Chapter 45: A Switch Flipped

Emily was standing outside the classroom, waiting for Phil. Their first class just ended and most students had already left, on their way to their next class. She also made sure that Avegaille and Nicole May were already gone before she tried to approach Phil. The last thing she wanted to happen would be her plan to get the two together failing.

As Phil got out of the classroom, Emily quickly pulled him close to her and smiled mischievously at him.

“Emily? What’s going on?” Phil asked as he placed his hand behind his head.

“I wanna ask you a couple of things about Avegaille, if you don’t mind,” Emily replied as leaned closer on Phil’s arm. “Let’s walk together as well. It won’t take long.”

“Sure… but you’re awfully close to me right now, don’t you think?” Phil muttered as he sweat-dropped. He felt really awkward but didn’t want to push Emily off from him. Both of them started walking together, but slowly.

“Oh, sorry.” Emily let go of Phil’s arm and slightly stepped back. “Anyway, I’m quite interested in your take towards Avegaille possibly having romantic feelings towards a girl.”

“Are you referring to Nicole May, by any chance?” Phil asked exasperatedly. “There’s really no other girl that Avegaille is super close with except her.”

“I guess it’s that obvious, huh?” Emily slightly turned away from Phil as she cringed. She laughed a bit and turned back to him. “Well, since we’re in the same direction now, I’m more interested in what you feel about it possibly happening.”

“That’s really hard to answer… I mean I’ll admit I kinda like Avegaille in a way but she’s really hard to read lately,” Phil muttered and sighed. He frowned as he looked down. “It’s not like we’re really together or anything. As long as she’s happy, then… that’s all that matters to me.”

Emily was speechless from what she just heard. She didn’t expect that type of answer coming from him, of all people. She stopped walking and stared at Phil with awe.

“What? Was it too much?” Phil asked after noticing Emily’s expression and also stopped walking.

“No, no. Not at all,” Emily replied nervously as she frantically waved her hands. Then, she put her hands in the pockets of her skirt and grinned at him. “Well, now I can see why Elizabeth is really interested in you as well.”

“Eh… what do you mean by that?” Phil raised an eyebrow, staring at her perplexedly.

“Ahaha… forget I even said that. Anyway, I’ll see you later,” Emily said as she gripped on the straps of her backpack and ran off.

“Geez, what was that all about? I guess I’ll just have to ask Liz myself.” Phil sighed exasperatedly and walked off to a different direction, going to his next class.

.-.-.-.-.-

It was lunch time and Elizabeth was in the newspaper room, going through some revisions on the newspaper layout she had set up on the table before they had it printed. Everyone else was out eating lunch and she preferred staying in the newspaper room. She looked at the stack of papers in front of her and went through it, one by one. Then, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in, the door’s unlocked,” Elizabeth hollered and the door slowly opened. She saw Phil stepping in the room, which surprised her.

“Heya,” Phil greeted and smiled sheepishly at her.

“What brings you here?” Elizabeth asked skeptically as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Well… it’s nothing really…” Phil muttered nervously as he looked away.

“You’re really easy to read, you know that?” Elizabeth remarked and sneered at him. “You don’t really talk that much to me unless it has something to do with Avegaille. So, spill it already.”

“You got me there…” Phil sighed and stepped closer to Elizabeth. “Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be even here at all until Emily talked to me earlier… and mentioned you.”

“What? What did she tell you?” Elizabeth asked skeptically and stood up from her seat.

“Nothing much… she asked me about the possibility of Avegaille and Nicole May getting together… and also you being interested in me,” Phil explained and chuckled a bit. He noticed Elizabeth’s sudden change of expression and became really nervous at her.

“EMILY!” Elizabeth screamed furiously as she clenched her fists and quickly stomped her way out of the room.

“Yikes…” Phil quickly turned around and followed her. “Liz, wait up!”

But as he got out, Elizabeth was nowhere in sight. He had a bad feeling of what was going to happen next and had to find her, no matter what.

.-.-.-.-.-

“I just felt a chill down in my spine somehow…” Emily muttered and looked around her. She felt that someone was after her but couldn’t exactly say who it was.

“You must be imagining things,” Naz remarked and laughed loudly. “Anyway, what happened with your interrogation on Phil? Did you get a good answer from him?”

“Well, he’s a smooth talker, that’s for sure,” Emily said as she shrugged. “His answer was not something I’d expect from him at all.”

The two of them were currently in the cafeteria, eating lunch together. Emily just finished eating and was now reading a novel before their next class started. While reading, she was also writing some of the parts she liked, in a separate notebook in front of her.

Naz, on the other hand, was still eating her sandwich. From a distance, she spotted Elizabeth entering the cafeteria and looking around the area. She quickly finished off her sandwich and waved her hands until Elizabeth saw her. Then, she quickly approached their table.

“Hey Lizzie! You already done with the newspaper layout?” Naz asked.

“Not really. I’ll work on it later,” Elizabeth replied apathetically. Then, she turned to Emily while smiling as she approached her. “I just have something to discuss with Emily.”

“Me?” Emily turned to Elizabeth and noticed something was off with her expression. The smile that Elizabeth was showing felt eerily scary at the same time. “W-What is it?”

Naz just realized the expression that Elizabeth was currently displaying was exactly the same as Avegaille’s, whenever she was about to use those durable sticks on someone. She still recalled that incident from weeks ago, even though the person involved was no longer disturbing Arthur after that.

“Lizzie… you’re just like Avegaille with your expression right now…” Naz remarked nervously as she pointed at Elizabeth’s face.

“Really? She’s a fast learner, believe it or not,” Elizabeth said and giggled mischievously.

Then, the cafeteria doors slammed wide open, surprising everyone inside. From a distance, Naz could see Phil looking around until he spotted them and quickly ran towards them.

“Liz! There you are!” Phil exclaimed and sighed with relief. He held on her shoulders and slowly pushed her away from Emily. “If you’re going to do something to Emily, do it to me instead!”

“What…?” Emily was getting more confused and turned to Naz, who shrugged at her in return.

“I think it’s more appropriate if the person at fault was on the receiving end,” Elizabeth grunted as she folded her arms across her chest.

“I’m sure Emily didn’t do it on purpose. Come on, let’s take this elsewhere…” Phil rebutted and turned Elizabeth around and slowly pushed her until both were walking out of the cafeteria.

“Did you say something unusual to Phil earlier that Lizzie just found out?” Naz asked curiously after they left.

“Uh-oh… it’s probably… that.” Emily laughed nervously as she placed her hand behind her head after recalling her conversation with Phil from earlier. “I’ll talk to her later about it… I suppose.”

.-.-.-.-.-

Avegaille stared at the clear sky above her and took a deep breath. Sitting next to her was Nicole May, who was already going through her extra homework even though they had until after winter vacation to submit them. While there was no snow yet, it was quite chilly from where they were currently at. Most students were already returning back inside the building as lunch time was almost over. The area with various picnic tables was slowly becoming more quiet.

“You don’t feel sleepy yet?” Nicole May asked curiously.

“Not really…” Avegaille replied as she slowly shook her head. “I mean… if you were out cold for almost two weeks, the last thing you’d want to do is sleep.”

“You do have a point…” Nicole May chuckled as she started putting her notebooks and papers inside her bag. She stood up from her seat and placed the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “We should probably get to our next class…”

“Eeeh, that soon?” Avegaille whined out and pouted. She stood up as well and took her bag that was on the bench, placing the strap of it on her shoulder.

“What? We’ve got plenty of time later…” Nicole May muttered and turned away from her.

Avegaille quickly went behind Nicole May and wrapped her arms around her tightly. She leaned her chin on Nicole May's shoulder and sighed.

“H-Hey now! W-What are you doing?!” Nicole May asked nervously and her face was turning bright red.

“It’s really cold and I thought doing this might keep us warm…” Avegaille muttered and leaned her face closer to her.

“…Let’s just get inside the building already,” Nicole May blurted as she started walking and Avegaille did the same without letting her go.

Both of them continued walking like so until they finally got inside the school building. Most students were already inside their respective classrooms which made it easier for them to walk together without getting any weird stares. Nicole May held on Avegaille’s arm around her while they tried getting to their next class together.

As they continued walking, they noticed some shadows moving from a corner and heard a loud thud. Avegaille got her arms off Nicole May and slowly approached what was beyond the corner. Much to her surprise, she saw Elizabeth holding Phil’s jacket by the chest area and pressing him against the wall. Nicole May followed her and was just as surprised and confused with what was happening.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, huh?!” Elizabeth growled and pulled Phil towards her then pushing him back against the wall.

Phil continued enduring the pain as he slowly opened his eyes. Then, he noticed a couple of figures behind Elizabeth and tried to focus on them until he could see them clearly. He couldn’t believe that Avegaille had just seen what just happened.

“Elizabeth! Stop this right now!” Avegaille exclaimed furiously as she quickly grabbed her wrists and gripped on them tightly until Elizabeth released Phil.

Then, she tried pulling her away from Phil but had a bit of difficulty. She went in between the two of them and pressed her body towards Elizabeth until she was able to slowly push her further away from Phil.

“This is none of your business…” Elizabeth grunted irritably as she stared at Avegaille furiously while trying to pull herself from her grip.

“Well, now it is!” Avegaille rebutted and stared back, continuing to grip on her wrists even more tightly.

Nicole May noticed how Phil had quite an amount of scratches on his face and rushed next to him. She was more concerned as to how it happened in the first place. Phil on the other hand, couldn’t stand up anymore and slumped down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall.

“What… Did Elizabeth do all that to you?” Nicole May asked nervously.

“Yeah… don’t worry… I’ll be okay,” Phil replied and lowered down his head. “After all, I did ask her to do this to me…”

“That still doesn’t look okay at all!” Nicole May exclaimed furiously and crouched down, trying to get a closer look at him.

“You should be more worried about those two…” Phil muttered as he slowly lifted his hand up and pointed to the direction where Avegaille and Elizabeth were. “This isn’t the first time this happened…”

“What are you getting at?” Nicole May asked as she turned her head to where the other two girls were at. She saw both of them were struggling against each other, trying to push and pull repeatedly.

“Why are you doing this to Phil?!” Avegaille asked furiously. Her grip on Elizabeth’s wrists got weaker and she had no choice but to release her.

“I’m surprised you still care about him,” Elizabeth scoffed while she massaged her wrists from the pain.

“Why wouldn’t I?!”

However, Avegaille felt that something was off with what Elizabeth just said. She looked around and saw Phil resting on the floor with Nicole May besides him. She wanted to get closer to them but she couldn’t move at all.

“Why don’t you just admit it? You can’t decide between the two of them, huh?”

Avegaille felt stiff and couldn’t respond back. Looking at Nicole May and Phil, she finally realized what Elizabeth meant by that question. After all, since she transferred to Midway Academy and met Nicole May, the way she was towards Phil changed significantly when she returned. She stepped back and lowered down her head while clenching her fists out of frustration.

Nicole May sensed the heavy atmosphere between the two of them and quickly went close to Avegaille, standing right next to her. She turned to Elizabeth and anticipated what she might do next. She still couldn’t properly comprehend as to why Elizabeth just suddenly snapped like that. For now, she could only wait for everyone to calm down.

“Looks like I’ve said more than I should…” Elizabeth muttered irritably and turned away from them. “I’ll leave now before this gets worse…”

Everyone else kept quiet while Elizabeth slowly walked away from them until she was out of sight. Then, Phil tried to stand up from his spot, struggling from the pain still lingering in his body. Avegaille lifted up her head and slowly turned to Phil. She wanted to move and help him but still couldn’t. All she could do was stare helplessly at him.

“Avegaille…” Phil slowly went closer to her and was slowly losing his balance from enduring the pain on his legs. Nicole May quickly grabbed his arm and placed it over her shoulder, to keep him from falling down. “There’s something you need to know…”

“Hey now, don’t force yourself!” Nicole May interrupted and held on his chest with her other hand. “We’re going to the clinic right now!”

“Wait… I need to tell her—”

“No buts, we’re going!” Nicole May started walking and Phil had no choice but to get dragged along, as he was too weak to resist.

Avegaille reached out her hand and tried to stop them but nothing was coming out from her mouth. The two of them left quickly until they were out of sight. She gripped on the strap of her shoulder bag and started walking, hoping to catch up to them. As she got to the main hallway, there was no one around. Inside her mind, the same question kept repeating.

“You just can’t decide between the two of them, huh?”

Her eyes started swelling up and tears flowed through her cheeks. She closed her eyes and ran off, as fast as she could, to the exit of the building. Everything around her was getting too overwhelming and heavy. She couldn’t endure the feeling anymore and wanted to go home.

.-.-.-.-.-

Nicole May sighed heavily as she closed the door behind her. Dragging a guy around to the clinic was already exhausting enough but she was more bothered with what Phil told her before she left. She took out her phone from her pocket and stared at the time displayed on the small screen. In her mind, she recalled what Phil told her.

“Elizabeth’s usually not like this but if she keeps things to herself for too long… then, she becomes really aggressive to anyone she sees. That’s why I had to take her there…”

She shook her head slowly as she walked towards the benches on the side and sat down. More things about their conversation continued to repeat in her head.

“If you happen to talk to Avegaille later, there’s something I really have to say to her… please, just this once… let her know, okay?”

She sighed exasperatedly as she put her mobile phone back in her pocket. Then, she heard some footsteps getting louder and quickly turned to the direction of where it was coming from. She spotted Naz from a distance, who immediately approached her.

“Natalie…” Nicole May looked up and stared at her. She didn’t know where to start and turned away from her.

“Something wrong, Nikki?” Naz asked curiously as she scratched her head and sat down next to her.

“No, it’s nothing…” Nicole May murmured and lowered down her head.

“Huh… well, if you say so,” Naz said as she placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “Anyway, listen to this. I’ve been looking all over for Lizzie. She wasn’t in class earlier and the next class is about to start… and I still can’t find her. She wasn’t in the newspaper room either or the library or anywhere else I could think of where she might be.”

“That’s… very unusual for her to do…” Nicole May remarked and frowned. She was really hesitant to tell Naz what really happened.

“Yeah, definitely. It’s probably related to when she came approaching Emily during lunch time and then Phil took her away… where did he take her to?” Naz asked wearily. She folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

“Erm… about that…” Nicole May turned her head to the direction where the door leading to the clinic was.

“What… don’t tell me…” Naz stood up and stepped closer to the door. She slowly reached for the doorknob but then, Nicole May stood up quickly and grabbed her arm.

“Wait! Phil’s already asleep… you shouldn’t bother him now,” Nicole May said anxiously as she let go of Naz's arm.

Naz turned to Nicole May, surprised at what she just heard. She held on Nicole May's shoulders and went closer to her. She could see how nervous she was and felt that something was holding her back from saying anything.

“Look, whatever happened earlier… I won’t tell anyone else if you just tell me what’s really going on. I’ll do whatever I can to help…”

Then, Nicole May wrapped her arms around Natalie and hugged her tightly. She pressed her face against her chest and started crying. Naz started panicking as she didn’t expect that kind of response from her and looked around. No one else was around and she sighed with relief. Then, she slowly rubbed Nicole May's back with her hand, trying to calm her down.

After a while, Nicole May stopped crying and lifted her face up, turning away from Naz. She took off her arms around Naz and stepped back. There were still some tears in her eyes and she wiped it off with her hands.

“I feel like everything is my fault… maybe, if I never came here to this school or got close to Avegaille… this would have never happened…” Nicole May muttered bitterly as she closed her eyes.

“Don’t say that…” Naz stepped closer to her and placed her arm over her shoulder. “You should stop blaming yourself for everything. There must be another reason why this is happening. Come on, let’s sit down over there…”

Nicole May nodded and sat down on one of the benches close by, with Naz following behind her. She gripped on her knees with her hands and tried to stop herself from crying again. Then, Naz patted her head a couple of times and giggled.

“You really do suit the role of being a little sister,” Naz remarked and laughed loudly, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. Nicole May stared at her exasperatedly and she grinned back at her in response. “Come on, don’t give me that look!”

Nicole May sighed as she turned away from Naz and lowered down her head. She stared at the floor, trying to gather her thoughts and what she wanted to say. Right now, all she could think of was Avegaille.

“I really wanted to tell Avegaille about how much I really like her but… with everything that has happened so far, I feel like it’d be pointless to do so…”

“Hrm?” Naz jerked up and turned to Nicole May. She stroked her back and leaned closer to her, smiling at her. “You know… it’s better if you tell her sooner rather than never doing it at all and regretting it in the future, don’t ya think?”