20TH OCTOBER.
ORION ACADEMY:
APHRODITE AND YUMI'S ROOM.

THE SILENCE WAS getting louder. And it wasn't just any silence--it was an awkward-slash-embarrassing silence and I don't know about you but Aphrodite wasn't fond of it. Entering a room to find two of your new (and extremely hot) so-called friends with one of them on their knees, looking up at the other person and the other one looking down and their locked eyes with a certain emotion isn't exactly how I'd want to make an impression.

It was time to break that silence, so Aphrodite did what she did best.

She talked.

"How many hours do we have left before the clock hits six?" She said in a sunshine voice. Lex gave her a look--shuffling between question and amusement--possibly wondering how the hell she managed to soothe the atmosphere in less than 60 seconds. He wasn't complaining.

Karan took a look at a silver watch wrapped around his wrist. "Exactly two hours from..." He paused for a few seconds, still staring at his watch. "Now!" His voice was loud and a little high, fuelled with excitement.

Aphrodite glimmered a smile as she clapped her hands and jumped. "That's perfect. Unless we have some extra preparations--let us go shopping!"

Man, this girl talks in exclamation all the time.

"Excuse me, what?" West questioned, his bushy eyebrows raised upwards. His brown eyes hollowed out as his glare penetrated through Aphrodite with confused and disappointed looks at the same time."You want us to go shopping? Right now?"

Aphrodite bobbed her head. "Well, we are a part of an elite badass secret society. We need a proper outfit. We can't wear girly short skirts--" she gestured towards Yumi "--or dull grey hoodies." She pointed at Karan's hoody. "No offense," she added.

Yumi nodded and Karan answered, "None taken."

"As convincing as that sounds, I should save money. My parents are working their asses off to pay for my fees. The least I could do is not spend them for unimportant purposes," Yumi said with a frown growing on her face.

"Oh, c'mon, Yums!" Aphrodite's smile began to disappear. "How about I pay for you this time and you could maybe...stitch me a new dress or give me a free checkup in future?"

"You wanna be a doc?" Karan looked over his shoulders, his eyes glimmering at Yumi.

"We share half the subjects. You didn't recognize me in class?" Her voice was straight like she expected her not-so-friend friend to not notice her. Maybe she was used to it. Maybe she was too tired to care.

"I'm bad with faces. And before you ask me; no, I don't have prosopagnosia," he said with a roll of eyes.

"I don't even know what that is." Aphrodite was dumbfounded.

"It's a neurological disorder. It means face blindness where the person can't identify the face, not even their loved ones." Yumi explained.

Lex peered at Karan. "Did you use that word to make yourself look smarter?"

"Your words, not mine." He raised his hands in surrender. "But if I had to choose any words, I'd probably use those."

This made everyone laugh.

It felt good.

Maybe these teens aren't that bad. Ah, who am I kidding? They may not be bad now but shit's gonna go down and it's going to take these five 'friends' with it.

They're about to put the 'fun' in funeral.

•••

"Hey," Karan said from the backseat while sitting between Yumi and West because he called shotgun late. "We need to give an alternative word for these tasks. I mean, it sounds so boring."

Aphrodite couldn't help but stare at Lex's hand gripping the steering wheel as it took smooth turns. She was so into his movements that she almost missed Karan's suggestion. But then again, no one can not hear his voice because he is so damn loud.

"It better be something interesting," Lex spoke, the thick edge in his voice snapped Aphrodite back to reality. She flinched and looked outside the window while resting her head on the glass. She dared to not look back at Lex but she was a hundred percent sure that she could feel his gaze sliding into her at frequent intervals. It was just a feeling. A speculation. She didn't know if he was truly looking at her.

"Um, how about assignments?" West suggested.

"Do you want me to define what interesting means or are you just some natural nerd throwing academic terms?" Karan said, earning a nudge into his chest from West.

"Goals?" West asked.

"That's worse than assignments. I'm no longer accepting answers from you."

"Pranks?" Lex said.

"Nah."

"Tests?" Aphrodite deadpanned, not interested in participating in this word game.

"No way."

"Mission?" Yumi suggested.

Karan groaned. "You know what--" He sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "--we don't have to figure it out right away. Let all the bad suggestions be poured out. Maybe then your stupid minds would think something better."

"Excuse me?" Yumi wasn't happy with his choice of words.

Karan pressed his lips. "Too far?" Yumi nodded. "Uh, okay. Sorry!"

"We're here!" Lex said, desperately wanting to walk away from this conversation. He swerved into the parking lot. He pushed the brakes once he found a parking spot, causing them to jerk forward. Aphrodite was the first one to open the door of his car and hop out. If there's one thing she hated more than not having a proper sleep was being stuck in one place for a long time. It was the same reason why she disliked college lectures. Fifty minutes in one class? Nightmare.

Aphrodite hooked her arm around Yumi's arm as she dragged her into the mall. The mall was huge with all the brand sections catching her attention. She spotted H&M standing on the second floor. She looked over her shoulders to find the boys following them.

"We both are starting upstairs. Choose black clothes, okay? Something that resembles Lex's cold heart," she teased. Yumi chuckled while Karan stifled his urge to yell 'Burn' into Lex's ear. Lex didn't react to Aphrodite's smirk. She winked at him and jumped on the escalator along with Yumi.

Twenty minutes in H&M and Aphrodite had already managed to reject ten perfectly gorgeous outfits. Some were too big, some were too small, some were too dark, some were too light. Yumi trailed behind her with her own chosen outfits draped on her arm. She waited for Aphrodite so they could do the fashion show as Aphrodite insisted.

In the meanwhile, the boys were done with the shopping and were searching for the girls. After getting lost in the maze for ten minutes, Lex's eyes fell on a mirror that reflected Aphrodite standing on the other side of the aisle. Her wavy blonde hair cascaded down her slim shoulders. She was frowning as she went through the dresses that the workers presented her. She folded her arms over her chest and shifted her weight on her right leg. Her black jeans hugged her body so tightly that he could make out her hips curving out. She was thinking deeply and he could almost listen to her thoughts.

Not this one.

Hmm, not bad but not good either.

Ugh, ew. Not my style.

Goodness gracious, do they even have good clothes here?

Her every subtle expression gave off a hint of what she was thinking. The way she smiled when she talked to certain people, the way her eyes went shallow when Karan eye-banged her brother, the way she went rigid when he touched her.

When he touched her. For some reason, that tiny memory still stung him. What was he even thinking? She didn't like him. At least not when he touches her. It was inappropriate for him to look at her in that way.

He almost didn't notice Yumi until she came in between and blocked her reflection.

West and Karan spotted the girls too and approached them along with Lex. "Are you two done yet?" West asked even though it was pretty clear they weren't.

"Does it look like it?" Aphrodite answered back. "I can't find anything nice!" She looked at the worker whose name tag said Anne. "Anne..." She said her name like they were old friends. "Picture what Margo Roth Spiegelman would wear on her prank nights."

"Who the hell is that?" Karan asked.

"The girl from Paper Towns," Lex replied. Aphrodite nodded at him.

"Oh!" Anne said as if coming to a sudden ice-breaking realisation. "I've seen that movie. I know exactly what you want!" Anne ran off, whispering something to the young man who was definitely not interested in his job. He nodded and rushed off with her.

The book is better. Lex expected Aphrodite to say but then again--who was he expecting it from. Aphrodite Rose. There is no way in hell she reads fiction. At least being from a similar background, he could tell that people don't expect kids like them to read. They expect them to be spoiled brats who are nice only in front of guests during parties. Nevertheless, he did know one thing about her--the academy wasn't the first place they had met for the first time but he didn't bother to tell her because he was sure she didn't remember it.

Ten minutes later, all of them were waiting for Aphrodite to come out of her dressing room and show off her new outfit. West had suggested leaving but Aphrodite forced them to stay. She wanted them to see. She wanted them to applaud, compliment.

The door opened and Lex pried his eyes away from his phone to take a short look at Aphrodite to give her the validation she wanted. But his eyes stayed on her for longer than a few seconds. Aphrodite was wearing a simple outfit--black stretchy jeans, black see-through netted top with a black bra underneath and a black beanie on her head and of course, black boots--perfect for the prank they were planning. 

That was probably the first time Lex admitted or rather noticed that she is sexy. If he had to be around her with her wearing that, he was almost sure that his entire focus was not going to be on the task.

But despite being enchanted by her outward appearance, there was something about that smile. He could see that it wasn't real. It was missing some element. He couldn't put a finger on what exactly. Everyone was showering her with compliments but her smile was fake.

He wondered why.

header image by Alexander Kovacs.

sooo...how was it? lexodite is in full swing for now, let's see what happens next.

anyway, have a great day/ nighty!

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