Apologies are in order

The next day, I sat at my usual seat, a bit more nervous than usual. Alisa entered, wearing the same friendly distant look as she greeted our classmates, until she met my eyes. Her face soured in deep disdain. She marched over to her seat, placed her bag down to its side and pulled the chair out herself. She then pushed her desk a few feet away from me and turned to face the wall.

“Alisa I'm so…” I tried to apologize.

“Don’t talk to me.” She huffed without looking in my direction.

When class was over, she took her bag and stormed off, leaving me behind. I made my way to the student council room, only to find it empty save for Yor at his desk.

“Heard you two were attacked yesterday.” He said, not bothering to look up from his paperwork.

“Yeah. Roa demon.” I sighed, plopping down on the couch, tossing my bag aside.

“Something else happen? This is the first time you’ve come to the student council room without her.” Yor asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She found out I was sent here to be her bodyguard.” I admitted.

“Yeah, I figured she wouldn’t take that well. The Akasha and the Vanderstark clans are mortal enemies.” He said.

“And yet I'm here because of the deal between that Vanderstark mother of mine and her Akasha father…” I sighed. “I didn’t mean not to tell her. But I figured she’d be less likely to avoid me if I pretended to be her servant.”

“That’s a terrible plan.” Yor scolded me.

The door swung open. Alisa stood there with her arms crossed, a cold look on her face. The princess strolled past me, completely ignoring my presence as she approached Yor.

“President, any work for me today?” She asked him.

“Yeah. In that pile right there.” He pointed.

Alisa scooped up the folders of paperwork, walked over to the far side of the table and began to work. It only took five minutes before she had a frustrated look on her face. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to fill a certain form.

“Uhm… do you need me to help you with that?” I asked.

“Be quiet.” She grit her teeth. “I said don’t talk to me.”

Ten minutes passed, and she looked even more lost.

“Student Council Secretary. I believe these forms are your realm of expertise. As Student Council Vice President, I delegate these to you.” She droned formally, passing me a large stack of papers.

“Right.” I nodded, taking them from her.

A few more minutes passed before I tried to speak to her again.

“Look, Alisa.” I tried.

“I’m working.” She replied.

“Come on. That’s not fair.” I protested.

“Be quiet.” She demanded.

“Whatever.” I raised my hands in defeat. “Be that way then.”

“What do you mean, that way?” She glowered.

“That! That, all that!” I pointed.

“All that? All that? I don’t need to take this from a liar!” She yelled.

“I’m trying to apologize! Come on!” I yelled.

We were both standing. I don’t know when it happened, but we were right by each other. I looked down at the shorter girl, matching her intense gaze. We stared at each other's eyes, anger burning, waiting for the other to back down.

“Guys.” Yor interrupted.

“What!” We both turned in unison.

“This is a professional environment. I will not tolerate personal issues getting in the way of work.” Yor growled, fangs bared, the semi translucent appearance of blue horns poking out from his head.

“Sorry…” We apologized, backing off and taking our seats back at our paperwork.

“You’re not being fair to him, Alisa.” Yor calmed down, his fangs and horns fading away. “He saved your life.”

Alisa nodded, turning her head away from me.

“And you, dumbass, you shouldn’t have lied to her.” Yor pointed at me.

“Yeah…” I muttered.

“I’m sorry.” Alisa said, holding back tears. “You did save me. It’s just… you only wanted to be around me because of your job, right?”

“What? No. Well, that’s the reason I approached you, but that doesn’t mean…” I flustered. “I want to be around you Alisa. Really. I’m sorry for lying to you. I shouldn’t have done that. I do wanna be around you. You're my...princess."

“Ray…” She looked at me again, tears welling in her eyes.

“I still want to be your servant. If you’ll let me.” I winked.

She smiled brightly, wiping her tears and puffing her shoulders.

“Of course. You proved yourself much more useful than I thought. I had you pegged as the school slacker.”

“Woah, I'm still a slacker, just a slacker that can hit things really hard.” I grinned.

“Ray…” Her face was deep red. I could feel my own cheeks getting hot.

“Guys. I’m not a couples therapist.” Yor let out. “If you’re gonna do this, wait till we’re done with work.”

We snapped back to reality, burying ourselves in paperwork, our faces both a deep red. I finished my work first, turning the papers into Yor.

“Good work today.” He said.

“Alisa, want me to walk you home again?” I asked.

“Ah, no. Emma is coming to pick me up. Actually I'm moving into the dorms soon, so walking me won’t be necessary.” She said.

“Oh, i see.” I replied. “Well, i’m gonna head back into my room then. See you guys.”

“See ya.” Yor waved, face still buried in work.

“Bye.” Alisa smiled, waving me off. I let my gaze linger on her a bit, before walking out the door.

I had a pretty good setup on campus. A second floor dormitory room with a wide living area. Technically, it was meant to house two students, but I didn’t have a roommate this year. My spare bed became a place for me to store boxes and old clothes. Admittedly, it was a bit of a mess; spare ramen cups and dirty dishes had piled up. Most of my clothes were unwashed in a corner by my bed. If Yor caught on to how I was living, he’d probably give me an earful.

I quickly stripped off my uniform, stripping down into my boxers before doing my workout routine. I had a pull up bar installed over one of the doors. I usually liked to warm up with a set of two hundred pull ups all at once. Afterwards, my main workout was about a thousand burpees, two thousand sit ups, and finishing off with a thousand push ups. If I was feeling ambitious, it would be another three thousand squats. After finishing my workout and stretching, I headed into the shower to wash off.

“Man, Alisa is pretty cute when she’s mad.” I talked to myself, letting the water wash over me. “Maybe I should make her mad more often.” I laughed.

I dried myself off, walking out into the living area with only a towel around my waist.A pair of clothes was piled up on the couch ready to go. I reached for them right as the door opened. Alisa stepped through and we locked eyes.