Under the Veil of Night

Tommy panted a little as he stopped after the goal line. The difference between him and this person was less than one second. However, he still couldn't surpass him and ended in the second place with a few millimeter seconds away. It felt really frustrating.

"You're really fast," that student said in surprised tone. "I doubt that I can win if we race again next time."

Tommy shook the other party hands and smiled wryly. "I still lose to you. You're a better runner than me."

The student smiled back in response. "See you in the next competition, if there is any."

"Okay."

On the stand, Misae was feeling a bit disappointed. "It's only a little bit, and he would have won…"

"This is a competition. Let's go down, the one who will feel the most depressed is surely Tommy," Kanae pulled Misae up.

Misae nodded her head. She also knew about that, so she didn't try to pester about the matter anymore. They walked down and quickly found Tommy's group. They were quite disappointed because they only got second place, but they were not that depressed. After all, their school rarely won anything.

"The Student Council is here," one of the men said.

Tommy nodded his head. "Okay, see you guys later."

"See you later, Tommy."

Tommy jogged to the group. Upon seeing him waved at them, Jay smirked mischievously.

"Since you lost, you better treat me," Jay said in an unforgiving tone.

"I don't bring that much money. Are you fine with a canned drink?" Tommy grinned.

"How is that enough?"

Neo shoved Jay to the side. "Just forget about this idiot. Let's celebrate the silver medal you got by hanging to the mall."

"Shouldn't the Student Council return to school?" Tommy asked doubtfully.

"Just forget about that and with President or Vice President's word, we can ditch school as we like," Neo grinned.

Kanae crossed her arm. "What if I say that you have to return alone, Neo?"

"There is still President…"

"You can go back now," Kevin interrupted Neo word.

"You two are really harsh…" Neo complained. Couldn't you support me for once? The two of you should have wanted to skip school too.

Alice smiled slightly as she suggested, "What about if we eat a bit in the canteen?"

They have been watching the match for quite some time and except this morning, they hadn't eaten anything else. Although there were some malls around here, there was no doubt that they were already feeling rather hungry.

Misae nodded her head in agreement. "That's a great idea. I'm starving."

"I want to eat too," Jay immediately agreed.

Tommy looked towards the school with a wry smile. Even thought Nolen School B was still lower than Nolen School A, their tuition was quite expensive. The students who could enroll in this place were surely mostly rich. He had already imagined the price of the food would skyrocket.

For those who had a lot of money, it wouldn't be a problem, but he didn't have much money.

"Jay, you're the one who treats us," Tommy remarked.

"What? Why me? I'm not the one losing."

"That's because I don't have enough money if you want to eat in this place."

"I'm sure they're not that expensive."

Although Tommy couldn't believe what Jay said, the group still came to the canteen. Kevin didn't say anything and when they arrived in the canteen, they could clearly see that Tommy was right. The price of food in this place was nearly twice from what they usually ate in Nolen School C.

"You should expect that from a prestigious school," Misae remarked.

Mike sighed. "Let's just eat a bit. We'll eat again in the mall later."

"Alright."

Tommy and Kanae didn't order anything while the others were busy picking some foods they wanted to eat. Looking towards these groups searching for food, Kanae felt somewhat envious.

"Just save your money," Tommy remarked. "You're not going to work for quite some time."

Kanae nodded her head when she noticed that Misae had returned with a tray on her hand. "Kanae, I want to wash my hand first. Watch over the food, okay?"

"Don't worry."

The others were still busy selecting their food. Kevin and Mike were the ones who came to the table after Misae. Mike glanced to the tray in front of Kanae.

"You also buy some foods?"

"This is Misae's. She's washing her hand," Kanae pointed to the back.

Mike nodded his head. "I'll also wash my hand. What about you, President?"

"I'll just eat," Kevin answered calmly. He didn't buy any food that required him to wash his hand as he only brought several pieces of breads. He passed two of them to Tommy and Kanae.

"President?"

"Just eat it. The distance to the mall is still quite long and the food there is not necessarily cheaper," Kevin answered.

Kanae picked the bread and contemplate a bit. "Alright, thank you President."

The two of them soon enjoyed the bread that their president bought for them. While they were eating, the other soon came with a tray on their hand.

In the place for washing hands, Misae stumbled across a group of boys. Her face turned pale as she was afraid of their appearance. They were wearing a uniform, but they looked like a gangster.

"Oh, there is a chick here."

"Did she come from other schools? The uniform is different."

"That's what you should expect from the competition. Many of their classmates come over to watch and I bet she is one of them."

"She is not that pretty, but it seems she is quite rich."

Misae detested the gang very much. Just their appearance alone was enough to make her felt nausea. She was angry at their behavior as she had heard a lot of bad things from the gangster every day. Still, she was not brave enough to face them head-on.

"Um, please don't come near me."

Misae said in soft voice. Even if she wanted to fight them, she needed to have the strength required and with how her practice with Kanae going on, she was sure that she was still incapable. This made her feel that she didn't have any change to fight back against guys like this.

"We are not bad guys, girl. Do you have some time to accompany us?" they come closer.

"I'm with my friend. They are waiting for me to return," Misae answered. She totally didn't want to stay here even for a minute longer.

"It's fine, you can just ditch…"

Before the man could reach out to Misae, his hand was stopped by another person. Mike already stood between Misae and that man as he stared at him coldly. His gaze was cold and even with the smile plastered on his face, he made the men felt chills ran down on their spine.

"Could you not disturb my friend?" Mike asked with a sharp tone. His voice was calm, but the guys could feel the hidden danger beneath the seemingly ordinary question. Besides, with the big build Mike had, he seemed rather intimidating.

"Sure, we will go now!" they quickly took off, not daring to look back even once.

Misae heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you very much."

"It seems that wherever you go, there will be people coming to hit on you. I never know that you're that popular with guys," Mike sighed.

"It's not like I want to," Misae said helplessly. "They are just coming because they know that I'm rich."

Mike looked at Misae up and down. What she said was true since most of the item she wore and even the bag she used was the kind of high-class items. Even though the appearance has been tampered a bit, it didn't change the fact that it was something expensive and there were greedy people who would want to take advantage of her.

"You should learn to reject them outright. If not, guys would just take advantage of you," Mike gave her advice. He would not always be around to help her since he just came to wash his hand.

Misae nodded his head and walked to the sink.

"Oh, you take a long time to wash hand," Jay remarked. He had come to wash his hand too.

"There are a lot of others who washes their hand before," Mike immediately lied nonchalantly.

"Oh, I see."