Chapter 11
Camie waited a few minutes after the three had disappeared before she deactivated her quirk. She crouched down with her hands over her eyes as a deep shade of red stretched across her face.
What the hell was that? I can’t believe I was so assertive, since when do I take the lead? Is it because of the situation, because of Toga? I would have never done something like that nor did I do something like that when I liked the barista. I was always too nervous to ask her for her number and now I go and demand Toga’s. Why was I so aggressive during that too?
A thought suddenly dawned upon Camie and she peeked through her fingers at the spot that Toga had been standing.
More importantly, was Toga purposefully looking for me? The man that was with her made it seem like that. Has she been keeping an eye on me this whole time and if so for business or personal reasons? I mean, her family could have...
“Camie... Camie!”
She looked up to find Inasa looking down at her; he looked slightly out of breath and sported a worried expression.
“Don’t just run off and not come back! You had me worried; you could have at least checked your phone. What are you even doing here on the floor?”
“Oh, uh...nothing, sorry to worry you,” Camie said as she stood up. “Is your driver here now that you had to come looking for me?”
“Well yes he is, but you’re changing the subject.”
“Come on, we don’t want to keep him waiting,” she said as she skipped off ahead.
“You complain at us for worrying about you, yet you go and give us even more reason to be worried,” Inasa muttered to himself before sighing and following her, essentially dropping the subject.
The drive to Camie’s house was completely silent. Whether it was tension or just plain discomfort, Inasa wasn’t sure but it made the air thick. It didn’t help that every two minutes Camie would unlock her phone, check her messages and then lock it again with a disheartened expression when she didn’t see any new ones. Each time she did this, it annoyed Inasa and the air got thicker almost to the point of suffocation. Camie didn’t realise that her actions were irking the boy beside her as she continued. She had started to gnaw on her thumb nail, a trait that she did when she got anxious. She softly gripped it between her teeth as stared at the bright screen. Inasa began to shift slightly, unable to keep still in the strange atmosphere the two had unintentionally created in the small confined space.
Anger and anxiety do not mix well together, especially when two different people radiate the two emotions separately.
Inasa observed silently.
He was just about to voice his frustrations and ask Camie who she was expecting to hear from; when she hadn’t even read the messages he had sent earlier, when the driver announced that they had arrived.
Camie didn’t hear the driver at first but was pulled from her trance when the car jerked to a stop.
She has been zoning out a lot recently. Is it something that requires a lot of attention or is it the effects of what happened with the hero licensing exam?
Inasa wondered.
Camie gave a small smile as she exited the car, “See you tomorrow.”
Inasa watched as Camie walked down the street and entered her house before signalling his driver to carry on. It was his turn to fall deep into thought as they drove along; almost missing when the car stopped outside his front door completely.
“Don’t worry young master,” his driver advised him, looking at him from the rear-view mirror. “She’ll confide in you when the time is right. The best you can do for now is to be there for her.”
Nerves bundled up within Camie’s chest, the butterflies in her stomach thrashed around and her thoughts scampered around the edge of her conscience.
She’s going to message me right? She has to, but when? What if she doesn’t? This is why I wanted her number. Will I ever get the chance to speak to her again?
These thoughts urged her to check her phone every few minutes. She had already put the notification volume at the highest it could go but that didn’t stop her from checking the phone without hearing the sound.
Her mother had already lost her patience with Camie at the dinner table earlier that evening. She had yelled at her for being on her phone while they were eating. Camie suspected the reason for her mother’s harsh reaction was due to the fact that Camie had refused to tell her who she was expecting a message from. She had definitely seemed more upset about that than Camie’s current cell phone addiction.
Camie had even rushed through her night routine to make sure she didn’t miss any messages that might have but didn’t come.
It was while she was busy catching up on the school work she had missed that day that her phone went off. The single notification sent a wave of happiness washing over her as she snatched the device up. She was brought crashing down again when she saw the message was from Inasa, reminding her not to forget about the work she was currently doing. She sent a curt ‘Thanks.’ before returning to the work with a scowl. Every so often she would send a curse his way as payment for ‘ruining’ her night.
Rotten boy, I hope he’s sneezing relentlessly right now.
She let a mild form of malice consume her thoughts, momentarily forgetting the reason she was so mad in the first place.
Camie remembered the reason as she was getting into bed and decided to stay up a little longer.
Just in case.
She willed herself to stay awake as she scrolled through social media to distract herself.
She could have been busy today and will only get time later tonight. I’ll have to stay up until then. Or maybe she’s exhausted from today and went to bed early, and then she might only message tomorrow morning.
“Argh!” Camie turned around after a while and buried her head into her pillow. “I want to see her.”
You saw her earlier today.
“It wasn’t long enough.” Camie turned around again and pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
You should get some sleep, you’re talking to yourself. This IS the first sign of madness, you know that right? You might get a message tomorrow morning.
“Ugh, I know. I know.” Camie dragged her hands down her face just as a knock sounded on the door.
“Who’re you talking to honey?” her dad asked as he opened the door slightly and stuck his head into the room.
“Nobody.”
“Nobody?” he quirked his eyebrow in question.
“Uh...myself?” Camie tried to explain but it came out as a question.
Her dad chuckled and nodded, “Okay. When you’re done with what I assume is a riveting conversation; you should get to sleep. It’s late.”
Camie nodded as her dad closed the door and walked off.
He thinks you’re weird. Ugh, shut up me! I’m starting to sound like that masked guy...Twice, was it?
Camie rubbed her face again and put her phone down on her desk to charge after plugging it in. She lay down and closed her eyes. Sleep was in her grasp when her phone went off; reminding her she had forgotten to silence it.
I swear to God, if that’s Inasa reminding me about something stupid.
She got up and marched over to her phone, fully intending to ignore the person and put the device on silent. She paused when she noticed the message was from an unknown number. She opened the message and two words stared back at her. All thoughts of sleep were chased from her mind as she read the word over and over again.
‘It’s Toga’