“Yeah, I suppose I have,” he replies humbly. “It surprises me, too!”
The two of them laugh before Lyn says, “To think, not so long ago you were a shy little man. But now, you’ve stood tall and proud against a tyrant, and firmly resisted his reign with the help of friends. Seriously, Matt, I’m very proud of you and what you’ve done for yourself, as well as the community.”
“Thank you, Lyn. But remember, as you said, I didn’t do it alone. I had help from my friends, and that includes you!”
“Haha, true! But hey, speaking of that, may I ask a favor of you?”
“A favor, from me? Sure, I guess. What is it?”
“Well, seeing how well you’ve done in trashing Cain’s reputation around here, I was wondering if you could help me do more than that. I’m sure you’re aware by now how boss students rule the school, in a way, right?”
“Yes, I’m aware. What about it?”
“Oh, you know, Matt, it’s just, it’s just wrong. Leaders in the student community shouldn’t be ruling over the others through fear or force. They should be shining examples of inspiration and assistance. That’s why, for awhile now, I’ve been trying to change the way it works here at the college. I’ve tried to dispel the gang mentality of the boss students and their lackeys and make things better for everyone.”
Sighing, Lyn goes on, “But, I’ll admit, I haven’t had much progress on my own. So, with your success in stomping down Cain, the figurehead of the mobster behavior, I was hoping you could assist me in the cause. You could be the spark to get the flames of rebellion going, the momentum needed to sweep away the boss students’ tyranny over the school. What do you think, Matt? Could you help me make the school a better place?”
“Hmm. Well, to be honest, I only took up this campaign against Cain just to keep him from messing with me or my friends again, and to set an example to anyone else who would dare bully us. I didn’t really want to cause more trouble with anyone else.” When Lyn flashes him a begging look, her pale eyes slightly enchanting him, he thinks about it, shrugs, and admits, “However, I guess you do make a good point. Cain can’t be the only one who’s made lives miserable around here as a boss student, right?”
“Oh yes, of course! Sure, he’s the most active one who’s done so, without subtlety, without shame, but the others have been guilty of it, too. Buster Harmada, Cynthia Volvaron, and James.”
Detecting the way she growls out the name, Matt asks, “What do you have against him?”
Her icy eyes freezing over with hate, she says without restraint, “He’s a lying, selfish, unfeeling, manipulative, and conceited bastard. The only things he cares about are power, money, and women. I was a fool to trust him, to think he was a friend, those few years ago, but even I was used and abused by him, only to be betrayed when he threw away whatever we had for the corrupting taint of being a boss student.”
“Ah, I see.” Understanding her a little through his own experience with James recently, he pats her on the shoulder. “I’m sorry for whatever hardship he gave you, Lyn.”
“Thanks, Matt.” Her eyes softening, she looks back to Matt, again asking, “So, will you and your friends help me in a revolution against the boss student regime?”
“Well, I would have to talk with them, to see how they feel about it, before…”
Matt’s response, as well as the rest of the conversations in the room, are cut off by a crisp knocking on the door, causing him, Lyn, Amelia, and the other women to whirl their heads to it. One of the girls crosses the room, asks through the door who it was, listens for the answer, and turns to announce, “It’s Cynthia Volvaron. She says she comes in peace, that she just wants to talk.”
The cold flames in Lyn’s eyes, rekindled at the fact it was one of the boss students at the door, yet burn warily as she replies, “Let her in.”
While Matt and the others watch, the subordinate unlocks the door and lets Cynthia, in her flowing red dress and attended by three other women in blue, green, and yellow dresses, enter the room. Appearing well composed, with her hand stroking back some of her hair, she greets Lyn’s company with a courteous tone. “Good afternoon, ladies. I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.” Strolling across the room towards the couches, her rich pink gems meet Lyn’s pale diamonds as she nods to her, going on, “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice, Lyn, for which I do apologize, but I feel there’s something you and I have to discuss.”
Standing to be near level with Cynthia, face-to-face and a few inches shorter than her, Lyn remarks with a cool, but cruel, tone, “Oh, really? Whatever could it be about, I wonder. Have you come on a serious matter, or are you just here to try giving us fashion advice?”
“Oh no, no, I have nothing trivial in mind. This is all about business, which will hopefully be good between us.” Cynthia then notices Matt on the couch near them, glancing down and acknowledging him with a nod and smile. “Ah, I see you are here, as well, Matt. How very convenient! For you see, I have something to share that you may want to know, too.”
Standing up to face both Lyn and Cynthia on either side of him, Matt looks to the taller, tanner, red-themed one of the two and asks, “Uh, really? What is it?”
Keeping up her calm, dazzling impression, Cynthia points to Matt’s neck, tracing her finger across it, and says, “I know how you got those scars. You got into a fight with Rose.”
Matt, and the other women around him, are stunned before he gets out, “How, how do you know that?”
“Oh, it’s simple, really. Irene Goros, my former associate, told me. She was cocky enough to inform me that she had been working for Cain, that she was spying on you and Rose while you two fought, and she was going to shoot Rose if you had defeated her, thereby framing you for harming her out-of-morph.”
A fist of air smashes into Matt’s side, his eyes and mouth wide open in shock, before he falls back to the couch. His mentality is shattered and scattered over how much more serious, and potentially devastating, the encounter had been. A rattled Lyn speaks for him, asking, “And why should we believe your word, Cynthia?”
“Why? Oh, I can tell you why.” Her calm demeanor shifts into a boiling rage as she explains, “I was once Cain’s ally in this whole mess between him and Matt. I put my reputation on the line by flirting with Sean, to get into his cabin and dig up any dirt I could against Matt. That plan, however, backfired. Remember that rumor going around, that I and Sean did it? Well, it’s true.”
Lyn, Amelia, and their associates gasp in shock before she goes on. “I found Matt’s personal prescription of drugs, and thought I could use it to pass out before I did anything with Sean. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. I lost all sense of logic, filled with a sudden, burning desire for Sean, and then I was literally burning afterwards with a fever. I put my reputation, and my health, on the line for Cain, only to find out he’s become so mad he’d threaten other people’s lives just to get what he wants. I do not appreciate that, and I intend to make him pay for it!”
A moment of stunned silence goes by before Lyn speaks up, “Wow, I, I understand. Then, are you here because, you want to switch sides?”
“Yes, that’s precisely it, Lyn. That’s the business I had in mind.” Her ire cooling down, Cynthia proposes, “Seeing as you, Matt, and friends have already done much against him, I am ready and willing to do more with you in giving that mad man hell, with my accomplices and I. How does that sound? Would you let me tag along for the ride, to get my revenge on him?”
“Well, uh, uh, yes, certainly! Although, there is one thing to keep in mind. This thing we have going, against Cain, will no longer be against him solely. We’re also out to break down the whole boss student regime over this school, so that would mean you would have to comply and accept it, or still be against us. Is that fine with you?”
Raising an eye brow at Lyn’s demand, Cynthia thinks over it for a moment before confirming with a nod, “Yeah, that’s fine. I could care less for being a superior ov
er the other students at the moment. All I want is to burn Cain to the ground, and I’ll go along with whatever it takes.”
“Good. It’s settled, then. You and I, hopefully with support from Matt and his friends, will continue the campaign against Cain and his reign.” She looks down to Matt on the couch and asks, “That sound okay with you, Matt?”
“…Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, that’s fine.”
“Okay.” Seeing how distressed and unsure Matt is, Lyn turns and suggests, “Shall we discuss some plans or tactics elsewhere, Cynthia? I don’t think Matt is in the mood to do so at the moment, so we shouldn’t bother him with it.”
“Hmm, yeah, we can do that. I would say he has a lot to think over, himself. Let’s head to the library, we can talk more there.”
“Alright, the library it is.” She flashes glances to her subordinates, who nod and gather up while heading for the door to depart. She taps Amelia on the shoulder when she passes her, saying, “Amelia, why don’t you stay here with Matt, and make sure he’ll be fine and see him off?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll do that, Lyn.” Lyn gratefully nods before she and Cynthia rejoin the rest of the women, leading them all out of the study hall. Once she and Matt are alone, Amelia takes a moment to head over and lock the door before returning to him, sitting down beside him and asking, “You alright, Matt?”
“I, I don’t know, Amelia.”
Amelia nods and places a comforting hand on him. “You want to tell me how you’re feeling?”
Matt doesn’t respond for a moment, staring off into space beyond the floor beneath him, before he says, “Can you keep a secret, Amelia?”
“Of course, Matt. In a way, you and I already keep a secret. What is it?”
Chuckling a little, Matt then takes a breath before he lets it out. “When Rose and I got into that fight, it wasn’t simply a heated argument boiling over to our morphs. We, we were trying to kill each other. She thought I was a Shadow Core terrorist, and I thought she was an assassin. My, my defeat and demorphing cleared our heads, and we’ve reconciled, I hope. But, to now know that someone else was watching, ready to mortally harm her if she lost, it, it rattles me even more, that we were still so close to a fatal fate.”
At first lost for words by Matt’s chilling confession, Amelia finds some when she quietly says, “I’m, I’m sorry to hear that, Matt.”
“This isn’t what I was expecting, what I was ready for, when I came to college. I was under the impression this would be a safe place to get to know people, and yet, one man has tried to ruin me here. What did I do, to deserve this? Why do I deserve this, Amelia?”
“You don’t deserve this, Matt.” Patting him compassionately, Amelia goes on, “You did nothing to deserve this, nor has any other student who has been in your place. But Cain, well, Cain is a bad apple. He was arrogant enough with his fortune and his drug-induced powers, and I think he’s gotten even worse as a senior, being at the top of the food chain. But to endanger the lives of other students, that’s going too far, even for him. He might be going mad with this whole boss student mentality.”
“Yeah. You know why Rose and I got into a fight, with those false conceptions of the other? It was James who had put them into our heads, and he had to have been working with Cain on that, so Cain is responsible for that, as well.” Leaning back in the couch, his hands grip his head as he says, “How, why, could someone be as heartless as he is?”
“…I don’t know, Matt. I guess that’s just as close to pure evil as you can get.” Trying to encourage him, she says, “But you and your friends have been doing a great job striking back at him, and with Lyn and Cynthia joining you, Cain could be completely overthrown, no longer a threat to you, or anyone else, this last year with him here. And once that’s done, then you can get back to why you’re here in the first place, to study, to play, to live your life the way you want to. Won’t that be great?”
At Amelia’s words, Matt reflects on them enough to agree with her, smiling as he says, “Yeah, that will be great. So, Lyn is right. We have to finish what I started. No, what Cain started. We need to teach him a lesson about equality, and humanity, that he won’t soon forget.” Looking to her, he adds, “Thank you for hearing me out, and the kind words, Amelia.”
Smiling back to him, she pets him, her fingers grazing through his hair, replying, “Anything for you, Matt. So, shall we go see about catching up with Lyn and Cynthia?”
“Well, uh, actually, there was one other thing I wanted to tell you about, Amelia.”
“Oh? What would that be?”
“Okay, um, can you keep another secret?” When she nods, he explains, “You know how I told you before that I already saw a woman naked, up close and personal? Well, that woman is Rose. It was just over some silly dare or whatever, and we bathed together, but, we got used to it, and it’s become a near daily thing, and, I’ve gotten, um, desires for her, with all that constant contact, you know?”
Amelia isn’t openly surprised or appalled, nodding as she says, “Yes, I understand that. You must be confused and uncertain now, whether your feelings for her are physical attraction or heartfelt affection, right?”
“Yes, that’s precisely it! I mean, I do like her, she is a great, honest friend, one of the closest I’ve made, but, I don’t want to make a mistake. The last one I made concerning her, it, it almost cost us our lives. So, I have to somehow quell these desires for her. And that’s why, um, Amelia, as long as you don’t mind, would you, uh…”
“Have sex with you?”
Startled to hear her say it, Matt gulps and blushes. “Yeah, that. I, I’m sorry, I have to ask that of you. I don’t want you to think I’m desperate for it, and I know I shouldn’t be this weak, but, it’s getting harder to resist, every time Rose and I are together, and I, I don’t want to cross that final line, without clear and good intentions. So, would this, be okay, you and I?”
Amelia is already smiling warmly as she runs a hand along the back of Matt’s neck. “Of course it’s okay with me, Matt. We’ve already done lessons that come close to it, so it’s not a problem for me if we go all the way. And besides, it’s always been my pleasure to help you on these matters.”
Smiling, Matt takes a moment for his gaze to scan over Amelia, already envisioning her clothes off, her beautiful body exposed for him alone, before he says, “Well, obviously, this would be my first time, doing it. I, I’m not sure how to do it.”
Laughing, Amelia’s eyes twinkle as she assures him, “That’s alright, we’ve all been there. We’ll go slow, and I’ll show you how it’s done.” Her hands open her vest and slide it off her, revealing her bare torso, before she stands up to remove her pants. Once she steps out of them, she glances back to Matt, reminding him as she works her underwear off, “You’ll have to be naked, too.”
“…Oh, right, of course!” He yanks off his jacket and shirt, then his pants and underwear, and stands in the nude beside Amelia. Looking back to her, his eyes slowly moving from the bottom to the top of her to meet her eyes, he then asks, “So, how do we start?”
Taking a moment to at last see all of Matt’s features for herself, Amelia whispers as she embraces him, “Like this.” Her lips meet his in a deep kiss, which he returns, before they sit back on the couch with her in his lap and his head held to her chest, their bodies pressing together. No longer in need to keep them suppressed, Matt gives in to his lustful instincts, melting into the sensations and movements between him and Amelia and diving into the relieving depths of ecstasy, all the worries and dreads from before washed away.
Chapter 8
Befriending the Big Guns
***
Around the same time that day, in an open field on the college grounds, Rose sits in the shade of the single tree beside her as she plays music on her flute. The tone of her music is calm and peaceful with a steady rhythm and alternating high and low notes, a bright and enchanting stream of sounds that flows out across the field with the gentle breeze blowing by her.
At some point in her personal past time, focused on the sweet sounds she makes with her eyes closed, Rose is startled, the last note on her flute coming out as a sharp whistle, when she hears a loud, masculine voice call out to her from somewhere nearby. “Ah hah, so that’s what all that noise was! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the Wind Spirit was singing to me, its beautiful voice reaching me in the breeze. But, sure enough, the only one who’s been ‘singing’ around here is you!”
Rose looks over to her left to spot the surprise visitor approaching her. A tall, robust man in a gray uniform with black pants, his brown hair short and mangy like a bush, has a beaming smile on his face and in his green eyes as he is escorted by two other men, one on either side of him, in the same kind of uniform. On his vest is a single badge, a brass emblem of two axes crossed over a shield. Coming to a stop a few yards away from her, the man gives her some type of salute, where his left arm crosses over his shoulder before sweeping back over to his side as he bows, and says, “It’s a wonderful thing to at last meet you, Rose Alamence.”
While she curiously blinks at the man and his company before her, their stature and age telling her they were senior students, and can’t recognize their faces, she does recognize the uniforms, the lead man’s salute, and the badge on his chest, his family crest. Rose regards the man before replying, “I suppose it is, uh, Buster Harmada?”
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