~Recap~

Which was about right because even the simplest category of dishes surpass the flavour of expensive and fancy dishes if they were made by Azura's father. Which means that poor Theo could not he really blamed for his act but it legitimately felt as if the guy was being hard to overreact. It made him look cringe but also cute at the same time.

“Oh really? Me and ungrateful? Then how about you begin paying for real, especially when you could pay for the trash from the canteen, then why not me?” Azura retorts.

“Not a bad idea. But why should it be you? I'll directly reward Mr. Barnes. Or are you trying to make money out of him?” Theo suggests playfully and begin laughing on his own while the lady just shakes her head in disguise and shifts her head straight to the direction.

It was the moment when Azura noticed someone she hadn't seen around in a while.

______

“Hey, Theo. Isn't that Leanne?” Azura motions towards the lady standing by the lockers.

Theo makes a thoughtful second and then he starts shrugging. “She may be. Why should we care?”

Not paying attention to Theo's words, Azura proceeds to talk with the latter. The man just frowns in confusion.

“Leanne, hey.”

As soon as Leanne's name is called,she feels her rage increasing internally. She doesn't want to even look into the sound's direction as she recognises the voice way too clearly.

Especially the person who owned the voice, whom she used to mess up with most but now wishes to meet the least.

Which is why Leanne swifts in an instant and attempts to dash away, only to hear more of the same voice and with more force this time. “Please, stop. Leanne…”

“Get lost!” Leanne whisper-yells while still facing forward as she begins walking away from the other lady.

However, the latter wasn't going to give up that easily as she started following Leanne until she finally stopped on her steps and subtly shouted. “What do you want, Azura?”

The tone was so surprisingly high pitched that Azura flinched for a second. She then proceeds regardless. “I… I just want to apologise.”

Leanne frowns in anger and bursts out. “You want to apologize? Are you being serious, Azura? After trapping me and Cindy. After getting us almost suspended, and especially exploiting mine and Cindy's friendship, all you wanna do is apologise?”

Azura was startled at the sudden burst by the latter but she was more confused and concerned at the same time that she couldn't help but appeal for more inquiry. “Suspended? I'm really sorry if you had to face all this because of me. But, I'm seeing you're back from today so, they approved to let go of the last incident?”

Sighing in annoyance, Leanne once again begins answering. “Didn't you hear when I said I was almost suspended? Almost, okay? After many requests and paperwork, they sanctioned us. But still they ordered us for a temporary suspension because of which we were absent lately.”

This sends Azura in relief as she breathes subtly. “That is really relieving to hear and I'm really glad for you. But, where is Cindy? If your detention is over, shouldn't her end as well?”

The other lady huffs in rage at the mention of Cindy's name. “Funny how she wasn't even the one to be given detention or suspension. Instead, it was more like a granted vacation so she could overcome the humiliation which she faced that day because of you but the blame came on me.” Leanne explains, justifying herself.

“And again, I'm extremely sorry for all the mess caused by me and you can personally give me any penalty you'd like, I'll follow nonetheless. But, just please tell me where is she? Where is Cindy?” Asks Azura. And Leanne just wasn't sure if she was actually hallucinating or was Azura actually worrying over Cindy.

Though, it was quite believable as well. Especially recalling the last time when Azura had stood and spoke for Cindy. Even that last was one of the many times Azura had taken both Cindy and Leanne's side despite their harsh and rude treatment.

Leanne shakes the thoughts away from her mind and calms herself by now and answers with more credibility. “To be honest, I have no idea regarding anything related to her. Ever since that day she accused me of ploying her, we stopped talking at all. As I said, our friendship has kind of ended now.”

Azura lowers her face in shame, acknowledging Leanne's situation with Cindy and blaming herself for ruining their relationship.

Leanne sighs and takes a breath while adding further, “Hence why I don't even know if where she is right now. But I can tell that she might have probably transferred to somewhere else as no one would dare to show their face in front of anyone after becoming a dipped snack in front of everyone. Let alone Cindy.” She then proceeds to walk once again but then she stops and faces Azura once again.

“As for giving you a penalty. I'd rather give myself peace than give you any penalty because being around you would be an equivalent to a punishment for me. I just want to finish the semesters with no more burdens in between and no more unnecessary activities. I'm leaving you alone so please favor the mutual and never reach out to me ever again. Good bye and good luck, Azura.”

And finally, with no more revert or reaction, Leanne flashes out of the sight, leaving Azura tensed and troubled in thoughts. Negative thoughts to be precise.

“Azura?”

The said lady flinched at the sudden pat on her shoulder but relieves right after as she sees Theo. “You alright? You look unwell.”

Well, Azura definitely was unwell but the reason behind it was someone's else's wellbeing.

“I'm alright, Theo. Though, it feels like someone or even something is definitely not right.”

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Theo questions in confusion before something hits his mind and he makes an assumption. “Wait a minute, don't tell me it's about that Cindy girl because I just saw you talking to her minion.”

The latter sighs as a sign to say yes and Theo just huffs, ready to hear what Azura has to say. “It's really strange that Leanne is back at campus but there's still no sign of Cindy. Well, yeah. Leanne does sound right that Cindy might have moved away from here but still it feels as if something is not like Cindy about it. Something that Cindy wouldn't do just like that and something is definitely wrong.”

Theo chuckles at Azura's acts and the lady could have reacted angrily but she was too engaged with her own misery. “Come on, Azura. Her friend should be saying right about her I mean, Leanne is her friend in the first place so she probably knows her better than us. And even if she doesn't, why should it matter to us? She was literally your bully and it's a great thing that she's now bleached.”

“But Theo–”

“Azura, she must be happy wherever she is. Then why stress yourself over her? You should rather strengthen yourself as we have a lot of plans today. Now come on.”

Everything made sense but at the same time nothing made at all. It felt like something that Azura had already experienced but couldn't recall.