007 – A SCHOOL WITH ZERO RULES.

🦋 CATALINA 🦋

Stepping into the grand entrance of the academy, I felt a rush of anticipation mingling with the weight of expectation. The heavy metal swings open with a resonant clang, and on it is carved, ‘Skill craft music academy.”

I can barely focus, my mind is clouded with memories of how the leader of Asmodeus' heir, Magnus, knows my name, and stated with no remorse whatsoever that I owe him a death, which means he’s definitely coming to kill me. And why Corvin reacted the way he did, demanding I stay away from Magnus, just after trying to kill me himself. I wish so badly to go back to when I wasn’t involved with them.

A lady clearing her throat gets my attention, and I look up to find three ladies standing in front of me.

“Hi!” a chubby, chocolate lady waves at me. She has her hair styled in an all-back braid, dressed in a short body-hug party dress. “I’m Tamara, a new student.”

“She’s Yumeko,” Tamara says, pointing at a slim, averagely tall lady with a creepy smile on her face. Dressed in a mini, pleated skirt on a crop shirt, with her hair tied into buns on each side of her head.

“And she’s Nabi,” Tamara states, pointing at the other girl, who is normal looking, not slim, not chubby, just in between, her hair was braided in two, and she seemed to be more concerned about herself.”

“Shi-bal! Yumeko, do I look fat?” Nabi asks, tucking in her tummy.

Yumeko turns towards her with an expressionless face, “I know five fat people in this academy… and you are four of them.”

Tamara coughs, trying to hide her laugh. Nabi slaps Yumeko on the back of her head in anger, and Yumeko simply grins.

“Hi, I’m Catalina,” I announce, and they all glance at me, nodding. “Nice to meet you too.”

“I like you, Catalina, you’re cute and innocent,” Nabi says and smiles at me. Yumeko also turns to me and lifts her shoulders, “What she said.”

“So,” Tamara pulls my hand, “I’ll fill you in about the school,” she says, walking with her back facing the school and her front facing me as she tries to explain and demonstrate with her hands.

“You’ll be fine with every other thing, but there are just two things you should be warned about,” she blurts out with a serious face.

“Professor Matteo. He’s aggressively cruel. Do everything to make that man hate you, because when he likes you, you become a target… until death do you part… and trust me, it’s not fun, it’s the worst trap you can ever fall into.”

“Rook the bully! He’s a senior in our school. He’s gloomy, grumpy, and easily irritated. Do whatever you can to stay away from him. As a matter of fact, choose death over getting involved with him because he’ll make your life in this academy unbearable.”

“Once you’re a target, there’s no escape unless you commit suicide, just never cross him… because when he bullies you, every other person in this academy does the same, to get on his good side. And in this academy, there’s no law – nothing will save you.” Nabi fills in. “Staying away from trouble is staying away from Rook. When you see him, just go the other way, even though it leads to the forest… With a lion in it! You said nothing about Luka.”

“There’s nothing to say about him, aside from the fact that he’s the top student at our school and that he barely escaped being born a girl. The boy is just a baby.” Tamara snaps.

“Ya! He’s my idol.”

“And I should care? Nigga I hate men so bad.”

“Why exactly do you hate men?”

“Because I menstruate and they don’t!”

“Now that I think about it…” Yumeko interrupts. “It’s not fair; those creatures should have blood coming out of their pipes.”

“And lastly… There are no rules!” three of them says in one go. “No, that’s not lastly,” Nabi pauses. “Lastly, be careful with Yumeko, she’ll put you in trouble just for the fun of it, she's a crazy psychopath that'll do any darn thing for fun.”

“Just do whatever the hell, fucking dangerous thing you want. Yikes… Sugoi!” Yumeko supplies, grinning happily. Ignoring whatever Nabi said and the fact that she’s tagged as ‘Dangerous zone, keep out!’

“Ohh, ‘Sugoi’ is Japanese, it means ‘Amazing’. Yumeko says that a lot.” Tamara explains, smiling softly. A smile I didn’t return.

“I don’t get it. Isn’t this supposed to be a music academy?” I ask curiously.

“It is a music academy – with zero rules,” Nabi explains.

“Just do whatever crazy, creepy, cute, or dangerous thing you want. Except for skipping classes. You’ll get stepped on if your attendance ranking goes too low; you don’t want that.”

Suddenly, Tamara makes a sound, she bumps into a solid wall, more like a person with solid builds, and steps on him.

“OMG, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to…” She becomes ice cold immediately she turns around to see who it is she just stepped on by mistake.

“Shit!” Nabi mutters so slowly, looking like she came in contact with a wild animal in a forest and there's no way to escape it, while Yumeko’s eyes lit up and her grin widens.

I look up at the drama to find a man staring down at us. He is dressed in black jeans, a black silk shirt, and has a black cap on. And when he looks at me, I hold my breath.

He has a unique sharp jaw, piercing eyes, he's tall, built, and has this expression you'll only find on the face of a villain in a horror film.

“Wipe it off!” His voice rings out, sanitizing the area. It was thick, hoarse, and… If I’m not looking at him, I would have thought it was Jesus speaking; it was the sound of a very beautiful instrument, like a light from heaven was shining down on him, making him the world's main character. Not like I've heard Jesus’s voice, but only he can look this beautiful, so fucking beautiful… damn! Sound this seductive and yet be so scary.

Don't get me wrong, his aura is horrifying... Extremely terrible, but his appearance isn't, not one bit, it was like heaven opened up and cast a glow on him, or he was specifically created with extra hours, he is a shining star, a shining star you don't fucking want to screw with.

Dangerously heavenly. He's someone who, when you look at, you get jealous and think you were made in a hurry and just lucky you didn't turn out too bad. He was carved, sculpted, brick by brick, every detail of his body was taken seriously… shit!

But, aside from the beauty he wears on his face and his amazing body, you definitely, most definitely wouldn't want to cross paths with such an intimidating and scary aura; he's the thin line between heaven and hell, angel and demon, just a perfect mixture with the correct measurements… he's perfect!

I glance at Tamara, who is trembling while standing. In just a few seconds, she is soaked in her own sweat.

I doubt she's even breathing with the choking sound that escapes her lips every now and then.

Swallowing hard, she reaches for a handkerchief in her back pocket with trembling hands and goes down on her knees to wipe the dirt off.

“Use your tongue,” that ridiculously attention-dragging voice rings out again.

Tamara froze.

I thought she isn't going to do something so disgusting, but then she drops the handkerchief with shaky hands, leans closer to his shoes, opens her mouth, pushes out her tongue, and…

“Stop!” I yell.

Fuck me!

Nabi shakes her head with her eyelid dancing around in fear to tell me it was such a stupid, terrible idea, but Yumeko grins and nods twice, encouraging me to go on.

Gathering the remaining composure left in me, I walk towards Tamara to pull her up, ignoring the person in front of us, while fighting to suppress the fear that was literally pressing me.

“Don't do anything he asks you to do. Screw him!”

“You should tremble before me!” His attention-dragging voice slides out of his lips, and I inhale sharply.

Of course, I'm not trembling, but that’s because every bit of organ inside me is frozen in fear and can’t tremble; I don't even get why I'm still standing, because every strength has left my body.

“Look at me!”

I slowly turn my head towards him, my feet frozen in place, then he leans in and murmur, “You have been marked.”

I watch him leave, ogling at his back until he disappears from sight. Only then do I look at the others, who were pale as shit.

“What does being marked mean?”

Nabi and Tamara stood there, gawking at me with horror written on their faces, and that… wasn't helping.

Yumeko, still grinning and enjoying the whole drama, supplies an answer, “It means you've just been screwed.”

Okay, sounds terrible. Yet, I don't get it.

“Who's he? Why are Nabi and Tamara on the brink of panic? And why do I have to worry about being marked… by him.”

Yumeko took a step and pats my shoulder like she was trying to console me, and then blurts out terrible news, “He's Rook the bully. You've just crossed paths with the one you should never cross paths with. Now, you'll do as he says… every single thing and he’s going to screw you.”

Inhaling, I suspend exhaling as my eyes widens in horror alongside Nabi's and Tamara’s, “Okay… Shit!”