Block 5

"Jeez, those guys are so creepy," Jason complained. "Why'd they even come here if they weren't even gonna eat anything."

Raika glared at the exit that the cloaked students left from. "They're bad news, it's best not to mess with them," she warned, ignoring Jason's comment to the extent of interrupting him at the very end of his joke.

'Bad news?' Ray thought back. He had seen these strange people around the school from time to time and thought nothing of it. This made Raika's words make even less sense to him. "Are they dangerous? I always thought they were part of the drama club," he proclaimed.

Jason sighed, "just how dense are you?" His expression shifting to a more serious one. He paused for a second and crossed his arms again.

"They're part of a runaway circus," he asserted with absolute conviction.

Raika facepalmed. "Why am I in a lower class than you two?"

Ray giggled a little and then continued the conversation. "So... who are those guys Raika?"

She shuddered slightly at the question, thinking carefully about her answer. "If Dragon is the toughest gang out there, then those guys are the... most mysterious I guess," she explained, scrathing her head, taking breaks between each clause. "Somethin like that"

Ray pondered this explanation in his head. 'Mysterious huh,' he thought. 'Wait, they're a gang? That's kind of surprising isn't it'

Raika resumed, "I don't know much about them other than that. Though, there's word going around that those weirdos are hangin' round block 5 today for some kinda... thingy."

Ray wondered why Raika added this bit of information, She didn't seem to know the specifics, yet still decided to inform them, even though it had little to do with the two. On top of that, her tone contradicted her usual fearlessness, to the point that the way she delivered these words were uncharacteristic.

Jason noticed this change in attitude as well and decided to take advantage of her obvious hesitance to speak further "Hmmm, and what do you want us to do about it?" he asked plainly, seemingly with the sheer purpose of getting a reaction out of her.

Raika glimpsed at the clock, ignoring him for the moment, then she got up abruptly and answered firmly, "Stay clear of them idiot."

She started walking away slowly, with her hands in her pockets. Once she was a metre or two away though, she took one hand out and held it in the air, as though to say goodbye whilst she moved towards the exit.

The duo stayed for some time at the table. Ray tried his best to finish the food that he accidentally forgot about. Whereas Jason was busy sulking childishly over Raika getting the last laugh.

"Tch, who does she think she is," he whined, continuing like this for a while. Ironically, despite slandering her, he then went on to mimic her actions: looking at the clock, getting up and then started to storm off in the same direction.

"Hey, are you just gonna leave me?" Ray asked jokingly.

Jason paused, then sighed. "I'm heading off to investigate block 5."

Ray shook his head in fatigue as he knew that this was Jason's attempt at joke. Ray had long since labeled his friend as a prankster, after the countless stunts that he's pulled in the past. In his head, Ray always imagined that Jason probably thought of himself as some kind of shrewd trickster, but in reality, Ray just found this side of him annoying.

Jason snickered. "Welp, I've got homework to do," he said, waving goodbye as he left.

After Jason departed, Ray thought back to the conversation the three had. 'If those guys are enough to make even Raika scared, then I really shouldn't mess with them.'

He began shivering as he thought back to all the times he started speaking to the people in black cloaks, under the guise of them being in the drama club. In every scene, he recalled, himself initiating the conversation, whether it was greeting them or apologising for bumping into them, he said something. Which was then followed by no response, and an awkward silence until the hooded individuals simply walked away from him.

'That's really embarrassing actually!' He winced in his head, going from fear to cringe.

As soon as Ray finished eating, he swiftly rose from his seat and started heading to a certain destination. This being the room for his club.

He first found out about this club 3 weeks ago when he picked up a flier that piqued his interest. Though he wasn't a member yet, he wanted get a feel for what the club was about.

"Where's the room again?" Ray queried, asking himself out loud. He was currently in block 7 and wandering the school corridors, starting to doubt it was even in block seven to begin with.

The school's buildings were comprised of multiple blocks to aid navigation. A smart move, considering the types of braindead people that attended this school. Each block had multiple classrooms and in total there were 8 blocks.

Unable to recall which room the club was in, Ray kneeled down reaching into his school bag and after rummaging around thoroughly for a bit, he got tired and sighed in disappointment. "Crap did I seriously lose the form, how the hell am I supposed to find the room now," he moaned.

Fortunately, at the bottom of his bag, he noticed a small yellow piece of paper. "There you are," he said energetically, Swiftly grabbing his club form and inspecting the words on the front page. "Room two, block five, ok."

He immediately packed up his bag, picked it up and started walking towards block five, but was promptly stopped in his tracks when he remembered Raika's warning in his head.

'Those weirdos are hangin' round block 5 today for some kinda thingy.'

'That phrasing's pretty funny,' Ray thought, laughing shortly until he realised that this actually inconveniences him.

"Just my luck, huh," he sighed, putting the form back into his bag. He didn't really question the coincidence though, since he found himself of stricken with bad luck.

A long period of silence followed as he contemplated what he would do. When out of nowhere, the peace was broken.

Bzzzz bzz

Ray jerked at the sudden noise. His phone was vibrating violently. He took it out quickly, wiping the screen on his blazer. It was Jason.

Beep.

He placed the phone close to his ear. Although Jason was the one to call, he remained silent so Ray took it upon himself to speak first. "Aren't you busy doing homework?" Ray remarked smugly.

"Where are you right now?" Jason asked, completely disregarding Ray's comment. "Which block exactly?"

Ray got a bad feeling from his tone of voice and desperation.

"Block seven" Ray answered, switching the call to speaker mode so could speak on the move. He began speculating about the possible reason for why he was getting this call. 'Don't tell me he seriousl---.'

"Block seven?" Jason continued, interrupting Ray's train of thought, "that's close enough, I guess. Hurry to block five: I'm in trouble."

Without thinking twice, Ray rushed towards Jason's location. "Are you hurt?"

"Just hurry befor---"

Beep.