Nate Elfirm is in another day of school, where in Standart High, nothing worth noting seems to exist, so far...
Nate witnessed, while walking through the hallway inside the school, a crowd of students appearing to surround something of interest to them. It was something like an animal had died in the middle of the hallway, and that is probably why everyone stopped in the middle to stare at it.
Reaching closer towards the group, he heard familiar voices arguing among the spectators, with Nate expressing curiosity about who they might be, given the attention they were getting right now.
The first voice that Nate reminded him of who it was.
"Brandin, you're the one who lost my ball, so it's you who has to help me find it," Aliana assured.
Aliana points her finger at Brandin, who defensively shakes his hands as if they reflect the blame on him, but it was futile as she continued to accuse him further.
"Whoa, whoa, hey, okay, calm down for a second, and think this through. It wouldn't be fine for us both if I got beaten up, because I wouldn't help with your search then."
Aliana briefly thought about what Brandin said before lowering her fist.
"I know that, but it's still crappy when I think about it, you know."
"So just don't go aggressive on me just because of some ball."
"It's not just some ball, you know, it's like the foundation of my life itself," Aliana replied.
These two are always at each other's throats for some reason, not that Nate wanted to be in the middle of their arguments.
The more tolerable one between them both has to be Aliana herself, when she's not too clingy with her sporty interest, of course; since she is usually kind to everyone she meets, thanks to her uplifting personality, with few exceptions like Brandin Fiborr.
On the other hand, Brandin is usually more upfront with his arrogance and sense of superiority; even so, it somehow makes others find it endearing, making him almost as popular as Aliana.
Regardless of their feelings towards each other, Nate believed he needed to understand what was happening between them.
It's not as though he really cared about Aliana and Brandin enough to help out with their conflicts; it's just something he had to make this school feel like the same thing as always... especially since that "magical" incident at Vivid Forest.
But who knows, maybe this time he would be more helpful with both of their feuds with each other, and probably would make them more tolerable even when in the same vicinity.
"Alright then... 4:00 PM sharp at the bridge in the middle of the Volanten River, you got that?" asked Aliana.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
Brandin nodded his head begrudgingly before walking away, probably to his class. The argument between the two had dispersed without any further escalations, and so did the crowd that watched the whole thing unfold in front of them.
Nate is curious if Aliana and Brandin were well aware of the crowd they were attracting from the bickering they did for several minutes, making him waste precious time out of class.
Before he could even make a move, Aliana appeared suddenly behind him as if reality itself wanted Nate to interact with her as some sort of twisted show. He wanted to do something else instead of potentially being in her plans right now.
"Oh, just the guy I wanted to meet up with. Wanna listen to what plans I have for you and the others?"
"Is it something I have to do, with no other choice?" questioned Nate.
"You don't have to hear me out if you have other plans, right? Just let me explain, you and your friends would come by the Volanten River and watch over Brandin, just in case he does something sneaky behind my back," Aliana said.
"Why can't you just watch him by yourself?" Nate argued.
"I would, and don't get me wrong, I could restrain him myself if he does sneak away, but I also need to find my ball as fast as I can. You understand, right?"
"Right..."
Aliana cocked her head to the side, as though something of interest landed right in front of her. "It's a good plan, I don't think anything's wrong with it at all."
"It's just that even with more people with us at the river, it could still potentially take some considerable time to look for the soccer ball."
"Oh, I see..." Aliana murmured with a defeated tone in her voice.
Nate sees a shadow of doubt in Aliana's eyes as she speaks. She must have been really down in the last few days, since she has been searching at the River for a few days now with little rest between each shift. Nate rubbed his eyes in dismay before making up a reply to Aliana, realizing that he didn't want to leave her in this state.
"Fine, I'll go with you guys tomorrow, but I dunno if the others would be able to go, cause you know... people have their own things to do."
Aliana jumped in the air with joy and hugged Nate tightly, as he wildly tried to free himself from her grasp. "Oh, thank you, thank you so much, Nate, I promise you won't regret this at all."
"I'm not too sure that would be the case at all," Nate said as she swiftly left the scene without saying anything else.
He sighed and opened his locker to put away some papers.
Is this search for this ball essential for me? I mean, I have better things to do, and I trust Aliana to find it. I'll just help her with this problem this time only, just like all the other times when I help only once. But it's all right, though. I see this as a break from studying inside the house, yeah, I gotta think like that.
Cloey and Manson sat in their usual spots during the break period, as Manson noticed Cloey being bothered, causing him to feel a bit worried. He attempted to talk to her to find out what was going on.
"Okay, what's bothering you? Is it because you flunked a test in Mouch's class?"
"No, it's not that... Well, I did flunk it, but I'm feeling down about something else."
Manson raised his eyebrow, wanting to know what she was feeling.
"It's about Sam, something is different about him recently, he usually wants to hang out with us during break, but today he told me that he was going to be skipping school because of something he had to do."
Cloey turned to him with a look of desperation, her face arranged to give guilt to whoever looked into it. "Is it something I said to him? Is that what this is all about, Manson?"
Manson scoffed. "Sam? Skipping school? He's usually gung-ho about hanging out with us, though. I wonder what's really going on. It must be something suspicious with him, I bet."
"What? You mean that he is doing something bad, like beating up people?" Cloey asked.
"Whoa, whoa, I don't think he would have the heart to go that far. Maybe he's just having a little trouble with errands after all."
Cloey sighs in relief upon hearing what Manson said. He then stated his concerns to her:
"As much as I dislike some of his habits, overall, Sam's not just a bad guy; he wouldn't do something terrible, especially when he has friends just like us."
"Yeah... I guess you're right, Manson." Cloey readjusted her posture on the seats of the table and expressed another look of worry after she appeared to be collected. "What could Sam be doing right now that made him skip classes?"
"Let's see here. The last time he was here with us, Sam was a bit paler than usual. At the time, I thought it was some flu that he had contracted after I told him not to go outside at night for long periods," said Manson. He pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his lunch bag and took a bite. "When I was close to him, I... I felt something off, like he changed, but I don't know what exactly changed. It might be just me exaggerating stuff, or something's going on with him."
"Sam did seem a bit unusual when I saw him. And also, when I held his hand, it was hot, like hot hot, it was like he did some baseball practice before school!" Cloey exclaimed. "Then he kinda just got hit by a car when we were walking..."
"I'm sorry, but did you just say... A CAR! THAT HE GOT HIT BY A CAR!"
Manson reeled back in shock upon Cloey's words. His eyes were wide open as if he had heard some personal secret about someone.
"Don't worry, though, Sam was okay. I had the same reaction too when I first saw it," Cloey said, without a hint of worry in her voice when discussing a potential death.
"It's still something serious, Cloey. Jeez, why didn't you tell us anything about this?"
"Sorry, I didn't want anyone to worry, especially you, Manson, cause you always are into studying and all that, I didn't want to disturb you when you were working so hard right now."
"Cloey... You're always worried about everyone else..."
She shrank her entire body to avoid getting pity from Manson's eyes and looked away into the distance of the courtyard.
"Do you want to know why I think Sam changed? It has something to do with the past and how he deals with it. He told us that his father died during the Green Catastrophe and that his mom would have to take care of him by herself." Cloey stated. "Ever since he learned about what the Green Catastrophe did to his family, he would always try to be the one who helps out others, like the superheroes in those TV shows."
"So, do you think this has something to do with his absence, about why we feel like he's changed or something?" Manson asked.
"There is a chance Sam found something, either good or bad, he wants to see it for himself if it's going to be a danger to the city. I guess that's his nature," she said with her hands closed up.
"Then, it's up to us to find out what his deal is, whether he likes it or not." Manson demanded with eagerness.
"For his safety, right?"
"Yes, for his safety, not going to spite him at all, okay."
"I see. Manson, you sometimes have a soft side when you are worried about someone," Cloey teased. She punched his arm lightly and quickly rubbed her hand in pain when she found out the only one who felt it was her.
"Don't get used to it, it's not something that you'll see every day."
The bell rang from the inside, and it herded all the students into the building like cattle during mealtime. Cloey glanced at Manson's finished lunch before looking at her own food. It was practically untouched, in perfect condition, with not a single bite taken.
"Nooooo! I didn't get to finish my strawberry yogurt. I was too focused on our conversation, and I lost track of time during it," she complained, while still holding on to her yogurt and plastic spoon. "Now I'll just be hungry for the rest of class."
Manson patted her pack in pity as Cloey sulked about her uneaten yogurt.
"The other classes are probably just easy stuff for today, you can relax for now," Manson reassured.
The two of them got up and left the courtyard, heading into the hallway where a figure stood by the wall with a displeased look. Nate pushed off the wall and moved quickly toward them.
"Hey guys, going to class already?"
Cloey stopped walking, still holding her yogurt cup and spoon. She held it up in front of Nate's face to show what it was. "I didn't get to finish my strawberry yogurt. I know it would've been delicious if I had the chance."
"Uh, what?"
"Nate, do you mind if you take her yogurt cup to one of those refrigerator things in one of those science labs? You're heading over there anyway," Manson asked.
"Right, okay... But I need to tell you two about something first. It's about Aliana and Brandin's fight over the lost soccer ball."
"Yeah, we've both heard," Manson said as his eyes rolled over, "as it's probably what everyone at school was talking about."
"Maybe Aliana has yogurt that she could give to me," Cloey whispered, soft enough for Nate to hear her barely.
"I mean, you would think that they would be over this by now. Like, is it that hard to find one little ball in one little river?"
Nate shrugged his arms as a response. "I think a lot of time was devoted to trying to pay back against Brandin."
Cloey fidgeted with her hands as she tried to speak, and would have spoken when Manson intervened with a sigh in his complaints.
"So Aliana wants us to help out, too, I'm assuming, with finding her soccer ball?"
"Close, and he wants us to additionally help watch over Brandin in case he runs away or something like that."
Manson groaned with displeasure at having to play security. "Aw, great, this is definitely what I have planned for tomorrow. First, the missing Sam and his suspicious aura, then we have to deal with this-"
"Wait a sec, what about Sam? Did you just say he was missing?" Nate questioned. He was shocked to learn that Sam, of all people, would be missing from school right now. "Don't tell me, is he running away from the cops?"
"No! It's nothing like that, it's only that he is absent for something personal. And I truly believe that he is not doing anything bad or evil or anything horrible!" Cloey cried out.
"Don't worry," Manson reassured both of them. "As the closest friends that he has, we have to trust that he is doing okay and nothing bad is gonna happen. Besides, Cloey's right that Sam is just doing some things like getting a permit or going to a dentist, or something else really."
"Okay, so if Sam doesn't come with us to the Volanten River," Nate said with a finger to his neck, where it would then rub around the collarbone, as that's what he usually does when he's thinking hard. "Oh, right, Sheila! Where is she right now?"
"I talked to her this morning about her plans for the rest of the week, and she said that tomorrow is her study day, so she can't be with us for the search," Cloey stated.
"Shoot, so it's just us three that will help out with the search," Nate said while grimacing.
Manson held his hand up to interject, "Hold up, Cloey and I still haven't agreed to take part in Aliana's search."
Cloey tugged his shirt in defiance, then flailed her arms wildly as if to shake out any doubt from Manson. "Don't you get it, Aliana's ball is important to her, and it's us that she requested personally. Also, I know that you don't have anything to do tomorrow, so no excuses from you."
"Fine! Since you want me to go so badly, I'll go then. Honestly, why can't she have other people do this expedition right now? It's not like Aliana's only hangs out with us."
"Great! Then all three of us will easily watch over Brandin. He'll never try to trick me if you two were around."
All three of them marched their way into homeroom class, with Nate and Manson in particular not feeling excited about Aliana's search the next day after school.