Shu POV

I settle myself down on my seat at the main meeting table, strapping the belts across my waist and making sure that they're tight.

My parents and the rest of the crewmates are running around headquarters, checking and double checking that everything is correct in order to ensure a safe departure. 

With me being just a teenager, I got the smallest amount of tasks that I've already finished. So  I sit, waiting for the agonizingly slow clock hands to hurry up.

Hurry up so that one month has already been over.

I let out a heavy exhale that's barely audible over the chatter and bustling movements. I absent-mindedly fiddle with my fingers, reminiscing on how I should've brought a memento of (y/n) for the whole month. A photograph, at least. 

Maybe some promise rings, the thought fades away when I glance at the clock. 

An hour has passed. 

Three more hours and I'm gone. Gone from Earth and Amare and all the petty high school drama, but most of all, (y/n).

Your POV

For the first half an hour of the social, me and my friends hang out by the food table. Although we look like pigs, constantly drinking soda and stuffing food in our mouths, it's understandable. The food is too good not to pass up and besides, the Elites are hogging both the mosh pit and the dance floor. 

Both areas happen to be outside, past a door to the roof in the gardens where an outdoor stage is set up and the music is coming from. The DJ and even more flashy lights reside there, hanging in the tree branches. 

I don't need to be outside to know that Caprice has all eyes on her and would roast you if you tried to take some attention away. Even if it was unintentional.

So it boggles me when Chanel tugs at my sleeve and says, "(y/n), let's go out."

"Out there?" I motion frantically to the garden party that's beginning to seem more and more like a rave by the second. "Are you crazy? It's bad enough that we actually went to the social, why would we go to the Elite hotspot? That's like asking to be devoured. It's going to cause drama and you know it."

"Well, who cares?" Chanel flushes angrily, and I worry that this simple conversation will soon escalate to a full-blown argument. "We shouldn't be hiding from them like we're weaker than them or something. Who cares if they start drama. We'll just push back harder."

Before I can reply, Chanel seizes my wrist and we're out in the mosh pit, leaving the rest of our friends behind. We're far away so that Ashley and Caprice, stuck in her two meter distanced circle away from everyone in the center, doesn't notice us, but still close enough so that some of the Elites sneer at us, recognizing the 'girl Jack left Ashley for but she's dating an alien' and the 'girl who used to be Queen Bee at Claritate'.

But despite those glares and few backhand compliments, I start relaxing and strangely enough, Chanel and I start having fun, screaming the words to several throwback songs so that it's only an hour in and I already know that I'm waking up with a sore throat tomorrow. 

Tomorrow...I'll also be waking up with my boyfriend worlds apart.

The thought I had been ignoring this whole finally made its way to me. I had tried to convince myself that if I had believed I would wake up and Shu would still be by my side, then maybe the universe could do one more miracle for me. 

But I've already gotten one miracle more than what people would usually have, so it's logical that this wish doesn't get granted. But I still can't help missing him already, even if there's three hours to go until he really is in space. 

"Aw, (y/n), why the sad face?"

I blink and focus at this unfamiliar, sly voice. I realize that I've subconsciously moved away from Chanel, being pushed further into the center until I somehow ended up with Caprice, Sana, Ashley and the rest of their friends surrounding me. 

"It's because Kurenai's leaving," Ashley answers Sana's question, sending a sideways glare at me.

Sana laughs, high-pitched and without any mirth. "Ashley, hun, we can all see that. My question was rhetorical."

The tips of Ashley's ears turn tomato red and her lips curl upwards in a sneer, but before Ashley can make any proper insult, Abioye cuts in. "You two, don't start drama again."

"He's right," Caprice says but although her voice is soft, there is a malicious edge to it. "There will be plenty of that later."

"Well then, I'm hungry," Sana yawns and starts making her way inside, back to the food table. And like a pack, the rest of them follows her. "Let's go back inside."

Caprice is the only Elite that I recognize left in the mosh pit. She smiles to me before heading inside. A smile is supposed to be a reassuring action, yet hers sends chills down my spine, more so than the words she said. 

It's not unfamiliar. The way her teeth doesn't show and her lips don't move that much and the smile doesn't match up with her face is not unfamiliar. It's very, very familiar. 

A faded version of this cunning smile appears as Chanel makes her way towards me, her eyebrows furrowed. "What did they want with you?"

"Actually, nothing," I shrug. "Surprisingly. But something is going to happen later anyways. I can feel it."

"Me too," Chanel nods, and just as those words leave her mouth, light leaves St. Catherine's. The only area with light happens to this outdoor dance floor, the very center of the social. And this is obviously not a coincidence. 

Teachers and the body guards hired to stop any brawls from happening immediately make their way to the other buildings in an effort to end the sudden blackout. 

"(y/n)! Chanel!"

I turn to see the rest of my friends making their way to us, surprise written on all of their faces as we rejoin on the side of the now busy crowd, next to the door to the rooftop. I open my mouth to respond to them when Caprice's voice echoes throughout the outdoor speakers. 

"Hello?" is followed by a giggle as everyone's attention snaps towards her. I see her backed up by the rest of the Elite Eight, and judging by all of their smirks, they did not leave just to get food. 

"I would introduce myself, but I don't think an introduction is necessary," Caprice says smoothly, pulling up her silk dress. 

Faint chuckles arise from the large group of male students and Caprice smiles again before continuing, "If you know me, you know how loyal of a friend I am."

The laughs are from the Elite Eight this time, and much more prominent because it's obviously not true. 

"Anyways, Ashley is a good friend of mine," Caprice gestures to the blonde besides her, decked out in a red dress that is marginally cheaper than the rest of the outfits tonight. "And sadly, she got dumped a few weeks ago. Jack dumped for a girl that I'm sure all of you know."

Although I knew it was coming, my heart sinks.

"Not just you, but the whole world," Caprice continues. "Known for kissing an alien. Imagine being so deprived of the opposite sex that you decide to date an alien."

For the first time of the night, I see Layla glance towards me in concern. She's near the base of the stage, far away but she's tall enough so I just see her head. Both Esme and Chanel glance at me, expecting any rash decision from me upon these words.

And it's not just them. Everyone who's near me eyes me warily, perhaps expecting me to yell or argue. Caprice stops her speech, waiting for her provoking words to sink in. 

But I don't move. I keep my eyes trained on Caprice, now waiting for her to continue. Because frankly, I simple don't care about what she thinks. 

Eventually she does continue, "So as any good friend would do, I'm going to make that girl and all of her friends pay. And fortunately for them, I know all of their secrets. 

Sana steps forward and hands Caprice a stack of cream envelopes. 

No.

I knew this was coming but it's so surreal and evil that I can barely register anything.

She wouldn't. Would she?

"Layla Carter," Caprice reads out the name. My heart plummets and I turn to look at her, but she's no longer looking at me. She's paper white, knowing what will be read out. "Ooh, child best friends with (y/n), how cute...oh, I didn't you know you felt out of place Layla as an Elite. And she hates Elites? Wow, someone's jealous. Anyways, opening the next one, mind you, Layla's secret was quite boring..."

As Caprice begins the open the next one, the last sentence ignited something inside me that wanted to rip all of the letter from her. Layla, in Elite territory right now, was getting insults and glares thrown at her. 

And Caprice has to nerve to say that it was boring?

As if our secrets are her source of entertainment?

I try to make my way to Layla, but nobody bothers to make way for me in the packed crowd. 

Noticing my frustration at not being able to do anything, Caprice calls out, "Oh, (y/n) darling. The secrets and humiliation won't stop until you manage to tell your secret so that everyone here knows. And good luck trying to do that."

Caprice is right. She's made it so that it's impossible for my voice to be heard. The only microphone is being used by her, the stage blocked by many Elites. 

I can't even get into the center of the crowd. I'm on the edge of the dance floor, next to only the door to the outdoor sports area used for the cheerleaders.

An idea sparks and my legs start to move on their own. I push open the door and start running, climbing step after step after step in the dark building. The only light I have is the dim and blurred party lights, illuminating the white stairwell in a maroon red thanks to the tinting of the windows.

"Esme McAvaney is actually a bisexual. Aw how sad, she confessed to Georgia Rosser and got rejected. RIP to their friendship."

The jeers and slurs being thrown at my friend makes me run faster. I can only hear blood rushing in my ears and my head pounding as I struggle to make my way up the seven flights of stairs. Of all the buildings in the school, of course I had to climb the tallest one. 

"Oh, it's Claritate's old Queen Bee! Chanel Darlington's family is going bankrupt. How shocking. Well, I'm glad that we're no longer best friends anymore then."

But I have no room to complain about running. Not when my friends are out there, getting insults thrown at them left and right. Not when their secrets are getting revealed in the cruelest way possible. 

Their secrets, some of them worth their life. And my secret?

That I like anime.

That I fell in love with 2D character.

How pathetic.

"Blair (l/n) isn't as popular as you think! She actually buys her followers. Incredible how desperate some people are for clout."

At this point I'm done trying to question how they've found everything out. It's obvious how desperate they are. 

"Hannah Mitchell and Hayden, Amare's favorite student, still have feelings for each other despite all of Chanel's efforts."

Hannah isn't even close to me. But by now everyone knows that Caprice is just doing this for fun. And it sickens me how majority of the people aren't doing anything. 

"Georgia Rosser has shoplifted!"

"Jack's father has recently been caught in an affair with his secretary!"

Even I didn't know those things. 

As I reach the fifth floor, the lights from the social don't reach up here anymore. I'm running blindly, in almost pitch black so it doesn't surprise me when I trip. 

I lean into the stairs, nearly grateful for the excuse of a pause it gives me even if the blood from a cut across my forehead is spilling out. Not gushing, but close enough to create a puddle. 

I nearly give up.

All of my friends secrets have been exposed. If I stop now, then only my secret is left. And my secret isn't even that embarrassing. It's something that I should have embraced long ago but like a coward, I hid it as a result of caring too much about what other people think. 

I hear the all too familiar tear of the envelope and I'm expecting it to be endgame and for my secret to be given up, so it surprises me when Caprice instead says, "Shu Kurenai."

My throat dries and it's hard to swallow. He never told me any particular secret he has, but Beyblade Burst has. 

Caprice must've watched it just for the sake of this plan and now she knows all about how his parents left him for work reasons, how he seemingly betrayed Valt and the club for power, how maniacal he was reduced to towards the end. 

(a/n bc shu left shinwa for earth, shu was decided to be animated in the second season solely just so there wasn't any holes in the plot, but caprice doesn't know that.)

With the right words, she could easily paint an exaggerated picture that would only trick people into thinking that Shu is crazy. And then I don't think he would want to come back to Amare and Earth after that.

So I run. I run and run as Caprice takes long to reveal the secret on purpose. The silence is agonizing and it's about to get worse when I manage to finally make it. Throwing the door open, I grab the megaphone I expected to be here (since this is the cheerleader's practice area, after all).

And raising it to my mouth, I reveal all that I have hidden from my friends. 

-------------------------

wrote the last parts halfasleep, so there's probably some plot holes sorryyy

word count: 2404