Wrong Arrow

9 : Sock

There was signs of rain in the sky. Like a storm was about to come. It could just be false signs.

Harper was lingering beside the entrance of the classroom, pacing back and forth while biting on his nails.

He did something he wasn't supposed to do but, in his defense, he just had to do it. Zach comes along and slows down his pace when he sees his fellow cupid.

A single eyebrow is then raised. Harper comes to a halt when he sees Zach and, almost instantly, the guilt-ridden cupid takes his eyes away.

"You good man?"

Harper was anything but good. If he was human, he'd be sweating like a sinner in church. It was quite a rare sight seeing him this way.

All panicky and frustrated. Given that he was known to keep his cool almost every single time. Zach could only guess that whatever it was he did was bad.

"I-.. I- uh.." He struggles to form some words. Harper takes in a deep breath and puts his hand down. "I did something.. stupid."

"You did?" Not really surprised, Zach takes a quick glance inside the classroom. "What did you do?"

Harper scratches the side of his head, staring at the floor as he says. "You know how I've been going on about Vaeri's giving me a hard time?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, like a few minutes ago, I kinda had my revenge? I wouldn't call it 'revenge' exactly, but something to lighten the tension in my chest?"

"Harper." Zach starts out slowly. "What did you do?"

* * * * * *

Vaeri's stripped herself a couple of papers from her notebook to create swan origami. Pearl observes as she creases, folds and transforms what was once a piece of white paper-to an animal-shaped structure. This isn't new. She's seen her do this way too many times. This is just her way of calming herself down. Her desk however, is beginning to flood with paper swans. I think there's a couple of them on the floor now.

Pearl cheeks the time on her phone ad sets an alarm. She's got exactly ten more minutes to wrap them all up before the teacher appears.

Pearl hears her out, trying to put some sense into her story. The story behind the wet sock. Instead of starting at the real part, however, Vaeri started her story from the moment she entered the school building.

“So I went to the bathroom, did my business, so on and so forth. " She presses one side of the paper a little bit too hard." Everything was going great. Got rid of the taco from last night. But when I went to the sink to wash my hands? I find my sock on the sink having a freaking spa.”

Origami between her fingers, Vaeri puffs her cheeks gazes to her side with a glare before continuing with her origami. "Why aren't you straight?" She argues with the piece of paper. Vaeri has yet to get to the real part of the story.

Like how did her sock even end up in the sink in the first place? Pearl tilts her head to the side- attempting to make sense of the situation. She's still confused and the girls behind them eavesdropping were also still confused.

“How…weren’t you wearing your socks though?“

“I took them off for a while. Since my feet were getting soar. And the thing is- I could have sworn I left it inside my bag. There’s no way anyone would have used the toilet when I was there, since - of course - I’d know.”

Pearl licks her lips and says nothing for the time being. "You left your bag outside?" She watches her friend's reaction. Vaeri glides her fingers through her hair and shakes her head. "I had it with me the entire time. Didn't leave it outside."

And yet someone was still able to retrieve the sock from her bag.

"I don't think I quite understand you. You're telling me you had your sock inside your backpack, and that backpack was with you but the sock was snatched either way?"

Vaeri looks around the classroom with a serious gaze. "Someone's out there trying to make my life miserable. I swear this place is hunted." The last part comes out in a hush whisper.

Just as these words leave her lips, Zicharius looks at Harper with one eyebrow raised upwards. "You did that?"

"She was annoying me so I did it on the spur of the moment. I didn't mean to. It just happened, okay? I didn't think I'd push through with it, but then the next second, I was standing in front of the sink with her sock soaked. I didn't mean to do it. It just happened." The amount of panic and frustration in his voice- even Zach could feel it. But then again, it's not like he broke a major rule anyway. He just intervened and made her suspicious. That's not too bad. Right?

"Now she thinks someone wants to ruin her life. " Harper rubs a hand down his face and groans. "I shouldn't have done that."

"You'll be fine. Don't worry. It's not like you did anything big. It was a mistake. Sooner or later, she'll forget about it."

Harper looks at his fellow cupid with hope flashing in his eyes. "You think so?"

"Yeah." He assures him. Harper was starting to feel better now that he's got Zach's assurance. The latter pats him on the back and enters the classroom. "You should go get some fresh air first. I'll keep an eye on Vaeri while you're away."

"Nah it's fine. You've got your hands full with Pearl."

"I insist. Go get some fresh air and come back once you're feeling completely calm."

"Don't I look calm now?"

Zach turns around and makes contact with his eyes, blinking. "No. It almost looks like you're on the verge of crying though."

That leaves his friend rather confused.

"Cupids don't cry. We can't excrete tears or sweat as humans do."

"Exactly. I'll see you later, okay? I'll head inside first."