Chapter 43: Interception

Avegaille and Naz just got out of the clinic after the incident earlier, leaving Stacey with the nurse in duty. As they were getting to their first class, they spotted Nicole May and Emily walking together and both seemed to be in a hurry. Naz waved at them, trying to get their attention but both were too preoccupied with what Nicole May was carrying around her arms. The duo didn’t notice Naz and Avegaille at all and left quickly.

“That’s odd, I wonder what’s up with those two,” Naz muttered as she folded her arms across her chest. She slowly turned to Avegaille, who was standing still and was unusually quiet. “Hey, you okay over there?”

Avegaille slowly turned to Naz and then slightly shook her head while smiling weakly. She also thought it was very unusual for Nicole May to be with Emily, even though the two already had a truce. Overthinking a detail so small wasn’t her thing either and decided to ignore it for now. She looked around and most of the students around the hallway were rushing to get to their classes already.

“Ah, we’ll be late for class if we keep standing here,” Avegaille said and started walking while waving her hand at Naz. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Sure thing, see ya!” Naz exclaimed and waved back as she walked to the opposite direction from where Avegaille was going.

Avegaille continued walking on her own, not even paying attention to where exactly she was going. She thought she had gotten over what happened a while ago but she couldn’t help it and wanted to know why. She held on the strap of her shoulder bag tightly while trying to get to her first class. Without realizing it, she bumped into someone, with the impact slightly pushing her back and losing her balance. The person quickly grabbed on her shoulders, preventing her from falling down on the floor.

“Ah, I’m sorry…” Avegaille muttered as she slowly lifted up her head. Her eyes widened after finally realizing who she just bumped into and her face started turning red. “P-Phil?!”

“You looked really fazed there. Are you okay?” Phil asked as he took his hands off Avegaille’s shoulders and tucked them in the pockets of his jacket. He smiled sheepishly at her while staring at her flustered look.

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay… thanks for that,” Avegaille muttered and slowly turned away from Phil.

Phil looked around and was already anticipating Nicole May ready to pounce on him, interrupting their conversation but she was nowhere in sight. He sighed with relief and slowly went closer to Avegaille, holding on her shoulder. Avegaille slowly turned to Phil and still looked flustered but somehow, she was starting to calm down.

“You wanna walk to our first class together?” Phil asked and smiled, hoping that Avegaille wouldn’t decline him like last time.

“Uh… yeah, that’s fine with me…” Avegaille replied and nodded slowly.

Both of them started walking towards the direction to where their first class was. Phil noticed that Avegaille was unusually quiet and her eyes looked dull. He felt that Nicole May had something to do with it. The only thing he could do for now was to accompany her, until they get to their first class.

.-.-.-.-.-

Vivian arrived a bit late and just got inside the principal’s office, where her assigned desk was located. The area was almost like a receptionist area with some cushioned seats, her desk where most paperwork goes through first, and another door leading to a room, where the principal was. She glanced at the stack of papers on her desk and sighed heavily. She wasn’t really fond of sorting paperwork but really had no choice but to endure it, as it was part of her job as the school secretary.

The phone on her desk started ringing and she quickly rushed to her desk, answering the phone while still trying to catch her breath.

“Centralville Middle School Principal’s Office, Vivian Chandler speaking. How can I help?”

‘Oh Vivian… Mrs. Collins here, the school superintendent. Tell my daughter I’ll be visiting you guys in an hour or so to check up on the school and faculty as well. I was trying to call earlier but no one was picking up.’

“I’m sorry… I actually arrived just now but I’ll let Mrs. Stewart know about the visit,” Vivian said and smiled weakly.

'That's fine, I’ll see you all later then.’

Vivian heard a click on the other line and then it went silent. She put the phone back down on the base and rushed to the door leading to the area where the principal was. The door was partly opened and she pushed it wide open. Looking around inside, the principal’s desk also had stacks of paperwork all over. What stood out for her was a black lump curled up in the middle of the desk, on top of some scattered papers. She went closer to the desk to see what the lump was. Then, it started moving, revealing its true form, a kitten. The kitten meowed at Vivian and yawned, curling into a ball again, then sleeping.

“Mrs. Stewart, why is there a kitten on your desk?” Vivian asked as she sweat-dropped.

Amelia was too occupied with the papers she was reading through and hadn’t realized that her secretary was already in front of her. She looked up after hearing Vivian’s voice but didn’t exactly catch what she just asked and looked slightly dumbfounded.

“Um, Mrs. Stewart… the cat?” Vivian pointed to the kitten that was curled up on the middle of the desk.

“Oh, right! Nicole May owns this little cutie. She told me that Avegaille found it but my daughter couldn’t keep it due to her severe allergies to cats, so, Nicole May took custody of it,” Amelia replied and chuckled a bit.

“But why is it with you right now?” Vivian asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Nicole May and Emily went in here earlier, trying to find a place for him to stay until school’s over. The little rascal stowed away in one of Nicole May's bags, as what they told me,” Amelia explained and started stroking the kitten’s fur. “Anyway, who called? The phone was also ringing much earlier but I was preoccupied that I couldn’t answer it.”

“Ah, I almost forgot to mention, the school superintendent called in and said she would be visiting in a couple of hours from now,” Vivian said and slightly stepped back from her spot.

“Ugh… this is really terrible timing…” Amelia muttered and looked very weary. She looked down at the kitten still napping on her desk. “While it’s not as bad as my youngest daughter’s, my mother is also allergic to cats.”

“I suppose we’ll need to get those two to find another place to keep this cat safe or something,” Vivian said and sighed.

The kitten lifted up his head and started sniffing around. After a while, he stood up from his spot and started walking around the table, observing his surroundings. Vivian and Amelia kept an eye on the kitten’s movement but suddenly, he jumped off the table and quickly ran out of the room. The second door leading to the hallway was wide open and the kitten stepped out, exploring the wide hallway around him, then, eventually running off again.

“This can’t be happening!” Amelia wailed and got off her seat. She ran out of the room as fast as she could, attempting to give chase to the kitten.

“Mrs. Stewart, you can’t just leave the office like that!” Vivian exclaimed and quickly followed her. It was never a dull day whenever she got involved with the principal’s antics even if, most of the time, she didn’t want to get involved in them.

.-.-.-.-.-

“Don’t forget, next week we’ll be having your final exams for this semester before your winter vacation starts,” Mr. Collins announced while he was going through the planner on his hand. “I hope everyone here has been studying properly all the lessons we’ve gone through so far. Class dismissed.”

The school bell rang and everyone started gathering their things and then leaving the room one by one. Nicole May and Emily were both seated at the back part of the classroom for Mr. Collins' class and quickly left as soon as the bell rang. The two were worried about the cat they left at the principal’s office and agreed to check on the cat after each class period.

On the other hand, Avegaille was still sitting down, staring at the math book that was opened on her desk. She wasn’t moving at all from her spot since class started. Phil was seated next to her and he just got up from his seat, about to approach her when Mr. Collins walked up to them.

“I’ll handle this, Mr. Anderson,” Mr. Collins interrupted. He was holding some papers, mostly to hand over to Avegaille. “You go ahead and get to your next class.”

“Uh… sure thing,” Phil muttered and nodded, stepping back from them and eventually leaving the room as well.

Mr. Collins looked around the classroom and made sure everyone else had left before he started a conversation with Avegaille. He stood in front of Avegaille and put down the papers he was holding on top of the opened book that was on her desk, hoping it would catch her attention. Avegaille was still staring at the same spot without moving even with the papers covering the book. Not exactly the reaction he had in mind. He cleared his throat and prepared himself for calling out on his own niece. He was more used to seeing his niece disrupting his class even if it was unintentional but today, she was unusually quiet throughout his class.

“Avegaille Stewart!”

Avegaille’s eyes widened as she slowly lifted up her head and saw Mr. Collins standing in front of her seat. She looked around and saw that everyone had already left. Then, she looked down on her desk and noticed the papers on top of her book. She took them and read through them, one by one.

“More extra homework…” Avegaille muttered to herself and sighed. She stared at the papers exasperatedly and cringed.

“Is there a problem, Miss Stewart?” Mr. Collins asked as he folded his arms across his chest. Avegaille shook her head slowly, trying not to start anything. “You’ve been unusually well behaved today, however. Is there something going on?”

“Oh… it’s nothing, really.” Avegaille put the papers in between her math book and closed the book. Then, she put all of her things in her bag and stood up from her seat. “I’ll be going now…”

Mr. Collins watched Avegaille slowly walk out of the classroom. He just missed his opportunity to properly talk with his own niece but given the school environment, it was very hard for him to do so. He sighed to himself and walked back to his desk, getting his things ready for the next class.

.-.-.-.-.-

Nicole May and Emily arrived at the principal’s office just before their next class. Both of them saw the door was opened and peeked inside. Looking around the receptionist area, there was no one around and the door leading to the actual principal’s office was opened as well. At this point, they both concluded the cat had escaped. Nicole May started panicking in her head and quickly looked around the hallways. She saw the school secretary Vivian walking towards them, out of breath.

“Miss Chandler, what happened to you?” Emily asked as she sweat-dropped. Vivian held on her chest until her breathing returned to normal.

“It’s Mrs. Stewart… I tried catching up to her but she was too fast at chasing after that cat and just hollered at me to return to the office,” Vivian replied and groaned. “Anyway, that cat should still be inside the building.”

“We'll handle it from here,” Nicole May said and groaned while shaking her head. She had no idea where to start looking for a kitten in such a huge school building and felt helpless.

“Just make sure you kids don’t skip classes,” Vivian told them and went inside the office, returning to her desk.

“Yes, Miss Chandler,” Emily replied and chuckled a bit. She really had no intention in returning to her class, however.

Nicole May took out her phone from her pocket and looked at the time displayed on the small screen on it before the phone was actually opened, showing the bigger screen. She didn’t have enough time to get to her next class.

“Miss Harrington’s gonna be mad again if I’m not present in her class but it’s better than Kuroko suddenly jumping on Avegaille…” Nicole May muttered to herself. Then, she turned to Emily, who was still standing next to her and didn’t look worried at all. “Aren’t you going to your next class?”

“Eh, skipping classes just to look for a missing kitten is much better than what Miss Clayton has to make us do in class later,” Emily replied and grinned. “Let’s go back to the newspaper room first. The kitten is surely on his way there as well.”

“How can you be sure of that?!” Nicole May asked, staring perplexedly at her.

“Something about the scent that cats leave behind to mark their territory or memorize the scents of their owner,” Emily explained as she shrugged. She wasn’t even sure herself but just read that from a book about cats before and thought of testing it to see if it was really true. Then, she started walking towards the direction leading to the newspaper room. “Come on Rustford, we don’t have much time.”

“Fine, wait up!” Nicole May quickly ran until she caught up with Emily and both walked together to the direction where the newspaper room was.

While the two of them were walking together to get to the newspaper room, Avegaille was slowly walking towards them but with her head lowered down, she couldn’t see anyone in front of her. Emily quickly gripped on Avegaille’s shoulder and stopped her from walking. Avegaille lifted up her head and looked around, still a bit fazed from what was happening. Nicole May just noticed how pale Avegaille was, plus her eyes looked dull but didn’t know what to tell her.

“Oh… you guys… what’s going on?” Avegaille asked and smiled sheepishly at them.

“We’re just running some errands, don’t worry, we’ll get this done before the end of the day!” Emily replied nervously and forced a laugh as she let go of Avegaille’s shoulders.

“Speaking of which, have you seen your mother?” Nicole May asked, which made Avegaille turn to her. “She wasn’t in her office when we went there…”

“Oh, if she’s not in the office, she’s probably at the faculty room chatting with the other teachers there or something… at least, that’s what Miss Chandler tells me,” Avegaille muttered and slightly looked away from them. Then, she turned back to Nicole May. “Aren’t you going to Miss Harrington’s class? I know we’re already late but still…”

“It’s okay, Avegaille, I can handle whatever punishment Miss Harrington will give later… you go ahead and tell her I won’t be around for her class…” Nicole May said and smiled weakly at her.

“Eh… well, if you say so…” Avegaille slightly frowned at them. She was still clueless on what was going on but couldn’t properly ask them about it. She felt that they might be hiding something but didn’t want to confront them about it yet.

Both Nicole May and Emily waved at her, then quickly ran off to their destination while Avegaille walked on her own, still with a heavy feeling inside her. She stopped walking and turned around to check on them but they were already out of sight. She just shook her head and started walking again to get to her next class.

.-.-.-.-.-

Amelia had lost sight of the kitten and now, she had been walking around the hallways, checking each corner and room on the first floor to see if the kitten was hiding there. So far, she wasn’t getting anywhere and decided to head back to her office. She passed by the classrooms and while most of them all looked normal and the doors were currently closed, she saw from a distance her youngest daughter, standing outside the classroom. She immediately went closer to her daughter. Then, she saw that Elaine Harrington was standing in front of the entrance to the classroom, and looked very furious.

“Is there a problem here, Elaine?”

Elaine’s expression changed as soon as she saw Amelia behind her student. Avegaille slowly turned around and looked at her mother for a bit before turning her attention back to her history teacher.

“Well, Amelia… your daughter here is late again for my class and not only that, she’s also telling me that Miss Rustford will not be present for today,” Elaine explained exasperatedly as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Oh, is that it?” Amelia giggled a bit and smiled. She looked around the area just in case the kitten might suddenly show up. “I’m sure Nicole May can catch up to whatever she missed in your class. As for my daughter being tardy, I’ll take care of that myself.”

“Mom…” Avegaille stared at her mother exasperatedly. She knew her mother wasn’t very keen in giving formal punishment for late students.

“Fine… I’ll just give extra homework and the lesson summary for both of them after school. However, today is quite important… most of the things I’ll be discussing will be in the final exam next week,” Elaine muttered and sighed. She slowly shook her head as she walked back inside the classroom.

“Well, just come to my office for a bit once you’re done talking to your teachers after school,” Amelia told Avegaille and slightly patted her head. “I’ve got other things to attend to for the meantime.”

“Sure thing…” Avegaille watched her mother walk off, until she was out of sight. Then, she looked inside the classroom from where she was standing. She saw that Miss Harrington was already discussing today’s lesson to everyone else, given the limited time she had. At this point, she felt that it would be best not to go inside to avoid interrupting the class further.

“Nyaa!”

Avegaille quickly turned around to where the sound came from but didn’t see anything in front of her. Her nose was starting to get itchy and her eyes were getting red and watery. She sneezed a couple of times but couldn’t understand what was causing it. Then, she felt that there was something rubbing against her leg and quickly looked down. She saw a small black kitten and crouched down to get a closer look.

“Nya?” the black kitten stared at Avegaille for a bit and then continued rubbing his head on her leg.

“I wonder if… t-this is the s-same kitten…” Avegaille sneezed some more and slowly stroked the kitten's fur with her hand. “K-Kuroko, right? Nicole May must be…”

Avegaille's breathing was getting heavier and she could feel the tightness in her chest. The hand she used to pet the cat was red as well. She was getting dizzy and then, eventually collapsed on the floor with a loud thud.

Elaine, who was still inside the classroom, glanced at what was outside and saw Avegaille lying unconscious on the floor. She put down her notes on the table and quickly rushed out to check on her. Everyone else in the room got confused at what was going on and some started chatting. Phil stood up from his seat and got worried as well.

“Miss Stewart!” Elaine crouched down and looked closely at Avegaille. Then, she noticed a small black kitten resting next to her and slowly reached out to it with her hand, attempting to grab it. The kitten moved away from his spot and hid behind Avegaille’s back.

Phil got outside the classroom to check on what was happening. He looked very stunned upon seeing who was on the floor and now, more concerned with Avegaille’s situation. He quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else who could help them.

“Mr. Anderson, go to the nurse’s office immediately and tell the nurse to call an ambulance!” Elaine shouted, which made Phil stiff for a bit and then he nodded at her. She watched him run off to the direction where the nurse’s office was.

The kitten jumped on Avegaille’s body and curled up around her chest. Elaine figured the kitten had something to do with what was happening to Avegaille. She tried getting closer to the kitten but it suddenly moved and kept its distance away from her. However, the kitten refused to leave Avegaille’s side and would move to different areas close to her, but away from Elaine.

Suddenly, Phil came back, with Nicole May and Emily behind her. Nicole May just finished calling the emergency hotline on her mobile phone after Phil told them what happened. Emily, on the other hand, quickly went closer to Avegaille and saw the kitten they were looking for. She slowly approached the kitten and finally caught him with her hands. She started stroking him on the head.

“Oh you’ve been a naughty kitten,” Emily said while she continued stroking him. “Don’t run away like that ever again!”

“Wait… where did that cat come from?” Phil asked as he pointed to it.

“It’s a really long story but it’ll have to wait. For now, I’m more concerned about Avegaille and her allergic reaction. I never knew that it was this severe,” Emily remarked and looked very uneasy.

Nicole May was frozen stiff at her spot upon seeing Avegaille lying on the floor, unconscious. The worst case scenario possible that she had thought actually happened, right in front of her. She immediately held on to her left arm with her right hand tightly. In her mind, she felt that everything was her fault. She didn’t want to lose Avegaille because of a simple mistake. Her mind was blanking out as she heard the sirens of the ambulance and held on her head with both of her hands. The next thing she saw was a couple of paramedics putting Avegaille slowly on the gurney and rushing out of the building to get to the ambulance. She only hoped that everything would return to normal after this.