“Looks like you have competition, Asher.” Mr. Rogers announced after he handed out the scripts to his students.
Asher had seen a 95% grade on his assignment and he had been feeling smug, but when he heard that, he started looking around, wondering who could have scored higher than him. His eyes finally settled on Aurora’s script, since she was not exactly hiding it anyways.
His eyes bulged out, and his face went very red when he saw her perfect 100% score.
“Aurora, do you mind solving the assignment on the board?”
“No problem, Mr. Rogers.” Very deliberately, she left her script on her table for the rest of the class to see and went up to the board to solve the question.
The whole class almost held their breaths while she solved the problem. Of course, they had seen the script, but a part of them must have chalked it up to a fluke, a mistake.
“I’m done,” she announced rather dramatically when she finished solving the question, and when she turned back to the class, there was a challenge in her eyes as she stared straight at Asher. Mr. Rogers, whose only job was that he had a new star student, one that wasn’t giving him any trouble at that, failed to see the look, or perceive the tension in the class.
When the class was over, Asher lingered to have a word with Aurora.
“Great work,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at her since she was still seated.
“I know.”
“You see, I am not used to having a competition in class.”
“Well, I suggest you buckle up.”
He shot her a dark look, which she responded to with one of her own. Standing up slowly, she chuckled, raised her hands up in the air in the universal sign of surrender.
“You know what? Why make enemies when you can make friends, right? I think we started on the wrong foot.”
“What do you propose?” he asked, eyeing her warily.
“Peace.” She extended her hand out to him, and he took it, a rather confused look on his face.
“You know what? Why don’t you come to the AV club’s room during lunch? I want to show you something.”
“What?” he asked, his mood suddenly improving as his mind began to wonder.
“When you come, you’ll find out. Don’t tell anyone where you are going, okay?”
She didn’t wait for his response before she walked out of the class, leaving a very puzzled Asher behind.
Aurora had thought about how to get her potential recruits together in one room, and she had come up with a plan. The plan is to appeal to their most dominant sides, and in Asher’s case, it is his masculinity. The very thought of a girl asking him to come to an abandoned place alone is enough to drive him into action.
As for Jane, her curiosity had done the trick. While Aurora was walking to her seat at the beginning of class, she had slid a note to her. It was a big risk, but taking big risks is one of her favorite things to do. When she turned around to look at the big girl, she had found her giving her a very strange look, and she knew the girl would show up. She had just one person left, and she went looking for her.
Aurora had been late to class because she had gone to hack into the school’s database, again, to change the timetable such that she and Jemina will have homeroom at the same time, but with none of her usual crowd, so that the cheerleader would be alone when she approaches her.
“Hi, Jemina,” she said, using her sweetest voice.
“Oh, hi. Finally! Someone I can actually talk to. I have no idea how I ended up here today.” she said, her relief so obvious Aurora had to stifle her smile.
She started reading a book, deliberately ignoring the girl.
5.4.3.2…
“So, tell me, where do you buy your clothes from?” she asked, eyes shining as if the secret to the universe was in Aurora’s hands.
“Girl, I have this website, do you want to check it out? We can literally go shopping now!”
The girl squealed in delight and that was how they used the rest of homeroom class to shop, and for Aurora, she made a new best friend.
Jemina bought a very cute gift box bag with a love button, black dangling cobweb earrings, and a pair of very gothic lace up, black leather boots.
“Do you want to go somewhere with me?” Aurora asked her after class, and of course, she said yes.
When they arrived at the meeting point, Asher and Jane were already there, staring daggers at each other.
“What is going on here, Aurora? And why are they here?” They all wanted to know why the others were there, but she was able to calm them down after a while.
“Guys, just stop fighting for a bit and listen to me.”
They did.
“I know you all have questions.” Asher wanted to say something, but with one glare from Aurora, he fell silent.
“Please, hear me out. I invited you here because you fit into the category the agency I work for needs at the moment.”
“What agency?” Jane asked.
“Well, the more mundane name for us is a spy.”
“You’re a spy?” the three of them blurted out, a question which she didn’t reply to.
“At the moment, we are about to take on a huge mission, and we need certain types of people that fit into certain profiles to get the job done. I can’t give you the details yet, not until you agree to come with me to see my director.”
“We can’t just agree to what we are not certain about,” Jemina said, worrying on her lower lip.
“Those are my terms, I’m afraid. We need people that dare to know more, people that dare to do more and take risks by delving into unknown waters. Yours agreeing to come with me will be you passing your first test. So, what’s it going to be?”
“If we hear your director out, and we are not interested afterward ?” Asher asked cautiously.
“Then you go home, and all of this will be like it never happened.” She didn’t tell them she meant a mind wipe. They don’t need to know that, especially if it ever gets to that.
“I’m in,” Jane said, and Jemina acquiesced with a nod. Asher’s response came in slower and with a lot of uncertainty, but, it came.
“When do we leave?”
“Now.” Grinning from ear to ear, she turned a dial on her wristwatch and said.
“We are traveling via the portal.”
Chapter Summary
Asher, formally the best student in his calculus class has found a competition in Aurora, and the idea does not sit well with him.
Finally! We get to find out who Aurora James really is, and what her mission might be. We have to say that it was quite a shocker. She has recruited, possibly, three of her classmates, and there is no telling the number of adventures they will have.
Let’s admire the clothes together:
These earrings- https://www.lolitain.com/handmade-retro-black-cobweb-lolita-earrings-p-3671.html – are the bomb!
These shoes- https://www.lolitain.com/punk-cross-black-patent-leather-gothic-laceup-long-boots-p-7522.html are so badass.
Is this bag- https://www.lolitain.com/gift-box-bowknot-love-heart-wavy-lace-sweet-lolita-shoulder-bag-p-7623.html not adorable?
