RBR Chapter 12 Unwanted Attention

"Now this is what I would call an interesting development! A twin!" A chubby boy spoke, his eyes widening for an instant before settling back into their normal shapes.

"Mathew, you should never use the word twin when referring to us. He just shares my genetic material, that's all." Elec refuted with a frown, though he still walked towards him. 

A friend, this was surprising as he was grumpy. Eric had even thought that maybe he was a loner in school, with that bad temper and all.

He ignored them over scanning the whole class, which was looking back at him as if he was some tourist attraction.

'This is going to take some time getting used to.' 

"Hello, the name's Mathew."

The chubby boy held out a hand, which Eric shook in politeness.

"So, I had decided to hedge my bets with Elec becoming the heir. Your appearance has thrown everything out of context. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The question caused Eric to do a double take, looking at Mathew one moment, the Elec the next. He had thought that he had solved this entire problem back in the car, but looking at the way Elec was ignoring the act of stepping in to clarify, it seemed that he hadn't been convinced.

Eric started to get irritated. The chubby boy appeared to genuinely want an answer though.

"Elec has the answer I gave him. Let him explain." Eric kicked the ball back to his look-alike.

"Hmmm!?" He was about to glare at Elec only for his cells to tingle. He swivelled his neck only to catch sight of the emerald haired girl from before. She flinched upon locking gazes with him, but broke eye contact after a split second and made for her seat.

"Who is that girl?" He asked the question even as his gaze stayed with her as she activated her terminal. 

"Why do you want to know?" An aggressive question came from Elec. Eric saw the signs of suspicion within the gaze the boy was directing at him.

"She's Leah, from the Musota-Butwa clan. Seeing your expression, it seems that you want to communicate. Sorry to burst your delusions, but she has been giving the cold shoulder to everyone, including our dear 'heir' here." Mathew answered, his address of Elec for some reason becoming emphasized.

Eric ignored that as he instead pondered on how to approach her. She most definitely had been outside this city. The savageness she hid within the depths of her eyes didn't go unnoticed by him.

'But how do I communicate without alerting my cells?' Not to mention that he also had to figure out a way to communicate with her. The frown on Elec's face when Mathew had revealed his failure at communicating with the girl gave him all the signs he needed to know that it hadn't been a lie.

'Even though most of the students here are ignoring Elec, there is some reverence and fear within those gazes. Being a young master from one of the seven spectrum clans is apparently a big deal. Since she ignored him, status isn't the way to go. So...what can I do?' He wondered.

"Let's go, my seat is on Elec's right, while he sits behind Leah. Choose one of those seats in the back." Mathew offered him help before heading off with Elec, firing questions, mostly about him.

Eric didn't waste time, moving towards the back and randomly choosing a desk.

'Its currently 8:23am. In 7 more minutes, the teacher will arrive.' He calculated within his mind before he closed his eyes, entering a state of meditative contemplation.

Trying to cut himself from the world proved a failure when sounds of conversation started entering his ears. The sounds were low, almost whispery, but his sensitive ears could catch all.

Almost all the topics were about him, with the word popping up the most being that of 'twins.'

"..."

He sighed and opened his eyes. Asking his cells to cut off his hearing would be a futile endeavour, and due to his seat being in the back, no one was near enough for him to chat with. These were probably the extra seats, and he had chosen to occupy the very last row at the back. Two more empty rows formed a cut off point with the other students.

(They are curious, but also uncertain. These brain controlled flesh bags are so indecisive!...ah! That also includes you.)

The voice within his mind was filled with amusement. Eric ground his teeth at the insult, a reaction probably allowed since the cells wanted it to happen.

'I can always spend this time chatting with you.' 

(What topics would we have to speak about. What you really want are the closely guarded secrets. If you think you can fish anything out of me, you are mistaken, though, that girl with the emerald hair is an interesting topic...)

Eric looked over. With his enhanced eye sight, he managed to gleam a shiver the moment his eyes had fallen upon her. She was too alert.

'She is different indeed.'

(Heh! I can see through everything you are plotting. I won't forbid you contact with her. She will actually be a very great database. She most definitely has met 'the collective', well, at least one of them.)

'The collective?' Curious!

(That's what we call ourselves. Cease that 'cells' thing. We are a living being, a very gigantic being whose very existence surpasses your imagination.)

'The collective. So, she has met some of you!' Eric became even more interested in the girl called Leah. She was most definitely going to provide valuable information.

(The way I see it though, she appears very terrified of you. I wonder how you will approach her...that is one hell of a play I want to see. Maybe, I could even scare her a bit.)

'You shouldn't advertise your existence, remember?' Eric hurriedly warned. 

(...)

They stayed quiet. Eric didn't know when they would speak to him again. They randomly popped up and then went silent on their own.

"You should all pipe down, we are going to be studying about the human genome..." A man, the teacher apparently, entered and started the lesson.

-----

Eric was exasperated. Leah was deliberately avoiding him, yet at the same time, he could feel her gaze. She was watching him. Even now as he sat down after collecting breakfast from the servers in the school cafeteria.

'Though, the aroma coming from this is appetizing. A burger! I never would have thought I would get to enjoy it on my second day after coming into this world!' Excitement rippled through him, a cheerful thought transmitting from his cells. Even though it viewed humans...their brains especially...with prejudice, it still acknowledged their ingenuity.

(Praise the brain which invented cooking!)

He smiled at the comment and picked up the burger with both hands...

"I am going to sit here." Someone's voice caused the food heading for the mouth to halt.

(WHY!? I will kill you!) 

'Hmmm!? What's up with her?'

Eric was very shocked that the person who had been avoiding him had just plopped down opposite him. She didn't raise her head, instead opting to devour her food.

(Now, this is shocking indeed...what the hell are you dawdling for? Bring that delicious looking piece of nutrients to the mouth!)

Eric, was also having trouble avoiding the tantalising aroma, so he brought it and took a bite. 

'Heavenly!' (Wow!)

"So, did you just sit here to attract even more attention and interest towards me?" Eric asked after swallowing. The other students were pointing fingers and speaking. Even Elec, who had opted to sit at another table, intent on avoiding him, was now making his way over.

"What are you exactly?" She raised her head, and for the first time, looked into his eyes. He read many things from her emerald depths, like her fear and terror, to her resolve and bravery.

"You have the impression that I am dangerous. I can see it in your eyes. So, why did you come close?" He asked a question of his own, the burger making his way to his mouth for a second bite.

"I hate wasting my brain power on things I can just ask. Even if you kill me, it will be better than living in fear, wondering when you will rampage." She answered with a serious look. It even bordered on heroic.

"Well well well, hi Leah!" 

Eric frowned at the interruption. Elec had plastered a clearly fake smile on his face and the way he was pressing his palm on his shoulder blade made it clear that he was angry.

"Eric, my man. What's up with this? Miss Leah, they aren't related in any way if that's what you want to know." Mathew said on his left, he too pressing his back with more force than necessary.

"I am not interested in having any interaction with you two. Since you have just said that you have no relation with him, buzz off." Her voice became cold.

(These boys with their rampaging hormones...tsk! Tsk!)

"I am having an important conversation here." Eric's tone also became colder, the atmosphere itself changing, causing the two boys to back off with drastic changes in expressions, especially Elec who had witnessed his birth.

(I suppose it would be plausible to form a relationship with that boy based on fear...I find it even more appealing!)