Autumn 3rd, 4372; Afternoon, 13:59

Thirdday, Autumn 3rd, 3–…4,372; Afternoon, 13:59 [3342512374]

"Ms. Ainsley?"

"..."

"Ms. Ainsley??"

"...zzz..."

"Ruya!"

"z--Yes?!?" With a slam of her hands, Ruya jumped out of her chair, eyes still half glazed over. Her mind had wandered off at some point, but the sharp tone of the teacher brought her back to partial consciousness. Her morning-bed expression elicited a couple of snickers from her thirty-odd classmates, not that she noticed. "Um, four?"

"Four?"

"Yeah, four. The answer," she guessed. The fog clouding her mind slowly began to clear, though not fast enough.

"Do you know what class this is, Ms. Ainsley?" the teacher asked, exasperated.

"...History & Mythology?" She recognized the man at the front of the class. And as such, her cheeks quickly grew red.

"....please pay more attention, next time."

"Ah, right." Ruya lowered herself back down, covering her face in embarrassment. Although she tried to make herself as small as possible, she couldn't escape the surrounding whispers. I'll be fine. They'll forget about me soon enough. I'll be--

Ding-ding-ding-dong. Dong-ding-ding-dong.

"Well, that's all for today. We'll continue from where we left off tomorrow," the teacher explained, packing up his lecture notes. "Just as a reminder, you'll be having your practical lessons with your seniors on the field today. Do not forget to bring your gym clothes when Mr. Porter arrives. Now, enjoy your lunch." With those final words, the history teacher left the classroom.

As soon as the door closed behind him, the classroom exploded into a whirlwind of conversation. A lively atmosphere settled over the students as the cliques quickly conjugated. It was your standard stereotypical scene: from the valley girls gossiping with one another, to the jocks ogling them, and the nerds off in their own world. Of course, reality was a bit more nuanced, the relationships more complex than they appeared, but Ruya rarely had the headspace to consider anything deeper. It was much easier to classify and avoid whenever possible.

"Are you doing okay, Ruya?" Well, except for Belle. She always came over to join Ruya for lunch. At first, it garnered some attention from the rest of the class. After all, Belle, one of the prettiest girls in the class, had been talking to someone completely forgettable -- a wildcard, so to say. However, by the third day, the majority simply accepted it as normal.

That didn't mean the two were alone, though. Some of the other girls sat down with the pair, supposedly some other "friends" Belle had made. None of them ever interacted with Ruya directly, something she was rather grateful for, not that she could ever say.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ruya replied, pushing the other joiners out of mind. "Just lost in my thoughts."

"About what? Does it have anything to do with the missing high school girl?"

Oh yeah, mom mentioned something about that this morning. Who was it again? Ah, that's right, Nova--

"Are you talking about Karen?" One of the girls chimed in. Her blond, pink-tipped pigtails bobbed as she directed her attention at the others. "I thought it was strange she didn't show up today!" Apparently, one of their classmates was absent, which was news to Ruya. Though, most of their faces looked the same through her distorted vision.

"Karen? Isn't she in the next class over?"

Scratch that, it's not our class, Ruya thought, slightly relieved she wasn't that oblivious. However, it was immediately replaced by a sense of unease. But wasn't it Nova who went missing? She could faintly recall Nova's name appearing on the television, but her memory felt jumbled.

"Wait, the Karen in 2-B or 2-D?"

"Karen Novak in 2-B."

"Oh her? She was rather cute."

"Right? What if this mystery kidnapper likes cute girls?"

"Eek! I'm so scared!" Ruya eyes rolled at that sarcastic theater. Belle was also wearing a strained smile. It was clear they were trying to lighten the mood with a bad joke. None of them truly believed Karen was missing.

But Karen Novak, huh? 'Novak' was very similar to 'Nova', so she probably misremembered what she heard. She wasn't paying that much attention when the news story came on the television anyway.

...

"Hey, Belle?"

"Hm? What's up Ruya?" Belle replaced her smile with a more genuine one, but...

"Wasn't the missing girl Nova?" Almost immediately, it turned into a frown. Even the other girls around them grew quiet, staring at Ruya in disbelief. "Ah, I just thought it was someone else..." she mumbled, trying to shrink away.

"Oh! It's fine Ruya!" Belle quickly responded. "Karen's last name does sound similar to Nova, so it's easy to make the mistake! But, umm... Nova was... well, is... umm... how do you describe it..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Nova was missing every night, that slut," one of the girls spoke up, an expression of pure disgust plastered on her face.

"She's probably missing right now, hidden in some random nook with another guy."

"Or maybe she's sucking off the teacher again. How else could she remain in 2-A?" With their comments just a step away from explicit, Ruya felt her face heat up. Even Belle couldn't stifle the rosy tint appearing on her cheeks. But why do I still feel...

"How did she get into 2-A to begin with?"

"Maybe she gave some special services."

"But I heard she was actually a good student in the past. Looked the part too."

"That skanky bitch? I don't think I've ever seen her wear a shirt! There's no way she'd be in a school uniform."

"I'm not kidding. I heard it from Monica. Apparently, she changed once she started hanging out with--"

"Not to worry ladies. With my advanced water magic, I can protect you all from the kidnapper with ease." A boy saddled up behind two of the other girls at the table, clearly jumping in late to the conversation. However, he was too busy to care, trying to put his arms around their shoulders. One of his hands reached for the girl's breasts, which was promptly smacked away. The other cast a ball of water hovering over his open palm. A reckless thing to do in the classroom, but the boy had the skill to pull it off. However, the girls were clearly thinking something different.

Speak of the devil and Drake shall show up.