It was the next day. Lucy was on her way to school after an eventful night. She had only been able to sleep after rolling around for three hours. She still couldn't understand why she was thinking about James so much. Because of him, she was dead tired. She was never the type to stay up too late—she always slept on time. This was the first time she had ever felt so tired. Her eyes were heavy, and it felt like she was carrying extra weight with her.
After making her way through the chaotic hallway traffic, she finally reached her first class, math. Looking around the class, she spotted James with his head down. She quickly made her way toward him and whispered in a very quiet voice, "Hey James."
After a few seconds, there was no response. She moved her hand and slightly shook him.
"Oh, hey James," she said again.
James lifted his head, and seeing who it was, greeted her back. "Oh hey Lucy. It's nice to see you here—and good morning, by the way."
"Oh, good morning to you too." Lucy, looking at James, noticed the tired expression on his face.
"Looks like you didn't get any sleep at all last night."
"Yeah, I spent the whole night looking for the memory card. Seems like we dropped it at some point."
Lucy looked at him, confused. "Memory card?"
"Yeah, the card that contains the pictures we took yesterday."
"Oh, you mean that? Wait… so you lost the pictures?"
"Yeah, seems like it."
"So what are we going to do now?"
James glanced at her and said, "Well, nothing I guess. I might as well get some sleep."
"Huh, that's it? You're just going to let them get away with what they did?"
"Well, Lucy, I think there's nothing we can do."
"I mean, we can always report them to the supervisor."
Laying his head down, he slowly closed his eyes. "Like I said before, I don't think they're going to believe us. We have no evidence right now. We broke into the school on top of that—it's pretty incriminating. Reporting that to the school or the police could easily backfire. Plus, it's not our problem now."
"Not our problem? What do you mean?"
James pointed at the board. "Take a look at that board."
Turning her head towards the front, she saw words written: Ms. Willson isn't available today. A substitute will be joining y'all shortly. Please be on your best behavior.
"Wait, she isn't here? If she isn't here, then Mr. Willson…"
"Yup. He isn't here too. If I had to take a guess, they probably already left the state by now. So, not our problem. Don't worry too much, okay?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"And besides, you don't look much better yourself. What kept you up last night?"
Lucy, with a hint of nervousness in her voice and not making eye contact with James, said, "Oh, you know, the usual. I was just studying, and I had to help my mom out with a few things… and a few things just came up." She added an awkward laugh and took a glance at James, only to realize he had already fallen asleep before she could finish her sentence.
"Huh, I guess you really were tired."
Lucy, seeing James asleep, took another glance at him and whispered, "You look pretty charming when you're asleep." She quickly sat down, took out a few books, and started a self-study session. After all, even if the teacher wasn't there, that didn't mean one had to stop working hard.
After what felt like a few minutes, Lucy felt someone slowly shaking her. She looked up, realizing she had fallen asleep on top of her books. To add insult to injury, she was drooling. Looking at the person shaking her, she saw James trying to stop himself from laughing at the sight in front of him.
Seeing James about to laugh, Lucy quickly stood up. He took a glance at the clock. "Oh, looks like class is over. I better get to my next class. See you later, James."
With high speed and precision, Lucy packed her things, wiping the corner of her mouth as she looked down and took off with lightspeed.
James glanced at the desk, realizing Lucy had left her glasses. Raising his hand, he called out, "Hey Lucy, you forgot your glasses!"
Lucy, quickly feeling around her face, turned back and sped towards James. She snatched the glasses from him and offered a quick, "Thanks," walking away with her head even lower than before.
After that, James was stuck in a daze. He hadn't gotten a good look before, but when Lucy looked at him as he was waking her up, he whispered a single word to himself: "Cute."
A few hours later, it was now lunchtime. Lucy looked around the lunchroom, seeing most of the seats filled with people of all sorts. She spotted James in the corner, waving at her to come sit. Reluctantly, she went over and sat with him. After all, she had nowhere else to sit—at least that's what she told herself.
"So, why did you call me over here?"
"You know, I just wanted to ask how your sleep was."
"Alright, I'll be taking my leave now."
"Wait, no—I was just joking!" James said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. "I was only kidding."
Scratching his head, he said, "I was wondering if you had anything to do after school today."
Lucy, hearing this, was slightly flustered. Then, remembering what type of person James was, she narrowed her eyes and looked at him funny. "You don't plan on doing the same thing we did yesterday, do you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. I just have a console back home sitting and collecting dust. I was wondering if you'd want to hang out today. Are you down to play a few games with me?"
Hearing this, Lucy was interested in the idea of playing a few games with James. She quickly questioned what type of games they were going to play. Hearing her interest, James went on a ramble about all the different types of games they could play. By the end of lunch, all James could talk about was his collection.
Lucy liked hearing James talk—he seemed more energetic and happy than usual. She liked hearing that. When the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, they both looked at their lunch boxes. They were so engrossed in their conversation, they hadn't even eaten.
"Oh, lunch is over. Sorry, Lucy, looks like I took up all the time with my rambling."
"No, I really didn't mind it at all. I really liked hearing you talk about what you like to do," Lucy said with a bright smile on her face.
"Anyways, I'll see you later James. I better get to class."
"Yeah, see you later Lucy."
As James made his way to his next class, he overheard a group of boys in the corner.
"Yo dude, you won't believe what I found. This is insane."
"Yo, what did you find?"
The first boy quickly took out a camera, showing all his friends the pictures. Seeing the photos, the boys couldn't believe it.
"No way… is that Mr. and Mrs. Willson? And the… is that the principal in the corner?"
All of them were stunned.
"Wait, how did you get this?" one of the boys asked.
"Well, I was on my way to the convenience store to buy some snacks, and I came across this memory card. It looked new, so I replaced my old one with it. When I checked, it only had like three pictures left. At first, I was happy, but after looking at the pictures, I realized it was Mr. and Mrs. Willson—and the principal, getting it on."
All the boys looked at each other.
"So what should we do with this?"
An answer came from a boy on the side. "I mean, it's obvious—we should blackmail them. Think about it. If these pictures got out, they'd be in deep shit. If we showed them these, they'd do whatever we said. We might even get a chance with Mrs. Willson."
Hearing this, the others looked at him with disgust. The boy quickly backtracked. "Come on guys, I was only kidding. Obviously, we should turn this into the police. We can't let those sickos walk around the school, teaching kids. It's the right thing to do."
They still looked at him weird, but eventually agreed.
James, hearing this as he passed, thought, I guess the card did end up in the right hands, thankfully. He gave a puzzled glance at the boy who made that statement.
After the school bell rang, symbolizing the end of the day, James walked up to Lucy and waved his hand so she could see him.
"Hey James, you can stop waving now."
"Oh right… so Lucy, do you want me to pick you up or are you coming on your own?"
"I think I'll make it alright."
"Okay then," James said, walking away.
Just a moment later, James came running back. "By the way, I forgot—this is where I live." He handed her a piece of paper, waved again, and walked away.
Lucy took a look at the paper. "Oh, he doesn't live that far from me."
Two hours later, Lucy stood in front of a gate. Looking at it, she felt nauseous. The towering gate made her swallow nervously. Walking up to the gate and pressing a button, a voice came:
"Are you here to see someone, Ms.?"
"Ahh yes, I'm here to see James Carter."
The voice went quiet. Nervousness creeping up her back, Lucy started blabbering. "Well sir, you see, me and James are friends, and, well, he gave me this paper and said I had to be here. I can give him a call if you—"
"You can come in, miss."
The gate soon opened.
"Oh, thank you sir," she said, walking in. Looking around, she muttered, "Wow. James' family sure is rich. This doesn't even look like a house—more like a mansion trying to act as a house."
Soon she arrived at the door. Someone opened it. A middle-aged man dressed in a suit stood there.
"Welcome, miss."
"Hi sir, nice to meet you. My name is Lucy Nancy."
"How rude of me, Ms. My name is Alfred. I'm the family's personal butler."
A few words passed through Lucy's mind: Wow… a butler. They must really be rich.
Silence fell over them. Lucy was sweating bullets—it felt as though Alfred was observing her, making her nervous.
"Mr. Alfred, when's James going to be here?"
"Well, Mr. James should be here any second."
Not missing a beat, James showed up. "Hey Lucy, you made it."
"Yeah, I was somehow able to find my way here."
"Cool. I have the perfect game for us." James grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her along with him.
Lucy took a glance back at the butler, only to see him still staring at her before finally walking away.
"Um, James… I didn't know you had a butler."
"Oh, him? Alfred isn't really a butler—he's more like family. My parents are mostly on business trips, busy with work, so they never had time to take care of me. They hired Alfred to take care of me while they worked. I guess after hiring him, they kind of just forgot I existed."
Sensing a hint of sadness coming from James, Lucy was concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing. After all, Alfred's always been like a parent to me, so it doesn't really matter much. And besides, I've got loads of games thanks to my parents. They mostly let me have what I want just to make up for not being around." He gave her a small smile. "Anyway, you said you were better than me at Space Rodents."
"Of course I am! We can prove it right now."
"Oh, you're on, Lucy."