Cleo immediately backed off of him. She could still feel the warmth of his body on her hand.
Cecil coughed, his uninjured hand covering his face, where a splotch of red was forming on his cheeks. "Are you going to heal me or not?"
Cleo fumbled, finally managing to summon her magic. She reached out with her hands, her fingers awkward and stiff. She mumbled something that was inaudible to Cecil, and a holy light glowed from the tips of her fingers, shining on the gash on Cecil's shoulder. He let out a sigh as the warmth of the spell spread throughout his body. His arm was fully healed now.
Cecil put his jacket back on.
"I'm sorry," Cleo mumbled, looking away. "I...I shouldn't have done that."
Seeing her so look so ashamed made Cecil feel bad for Cleo. "N-no, it's...it's fine."
Suddenly, she stood up. "I can make it up to you! I took your clothes off, so I'll do the same!"
Cecil watched, as Cleo removed her jacket, then her second jacket, and then...
"Stop, stop, stop it!" he cried, trying to make her put her clothes back on while also trying to not look at or touch her. "This...this isn't right!"
***
On the other side of the crystal ball, the teachers blinked and looked at each other.
The headmaster cleared his throat and chuckled awkwardly. "Perhaps we should switch to watching the werebear."
The other teachers all quickly nodded in agreement.
***
"Put your clothes back on," Cecil said, grabbing Cleo by her shoulders. She was down to a tight, strapless black crop-top and a pair of black shorts. Her discarded clothes were scattered all around her.
"But don't you want me to apologize?"
"Not like this!"
"Oh, then how about I give you a kiss?"
Before Cecil could react, Cleo had pulled his face down towards her, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. A blush creeped up his neck. His pulse was speeding up. If Cleo noticed, she did not say, but Cecil was already too embarrassed. He pushed her away from him, hard, and luckily, Cleo landed on the bed behind her, with a small yelp of surprise.
"Just put your clothes back on," Cecil said, chewing on his lip. He could feel that his face was bright red, and he was breathing hard.
"Okay, I'm done," Cleo said, a few minutes later, after putting who knows how many layers of clothing back on.
Cecil looked up, the stress on his eyes finally relieved. That is, until his eyes immediately went to the small window of space right above Cleo's chest, where the maker of the dress had clearly neglected to fill in with cloth.
"Are you okay?" Cleo asked, kneeling down to Cecil's level, since he had slid onto the floor a second before. "You look pale."
"I'm...I'm fine..." he said, noticing how terribly short Cleo's skirt was. And the slit on the side was really not helping. Suddenly, an image flashed in Cecil's eyes. He tried to blink it away, but the thought lingered.
He just wanted to...
Cecil covered his face and groaned. What was wrong with him today?
"Shouldn't we go..." Cleo gestured towards the door. "The werebear...?"
"Oh, right!" Cecil stood up, getting ready to leave. Cleo marched towards the door.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her, running to block her path to the exit.
"I'm going to fight the werebear."
"N-n-no...you can't do that..."
"Why not?"
"You just...can't."
"Wha-"
Just as Cleo was about to argue with him, Cecil scooped her up in his arms, trying his best to avoid touching the places where her dress exposed her skin. He carried Cleo over to the bed, and plopped her down onto it.
"Stay there and don't move."
"Why-"
Cecil's gaze stopped Cleo halfway through her sentence. It felt like if she did not listen to his orders, then he would eat her up. His gaze was like that of a wolf, powerful, sharp, and intelligent.
"Okay," Cleo said, crossing her arms and lying down.
Satisfied, Cecil left the room.
"What's wrong with him?" Cleo wondered out loud. "He wasn't like that in the book."
***
As Cecil walked down the hallway, he smiled to himself. Now nobody else would see Cleo in that really revealing dress. Suddenly, Cecil stopped walking. The image that had appeared in his mind was back, and now it was clearer than before. He swallowed the saliva that had unknowingly pooled in his mouth. He shook his head, wiping the thought away, but it stayed, unfaltering.
He just wanted to...
***
The third and final part of the examination ended rather plainly. Cecil defeated the werebear, and it was revealed that the creature was actually one of the professors. Unsurprisingly, Cecil placed first on the practical, followed by Marianne, who came in second. Rosa had done relatively well, ending up in fifteenth place, while Cleo was dead last.
In the end, only twenty people were chosen. Based on each student's ranking, they were sorted into either the beginner, intermediate, or advanced class. Each class had seven students, with the exception of the advanced class, which had six. Most people were satisfied with their rankings, though some were disappointed that they did not make it into the final twenty students.
Once the others left, the headmaster called all the remaining students to the great hall. He welcomed them to the academy, went over a few fundamental rules, and then all the students were sent on their way.
Suddenly, as everyone was walking out of the great hall, a translucent, floating screen appeared out of nowhere in front of Cleo. There was a message written on it.
The only way to escape is to die.
The message was signed by Mirabelle Florin.
Cecil was walking out of the great hall, when he realized that all the other students had suddenly stopped moving, as if seeing something that he could not see. Their eyes moved over thin air, as if reading a note. A note that was clearly not there. He was about to observe more carefully, when all the students began moving again.
"Hey," Theo said, sneaking up on Cecil, making him jump.
"Oh, hey."
"Come on, lets go back to the dorms."
With that, Theo and Cecil left the great hall, along with everyone else. And Cecil still had no idea what was written in the message, nor did he realize that there was a message at all.
***
It was raining. The academy had given all the students the weekend off in order for them to prepare themselves for the beginning of the school year. But it was just Cleo's luck that on the one day she was free, it was raining.
Cleo opened the sliding door of her bedroom, stepping out onto the balcony. The rain was falling, hard. The droplets splattered against Cleo's body, drenching her. She glanced down at the ground below her. A simple two stories down. She jumped.
As Cleo fell, the rain caught her, following the flow of her magic, placing her softly and gently onto the ground, completely unscathed. She walked down the path, her hair, body, and dress completely soaked in the downpour. She passed by a small, man-made river, guarded by a black, iron railing. She leaned on the railing, looking out over the water that had only been a light trickle yesterday, but was now fast, churning rapids.
Cleo wanted to go home. She did not care about watching her favorite characters get together and live out the happy life she wanted for them. She just wanted to go back to her own life, with her friends, school, and even her bullies. She wanted to see Ari again, the only person who could ever reach her heart. Cleo wondered what was going on back on earth. What happened to her after she was hit by the truck? Did she die, or did she go into a coma? If only there was a way for someone to tell her what happened. If only there was a way to communicate between worlds.
And then the rain was gone. But it was still there. The raindrops pouring out from the sky, and yet, none of them landed on Cleo. She looked up. A black umbrella was hovering over her. Turning around, Cleo met Cecil's eyes.
"What are you doing out here in the rain?" he asked her, draping his coat over her wet shoulders. "You could get sick."
"I...forgot my umbrella."
Cecil narrowed his eyes at Cleo's lame excuse. He looked at her. He was about to reprimand her, but his eyes shifted down her neck. And Cecil flushed bright red.
"J-just go inside and d-dry off."
Cecil handed Cleo the umbrella, and she obediently went back into the dorm hall.
When Cleo turned back around, she saw Cecil leaning over the railing, face in his hands. And then the door closed, and he was gone.
***
Cecil wiped his face with his hands.
"Stop it, Cecil. This isn't how you normally act."
But a little voice in his head refused to obey. You like her, it said, You're not allowed to do that. You think she's pretty, but Rosa is so much prettier. You are only allowed to like Rosa. Cleo is nothing, but Rosa is your everything. Cleo isn't even supposed to exist-
"Stop it!" Cecil shouted, his voice echoing into the distance.
The voice stopped. But it would not stop forever.
...
No, not when there are stories to be made.