Wizard and Witches: Griffith Academy

Sleepover

Naomi finished telling her story with a yawn. She just told her two friends about the hooded figure she spotted standing in front of her house.

Neo didn’t seem to be disturbed by Naomi’s story, a contrast to Lisa, who stared worryingly at Naomi. It seemed like her childhood friend was also affected by the news about a stalker lurking around their neighborhood.

“Don’t worry, Nao. If something does happen to you, just scream, and I will rush to your rescue,” Neo said before smirking. It took Naomi all of her willpower to stop herself from erasing that smirk off Neo’s face. She wanted to keep her student life in peace without being hunted by Neo’s fans, who Naomi could see keep glancing at Neo from their seats.

While only smiling at Neo’s response, Naomi internally took back all the right things she had ever said about her newfound friend. But, unfortunately, calling her with a nickname wasn’t the only thing Neo did out of the blue. He also convinced the teachers to move his seat right behind her. And those alone were enough to anger a lot of Neo’s fans, accusing her of bewitching him.

The accusation kind of made sense, considering that his sudden change in attitude seemed to be only around her and Lisa. Around other students and teachers, Neo still acted like his usual excellent and calm type of person. But of course, neither Lisa and Naomi bewitch him. Even they were as confused as the others on Neo’s change of behavior.

“That’s creepy Naomi, I’m glad you are okay,” Lisa commented.

“Yeah, though I didn’t get much sleep yesterday. I hope I don’t fall asleep again,” Naomi said before yawning again.

“Eh? How long did you sleep?”

“Around… 3 hours? The thing is, a cat kept meowing around my house. It made things even worse.”

Naomi noticed Neo flinching when she said the word cat, but it was so brief that she thought she was just imagining it.

“Oh! I know that cat. It appeared out of nowhere last week, a black cat. Pretty sure there was a collar around its neck, so it must have an owner. Do you know anything about it, Neo?” Lisa turned her head to Neo.

“M-Me? N-No, my aunt doesn’t like cats.”

“Really? What if… YOU are the one who owns the cat?” Lisa asked again, this time with more confidence. She was just teasing Neo by pretending to accuse him. And she was taken aback when Neo went full defensive about it.

“Look, my aunt doesn’t like cats. What made you so sure I would have a cat? And I have never seen this black cat before. Definitely not.”

Before Lisa could press Neo further, the school bell rang. Everyone sat down on their chair, the teacher walked in, and the class started.

As the class went on, Naomi was surprised she could keep herself from falling asleep. Her eyelids were heavy, sure, but with enough willpower, she managed to keep her eyes open. About whether she was paying attention or not, it’s the latter.

“I’m impressed you don’t fall asleep,” Neo commented as they cleaned up their stuff.

“Yeah, how can you do that when you only sleep for three hours?” Lisa asked.

Naomi shrugged. If she knew the answer to those questions, she wouldn’t be worried about sleeping in class.

“Anyway, Naomi, I asked my parents about it. I think I can have a sleepover at your house today if you want. But I need to get home first to get some stuff,” Lisa said.

“Ah, that would be great! Alright! I will be waiting!”

Like yesterday, the three walked back home while discussing a new film that was just announced. Naomi acted happy and cheery in front of her friends. Still, inside, she was anxious because she constantly felt like she was being watched. Occasionally, Naomi would look around her but found no suspicious figure.

However, she did see a black cat, one that fit Lisa’s description. It stared at her for a bit before walking away with its tail straight down and low.

After failing to find anything on her third attempt, she shrugged the feeling off as a side effect of her lack of sleep and paranoia from last night.

The three safely arrived at their home. Naomi said goodbye and walked into her house.

The first thing she did was making sure all of the doors and windows were locked. Her parents were still away until tomorrow for her aunt’s wedding, so she was supposed to be alone for another night. At least, before Lisa confirmed she could stay for the night.

Naomi was just done showering when she heard the knocking on her front door. She rushed to the door and opened it, revealing Lisa standing on the other side.

“I’m so glad you could sleep here,” Naomi said as she gave way for Lisa. Lisa walked in with a massive backpack on her back.

“Can’t leave my paranoid friend here to stay awake the whole night. On the other hand, though, maybe it’s good for you since you were awake the whole lesson,” Lisa said before giggling.

“Hey! That’s not funny!” Naomi replied as she closed and locked the door.

“Oh, and I invited Neo over to play some cards later,” Lisa said as she walked straight up the stairs to shower. Lisa knew something was off about Neo since he told them that his house was next to theirs, so she invited him, hoping that questioning him would reveal the truth.

“Wait. You invited who?!”

Naomi was about to complain to her friend, but Lisa was already in the shower minding her own business. Naomi could only sigh and prepared an extra bed for Lisa. It could be worse. Compared to facing the stalker, she preferred Neo and his annoying attitude.

Not long after Lisa started showering, Naomi heard knocking on the door. After peeking through the window and seeing Neo standing in front of the door, Naomi opened it.

“Hey, am I too early?” Neo asked as he walked in.

“A bit. Lisa is still in the shower,” Naomi answered, closing the door behind him.

“I see... Well, I should wait in the living room then.”

Neo walked to the living room straight away, followed by Naomi. She was prepared to face Neo’s constant flirt, but he was reticent. He didn’t say anything sweet toward Naomi, nor did he annoy her in any way, which she appreciated. Instead, he acted normal for once.

Neo sat on one end of the couch, while Naomi sat on the other. Both of them stayed quiet.

“So… Uh… Nice house,” Neo said while looking around nervously.

“T-Thanks? I guess?”

They stayed silent once more. It was the first time the two were left alone.

“H-Have you done the history homework?”

“Yeah, just yesterday. You?”

“I haven’t. Even for the test coming up, I haven’t studied. Though for someone people call lazy, you are actually quite diligent.”

Naomi shrugged, “It’s kind of the truth. This is the first time I don’t finish homework one day before the deadline. As for the test, I’m like you. Haven’t studied anything other than the one for the homework.”

“A-Ah… I see…”

As the two failed to continue the conversation, an air of awkwardness once more surrounded the two. Neo played around with the card in his hand while Naomi’s eyes darted around. Both were hoping that Lisa would appear soon and break the awkwardness.

Luckily their prayers were answered not long after.

“Boy, the air in this room felt tense. Hi Neo,” Lisa asked as she walked in, still drying her wet hair with a towel. 

“Hey there. Well, now that you’re here, we can finally play,” Neo said.

They had a pretty fun game. Lisa dominated most of the games while Naomi kept having 25 cards on her hands. All was fun until they heard the sound of a pot shattering. The sound came from the backyard, and as they watched the glass door leading to the backyard, a faint shadow could be seen passing by. Naomi realized she had forgotten to turn on the backyard light.

Naomi glanced at the water in her glass as it started to stir. The table and the drinks themselves were entirely still, but the water in the glasses showed no sign of slowing down its rotation. On the contrary, it got faster and faster, almost forming a whirlpool.

“I’m gonna check it out,” Neo said as he stood up.

Naomi turned her focus from the water to Neo. His face turned serious, not calm like he was in class, but actual seriousness like he was ready to kill someone. Finally, he stood up and unlocked the glass door before walking out.

It was all silent for a moment. Naomi and Lisa could only stare at where Neo disappeared into the darkness. Their body tensed up, and they almost forgot to blink as they stared at the evening.

After a minute, Nova reappeared with a cat in his hand.

“It was just a cat.” Neo walked in with the black cat in his hand. He put it on the floor before closing the glass door. Lisa and Naomi let out a sigh of relief.

“Wait, that cat?!” Lisa exclaimed. Both she and Naomi knew the cat. It was the one Lisa described back at school.

“Yeah… I wasn’t being honest earlier. You were right. This is my cat. I gave it the collar and fed it, but I never told my aunt about it.”

“But why would you lie to us about it?”

“I can’t risk you guys telling my aunt. She would kill me over this.”

The cat’s bell rang as it took a step toward them and jumped to the table before sitting down. After locking the door and turning on the light, Neo returned to the two girls.

The two nodded understandingly.

Once more, Naomi checked the water glass. It seemed to have stopped stirring and returned to its calm state. She was pretty sure the water was shaking pretty violently a second ago but decided to brush it off as nothing but a hallucination.

The three decided to continue their card game, with Neo’s cat watching as it sat on the table. The cat felt a bit odd to Naomi. It didn’t move around and instead just sat there calmly with its eyes fixated on the game. Well, except for the occasional peek at the window.

The game was fun. But when Neo realized it was almost 7 pm, he excused himself to go home.

“I better get home. My aunt will be pissed if I get back home too late. See you tomorrow in class!” He put the deck of cards into his pocket, picked up his cat, and went home.

“Turns out it was not so bad inviting him.“ Lisa commented as the two walked up the stairs to Naomi’s room. She was worried about having Neo over. But everything turned out to be just alright.

Naomi sighed. “Right. As long he keeps his attitude that way, I’m fine with it. Now, let’s finish our homework so we can sleep early.”