THE DARKNESS THAT BINDS

History class was on but Mia was not paying attention to the knowledge the teacher was trying to pass across, her mind was totally on the empty sit behind her which is Karl's sit.

Karl was absent from class, and she hadn't seen him the whole day.

Mia wondered what could have happened, she wondered why he was absent. She had seen him at the bookstore yesterday, no? So why wasn't he in class?

Mia remembered her reaction yesterday when she had set her eyes on him. She had been completely taken aback to see him in a bookstore. Did Karl read books too? Was he a book lover just like she was?

Mia's head was spinning from guesses. From time to time, she would glance at his sit. She didn't know why she was doing that but she couldn't help herself, she couldn't stop herself from looking behind.

"Mia.." Rachel called her in whispers when she noticed she wasn't paying attention to the class.

"Hmm." She replied her jolting back to reality from her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked in whispers, she didn't want the teacher to overhear their discussion.

"No..nothing. I'm fine." Mia replied smiling and flipping a page on her textbook.

Rachel didn't look convinced but she let it slide. "Okay." She said and shifted her focus back to the teacher.

Mia sighed, why was she always distracted thinking about Karl? She didn't care about him so why was she wondering where he was during school hours? Why was she wondering why he wasn't in class?. She needed to do better than think about him, she didn't know who he was, she hadn't spoken to him before and he seemed pretty irritated with her presence, she really needed to do better.

Mia shook her head and sat up as she breath in and out before focusing on the teacher.

At the end of history class, she packed her things in her bag, she will be joining Rachel, Alex, Lyra and Sofia for lunch. Rachel stood beside her with her hands folded in front of her as she stared at Mia packing her books in her bag. Rachel was giving her a raised eyebrow and a curious look, her eyes were passing a 'you are hiding something from me' message.

Mia who noticed the way Rachel was staring at her, rolled her eyes before asking. "Why are you giving me that look?" She asked.

"Because you have refused to spill the beans." Rachel said. "You have been acting strange and it's so easy to know something is up." She looked serious.

"What?" Mia asked almost laughing. "You think I am hiding something from you?" She asked amazed.

"I don't think you are hiding something from me. I know you are, I'm sure you are hiding something but I can't guess what it is." Rachel replied, her hands still folded in front of her.

Mia burst out laughing. "C'mon, Rach. I'm not hiding anything. Stop being dramatic. What can I possibly hide from you?" She asked.

Rachel didn't look convinced, she looked very suspicious at Mia. "I find that hard to believe." She said.

"And why will you find that hard to believe?" Mia asked facing her properly with a smile.

"Because you space out alot, this days. You are hardly focused." Rachel pointed out. "And I am not a child. And you have been my bestfriend for years now so I can suspect when something is up with you and now, something is up with you."

Mia laughed.

"I know this has something to do with Karl." Rachel blurted rolling her eyes with a teasing look as she unfolded her hands and started walking towards the exit. Mia's eyes almost popped out from surprise, she was completely taken aback at Rachel's outburst. "..you have not been yourself since you saw him. You like him." Rachel spoke still striding out the exit.

Mia nervously denied as she followed behind Rachel immediately. "Really? Karl? Hell no. I don't like him." She stuttered.

Rachel laughed. "I've been your friend since childhood Mia, I know when you are lying and right now...you are lying."

Mia rolled her eyes dramatically. "I'm hungry. Let's grab a bite." She said and started walking ahead of Rachel.

Rachel followed behind her teasing her endlessly. Mia just laughed until they got to the cafeteria.

Alex, Sofia and Lyra were already sitted waiting for them, Mia and Rachel got to the empty sits surrounding their table and occupied the two available sits.

"We ordered lunch knowing you guys would be late." Lyra spoke up.

"Sorry we are late guys." Rachel apologised.

"How was the rest of your day with Eres yesterday?" Alex asked as he sipped from his glass of juice. He had this playful grin like that of a child, he was always in a good mood.

Mia smiled. "It was great. Eres is nice to hang out with, I should introduce you guys to her."

"That'd be nice." Sofia spoke up. "We are thrilled to get to know your roommate."

Mia picked up her spoon and started munching on her food, she guessed it was Alex who ordered lunch for her, she had jokingly told him what she liked eating and now he had ordered pancakes and syrup, he had toped it with orange juice, just how she liked it.

"The school festival is coming up next month guys. Did you see it on the announcement board?" Lyra asked in between their meals.

"I saw it this morning. I can't wait for it." Alex said smiling.

"I'm not surprised that you are excited about it, it's typical you." Rachel laughed.

"What is a school festival?" Mia asked curiously and clueless.

They all looked surprised at her like she had asked an obvious question.

"You don't know what a school festival is?" Lyra asked, she found it absorb that she didn't know what a school festival was. Like who didn't know about the biggest celebration in all of Santiago?

"Guys, Mia just joined us, remember?" Sofia interjected when she read the odd looks they were giving Mia.

"Well, a school festival is an event organised by Santiago High School to celebrate students performance and achievements, it showcases our school's spirit and creativity." Rachel explained with a proud smile.

"Our school festival is one of the most celebrated all over Santiago. Different students from other high schools around Santiago come to celebrate with our school." Alex interjected.

"We get to perform on stages, play games, dress up and have fun, we literally showcase our talents and do alot." Lyra said.

"No one in Santiago High school would want to miss out the festival for anything in the world. It is a time to get away from assignments and school works." Sofia finished.

Mia was awed. "Wow. That sounds like fun." She was surprised. "We don't have school festivals at LA."

"Then, count yourself lucky to be in Santiago." Alex said with a girlish attitude.

"I can't imagine a semester without celebrating our school festivals. All the events in the semester would make you wish not to graduate." Lyra said and they all chuckled.

"Good thing we get to enjoy these events every semester until we get satisfied before graduating." Sofia added.

"Though there is a festival coming up next month, our project comes before that." Rachel reminded them with a smile.

"What project?" Mia asked clueless.

"I think it's going to be announced next week. We are grouped into pairs to create a project to showcase on our festival." Sofia told her.

"Really? What kind of project?" Mia asked looking from one face to another.

"Something unique. Last festival, I was paired with Alex. Our project was a flying horse." Lyra said.

Mia laughed. "Flying horse?"

"Don't laugh because we took second place." Alex boosted with a girly attitude.

Rachel laughed. "That's true. They took second place. When Lyra told me her idea, I laughed but when I saw the horse in the sky, so beautiful and magical, I knew they deserved it."

"Whoa. Who took first place?" Mia asked awed.

Rachel smiled mischievously. "Ophelia Valois and her brother, Karl."

Mia felt a lump in her throat when Karl's name was mentioned, she found herself in the situation whereby she had to swallow her nervousness awkwardly. She was grateful the others didn't notice, she wondered why Karl's name made her nervous.

Mia get a hold of yourself.

"I found Karl's and Ophelia's project both intriguing and scary. That day, my mouth was opened, I couldn't shut it for a while when my eyes beholded their project." Lyra shivered dramatically.

Mia was anxious as she stared at them. "What was their project?" She asked nervously.

"A growing child." Sofia said it like it was a forbidden word.

"A growing child?" Mia repeated shocked. What did they mean by a growing child?

"It was a robot child who slowly grew up right in front of us, I wouldn't call that a robot though, there must be a unique word for that...that thing. Their project was both unique and creepy." Lyra shivered.

"I kept watching its eyes blink." Alex said moving his hands to cover his mouth in a creepy way.

Mia felt a shiver run down her spine.

"It was just creepy to watch that.. thing grow and outstretch. It was crazy, everyone was awed even the judges. We were all speechless." Rachel laughed.

"It was really crazy to watch that. For days, I couldn't get the view out of my head. It became a nightmare." Sofia shivered.

"Why wouldn't it be a nightmare? It was an awful sight. It also added to my theory." Lyra said.

"What theory?" Mia asked.

"They are weird. My theory is that Ember Rose, Karl Valois, Ophelia Valois, Zarek Bloodstone and Kaliya Bleeks are all weird." Lyra answered.

They all laughed at Lyra's dramatic expression when she was calling out their names.

"I know right. Kaliya is the one I find weird among their group. They are not in school today either." Rachel shrugged.

"They can't be that weird, the fact that they are different, doesn't mean they are weird, right?" Mia asked looking at their facial expressions when she defended them.

Everyone had a surprised expression except Rachel who had a knowing look and a teasing smile. "And she defends them." She stated.

Mia rolled her eyes at her dramatically. "I'm not defending anyone. I'm just saying the fact that they don't socialise often doesn't make them weird okay. And Rachel you don't have to be naughty minded."

"Oh my darling, I can't help it." Rachel laughed.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Are we missing something here?" He looked from Rachel to Mia with folded arms.

Rachel smiled. "I think our dear Mia likes Karl." She blurted.

Mia eyed her with wide eyes as she mouthed 'it's not true'.

"Oh my goodness!" They looked open mouthed and surprised at Mia who kept shaking her head denying the accusation.

"You don't believe her, guys, do you?" Mia asked them, she was having a hard time convincing them as they gave her a look she couldn't describe. "I don't like Karl."

"You like Karl." Sofia stated.

"I don't." Mia denied with a nervous look.

"Karl has a girlfriend, a mean one at that, and she will snap you into two if you go anywhere close to Karl. You know that right?" Alex asked.

"Ofcourse I know that and I don't have any interest in Karl. I don't like him. Rachel is just being optimistic." Mia eyed her and Rachel shrugged sipping from her juice.

"Guys..guys...I don't think she is the only one with an interest." Rachel said smiling mischievously.

Rachel is out of her mind.

Everyone turned their attention to Rachel who was sipping her juice dramatically like a queen who was about to give out orders.

"What do you mean? Someone else has an interest in Karl?" Lyra asked curiously.

"Well I don't know if someone else has an interest in Karl. What I meant by saying she is not the only one with an interest is Karl has an interest in our dearest Mia too, which means Mia is not the only one who has an interest." Rachel said in whispers.

"Oh my gosh! You are joking." Sofia exclaimed grinning.

"I'm not. Sometimes I see his eyes on Mia, he studies her briefly before looking away probably not to get caught." Rachel informed them.

Alex, Sofia and Lyra grinned as they chorused 'awwn'.

Mia blushed slightly, her heart skipped a beat as she tried to calm her nerves. Why was she nervous Karl was studying her? For all she knew, Rachel might be lying, she could be dramatic sometimes. Though, something in Mia felt excited that she was studied by Karl, it felt nice to know she was not the only one who took notice of his presence.

"Karl studying Mia? Whoa. This will kill Ember if she finds out." Alex said flipping his hands in the air like a girl dramatically.

"Well there is nothing for her to find out. It's not like they are flirting or dating. It may just be a coincidence for their eyes to lock on each other from time to time." Sofia said.

Rachel checked her wrist watch. "It's time for class. We should head back to class, we don't want to be late for Mr Hernandez's class." She said as they stood up from their sit and walked to the classroom.

On their way to the classroom, Rachel caught sight of Jake standing at the far corner of the hallway with two other guys, they were wearing jersey, Rachel could guess they had just finished playing a game.

Unintentionally, she smiled. She found him hot in his costume, he was a bit sweaty and his hair was haggard, but yet she found something about him endearing.

Rachel's eyes lingered on Jake for a moment before she turned back to her friends. "Let's hurry up, we don't want to be late," she said, trying to sound nonchalant despite the flutter in her chest.

As they walked into the classroom, Mia couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. She had been trying to brush off the feeling all day, but Rachel's words kept echoing in her mind. Did Karl really have an interest in her?

She took her seat and tried to focus on the lesson, but her mind kept wandering back to Karl. She couldn't believe she was actually thinking about him like this. She had always thought of him as just a mysterious and aloof classmate, but now...now she wasn't so sure.

She really didn't want to think of him, she really didn't want to be distracted by him, he had a girlfriend and well she was here to finish high school and probably explore what if felt like to be in Santiago not fall for a guy whom everyone described as weird.

Mia shook her head from time to time, she was hoping shaking her head continously would help her get the thoughts of him out of her head.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class, and Mia breathed a sigh of relief. She gathered her things and followed her friends out of the classroom.

She would focus on the reason why she was here, she would try her best to avoid crossing paths with him, she would try her best not to look at him or study him, she would try her best not to be smitten by him.

Discipline.

She would apply that.