Class Villainess

—

Emmy: Yo, look what I did. You will be surprised at how efficient I am. How about your progress? Shouldn't you be in her house right now?

Emmy: Picture sent.

—

I chuckled after sending the text to Logan. I thought he would reply with a few stickers and emojis as always, but he suddenly texted me with something else. 

—

Logan: Get out now. 

Logan: Someone is watching you.

—

I frowned. Today was literally weekend. The only one who would come to school was Mason and me today. 

So I texted him back,

—

Emmy: What do you mean? The only one here is me right now.

Emmy: And don't start with ghost bullshit. I'm not buying it.

Logan: No, idiot, just check the photo you just took and see the shadow in the window. 

—

My heart skipped the moment Logan explained what he saw. I checked the picture I just took immediately, and I followed his guide by checking the window.

What he said was true. There was a shadow of someone's shadow near the window. The club building had running electricity 24/7, so few clubs didn't turn off their lights. 

The Boxing club apparently didn't turn off the light outside, so whoever stood under the lamp would have their shadow cast. 

I saw the shadow of someone standing under the lamp near the window in the picture, and my eyes darted at the club window across my position right now. 

My heartbeat quickened as I rushed to the window and checked who was watching me, but there was nobody there when I opened the window.

Not even a trace, nor a shoe print, which was strange because the ground was a bit wet after the rain last night. 

…

I gulped as my head started to imagine the worst thing possible. Maybe I would die tomorrow since I got discovered trying to plant evidence around the club. 

Or maybe… maybe it was Mason?!

Maybe Mason already knew what I was doing and decided to peek at my activity here, planting evidence in the Boxing club room. 

I gulped once more, I didn't want anything worse than this, so I quietly left the Boxing club room and returned to the Pottery club room. I washed my gloves with water before throwing them away to the trash can in the corridor.

I returned to Mason, who was supposedly waiting outside of the club building. 

I thought I could catch him red-handed. Despite all my fears right now, catching him red-handed meant that he had seen everything, and I might have to strike a deal with him.

…

If that was possible in the first place, knowing his clean reputation, that'd be impossible. 

"Mason, I'm done—"

I was stunned when I saw Mason sitting outside of the club building. He was dozing off believably.

"Mason…" I shook his shoulder lightly, and he woke up.

"Ah—Oh, Em, are you done with your errand?" He asked. 

"Yes… how about you? Did you fall asleep while waiting for me?" 

"Ahaha… not really asleep. I dozed off," Mason yawned and stood up from the bench. "Since I want to spend my time with you today, I put some of my photoshoots schedule yesterday. I had to do photoshoots until late at night, so I got a bit sleepy right now."

"Maybe I should drink coffee, haha!" Mason chuckled lightly. 

I stared at him and couldn't find any trace of a fake act there. And I was quite sharp to see through someone's fake act.

I glanced down at his shoes, expecting his shoes to be dirty since he walked to the grassy patch just to peek at me planting evidence.

But his shoes were actually clean enough to give him a silent alibi. 

Now I was in a big dilemma myself. I didn't know if Mason was really the culprit or innocent.

If I confronted him right now and it turned out he wasn't the one who peeked at me, he would definitely get suspicious and think that I had misused the club key ring to enter another club room illegally. 

And if he was actually the one who peeked at me… why?

Why would he do such a thing? 

My mind was a mess right now. But in the end, I decided to act dumb, as if nothing happened between us, and we left the school silently. 

I decided to park my bike behind a big tree in front of the school and picked it up after my date with Mason ended. We waited at the bus stop near the school and went to the city square together.

Mason said that he had a special spot for us. I agreed with everything that he said with one note, "Please don't bring me to somewhere expensive. I don't want to burden you."

Mason laughed and dragged me around the street until we stopped in front of a cafe. I was stunned when I read the cafe's name.

'Cat Cafe Marmalade.'

"Mason, this…"

"Ehehe… this is a cat cafe, of course. I've been dying to bring you here for a while. Let's go in," Mason said as he dragged me inside.

I was stunned, silly. I couldn't react when I saw the number of cats inside the cafe from the glass pane. They were lazing around, grooming themselves, playing with the toys, or even climbing the cat tree and the table. 

They also had various breeds, from British Shorthair to Sphynx. 

Strangely, the place seemed to be empty, too empty on the weekend. I had this illusion that Mason had booked the whole cafe only to enjoy our date, especially when I saw the staff who bowed at him kindly and respectfully.

But he said that he wasn't that rich.

Now that got me even worried, afraid that he had spent his hard-earned money only to treat a half-assed girl like me. 

Mason and I entered the cat cafe, and the strawberry scent just wafted in my nose. It smelled sweet and fuzzy at the same time. 

'Meow.'

'Meeeoow.'

'Meow, Meow…'

The cats greeted us, and some were circling around our legs. Mason picked a black cat and rested it on his shoulder, while I picked a yellow-blonde fluffy cat with blue eyes which somewhat resembled Mason.

We sat at a table, and the staff gave us the menu. I looked around and then asked him while he was checking the menu.

"Mason, did you book the whole cafe only for us?"

"Huh? What makes you think like that?" 

"Uh… it's just quite impossible for a cat cafe in the middle of the shopping district to be empty on the weekend," I said.

"Well, maybe we're just lucky. Do you think I have enough money to buy the whole cafe or the whole building?"

…

I never said anything about buying the whole cafe or whole building… 

"W—Well, you could book the whole cafe…."

"I also don't have that much money," Mason sighed. He patted the spoiled black cat who slept on his lap. "The money I got from modeling isn't much, and I used that to pay for my small apartment rent and to live."

"I'm sorry, Em. Hopefully, I can get more money in the future to bring you to a better place," Mason said.

"No, no! You don't need to! I'm just curious," I refused his generosity. "In fact… I should thank you for bringing me here," I smiled thinly while rubbing the chin of the fluffy yellow-blonde cat. 

Mason grinned, "I've been dying to bring you here, Em. You like cats, right? This is the perfect place for you to play with as many cats as possible."

"Huh? How do you know I like cats?" I frowned. I never said anything about wanting to have a cat. But my Mom wouldn't allow any pets in our house because they might be too expensive to keep, especially if they got sick and stuff. 

"I think many people like cats. I just saw through you that you're a cat person," Mason said smoothly, clearing any doubt in my heart, 

"Ah, true, I want to have a pet cat. But my Mom doesn't allow me…." I sighed. 

"That's unfortunate," Mason said. "But my date spot today is correct, right? You seem to be stressed out these days, so I thought, going to a cat cafe will help you de-stress."

De-stress, huh? 

That words reminded me of Leah and her gang because their way of de-stressing was quite extreme.

Oh well, this wasn't the time to think about those crazy druggies.

"Thank you, Mason. You really know how to make me happy," I said sincerely. This was actually the perfect dating spot I wanted. It made me feel fuzzy all over.

"Of course, I know how to make you happy, Em," Mason smiled mysteriously. "As long as you're happy, then I'm even happier."

Mason ordered an Ice coffee, he was about to order a snack for us, but I stopped him, "Hold on, you shouldn't order a snack. Because I bring my own."

"You did?"

"Yes," I said while taking out a box of bunny cookies from the tote bag. "This is my treat for you.. I made it myself."