Circle Quartet: 17

Chapter 17

“Jeff? What are you doing here? I thought you’re on your mission,” I ask him as he hugs me delightfully.

“I just came back. Then I found Zayne at the café and he told me that you guys are going to have batting training. But I think we can have more fun rather than training,” he smiles and glances at Zayne. Zayne smiles and nods.

“We’re going to have a competition,” says Zayne.

“But there are not enough players. We can’t play baseball with only 7 of us,” says Abbie.

“Well, let’s just think of something else,” Jeff shrugs. He’s running out of ideas, I suppose. I can tell by looking on his face.

They are still discussing, or should I say, arguing, what kind of games they should play. I take a seat at the bench and watch them. I don’t think we are going to play anything this evening because they seem pre-occupied with their discussion.

“Alice,” Stefan calls me as he is standing next to me, “want to practice swing?” he asks as he hands me the baseball bat.

I take the bat from him. Today, is the first time I hold the baseball bat. I never play baseball in my entire life. When I was small, Jeff and I used to play pitch-and-toss but only with the gloves and the ball, not the bat.

“Actually, I don’t know how to swing this thing,” I say.

“I can teach you. Come, I’ll show you how,” he smiles and I walk next to him.

He shows me the right way to hold the bat and explains about the types of swings. I don’t really understand what he’s explaining but I just nod my head. He demonstrates in slow motion how to make a perfect swing and asks me to try. I follow the steps that Stefan tells me and swing the bat slowly.

“That’s right. That’s the right way. Okay, now imagine that the ball is coming and swing the bat,” he says.

“Okay,” I nod and imagine the ball is coming. And then, I swing as hard as I could but unfortunately I hit Stefan’s head. “Stefan! Stefan, are you okay?” I crouch down next to him as he falls on the ground. I don’t think he’s going to be okay.

“Yeah, don’t worry. It’s just…,” he groans and rubs his head. It was bleeding.

The others rush towards us as Jeff saw what happen. “What’s going on?” asks Jeff.

“It was an accident, Jeff. I didn’t mean to hit him,” I say in panic.

“I’m okay,” says Stefan who is still rubbing his bleeding head.

“You’re bleeding!” I shriek and everyone has to cover their ears.

“It’s just a scratch, that’s all,” Stefan stands up. Zayne checks Stefan’s head and Beatrice heals him.

“I’m sorry, Stefan,” I look down on the ground.

Stefan pats my head. “Don’t worry about that, Alice. I’m fine now.”

Wait a minute? Did he just pat my head? I look up to him and he’s smiling. At the end, we haven’t played anything. Abbie and I go to our room to take a shower – even though we didn’t even sweat, and ready for dinner.

Jeff joins us at the dining hall too and tonight we’re having mushroom stew with steak. I love steak. Zayne gobble down the steak and ask for another one. What can I say? Werewolf loves meat. But Stefan doesn’t eat like his brother does. This one has manners. I still feel guilty about what happened this evening. But at least I know that I’m good in swinging the bat.

I go to the library again because I want to finish my review. I ask Abbie to come along but she says that the library looks like a haunted mansion so she doesn’t want to come. Stefan volunteers himself to accompany me to the library. Jeff and Zayne tease me and Stefan and they start to sing a love song, made from their own. Even Saffron, Beatrice and Abbie join them too. This is embarrassing.

It was 10.30 p.m. The librarian who is in-charge tonight announces that library will close any minute. Not many people come here at night. I already finish my review at that time and I am thinking of borrowing another book. I tell Stefan to tell the librarian that I want to borrow a book. The librarian waits for me until I pick a book, show the book to him and leave.

The hallway is quite dark but it doesn’t scare me. Stefan walks with me in silence. We pass the hallway until we reach the fountain. Suddenly, I see something near the fountain. There is a man wearing a white robe, standing near the fountain. He covers his head with hood.

“Stefan, do you see that guy?” I tug Stefan’s hand. “There, near the fountain,” I point to where the man is standing.

He stops and looks at the fountain. Then, he shakes his head. How can I see the man but he can’t? Don’t tell me that the man is a ghost and I’m the only one who can see him.

“Alice? Alice, are you okay?” I can hear Stefan’s voice faintly.

“Huh?” I open my eyes. I stare at him and look around. I realize that I am lying on bed and Stefan is sitting next to me. What’s going on here?

“You passed out,” he says.

“What?” I blink in disbelief.

“You tugged my hand and suddenly you passed out. I carry you here, in this sickbay. Are you not feeling well?” he touches my forehead. “Your body is quite warm.”

“I don’t know. The last thing I knew is I saw a man near the fountain and when I asked you, you said that you can’t see him,” I tell him what I saw just now.

“You must be tired, Alice. You should rest. I’ll call Jeff and let him know,” he pulls the blanket up to my chest and dials Jeff’s number.

I am still confused of what was happened just now. I know I saw the man at the fountain and I asked Stefan about him. How can I pass out without me, myself, knowing it? Jeff comes and asks us what happen. I tell Jeff about what I saw at the fountain and Stefan says that I’m having a fever.

Jeff touches my forehead. “Just a slight fever. Alice, did you take your supply this week?” he asks. I slowly shake my head. Jeff sighs. “Stefan, you take care of her for a while. I’m going to take the supply,” Jeff leaves the room.

Stefan sits on the chair next to the bed and tells me to rest. Jeff comes back few minutes later with two bottles of blood. I grab the bottle and gulp the blood. I never feel this thirsty before. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, ignoring Stefan who is watching me gulping the blood greedily. I don’t care. All I need is blood.

“And now, she’s okay,” Jeff turns to Stefan and raises his eyebrows.

I jump off the bed, feeling great. “I think I need to go back to my room. Abbie must be worried about me coming back late.”

Jeff hugs me. “Take of yourself, little buddy.” I hug him back and rush to the door. Before I get to the door, Jeff pulls my hand. “Don’t you want to give Stefan a good night hug too?”

I turn around and look at Stefan who is looking away. I can see that he’s blushing.

“Don’t ever think that I’m going to do that to him,” I frown at Jeff who is smiling mischievously at me.

“Aww, come on, Alice. It’s just a hug. Not a kiss,” teases Jeff. I pinch Jeff’s arm hard and he yelps in pain.

“Serve your right!” I rush to the door and turn around once again. “Thanks for your help, Stefan,” I wave at him and he waves back at me, smiling.

I didn’t tell Abbie what I saw last night. When I came back to my room, she was already sleeping soundly. She asked me what time I came back to room this morning and I told her I came back late because I was meeting Jeff. And of course, she was worried about her review. So now I am, in the dining room, helping her with the review.

15 minutes before the first bell rings, Abbie cheers joyfully as she finishes her review – with my help, of course. I give her some of my notes and she just copied it. We walk to the class. I haven’t seen Stefan this morning. Maybe he already went to the class. We’ll be having Sociology class after this, with Madam Violet.

“Hey, blood sucker. Never thought of meeting you here,” Cody appears in front of me with an evil smirk on his face.

“Leave me alone, will you,” I try to pass him but he blocks my way.

“Is this how you talk to your senior?” he frowns.

“I don’t have to be polite with a rude, second class senior,” I smirk at him.

Cody stares at me ferociously. I know that he’s not satisfied of what had happened the day I took the exams.

“If you excuse me, senior, I have a class to attend,” I stress on the word senior, which make him feel angrier.

“I don’t think that I’m going to let you go off easily this time, blood sucker,” he walks slowly towards me, cracking his knuckles.

Abbie stands behind me as Cody walks to us. He’s going to attack me. I know that he’s serious. And I’m ready to fight with him. Cody sends his first punch but before it reaches my face, somebody comes to the rescue.

“There are two things that you need to know, Cody. One; never punch a girl especially on the face. Second; don’t mess with my little sister,” Jeff stops his punch and grips his hand firmly.

Cody yelps in pain and bows down before us. “I’m sorry,” he mutters and scrambles away. I didn’t know that he’s scared of Jeff. And I realized that everyone bows their heads to Jeff.

“You better dash for the class, Alice, Abbie. The bell is going to ring anytime,” he winks at us and poof! Disappear into the air.

I grab Abbie’s hand and teleport to the class as fast as I can. And I am still wondering why people bow their heads to Jeff as he’s a prince or something. I better ask Jeff after school. Things are getting much more weirder here.