Chapter 54: Another clash
Andria’s POV
He looked at me with a grave expression. "Trust me. If you stay here, you’re making yourself a target."
He sounded serious; whatever the case, it might be serious or his usual scheme, I just have to find out.
I looked at Becca, who was grinning from ear to ear and Arlo, who was placing the posters, getting ready to dispatch
"If it’s so important, then you have to go, Aria," Arlo said, waving his hands dismissively.
"We will help you with hanging the remaining posters. I’m in charge. Remember?" Becca tilted her head playfully, already snatching the remaining posters from my hand.
"So what’s the urgency, all about, and why am I a target?" I asked. I was curious about what he said earlier.
"You know, contesting for elections in Ashwood Academy most times is dangerous, especially when you have contenders like Tracy," he spoke in a firm, almost controlling manner.
"Why do you speak like this? If you aren’t in support of me contesting for an election, that’s fine, but don’t school me on how contesting for elections is risky for me," I fired back at him.
"I was only trying to tell you that you need to be careful, I support you in fact, and I propose that you come over to our house till after the elections for safety reasons," Aven said with a calm voice.
Stay with them again?, Not after my last experience.
"Why do you think I would just listen to what you just said now and just pack my belongings and head over to an apartment of three control freaks?" I asked, my pitch rising a little bit.
Aven bit back his tongue. "Because you are in actual danger, Aria, I’ve got my sources, and this is not about control; this is about your safety and you winning the election in one piece."
He sounded so convincing. Maybe he knew something I don’t know, but who cares? Perhaps he just wants me to be close to him. I can’t tell the two apart.
Besides, I can take care of myself.
"I’m strong enough to take good care of myself," I retorted. "Besides, I’m only contending with Tracy for the seat of president in the student council election, and she isn’t a threat to me."
He looked at me, arching his brows in a somewhat mocking manner. "You are so confident in your combat skills against Tracy. I won’t lie, you are good, but you might be dealing with greater enemies, Aria, people who might want Tracy to win and not you."
His tone was grave, carrying an in-depth message; was he struggling to tell me something?
"What is this all about? Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.
"I already told you what I wanted to tell you, Tracy might be much worse than you think, she is conversant with the surroundings of Ashwood and can pull any strings against you, not like she would win though, but it’s better to be safe and being safe is being with me," he paused, "Daddy" his voice turning playful all of a sudden.
I suddenly felt like all these things he had been bluffing were a scheme.
"Well, I don’t have time for your games, Aven," I said, walking towards the admission block where Arlo and Becca were hanging posters, "Try another method, next time."
"Humph, your loss," he said, his tone turning Icy.
I turned to face him, but he had already turned his back and was heading towards the classroom.
Even though I thought that staying with them was a bad idea, I couldn’t help the feeling that he was trying to pass a message, but considering his notoriety, I just couldn’t believe that this was not just another prank for me to be stalked.
"Ok, I’m back, let me help with some posters," I said, collecting some posters.
We have successfully designed almost every designated area for poster hanging with my campaign posters.
"And she is back from a heated session with her mate," Becca teased, "You owe me that gist."
"I suggest you mind your own business, because there’s no gist at the moment," I shot back at her playfully.
"Ouch, my heart, you didn’t have to sound so harsh. She just asked for a breakdown of what happened between you and your hot mate," Arlo said in a playful, mocking, dramatic tone, clutching his heart like my words had stung him.
And we all burst out laughing.
Today was a lecture-free day. Contestants were to submit their applications and start posting paper campaigns today, ahead of the elections.
"Oh, look who thinks she can win against me."
The statement made three of us turn our backs in unison, just to be met with Tracy and her other two minions, Alexa and Tricia.
"Humph, you should be campaigning and not hanging around here like a lost and bored soul, because clearly, you are bored and lost," I snapped back at her.
"You are the one who is lost here," Tracy said, letting out a mocking laugh. "To think you can win Ashwood’s election by posting campaign posters all over the place."
"Well, let’s see," I answered her blatantly, turning my back to continue what I was doing.
"Well, you should know better by now that I’m so popular and can win an election, even without posting so many posters as you. Only one poster from me can do the magic," she boasted.
"Yes, and we will prove it to you in the forthcoming elections," Alexa butted in.
I was already agitated by Tracy’s stupidity, and now even Alexa tried to challenge me. I scoffed, choosing to ignore them and continue with what I was doing.
Becca and Arlo noticed my drift and also got busy.
"Arlo, pass me more posters. This whole area needs to be filled up," I said, extending my hands to Arlo.
Noticing that they were being ignored, Tracy walked to my posters and started to tear them down.
"Ok, now I’m pissed off for real," I muttered to Athena.
I immediately charged towards Tracy and pulled her hair from behind, while Arlo and Becca held Alexa and Tracy from drawing close to either me or Tracy.
She thinks she is a bully. I’m going to show her what actual bullying looks like.
"You think you can lay waste to all my efforts?" I whispered in her ear with an Icy tone, dragging her hair down more, making sure her eyes met the fury in my eyes.
"Let go of me, you monster," she squealed beneath me.
"I’ve not started with you yet, I thought you said, you don’t need campaign posters to win, yet you felt it was also good to tear off my posters. Who is the greater monster now?" I screamed at her, adjusting my hands on her hair, and crashing her head into the wall, enough to make her black out.
My rage was satisfied when she slumped. I admired my work and then walked out of the admission block, packing my campaign posters and leaving her little minions to tend to her.
Arlo and Becca followed.
"What was that?" Becca asked in a concerned tone, "Don’t you think you went too far? What if she died?"
"I knew for sure that she won’t die for that little smash, she is not a weak wolf.
"I was terrified back there watching her slump on the floor, but that suits her," Becca said in a low tone.
"What happened with you two that made you sworn enemies? Because this isn’t just rivalry anymore," Arlo looked so curious as he asked the question.
"Tracy has been the bane of my entire existence since I was admitted into this academy, maybe because I was the only one amongst those she bullied that ever stood up to her. And it just worsened after the bonfire night, when I refused to join their little group."
"That’s petty of her," Arlo scoffed, raising his mouth slightly till it hit his nose, reflecting his disgust.
"What did you expect from a bully?" Becca added, shrugging her shoulders.
"Ok, we should head to the stadium to post the remains of our posters, at least those bitches know better than touching anything that belongs to me," I said, turning towards the direction leading to the stadium.
"Let’s hope so," Becca muttered, clutching her roll of posters tighter, her eyes scanning the hallway like she expected trouble to pop out any second.
Tracy wasn’t one to back down on her constant attempt to intimidate me, and I wasn’t one to back down either in putting her in her place.
An awkward silence fell between us for a moment.
"She is pathetic, though," Arlo broke the silence, waving his hands dismissively as if he had just digested the information about Tracy and had lost interest.
We got to the stadium and started hanging the posters, and soon we were playing, smearing glue all over our bodies. We felt like kids again.
We slumped on the grass after we finished the posters and talked about a lot of things, but we didn’t know what time it was when dusk came.