Bonus Short - Flirting.

Before the Beast World.

The courtyard hummed with after-school noise — sneakers scraping pavement, lockers slamming, someone yelling about forgotten homework.

Sky stood by the notice board, staring at a poster like it held the secrets of the universe.

A boy approached her.

Confident posture.

Practiced smirk.

Hair gelled with the ambition of someone who woke up and chose ego.

“Hey,” he said. “You dropped something.”

Sky blinked.

“Oh. My belongings?”

She immediately crouched and searched the ground with laser focus…

even though every book she owned was already in her arms.

The boy blinked.

Tried to recover.

“Uh— no. My standards.”

Sky straightened with complete sincerity.

“Littering isn’t allowed,” she said softly.

“Please pick it up, or else I’ll have to inform the principal.”

His soul wobbled.

“I— that’s not— It’s a pick-up line— whatever— look—”

He inhaled sharply, then tried again.

“Well… if beauty were a crime…”

He leaned closer, lowering his voice.

“…you’d be serving life.”

Sky’s face slowly crumpled into mild, quiet horror.

“I don’t want to go to prison,” she whispered.

“That’s not—!” he sputtered. “That’s NOT what I—!”

Sky nodded thoughtfully.

“My uncle is a lawyer. Will he do?”

Something inside the boy broke.

Still desperate, he reached out and gently took Sky’s hand.

Sky froze.

Looked at his hand.

At him.

Then asked, with pure confusion:

“…Are you new to this school?”

“I can provide directions.”

The boy opened his mouth.

“My name’s Ben—”

He stopped.

Gave up entirely.

“…I’m going home.”

He turned around and left at a speed doctors would classify as “escape velocity.”

Sky stared blankly at the space he abandoned.

“…Odd,” she murmured.

A girl walking past slowed down, adjusting her bag.

Soft brown hair.

Calm eyes.

“Sky?” she asked. “Did Ben just try flirting with you again?”

Sky blinked.

“…Flirting?”

Ellie sighed.

“Yes. He was hitting on you. Obviously.”

Sky processed this.

Looked at her books.

Looked at Ellie.

Looked at the sky.

“…Why?”

Ellie placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Sky,” she whispered, “you are… absolutely impossible.”

Sky tilted her head, genuinely lost.

“…Is that bad?”

Ellie smiled.

“No.

It just makes you… you.”

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