"Come on, just listen to me," I said, having finally caught up to Selena near the dorms, where I found her heading toward her room.
"What do you want?" she asked, frowning.
This is so weird.
"Here," I said, stretching out my hand. She regarded it with squinted eyes.
"What is that?"
"Just look inside first," I said, exasperated, and she took the box and opened it.
"Is this...?" she started.
"Yes," I said. "The reason for your acting out, right?"
She reached in and pulled out the contents.
An earring with a purple diamond. The very same one she had been wearing. It had taken a frustratingly long time just to find someone selling this kind of thing in the commercial district, even longer to track down the exact same type, and what made it worse was how absurdly expensive one small piece of jewelry turned out to be.
Four hundred and fifty points.
Gone.
Just like that.
However, the moment she saw it, she grinned.
I stopped.
Something was wrong with that grin.
Why did I suddenly feel like I had been played.
"You finally bought it, you dense idiot!" she laughed, and threw her arms around me. I didn't have time to react before the air was knocked clean out of me. I keep forgetting how strong she is.
I will never get used to that.
"Wait," I said, trying to process what just happened. "So you knew the earring meant nothing?"
"Of course I knew, idiot," she pulled back, still grinning. "You think I'd let a girl that isn't me have you?"
Okay.
WHAT.
"But you... the way you acted..." I genuinely didn't understand what was happening anymore.
She was never actually upset?
All of that was an act?
But then.
WHAT ABOUT MY FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY POINTS?!
"I just came up with a way to guilt trip you into committing to me, and it actually worked," she laughed, already pulling me toward the elevator.
I was too stunned to resist.
"But you were literally crying!" I finally managed, trying to pull away out of sheer irritation. She didn't even flinch.
"That was all part of it. I knew if I made you feel guilty enough you'd try to make it up to me," she said simply.
I stood there and realized exactly how thoroughly I had been played.
No.
This wasn't on me.
This was Nelia's fault.
'YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR MY WASTED POINTS, YOU INSUFFERABLE FAIRY!'
'How is any of this my fault? You asked for my opinion, remember?'
'I don't remember doing that. You'd better start thinking of ways to earn me back those points, or I will rent you out to the most unhinged people I can find until every last one is recovered.'
'...You wouldn't.'
'You have no idea what I'm capable of,' I thought, already finding it mildly satisfying to use her as an outlet for my frustration.
"Now that you've made it official, consider yourself warned," Selena said, turning back to me with that same grin. "If I catch you laughing like that with any other girl, the way you were with that Ariana, I will not be happy."
I could only curse myself for giving her even more reasons to act exactly the way she does.
"Alright," I sighed. "Where are you taking me?"
"Alies Seres," she said. "You did promise, after all."
The memory of yesterday came back to me.
"It's..." I checked my metawatch. "Four in the afternoon. If we go now I might miss curfew," I said, and she looked at me.
"Do I care?"
"You should. Missing it costs grading points," I said flatly, unimpressed by her complete lack of concern.
"I still don't care. As your now official girlfriend, I am demanding we go to that cafe, and your opinion on the matter is irrelevant because I will drag you there regardless." She grinned. "So. Are you coming willingly, or...?"
She let the question hang.
I exhaled slowly.
How did I let my emotions get the better of me like this.
I basically handed her full authority over my life and told her to help herself.
Oh well.
It was only for the next four months, and honestly, I never had any real plans to get close to anyone else anyway.
Things might work out fine.
Probably.
I hoped.