Lingering Glances: A Hysteria Short

Earth
Sacrum Cor
August 2012
Lunchtime

Theo Wyatt was an incredibly observant person.

The moment Verena Herman slid into the seat next to him with her jaw locked and a tight smile on her lips, he knew that something happened earlier during class. Instead of inquiring what was wrong, the male merely opened his lips and said, “Let me guess. Something happened involving a certain Lizbeth Chase.”

“I hate you and your creepiness sometimes.”

“Trust me, love. I know you love me for it,” he shot back with a calm smirk. Verena merely rolled her eyes. Her form relaxed, he noted, which was good. She was beginning to simmer down. “Do you want to rant, or should we wait for Ritsuko and Alessia?”

“I’d rather rant it out to you. Ritsuko will just listen and frown. Alessia will just tell me to not think of it too much,” the female grumbled. Theo nodded slowly and pushed his fruit cup towards her, Verena taking a spoonful gratefully. Once she ate, she ranted to him what exactly had happened.

The class  had been Trigonometry – the period right before lunch. Their teacher, Ms. Estrella, had thought that it would be fun to pick two students at random and have them do a ‘showdown’ in front of the whole class. To Verena’s dismay, she had been picked.

To make it worse, Ms. Estrella had also asked Lizbeth Chase to take the other half of the board. In her rant, Verena admitted that she wouldn’t have gotten as angry if not for Lizbeth’s smug smirks and casual taunts.

“Couldn’t you have paired me with someone my level, Ms. Estrella?” Lizbeth asked coolly as she approached the blackboard, taking a piece of pink chalk. Verena nearly snapped hers in half.

“She doesn’t want you to humiliate yourself, Chase.” Verena shot back. The class ‘ooh’ed and Lizbeth’s cheeks turned an angry pink; Verena smirked as she faced the blackboard, waiting for Ms. Estrella to read the problem they were to solve.

It ended weirdly – both of them finished at the same time, using different solutions. Lizbeth opted to take the simple route while Verena made use of the latest lessson, a trickier way which led her to the answer much sooner. Pleased with the two’s success and efforts, the teacher awarded them stickers.

“What’s so infuriating about that?” Theo interrupted. Verena’s nostrils flared.

“Give her another sticker, Ms. E. She got lucky for once,” Lizbeth remarked. Ms. Estrella rolled her eyes and (calmly) set a hand on Verena’s shoulder, the latter glaring daggers while Lizbeth returned to her seat.

“Run your mouth like that again, Chase, and I might have to send you out for misconduct in my class.” Patting Verena, she sent Verena back to her seat and began to introduce a new lesson to the class.

The exchange left Verena boiling.

“Yikes.”

“Yeah.” Verena ate another spoonful of fruit, Ritsuko Kei and Alessia Moretti arriving right at that moment. Alessia’s eyes noticed Theo while Ritsuko noticed Verena binging on a large amount of fruit cup. The Japanese blinked.

“Did something happen?”

“I’ll tell later,” Alessia cut in. Ritsuko nodded slowly and they sat down, taking their usual places at the table. Alessia started conversation to clear the air; Ritsuko listened. Verena merely ate.

Theo watched the three, then turned his gaze to a table many feet away.

His hazel eyes caught Lizbeth Chase’s piercing blue ones.

She looked away first.

* * * * *

“Why the hell is Wyatt staring at you like that?” Kira Volkov snapped. “Fucking freak, hanging out with them. He’d be a decent person if he weren’t tagging along with trash.” Across her, Ling Xun sent her sharp-tongued friend a look.

“Kira.”

“It’s true!” Kira grumbled. “Theo Wyatt was decent before he started to hang out with them. Admit it, Ling.”

“I’m not admitting anything. Or letting bias get in the way,” the girl reprimanded sharply. “Look at you, judging him for nothing.” Kira huffed and looked down, stabbing at her plate of pasta angrily. Beside Kira, Radelle Crise gave an amused half-smirk, folding her arms over her chest.

“You’re such a child, Wolf.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth.” On Kira’s other side, Nova Howard nervously inched away from the irritated girl, Ling sighing and resting a hand on Nova’s knee comfortingly.

“L-Ling…”

“Let her calm down.” With that, Ling turned her gaze to Lizbeth, who had a blank look on her face. “You alright?”

“…yeah.” Lizbeth tore her eyes off Theo’s and took a bite from her sandwich, ignoring Ling’s concerned look. Finally, Ling shrugged and took a sip from her milk, slowly letting her usual state take over. Radelle noticed.

“I wish I could be like you, Ling.”

“No, you don’t. But why?”

“I sometimes wish I could shut myself off an ignore this little shit,” Radelle deadpanned. Kira’s eyes widened and she slapped the blonde’s shoulder, Radelle bearly reacting to it at all.

“How dare you–” Kira spluttered, and the rest of the table laughed. Nova gave out a small giggle while Ling let herself smile. Lizbeth shook head amusedly. “You hate me so much? Read between the lines,” the spitfire hissed, shoving three fingers in Radelle’s face.

“I don’t speak child.” With that, Nova laughed more, unable to keep it in any longer. Kira shot her a hurt look.

“Traitor!”

“S-Sorry,” Nova squeaked. Kira suddenly rose, gripping her tray tightly.

“Whatfuckingever. Go bite yourselves.” With that, Kira stalked off, leaving the four in varying states of emotion. Nova sobered, Radelle still looked amused, Ling shook her head in disappointment and Lizbeth carried yet another apathetic expression. Standing up as well, Ling excused her.

“I’ll extinguish her.”

“Go right ahead,” Lizbeth replied. Ling left them, leaving just three. Nova sighed.

“…I didn’t mean to laugh at Kira.”

“Relax.” Radelle stretched and yawned, “Kira needs to learn how to laugh at herself. If she doesn’t, then she’ll remain with a stick in her–”

“We get it,” Lizbeth interrupted, leaving Nova to blush lightly. “No need to be crude.”

“You know you love the crudeness, Chase.”

“Mhm.” Radelle and Nova kept talking from then on and Lizbeth glanced away, scanning the cafeteria and looking at the others in their own respective tables.

Her eyes fell on a familiar blonde with a stack of fruit cups in front of her.

A hand clasped her shoulder. Lizbeth jumped, suddenly hearing a smooth voice whispering into her ear.

“Don’t be so obvious, Chase.”

Theo Wyatt then walked away from her, leaving Lizbeth to stare at his retreating form with a mixed expression of embarrasment and fury.