The girl stopped at the door and looked at him for a moment, doing nothing until she simply gave a wave before going over to a chair in front while yawning.
Shaking his head slightly, Jonathan stood up and approached her. Getting closer, she had her back to him as she talked to another girl whom he greeted.
"Janet, good morning." He waved at the girl with short black hair with red tips.
Something the girl returned with a wave and a faint smile on her face as she looked up. "What's up, Jonathan."
With black mascara on her lashes, piercings on her nose, lip, and eyebrow, pale white skin as if she had never seen the sun, wearing a black T-shirt from some rock band and tight black pants along with black boots, there was Janet, Marianne's punk/emo friend.
Jonathan returned the wave when their eyes met; she was quite pretty as well as weird. Although he found her attractive, he had no interest in her — it would've been a different matter if she were goth, but that wasn't the case.
Even though they're similar, there's a difference between the goth and punk rock styles, at least that's what his totally baseless knowledge told him.
After greeting her, he turned his gaze back to Marianne, who was looking at him too.
But instead of saying anything right away, he narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "You know, I clearly remember coming to school while you were still sleeping. I got here a few minutes ago, but you're already here."
She blinked at his words, then slowly looked away to the side.
Seeing that, Jonathan leaned closer, resting on the desk, which only made her look even more to the side, edging away from him.
Stopping next to her, he spoke in a low, accusatory tone. "You didn't take a shower again, did you?"
And she quickly turned to him, alarmed. "Hey! Don't say that out loud." She looked around to see if anyone had heard.
"You're the one talking loud, so I'm right, aren't I?" He kept staring at her.
Knowing full well he wouldn't back off until she answered, Marianne sighed as she crossed her arms. "Yeah, yeah, you're right, but I was late, what was I supposed to do?" She looked at him with a guilty expression as if she hadn't had a choice.
But Jonathan just looked at her impassively, continuing to stare, only blinking silently until she started smiling awkwardly while rubbing the back of her neck.
Exhaling through his nose, Jonathan shook his head as he asked in a low tone again. "Did you at least wash your intima—"
"Of course!" she exclaimed loudly, quickly covering his mouth. "I may be lazy, but not that lazy." She gave him a slightly frowning look.
And the sideways glance he gave her didn't look the least bit convinced; he removed her hand from his mouth as he smiled faintly. "You're really a lost cause, huh? At this rate, it's going to be really hard for you to get a boyfriend."
Her face twitched at that, the corner of her mouth tightening with growing irritation.
Jonathan then went on with a resolute look forming on his face, placing a hand over his chest. "But don't worry, as your brother I—"
"Shut up, Jonathan! Stop talking that crap!" Cutting him off, she grabbed his head, pressing it against her with an annoyed look.
'Huh, déjà vu,' Jonathan thought silently as his cheek got pressed against her chest.
While she squeezed his head with an irritated look, he just enjoyed the feeling with a relaxed smile, and Janet, nearby, watched everything with an amused grin.
"You two almost look like a couple fighting like that, you know?" she said, resting her chin on her hand.
Her words made Marianne pause before letting go of Jonathan. "What the hell are you talking about? Don't be weird." She shot Janet an accusatory look, to which Janet only smiled in response.
Straightening up, Jonathan rubbed his neck as he tilted it slightly, lowering his hand after a moment, recovering his faint smile. "Well, I'm going back to my seat, Janet." He gave a final wave to the girl, who returned it before he turned his eyes to Marianne.
But instead of saying anything, he silently met the girl's gaze as she looked up.
Until he finally moved his hand, grabbing her chin from below, holding both her cheeks and tilting her face up even more.
He silently stared at the dark pink lips forming a faint pout, his gaze then meeting hers as his eyes narrowed and his thin smile widened.
"What?" she asked, her brow slightly furrowed, a puzzled look in her eyes.
"Nothing, it's nothing." Without explaining, he gave her cheek a light tap before leaving.
"What the hell was that… and that bastard didn't even say goodbye." Marianne looked at his back with a slightly frowning, confused look, rubbing her cheeks, shaking her head with a sigh, then turning forward only to meet Janet's amused stare.
"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Janet laughed at her friend's apparent innocence; she hadn't even realized that, from an outside view, the position she and Jonathan had been in looked quite suggestive.
…Or maybe it was Janet's mind, used to reading way too many weird things, that made her see it that way.
Coughing into her fist, Janet waved her hand. "It's nothing, it's just that if I didn't already know you two were siblings, I'd think you were a couple."
"Again with that weird talk? Don't you have any other topic?" Marianne asked, crossing her arms.
Janet shrugged. "What can I do? It's true, you can ask anyone in the class. And I don't think it's impossible, after all, you're not blood-related, right? If you two end up together, just know you have my full support." She made a heart with her hands, winking at her.
Marianne just looked at her flatly in silence for a moment. "Janet, can you do me a favor?"
"Yes~?"
"Shut up."
"Hahaha~"
…
Inside the basketball court, Jonathan's class was doing a stretching session before starting the exercises.
Sitting on the floor and stretching his legs, Jonathan leaned forward to touch his toes while Chad behind him pushed on his back, counting the stretches.
"By the way, guys, changing the subject, I've got some really hot gossip~"
Sitting next to them, Tyrone was also stretching while the guys he'd been chatting with earlier pushed his back.
"What?" Chad asked, looking at him curiously.
"Apparently, Charles broke up with his girlfriend because he saw her making out with Tomas from the cheerleaders."
Chad gasped while Jonathan kept his face blank, focused on stretching, with the guy behind Tyrone nodding a few times.
Tyrone then went on with a grin. "And not just that, as revenge, he kissed Megan in front of her. From what I heard, his ex and Megan hate each other, but as if that wasn't enough, he said he'd throw a party at his place this weekend and invited everyone except her."
"He's really vindictive," said the guy behind Tyrone, something Chad agreed with, nodding.
"Hmph, that's just pettiness on his part," Tyrone said before standing up.
As they switched positions, Jonathan now pushing Chad's back, Tyrone continued. "I'm sure he was always cheating on his girlfriend. He probably wasn't angry about the cheating itself but about the fact that she actually dared to do it. After all, Charles is a diva who only cares about popularity; his girlfriend was just there to boost his status, nothing more."
Chad and the other guy agreed silently.
"By the way, we're going to that party, right~?" Changing the subject, Tyrone asked with a cheerful smile.
"Of course~!"
"Absolutely~!"
Chad and the other guy nodded, sharing his excitement.
"Jonathan?" Tyrone raised an eyebrow at him.
"Nah, I'm good." Jonathan shook his head.
"Come on! It's going to be fun, you have to come with us, or it won't be the same!" Tyrone pleaded in a whiny tone.
But Jonathan simply shook his head. "No, thanks. I'd rather stay home playing video games."
"Oh my! There you go again with that antisocial attitude. You've got to come, there'll be lots of hot women there. Don't you want to rethink that, huh~? huh~?" Tyrone wiggled his eyebrows suggestively while grinning.
Jonathan looked at him and smiled, which made Tyrone's smile grow hopefully, only for Jonathan to crush it mercilessly. "Not going."
"Come on, Jonathan!"
"Okay, girls, time's up, stand up and start running." Interrupting Tyrone, said the coach — a middle-aged woman with her hair in a bun and big receding hairlines, wearing the same clothes as them: a white T-shirt and blue shorts.
Getting up from the floor, Jonathan stretched his arms above his head silently, feeling some eyes on him, something he was already used to.
"As always, the great beauty Jonathan attracting looks."
Chad, close by, said with a grin as he noticed too.
Jonathan just gave him a silent look, something Chad only laughed at, knowing Jonathan didn't like those nicknames.
He looked away, meeting the eyes of the girls staring at him, who quickly looked away. He knew full well they'd look back the moment he turned his back, and not just them — he could also see the looks from some guys, though the emotion behind those eyes was quite different.
Starting to jog along with the others, Tyrone, a bit behind him, commented with a grin. "And they're not the only ones. Geez, I can feel that jealousy from here." He glanced playfully at another student up ahead. "A bit more jealousy and the tears he'll shed will be made of jelly, hahaha~"
Following his gaze, Jonathan met the eyes of an Asian guy with hair down to his nape and long bangs parted in the middle, covering his forehead.
Their eyes met silently before he calmly turned his head as if nothing had happened.
"He still tries to act like he's not holding back from screaming in frustration. Charles really can't stand seeing a guy getting more attention than him." Tyrone shook his head knowingly.
Exactly — that Asian guy up ahead was the very one Tyrone had been gossiping about earlier: Charles Lin.
Jonathan was already used to those looks from him too; it happened so often he'd lost count. They'd interacted several times, but always with an air of falseness from Charles.
After all, playing his role, since Jonathan was one of the "popular girls" and a "queen bee," Charles was one too, and in that role, he was the embodiment of the attention-obsessed popular girl.
Personally, Jonathan didn't hold anything against him, though it was clear the guy hated him. Charles had never done anything to harm him, at least not directly.
Jonathan was almost sure that the source of some rumors about him was that guy, but since he never really cared about what others thought and those rumors hardly affected him, he did nothing.
"Anyway, Jonathan, you're going to the party, aren't you?" Pulling him out of his thoughts, Tyrone went back to pestering him.
"I already said no."
"Come on, don't be like that!"
…
Walking along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, Jonathan was heading home after school.
Instead of giving him a ride, this time Elizabeth hadn't even brought him, so he went home on foot. Not that it was her fault — her car had broken down, and since Jonathan wasn't in the mood to wait for her to fix it, he went back alone.
It was the same route he sometimes took; it wasn't the first time he walked home from school alone, and none of those other times had anything happened.
A few blocks from his house, he walked the same route as always: a street similar to where his house was, with similar houses facing each other, grassy lawns, fences, and so on.
The atmosphere was calm, the street quiet due to the lack of people, but not eerie, with a light breeze coming by now and then, brushing against his face.
Until it wasn't anymore.
Suddenly, feeling uneasy, Jonathan stopped, furrowing his brow. He felt a faint, persistent sensation at the back of his mind — the same one he felt when someone was staring at him, something he was already used to.
But this time was different; that stare felt more… intense? No, more like analytical? Something like that.
He then looked back, his eyes searching for anything suspicious, but he saw nothing, and soon, that sensation vanished.
Blinking, he kept looking around. After a while, seeing nothing and with that feeling gone, he started walking again.
'Weird, I'm sure someone was looking at me.' He didn't have any superpower or anything like that, but the sensation of that stare was so clear he could feel it to the point that anyone else could too — someone had definitely been watching him.
Sighing, Jonathan kept walking home, brow still furrowed. 'I hope it's not a big deal.'
Unfortunately, contrary to his thoughts, he'd soon find out it really was a big deal.