Chapter 63 - I Am Bored: I Skip, You Skip

Julie stared at the liquor bottle where Roman had emptied three-fourth of it. 

Walking to the table, she picked up the jug of water and poured it into it until it filled near the bottle's neck. She tightened the cap so that no one would be suspicious about it. 

Going back to the hall, she opened the cabinet and placed it inside, positioning it behind the other bottles so that Mr. Davis wouldn't open it at least until she would get a chance to replace it on her next visit. Closing the cabinet, she tiptoed back to her room and closed the door. 

While Julie had fallen asleep, Roman had returned to where his motorcycle was parked, making sure the area was clear before he got near it. He had already removed the bandages around his hand and his arm, and getting on the motorcycle, he rode to the place where he had told his friends to meet. Upon reaching the shop, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, spotting his friends sitting at the last booth. 

Roman's eyes fell on Victoria, who had leaned on Olivia with her eyes closed and her face sweating. 

"Did she get shot?" questioned Roman with a frown. He had heard another gunshot after he had been shot. 

Maximus answered with a grim expression on his face, "One of the hunters shot her."

Olivia then said, "I checked her wound, and there's no bullet in there."

"It's a metal stick. Switch seats," ordered Roman, and Olivia got up so that Roman could sit next to Victoria. 

When the waitress came to take his order, Roman turned to look at the woman with a charming smile on his face, "One meal of cheese burger with crisp fries, extra patty of meat and two plates of nuggets and your special drink for all my friends." 

The woman smiled back and said, "Coming right up." She walked away from their table. There weren't many customers in the shop as it was the middle of the night. 

"This is the centre place of the Greasy Corner. Do you think it is wise to pick this location where we can be easily cornered?" asked Simon, turning his head to look outside the shop where only three motorcycles and two cars had been parked in front of it. 

"The Hunters are watching the exits and borders. This is the best spot to not to be suspected of anything if we act normal," replied Roman, and he said to Maximus, "Keep an eye so that no one sees. I don't think compelling people will work here as we don't know which one has consumed Silverwater."

"What do you mean?" asked Olivia with a frown, coming to sit next to Maximus.

Roman took a look at Victoria's wound, where she had been shot above her lower back. "Light here," he said, and Olivia assisted in turning on the torch of her phone, which fell on Victoria's back. His eyes narrowed at the wound that was closing, and he said, "This is going to hurt. I will need to rip the skin."

"Go ahead," said Victoria through her gritted teeth. "I will fucking hunt them down," her hands turning into fists, and her face contoured in pain. 

"Easy there," Simon tried to appease the vampiress. When Roman took the fork from the table and cut through the wound that was in the healing process, a disgruntled sound erupted from the vampiress' throat. "Normal wounds are not supposed to hurt this much. Do you know anything about it, Olivia?" he asked, turning to his other friend. "Whatever the hunters used, it was damn effective." 

Olivia stated, "It must be a higher substance than the Silverwater. All this while, I thought this place and the surrounding of Veteris was free of Hunters because no one has ever bothered any night creatures."

"I wouldn't say that," said Roman, while he used his nails to pull out the little metal-like stick from Victoria's wound. "I found out that there was a sloppy kill by a vampire, the locals found a fang mark on the neck of a dead human, leaving the body for everyone to see."

"Great," muttered Olivia under her breath. 

Roman explained, "The family of the hunters never left and continued to pass the information down the generation. It was just that they have been quiet until the recent attack and are now hunting for the night creatures." He pulled the metal and dropped it on the table, which Olivia took to take a look at it. He picked up the tissues, cleaning his hands from the blood. "I also found something very interesting today, but before that," he looked at Olivia. "You collected Conner's blood during the time of Harvest, didn't you?" 

"Yes, why?" asked the vampiress, her blue eyes looking at Roman with curiosity. 

"Did you ever find any impurities like Silverwater or anything in his blood?" he questioned her, and Olivia shook her head. 

"His blood was clean. Isolde and I check every person's blood before it is stored for later use. What's going on, Rome?" she asked him. 

Roman ran his tongue over his sharp fang and then said, "Both Conner and Melanie's parents are hunters." 

"Woah woah! What a small world we indeed live in. Have both these kids waiting to trap us?" asked Simon, his face turning sour at the thought. "And here we thought they were just an innocent bunch."

"Are you counting yourself lucky that you didn't sink your teeth in one of them?" Maximus asked Simon, as Simon had shown his interest to bite both the humans. 

Victoria, who was feeling much better after getting the metal stick out of her wound, said, "If I am not wrong, they have been compelled a couple of times, haven't they?"

"That is true," agreed Simon, "I had the pleasure of compelling Conner."

Roman explained what he had heard from the two hunters. He said, "Melanie and Conner aren't aware of what their parents do, or the existence of our kind. From what I heard, it seems like the hunters have tried to get them to take capsules which are made of Silverwater. But if both Conner and Melanie have been compelled, it only means that they aren't using the capsules." 

"I wonder what they told them when giving the pills. Vitamin tablets?" Simon snickered. 

"It is always the easiest," Maximus ran his hand through his hair. "Do you think Dante is going to do anything, once she finds out that there are hunter's children." 

"I believe the probability of her being pissed is higher, for the fact that we stepped into an unknown territory and got into a little mess," remarked Roman. On seeing the waitress approach their table, he paused his words. 

"Is there anything else you would like?" asked the waitress while placing the two trays on the table. 

"No, that would be all," replied Roman, watching the woman leave. He then said, "It isn't like Dante hasn't considered the possibility that we would have a few Hunters children studying in Veteris, and Melanie and Conner don't know anything yet. The hunters only suspect and don't know that the entire Veteris is run under the management of the night creatures."

"I already feel sad," said Simon, a smile on his lips where his words didn't match the expression on his face, "Once they realize, like all the other humans, they will stand with a crossbow pointed at us."

"Let me see if I can get back to creating a nullifier for Silverwater, it should be written in the old books," said Olivia, so that it wouldn't be a problem. 

Soon the students returned to Veteris after their weekend break, getting back to their classes. Julie didn't see Roman since the night he had been injured. He was nowhere in the corridors of the buildings where their classrooms were, and she wondered if he was skipping classes again. 

But their exchange of letters continued, where she had inquired about the condition of his wound that had looked bloody and painful three nights ago. 

Julie sat in the classroom on the ground floor, with one of the classes still going on. She sat at the back, next to the window and Melanie on the other side. Her hand that held the pencil moved softly, drawing the crow-like person in her book, whom she had seen last week in front of her window. In the back of her mind, it still haunted her, and she wasn't able to get it out of her head. 

Melanie's parents had been kind and hospitable towards her, and she found it to be heartwarming. In a world where her very own aunt didn't treat her properly, for someone else to be nice to her meant something, and she treasured it. 

While the class was still going on with the teacher's back facing the students, Julie felt a paper ball hit her shoulder. Bending down, she picked it up. She turned to the window and saw Roman standing outside her classroom. 

She opened the paper ball and, reading the words, her eyes widened on— 'Come out.'

Looking back up at Roman, Julie shook her head and saw him narrow his eyes, giving her a deadpanned look. She mouthed her word to 'no'. 

The nerve of this boy.

The teacher turned to look at the class, and Julie quickly turned to look at the teacher while keeping a passive look on her face. Five minutes passed, and when the teacher went to speak to another student, another paper ball was thrown at her. Julie turned her face and glared at Roman, who seemed to be enjoying disturbing her while he leisurely chewed gum. 

Picking up the fallen paper, Julie opened it and saw the next words— 'I am bored. Skip class.'

Julie shook her head, wondering if this was the price she was paying for being friends with Roman Moltenore. When the teacher turned her back to the class, she looked at Roman and waved at him, indicating that he go. 

Meanwhile, Melanie, sitting next to Julie, noticed Julie communicating in sign language with Roman, and her eyes widened. It wasn't just her, but another student in the class named Gabriella Obson, who noticed Julie talking to someone but was unable to see who it was because the wall covered the person. The girl was the same person who had been involved in a physical fight with Julie. 

On the other hand, Julie continued to communicate with her new friend, who seemed adamant about getting her kicked into detention. 

Roman's head tilted to the side with a dead look on his face. She decided to ignore him. When he would be bored, he would leave her, thought Julie in her mind. As if she was suddenly interested in the class, her eyes focussed on the board. 

But Julie's action only ended up with more paper balls hitting her with little snaps while she behaved as if she had turned into a statue. At the rate he was throwing the paper ball, there would be a mountain next to her, thought Julie to herself. When her eyes carefully went to look at Roman, he brought his hand up, waving an envelope in the air. 

She wasn't listening to the class, and she was curious about the paper. 

Screw it!

Julie started to put all her things into her bag in a stealthy motion, and Melanie's already wide eyes widened even more. 

"W-what are you doing?" asked Melanie in a low voice with evident surprise. 

"I will see you later, Mel," whispered Julie, and Melanie shook her head as the teacher would turn back any moment. 

The other girl, Gabriella, who heard this little exchange as she was sitting just one row in front of them, her eyebrows raised. It seemed like it was the perfect time to pay back for what had happened back in the gym class. 

Julie took her bag and threw it out of the window. She then turned to look at Melanie and said in a low voice, "If the teacher asks, I wasn't here in the class."

She quickly inched towards the window while her heart was beating loudly. She was going to break another rule today! With one jump, which wasn't graceful, Julie was successfully out of the classroom. 

Gabriella, who noticed this, stood up from her seat and pointed her finger at the window with a dumbfounded expression on her face. At the same time, the teacher caught the student standing and staring outside the window and not the one who had jumped out of the window. 

"What are you looking outside, Gabriella, instead of looking at the board?" the teacher sternly asked with a narrowed gaze. 

"Mrs. Rochforth, just now I saw-"

"I don't care what you saw. Come here and explain to the class what I was teaching a minute ago. Right now," said Mrs. Rochforth, bringing her hand forward to give the chalk piece. Melanie let out a sigh of relief, and somewhere she tried not to laugh at Gabriella's current situation. 

Outside the classroom, Julie grabbed her bag and ran as fast as she could to leave the gates of the block. She found Roman standing outside, chewing the gum.

She glared at him, "You cannot do that, throwing papers at me."

"Do you prefer that I come to the entrance of the classroom?" asked Roman, staring back at her before he started to walk away from there as if he wasn't the one to get her out. 

"No!" Julie was quick to catch up with him. Adjusting the glasses on her face, she said, "Why are you skipping class?"

"I got too tired of listening to the same voice at the same frequency. I thought to get some fresh air, and who better to have a walk on the campus than with the new friend?" Roman asked. 

Julie opened her mouth, her eyebrows knitting together, and she took a second before saying, "You were bored of your class, I wasn't." When she said this, Roman turned to give her a look as if he knew she was bored of the class she had been sitting in. "Attendance matters to me." 

"You won't get grades for being present in the class, Winters. Let me give you a present," said Roman, pulling the envelope from his pocket that he had waved at her earlier. 

Curious, she asked him, "What is that?" She took it from him and read the name 'Thomas Winters' on it. "How did you get this?" she asked him in surprise. This was the report card for the month that should have reached her uncle's house on Sunday. 

"I picked it up before the mails were sent out for delivery from here," came the nonchalant words from Roman. 

Julie was relieved, knowing her report card had not reached her uncle. She was no more annoyed that Roman had thrown paper balls at her. 

"Thank you," whispered Julie with a smile, and she looked up at him to repeat, "Thank you so much, Roman."

"No need to thank me. I just happened to be there when they were carrying the mails and found your letter," responded Roman as if it wasn't a big deal. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he patted her back, making Julie stagger and almost trip if she hadn't got her footing right again. "You have successfully achieved level two by skipping class."

Julie didn't know why. When she thought he was being kind, he always did something to erase that thought from her mind. Turning back, she made sure the teachers had not caught them. Now that they were far away, she asked, "What do you do skipping class?"

"Depends on my mood. If I want to drink something tasty or feel the need to spend time in my dorm," Roman noticed how Julie looked anxious, every once in a while watching over her shoulder. 

Now that they both were outside, Julie decided to follow him with her bag on her back and pulled her glasses and placed it in her pocket. Roman was someone who already knew the truth, and she didn't have to hide from him.

They walked further and further into the left side of the forest, which was in the opposite direction of the bonfire and the restricted area of the forest. 

"Where are we going?" inquired Julie, as they had left the centre place of Veteris to now be surrounded by nothing but trees around them. 

"This side of the forest is called Willow Creek," responded Roman, walking in front of her without a bag or his leather jacket. A small book had been folded and placed in the back pocket of his jeans. The boy was such a delinquent in a few things, thought Julie in her mind. 

"This side of the forest isn't restricted for the students?" Julie asked in pure curiosity and turned back to see that it was only her and Roman here. 

"No, it is free for students to step in. Just the West side of the forest that is restricted," responded Roman, and Julie noticed his broad shoulders that reminded her of his sexy back that had reflected on the mirror. 

Hearing a bird make gurgling croaks on one of the trees, Julie's eyes shifted to look at it. At first glance, it looked like a crow. But on a closer look, she realized it was a Raven. She caught sight of the tall and narrow trees, where the roots like the other side of the forest surfaced out of the ground, making it difficult to walk on because of its uneven surface. 

Returning her gaze to Roman, she asked, 

"Why does no one speak about the history of this place" She had asked him about it before, but he had either skipped her question or been vague about it. 

"You seem to have a continued interest in the past and present of this place," hummed Roman, continuing to walk. He looked over his shoulders, looking at her with a hint of his own curiosity. 

The scream she had heard that night was ominous.

"You seem to know a lot of things. Yet you don't say it," hearing Julie's words, Roman's lips twitched. 

"What is the excitement in telling everything to everyone," remarked Roman. Julie tried to quicken her pace so that she could walk next to him. She couldn't help but envy his long legs, which covered more distance with less effort, while she had to exert more energy. "This isn't a rabbit hole. It is an abyss. Once you step in, it's hard to step out."

Roman Moltenore and the mysteries, thought Julie to herself.

This side of the forest was even quieter. Somewhere at a distance, Julie could hear the sound of the water flowing that soothed her mind. She then asked him, "What are we doing here? Did you bring me here to bury a body?" 

"Look who has dead jokes today," Roman commented, coming to stand next to an old looking tree. Julie saw him pull out his phone and she heard the phone beep. Looking at her, he said with a serious look, "This is the one spot where your phone will catch the network, and the jammer doesn't block it while you are inside the Veteris' property."