18 Breaking News

"Sure!" Ben didn't hesitate to exchange numbers with me.

I could see at brilliant halo on top of his head. At this moment, he even rivalled Luke in terms of his angelic appearance.

I pulled out my marble while Ben used his smartphone. When I turned to check up on Shelly, her face was fiercely dyed in shades of pink with her frequent blushes.

This was rare! Not that I didn't understand why I rarely saw this side of Shelly. Shelly didn't get along with Alex as they coldly talked to each other whenever they discussed about their school work.

The waiter soon gave us all our orders all at once and I received my strawberry shortcake and my milk tea.

I grabbed my fork and took a bite of the cake. It was a bit lacking in taste compared to the food at school, however it tasted fantastic when I ate it with a good-looking guy in front of me with his gorgeous smile.

I turned to admire the scenery outside the window after overdosing on Ben's gorgeous face. However, I strangely saw a young boy with silky silver hair and ocean blue eyes accompanied by another boy with hazelnut splattered hair and bright purple amethyst eyes wearing our school uniform. They roamed around the street while asking random passersby a question like they were trying to find a missing item.

I started shaking Shelly's shoulders while interrupting their conversation as I gestured my hand toward the window where I saw the familiar faces.

Shelly's eyes started to widen up in surprise as she whispered, "Should we go to another place?"

"Maybe it would be better to stay here and use Hubert and Ben as a camouflage. The more people, the less noticeable we will be, especially in a busy cafe like this." I whispered back.

I smiled and turned my head toward Ben and asked, "Sorry for my sudden misbehaviour, should we resume our conversation?"

Ben nodded as he seemed a little bit surprised of my formal lady-like behaviour and smiled to try to resume the conversation. I guessed this was the one-time Luke's constant nagging with my 'unladylike' behavior payed off.

"How is school in the second district?" I began the conversation with a new topic.

"It's pretty much the usual with going to class for long periods of time while trying to accumulate points." Ben sadly smiled.

I could totally understand. There were many factors that made a high-ranking school miserable. I wondered what peculiar about school was making him make such a sad smile. Maybe his partner?

"Is school not enjoyable?" I tilted my head from curiosity.

"It's not that dislike it nor I like it. But, that's enough about me. Why don't you tell me a bit about your school life Rika?" Ben tried to return a genuine smile.

"Well -"

"What are you doing here Rika?" A boy with furrowed eyebrows wearing our school uniform came up to us.

"Not really~." I shrugged as I casually pretended they weren't there.

'When did they come into this cafe? I'm sure we weren't as noticeable in our casual clothes in this homey café.'

"Quit pretending and let's go back Rika. Don't drag Michelle into this your messes as well. You know better than to behave like this!" The boy continued his familiar nagging.

"Well you're not my partner anymore anyways so why do you care so much?" I mumbled back quietly.

'It would be horrible to leave a bad impression of me on Ben,' I sighed with troubled thoughts.

"Well because I'm not your partner for this week, I may not care so much as I will one week later, but you should look at your current partner's face that's right beside me." The boy pointed out.

He was right. The boy beside him with burning amethyst eyes started to melt my heart into a frantic scare. He was oozing out an aura full of indescribable amount of anger rather than disappointment.

"You almost got us a suspension from earning any points if you're wondering why we're angry." Alex clenched his fists as his fingers dug into his palms.

I didn't think the punishment was going to be this harsh. No wonder the perfect, model student Alex appeared like he was going to murder me in about any second.

I grabbed both the hands of Alex and Luke as I yelled, "I'll contact you later Ben!"

Ben nodded his head in confusion while I tried to pull Alex and Luke out of the cafe. Meanwhile, Shelly took out the crystals to pay for our meals and ran to catch up with us a few blocks away from the cafe.

"What do you mean how we almost got suspended from earning any points? All four of us or only us two?" I turned to face Alex.

"ALL FOUR OF US!" Alex yelled while earning us the glances of the nearby people passing by.

"You know how partners are responsible for each other's behaviour. You broke a big rule by sneaking into another district without the school's permission." Luke slowly stroked Alex's shoulder to calm him down.

"And the school is willing to forgive us for this big blunder as long as you come back within the next eight hours. As they gave us a deadline of twelve hours to go find you inside the second district and bring you back." Alex trembled in anger.

"W- well we were in in w-wrong, now let's g-go b-back." Shelly stuttered while attempting to appease both Alex and Luke.

Instead of going along with Shelly, I mustered up my courage, "Well since we have eight hours left, why don't we spend the rest of the time in the second district for a while? We're already in trouble anyways and I'm sure we won't get the chance to come here soon anyways. So, don't we have nothing to lose!"

Shelly stood there with her hand over her face while sighing. Alex started to take small steps towards me while he roared in even more anger than before while Luke continued his calming pats like he predicted this would happen.

I knew it wouldn't be long until Alex blew up as Luke's gentle pats were slowly becoming more ineffective. Before Alex could try to unleash his anger on me, I grabbed Shelly's hand and started to run into a lingerie shop that caught my eye.

This was a place where both Luke and Alex couldn't easily enter. I picked up some mature looking nightgowns with Shelly and pretended I wanted to try them on when I entered the store. However, Alex unexpectedly entered the store with his intense blushing face and grabbed my wrist to drag me out of the store. Meanwhile, Shelly paid for the mature looking nightgown I held onto as she quickly tried to catch up to Alex and I.

Before Alex could open his mouth, I declared, "If you don't let me explore the second district with Shelly, then I'll change into this nightgown right this instant and go back to school with you."

The nightgown seemed to be created from the finest ivory silk with transparent lace right above the chest. Even though it seemed mature, it wouldn't look provocative on a young child with no curves.

Alex hugged the air as he tried to snatch the nightgown away from me while I started to take off my cardigan in the middle of the streets. Alex determined I was 'serious' when I held my cardigan in my arms and started to take off one of the sleeves of my dress.

"Fine! I give up!" He yelled as his pale face was smeared with shades of red.

I grinned while I pulled up my loose sleeve as I ignored Luke's eerie smile that strangely popped out when I started to take off my cardigan.

"Where should we go next?" I cheerfully asked Shelly.

"Maybe the nearby Ferris wheel," Shelly said hesitantly.

"Then let's go!" I linked my arm inside Shelly arm to run toward the Ferris wheel together.

We quickly got inside the glass container in one of the carts since lunchtime was over and there wasn't a special holiday today. Shelly and I sat looked outside the glass windows as we enjoyed the view.

It was a whole other experience from looking down at the city from the hill. The people and cars didn't appear as ants but rather a scene from a movie in a bird eye's view. I could see the exterior of the café we were in with greater detail as I observed the lively marketplace.

"Ben was sooo dreamy today. I never get to be around decent guys so it was a nice change of pace." I broke the silence between us.

"Yea~ . Hubert was nice too with his silky aqua hair and lively emerald eyes." Shelly swooned.

"Maybe when you get the chance to closer to him later on, you can date him if you like him that much." I teased Shelly.

"There's no way. I'm engaged to Alex, remember? As long I'm partnered up with him, there's no way I can 'date' someone else. It's the same for you Rika." Shelly pouted while she immediately dismissed the thought.

"I thought everyone was partnered up with another person for academic purposes?" I sputtered out as I leaned forward.

"Well that's not it. Only people with mana are matched with another person as a future marriage partner." Shelly sadly revealed the news.

I thought Luke was exaggerating the fiancée part in kindergarten. His naggings suddenly started to make a lot more sense with his strict demeanor of trying to have me act like a 'lady of the Roselia house'.

"Does that mean I have to marry Luke in the future?" I hoped it wasn't the case.