Chapter 493 - Video (2)

"You're here," I g.r.o.a.n.e.d inside the sleeping bag.

Luke liked using his office inside the club room rather than going to the library. Meaning that all the intense study sessions were done here now. Although he left me alone after we finished our usual sessions, it didn't make them less painful. Sometimes Alex joined in the sessions, adding to lecturing when my head already hurt from Luke. Having a temporary wall surrounding his office with a sound-proof function whenever we had a session together, no one else knew what was truly going on.​​

"I'll let you go after we review everything done in class today," Luke wanted me to sit down in his office.

"Can't we cut them in half?" I pulled out my pitiful eyes.

"Rika," Luke warned me.

Without any choice, I tried to wiggle out of the sleeping bag. But since I was taking too much time, Luke started to pull my arms, dragging me into his office. This was almost an everyday scene inside the clubroom, making everyone used to it. Most of my friends didn't know the true face of Luke yet, how he changed when we were alone. They only had slight glimpses from when Luke got mad at them when I got sick or kidnapped.

Listening to how Sienna and Delia had lived with Luke, I found it unfair how he treated me so differently from them. I also wanted a partner who gave me some space instead of checking up on me all the time. I never got the warm greetings from him, always getting pressuring stares to get ready for school in the mornings. He was the one who determined all the rules inside our dorm room instead of coming up with them together.

"What chapters are we doing today?" I mumbled, sitting in the usual chair.

"I told you that you have to fix your posture when you sit down on these kinds of chairs," Luke began to nag.

None of them knew that the study sessions were combined with more nagging about everything that was supposedly wrong with me. Every single millimetre mattered, never escaping his eyes. My friends would be surprised with the level of detail that Luke possessed when going over these things. Among my group of friends, only Shelly had the perfect posture that Luke was talking about, under the pressure of Alex all the time.

I felt dead whenever the study sessions were over, limping out of his office to escape. My eyes glittered when I could freely lay down on the ground again. Rolling inside my sleeping bag, I was in paradise again. I stopped when Alex opened the door to the club room, looking at me in disapproval but leaving me alone. Although Alex and Shelly got into frequent fights, he was definitely stricter towards me than to her.

He never said anything when Shelly came late to their dorms. Meanwhile he made sure that I kept the rules that Luke set for me, including leaving the clubroom at a certain time. He joined Luke when going through all the rules again when I was close to breaking one. Of course, this was all done when the temporary walls were up. I sighed as I held a console to play, wondering if there was anything else that I could do.

"What do you guys think of creating an album together?" I turned to everyone in the gaming section.

"Why not?" Oili was excited about the idea.

Both Oili and I loved to sing, using the karaoke machine sometimes. With all the resources inside the school, we could easily produce a professional album. All of us knew how to play instruments while having lessons on how to compose some songs ourselves. Since all of us were starting to get bored lately, this could be a good change for us. While I was inside the office with Luke, Cillian had already sent everyone the final magical girl video, making that project finished.

"I want to be the vocals!" I assigned myself to a role.

"I'll do the album concept," Shelly liked the artistic roles.

"I want to be a lyricist!" Sienna joined in.

Everyone was soon assigned to a role again, including Ethan who got another cage of bugs to help with the song writing. Feeling exhausted after warming up my vocals with Oili, I immediately fell asleep after laying down on my bed. But in the middle of my sleep, I felt irritated, feeling it was too noisy. Covering my ears to get a better quality of sleep, I wondered why I could hear the sounds of people chattering inside my bedroom. Opening my eyes, I was covered by a light blanket while Luke's c.h.e.s.t had become my new bed. I was inside Luke's arms, making sure I stayed in one place.

Feeling a light breeze fly by me, I realized I wasn't inside my bedroom anymore. Looking around my surroundings, I could find everyone inside Luke's fraction gathered together. Using another hidden place inside the school, I found we were inside the abandoned ballroom. Ivy crawling around its wall, grassy moss between the cracked marble tiles. Dim lights coming from the crystal chandelier, sparkling off the moonlight. Other than several chairs and small tables, there weren't any other furniture to be seen. With my toes able to freely move, I realized I wasn't wearing any socks or shoes.