Love Games

Elle was up bright and early. Reia had given her an earful the night before after hearing all the details about her 'Great Plan', but none of it meant anything since it all worked out without a hitch. Now she was standing beneath a large oak tree, watching the crowds go by in hopes of catching Stella before classes started. She popped another cookie into her mouth and grinned wickedly, earning a few disturbed stares from anyone who happened to notice her. It took her all to bite back a low, devious laugh that might have actually frightened the other students.

Elle had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn't notice someone slither up behind her from around the tree trunk. She yelped when she felt a ghostly finger trail up the length of her arm and dropped her bag of cookies on the ground. Elle turned her dark brown eyes to the culprit, her mouth turning down in a display of displeasure.

It turned out to be a boy with jet black hair and sneering hazel eyes who stood a full head taller than her.

The blonde girl's jaw fell open in utter shock and dismay.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She snapped.

"Obviously, I go here, Elle," the boy said, gesturing to the uniform he wore. "You don't look happy to see me."

"The day I'd be happy to see you, Clause, is the day I see you turn into a flying pig," Elle muttered, bending over to snatch her cookies off the ground. "Now what are you really doing here?"

"We were invited," Clause replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "You're not the only ones getting credit for this."

"What? But you guys don't-" she paused, narrowing her eyes at Clause in suspicion. "Wait. We? How many of you are there? This doesn't make any sense, there is absolutely no reason for any D.A. to be here."

Clause was only grinning at her in a manner that she didn't like at all. From the looks of it, he didn't intend on telling her anything. Elle's temper flared and she had to stop herself from slapping the boy across the face right then and there.

"Ugh, I find it hard to believe that you can't find anybody else to harass, Clause," she spat, turning on her heels and stomping away from him to find Reia. Elle wasn't sure what he was doing there, but it didn't seem good. If it wasn't Jules Sinclair trying to get in the way of her certification, it was Clause arriving to screw everything up. If Elle knew anything about that boy, discord was in his nature. He liked to lie, cheat, and play puppet master every chance he got.

"Reia, Reia!" Elle cried out upon spotting her red hair amongst the crowd.

Reia stopped and turned when she heard her name, but she was caught off guard when the smaller blonde suddenly crashed into her. One short glance at the smaller blonde and she could immediately tell that something was wrong. That was why Reia didn't protest as Elle quickly dragged her off into the nearest janitor's closet and shut the door behind them. One of them tugged the dangling chain to light up the bare bulb that hung just above their heads.

"Clause is here!"

"What?"

"It's true and I don't know why. He said something about us not being the only ones getting credit," Elle said. "But I don't get how the D.A.D. would have anything to do with this project."

Reia pursed her lips and stared at Elle with an expression that didn't bode well at all.

"You know that Freya is getting a lot of criticism from the rest of the Unit," she murmured. "And what does the Divine Intervention Unit do best?"

"Intervene…" Elle sighed, disheartened. "This cannot be happening."

"But it is," Reia frowned at her. "Elle, the Death Angels are here to interfere with or sabotage our matchmaking. It's a challenge between divisions. They want Freya's experiment to end in disaster."

"Well, screw that," she said suddenly, fueled by her flaring temper. "Let them try! There's no way in hell that Clause is going to ruin anything for me!"

Reia was promptly left behind as Elle threw open the door with a great big bang and marched out of the closet with a renewed ambition.

* * *

Alice and Stella curiously watched Elle viciously stab holes in her baked potato from across the table, but Reia was decidedly ignoring this as she gave them a smile. They both knew that Elle was a little eccentric when it came to certain things, but they'd never had the opportunity to witness her rage in real time. The only thing they were wondering about now was: what had happened that upset Elle enough to ruthlessly brutalize her potato?

Elle herself could only be concerned with the potato that she was envisioning to be Clause's face.

"Stella, I heard about yesterday. Why don't you tell us about how you got home?" Reia proposed, effectively calming Elle down enough to listen.

"W-well… my bike had a flat tire, but someone came and offered me a ride home," she said quietly, focusing on her buttered toast.

"It was a boy," Reia whispered to Alice. "Elle said it was a boy from the soccer team. Number nine?"

"Samuel Rowe gave you a ride home?" Alice exclaimed, loudly enough to make Stella flush in embarrassment and sink into her seat.

"Alice…" The shy girl uttered, her discomfort apparent.

"Oh, sorry, Stella," she said. "But Sam Rowe? Really? He's all the girls talk about in gym class! Apparently, everyone is fond of that guy. He's attractive, charming, and a talented athlete. He's well on his way up to the upper social ranks of Southwood."

"Wow, Alice," Reia inclined her chin. "You've done your share of eavesdropping and gossip gathering."
The brown haired girl shrugged her shoulders and gave her a smile. "I'm never the one doing the talking, so I'm pretty good at that."

"What else have you heard then, Alice?" Elle asked.

"Hm. I know about the late incoming students from the summer abroad program," she said. "You guys hear about that?"

Stella only shook her head while the other two nodded.

"Well, there are a bunch of people who just came back from studying in Japan… or was it Spain?" Alice's brows furrowed together when she realized that she really didn't know. "I'm not sure, but they're here now. Why didn't you two join the program?"

"We weren't interested…" Elle muttered, her mouth puckering in what appeared to be distaste. "There was no way we'd stay sane with that particular crowd of people."

The three of them exchanged odd glances, two of them unable to really understand or explain the blonde's bizarre behavior. Stella stuffed the rest of her toast into her mouth and rose from her seat, barely managing to tell them that she was headed for the library. Elle immediately shot up, eagerly chucking her potato into the trashcan while voicing her intention of accompanying her. She ended up bidding the other two farewell for the both of them before linking arms with Stella and practically dragging her away.

"Stella, you haven't told me about this morning yet," she pouted, as if she was hurt.

"I'm sorry, Elle," Stella said, a soft blush rising to her cheeks as she looked away. "But it was just a ride."

"He didn't have to do any of those things," Elle insisted. "He's got to have some interest."

"I don't think so…" The timid freshman frowned and looked to her shoes. "He's just like that. That's why everyone likes him."

"Aw, Stell-"

"I don't really want to talk about it anymore, Elle," Stella blurted. "The only way you get disappointed is if you expect something in the first place. I don't do these sorts of things. I'm sorry."

Elle couldn't get another word in because the younger girl suddenly broke away and ducked into the library. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Elle wasn't welcome to follow. She only watched her mark dodge passing traffic and disappear from sight with a sullen gaze. Perhaps Stella was right and she was underestimating the complexity of the task at hand. It wasn't supposed to be easy, she had hardly done any work at all. She knew Stella was charmed by the young athlete, but she had yet to do any work on his end.

Boys were boys, after all, and often times they needed to be guided in order to find the right path.