บท 25: Chapter 24: Uninvited Guests
She woke up staring at a familiar ceiling. She looked around, observing her surroundings. A sense of familiarity swept through her. This was her room. She got up only to feel a sharp pain shot at her skull. She held onto her head as if it was about to fall off. "Ugh. What happened?"
She shut her eyes as the images of the incident flashed through her mind.
However, the sound the muffled voices from outside disrupted her train of thought. She opened her eyes and got out of bed, even though her head protested. She twisted the doorknob and swung opened the door.
"What. The. Heck."
Lavi was looking through the fridge, in attempt to find some food. Patricia was on the couch, chugging down a shot of whiskey, while causally having her arm around Jai's shoulders. Mary was telling the others about what had happened as she re-enacted, "...Emily was like, 'it's an order'." That impression of Emily that she made was surprisingly accurate.
But, it was embarrassing for Emily.
Patricia noticed her and greeted, "Hey, Emily! Hic, I didn't know you had such attractive friends!"
Everyone shifted their attention to her.
"Oh my god, are you alright?" Hailey rushed to her, "You scared the hell out of me! Do you how worried I was? You just passed out like that!"
Hailey is always calm and collected, seeing her showing so much concern for her made her felt somewhat touched.
"I'm fine." Emily replied as she gave her a reassuring smile.
Her best friend pulled her in for a hug. That surprised Emily, she was not the type that would do things like that, "Thank goodness."
She let go of her after a few seconds and held onto her hands, "Don't do something like that ever again."
Emily gave her hands a gentle squeeze and nodded, "Yeah, I'll try."
Patricia set the empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee table loudly, scaring everyone. "I've ran out." She then stood up and wobbled to the kitchen to get another bottle.
Emily stopped her with her eyes widened, "Patricia, you drank the whole bottle?"
She stared at her, blinked a couple of times before she grinning charmingly, "Yes."
Her breath reeked of alcohol, making Emily cover her nose instinctively. "Then, you shouldn't drink anymore." Emily took the bottle from her hands, placing it back on the shelf in the kitchen.
Patricia pouted and protested, "Noooo! Emily! Stop being mean!" She then paused abruptly for a moment, and with a straight face, she continued, "I'm hungry."
"Patricia... She's definitely drunk." Emily shook her head, "Alright, I'll cook you something. Just sit down and watch the TV."
"Aye, captain Patterson!" She saluted her playfully before jumping back onto the couch. She went close to Jai and began flirting with him. She ran her fingers through his hair, then to his face, "You know, you have a decent face."
Jai was feeling extremely uncomfortable now, yet his skin colour remained the same, there was no sign of redness at any part of his face. At this point in time, she questioned if Jai was actually a cyborg. He forced out a smile and apologised, "I'm sorry, my lady. I'm not the right person for you. I'm s--"
Before he could finish, Patricia went for a kiss.
But, it failed.
Emily immediately grabbed a nearby magazine and shoved it between them, she ended up kissing the magazine cover, which had a male model on it, promoting some underwear.
Well, she did not kiss Jai, but that image of a male model was close enough.
"Sorry. She's a little... Drunk." Emily explained before turning to Patricia, "I'll prepare something for you, so stay put."
She went to kitchen and looked for a couple of ingredients while Anna followed in. "Princess, please allow me to this."
Emily turned and saw the well-dressed girl.
She appreciated the thought, but she was well enough to cook a meal. "It's fine, I can do it."
"Please rest up in the meantime, you must be tired. Let's me do this." Anna persisted in a cold yet convincing tone. Emily subconsciously gave in to the tone of her voice, "Okay, then. Let me know if you need help." Which Anna replied with a nod.
Emily walked out to see that Beck was absent. Noticing that there was a bandage around Mary's arm, she asked with a sheepish smile, "Mary, are you alright? And where's Beck?"
Mary looked up and smiled, "I'm fine. Thanks for asking, Emily. Well, as for Beck..." There was a sudden silence in the room that made Emily's stomach tightened. However, Mary cleared her throat and broke the news to her, "He's... in the guest room."
"That's good to know." She then hesitantly asked the next question as feeling slightly scared of what she might hear, "...How's Beck?"
Her expression darkened as first, but it softened by the time she spoke, "I've treated most of his wounds, but his condition is not too great. He needs a lot of rest."
Emily needed to take a few seconds to absorb what she had just heard.
All of a sudden, Hailey jumped in the conversation, "I know I'm not in the position to say anything but, why not bring him to hospital?"
Almost everyone stared at her with a 'seriously' look on their faces.
"What?" She asked as she scrunched her eyebrows.
"I've almost forgotten that you're here." Mary huffed, "Well, if I can't treat him, I doubt the hospital could. Oh yeah, can you forget whatever you've seen today?"
"Oh, like those fireballs, magic colour changing hair and an obliterated classroom?" Hailey spat out sarcastically before frowning, "Like hell I'll forget it. What the fuck have you guys drag Emily into? I need an explanation."
They living room remained quiet until Yukiko broke the silence, "It's her responsibility. She needs to be ready to be in these troubles now. I'll give you an explanation, she is Fiore's fourteenth Princess."
Hailey furrowed her eyebrows, "Is there no way for her to withdraw? If things would be like this, I shouldn't have let Mary and Beck or any of you guys near her. Now, she's in danger."
Yukiko shot her a glare, "She can't, she was born with that title. You can't change that. If it weren't for us, she could have die. There is no reason why you should blame us, we didn't bring this to her."
Hailey felt her anger being stirred up, she tightened her fists and shot up to her feet, "What do you mean it's not your fault? Everything was normal until you guys showed up."
"Sooner or later this will happen. It was just in the matter of time." Yukiko explained as she tried her best to remain calm.
"Ha, If guys hasn't come and look for her, I doubt anyone would ever notice her, like how it is in the past sixteen years." Hailey scowled as she pointed at her furiously.
They were going on with one another, and neither of them wanted to give in. That just worsened the pain she felt in her head, "Can you two stop it already?"
The two girls turned and shot daggers at her, "Stay out of this!" They yelled in unison.
She raised her hands to surrender, as she backed away, "...Okay."
Hailey took a deep breath to steady herself, "Who are you guys anyway? Can you just leave her alone?"
Yukiko massaged her temples with one hand, while placing the other on her hips, "No, we can't. We need to protect her."
Hailey did not like the sound of that answer, "Protect her? You guys aren't doing great job--"
"Erm..."
The sudden appearance of another voice made them swirled their heads to the direction of it.
It was Beck.
He could barely stand. He had his hand slung across his torso, which was wrapped in bandages and he needed to use the wall to support himself.
"Why did you come down here?! You need more rest." Mary scolded as she scurried to Beck, "Didn't I told you to not move around so much?"
He straightened his posture and forced out a smile, but a weak one was the best he could do, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
Ben stood up and joined them. "Exactly Mary, don't worry about him, he's 'fineeee'." He mocked as he gave Beck a jab to his side, which made him grimaced in pain, "See? Totally 'fine'."
"BEN! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Mary shouted so loudly that it made Ben covered his ears, "He broke a couple of ribs and you'll doing these things to him? He's your brother!"
"Hey, I have my reasons." Ben gingerly rubbed his ears, "I'm teaching him."
She placed her hands on her slender waist as she narrowed her eyes at him, "Well, you're not doing it right!"
Just as Mary was lecturing Ben on how to take care of a younger sibling, Emily dragged her feet to approach Beck. Her gaze saddened as she scrutinised his entire body, "You okay?-- I mean, duh, you're not. But, like... How are you feeling? Also, I'm sorry you're in this state. It's my fault."
She twiddled her thumbs and shifted her gaze to her feet, waiting for a response.
He grabbed her right hand and rubbed her knuckles comfortingly, "I'm... O-- Well, the pain isn't the worst. But it's not your fault, alright? You saved Mary and me, didn't you? So, don't worry about it."
He then mustered up the energy to force another smile out of him.
She looked down at her hand and gave him a squeeze in return, "Please get well soon, I guess."
Suddenly, Patricia raised the remote control and aimed it at the television, "Shh... People, I want to watch the TV."
She turned on the television and the News were on.
"...Earlier this afternoon, Spring Valley High was attacked by two unknown men, leaving with one of the classrooms completely obliterated. The police were unable to find those two suspicious figures at the scene, but some witnesses were able to give a couple of vague information about the two men. CCTVs around the school was destroyed and the whereabouts of those two are unknown. The high school will be shut down for a few days for repairs and investigations..."
"Wow, the lady inside the box just talked!" Lavi's eyes widened as he bit into a potato chip. He found that bag of chips as he scavenged the kitchen for food.
Jai turned to him and explained, "It's a television, it's a electronic appliance that is use to display visual images in the form of videos. It's often use for entertainment."
Emily had almost forgotten that Fiore did not had these technology. So, these things are pretty new to them.
"HEY! Emily! Isn't this your school?!" Patricia yelled across the room, bouncing up and down on the couch, pointing at the television like a three year old. "WHOA! What happened?!"
"Crap."
"Erm, I heard they escaped from a mental asylum. Well, we don't know for sure though." She lied as she turned her head to face Patricia, while keeping her hand in Beck's. For some reason, she did not want to let go.
"Oh, really?" She questioned as her eyes darted from the television and Emily. She rubbed her chin a little and exclaimed, "LIAR!"
She then lifted her imaginary glasses and looked directly at Emily, "You have the tendency to looking at people for more then five seconds, when you're lying. A socially awkward Emily, hate looking at people in the eye, so she only does it when she's lying! Besides, if you guys don't know for sure... WHY IS HE LIKE THAT?"
Her finger flew towards Beck.
"You guys must have collided with them and I can guarantee that you all know something about this! Emily, when did you start getting involved in things like this?!" She shouted before sobbing theatrically, rubbing invisible tears off her bottom eyelids. "Emily, you became such a bad girl!"
"Oh shit. When the hell was Patricia a psychologist?"
Emily laughed uneasily and tried to justified herself, but luckily, Anna came out with her food. Patricia cheered and immediately dug in, forgetting about the situation.
The school is shutting down temporarily, that was just great for her. She can live a few days without being judged by those other students in school. On the other hand, there might be more people looking for her.
"This is just insane."
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