassy, who had been quiet all the time.

“Hey Cassy, are you alright?” asked Sophielle, worry written all over her face. Cassy was in her thoughts since Sophielle call her, her friend. She never really had a friend before, except for Lay. She was too shy and the other kids didn’t want to hang out with them because they were too weak. So for her it was really surprising that Sophielle said this. Specially that they knew each other for only a day.

She looked up at Sophielle. “You, you call me your friend.” Sophielle and Jongdae didn’t seem to understand where she wanted to go, until she continued her explanation.

“I never had friends before, except for Lay, obviously. They never wanted to befriend us, we were losers for them. So I wonder if you just told this with the flow or if you really think what you said. And if you really mean it, why would you want to be friend with someone like me?” she finished with teary eyes. She didn’t understand why they would be so nice to her and she didn’t want to have false hope and hurt herself.

After hearing her worries, Sophielle immediately understood how she felt. She smiled while going in front of Cassy and hugged her because she seemed like she needed one. She pulled back and chuckled after seeing a shocked Cassy.

“I said you were my friend because I really think of you as one. And as for why, I don’t have any particular reason, I just want to.” She answered her, always a smile on her face.

“And it’s the same for me,” said Chen as he raised his right hand, “You’re a nice girl with a great personality, the fact that you’re weak or not doesn’t matter”.

“He’s right, and for all the others that don’t agree with us, they are all a bunch of idiots. And like he said yesterday, you’re strong, or more precisely, you have a strong heart. You manage to bear with all the things that happen these past few weeks because you want Lay to be safe. Stop thinking so low of yourself.”

Cassy didn’t know what to say. She was happy that finally people wanted to be her friend and accepted her for who she was. Tears began to fall from her eyes, but they weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of happiness. She threw her arms around Sophielle and gave her a bone crushing hug. The latter hugged her too, patting her back to comfort her with a smile on her face. Not long after, two strong arms wrapped around them.

“Group hug!” exclaimed Jongdae with a big smile. All of them laughed and they pulled away. The mood was better now, all the worries were temporally forgotten, or almost… Their little peaceful moment was ended when Sophielle remembered something.

“Oh crap!” she exclaimed, holding her head with her hands. The other two looked at her confused. “How can I forget something so important?” she continued to whine.

“Hey what’s the problem?” asked Cassy worried by her friend's behaviour.

“I forgot to take food before exiting the cafeteria and I won’t survive if I don’t eat.” She was almost in panic, a reaction a little bit exaggerated, but food is food and for her, it’s one of the most important things in the world... at least for her stomach.  As if on cue, her stomach began to growl non-stop. Sophielle began to her belly while mumbling “my poor stomach, my poor stomach…”

Cassy and Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh at her state. She was just too cute.

“Stop laughing at me! This is a serious situation!” she continued to whine like a little kid, stomping her foot on the ground. 

“Will you stop, big baby,” Jongdae began playfully, “I already thought of this case this morning, so I prepared enough food for all of us. They’re in my locker.”

At this, Sophielle’s head snapped toward her guardian, eyes wide open. “For real?” When he nodded, she attacked him with a big hug while thanking him a million of times for saving her from starvation. He smiled and laughed fondly at his master's behaviour, but it was nothing new for him. Cassy smiled too at this sight.

They all headed to Jongdae’s locker and went outside to eat. A smile never leaving their face.  

 

---

A/N

Hello! 

First thing first, I want to say sorry for well.. the late update. I was busy with all the christmas and new year parties. And I will be honnest too, I was quite a big lazy and lost a little bit of motivation. But here I am and I will try hard to continue this fic and make it a good story. :) A good thing is that since I graduate college this december, I don't have school until september when I will go to university. So it's mean that I will have more time to write. 

See you soon (I hope)