Tua swore under her breath, taking off her sunglasses.
"Oh. Um. Sorry, I'm new to this class- just transferred, actually! And just for the day, probably. So I don't know the seating arrangement yet." A man with black hair stopped in front of her with a slightly irritated expression and waited. Tua leveled him with a deadpan look of her own until he moved along. "So, hi!" She said, turning back to Seth with what she hoped was a charming smile. "I'm Tua, I don't think we've met. I'm low-key stalking your best friend, I guess you've heard of me?"
Seth shook his head. New to this class, did she think he was stupid?
"Oh honey, I've done more than just heard of you. Kyran can't shut up about you and not in a good way." He sighed. "He told me about the challenge he set up for you. You should be honored, he's never done this for any admirer before. Well, not like he had any to begin with. But if you're coming to me for answers, I can't help you. Not only would he kill me for giving you the answers, I probably don't even know them."
"Awwww he talks about me!" Tua grinned, absently fiddling with her blonde wig. "That's cute. And see, he very secretly doesn't want to murder me, but he won't admit it because that would be bad for the whole 'I'm tall, dark, handsome and mysterious and I may or may not have killed a man," vibe he's got going on," She said, pitching her voice as deep as it could go to imitate Kyran. "I really hope he hasn't killed a man," she added as an afterthought.
Sety snorted, rolling his eyes with a smile. "I seriously doubt he has but with what I know about him, eh. I certainly wouldn't put it past him." He shrugged.
"So, out of curiosity, what questions did he ask you? He said there were three but didn't explain past that."
"He DID say there were three, and then that conniving son of a rampallion asked FOUR," Tua exclaimed heatedly. "He's lucky I like him, or I wouldn't put up with this kind of deception. Anyways, you'll have to ask him the exact ones. I kinda don't want you to know because I feel like you would probably not answer them if I asked." Tua scratched her head and studied Seth. "Hang on, he said he met you in middle school, right? That's a long time to know someone, how come you think you wouldn't know the answers?"
(I'm SO SORRY I took so long to respond to that one!!)
(It's fine, don't worry about it!)
Seth shrugged. "Kyran isn't one to talk about himself. He keeps a lot of things under wraps and most of it involves family. He didn't grow up in the town we met in, though he never told me where he had come from. He keeps that kind of stuff locked up like a bank vault. I've known this guy almost a whole decade and I don't think I've ever seen his house once, much less the people that live in it. And I know this is probably one of the questions but even I'm not totally sure of the answer so I can tell you this, Kyran has two older siblings. A brother and sister. Though I'm about 90% sure he has younger ones too, I've got nothing on how many."
Tua nodded, eyebrows pinched.
Damn. Kyran really was incredibly secretive… Savannah had only known her for a few years, and could already pretty much predict exactly what mood Tua was in and how her day had gone based on what socks she was wearing. Tua, in turn, could rattle off the favorite color of everyone in Savannah's family and the exact list of names (both boy and girl) her pregnant older sister was considering. Tua couldn't imagine knowing someone for as long as Seth knew Kyran and barely knowing anything about them, or about their background at least. That was… kind of concerning?
It was worth repeating: She really, really hoped he hadn't killed a man.
"Wow. Secretive guy," Tua remarked to Seth lightly. "I appreciate it though, really… Would you mind if I just asked you a few questions straight-up?"
"You know what? Fire away. What's the worst that could happen." He sighed and turned to look at her. "Just so long as you promise not to tell Ky that I helped you with this or else it's my head on the chopping block. The guy already doesn't have like any friends but I know from experience that he won't hesitate to cut off the ones he does and honestly, it's kind of sad how much he isolates himself but what can you do."
"On my honor as a gentleman," Tua promised, raising her right hand. She silently turned the phrase 'from experience' over in her head… There was definitely a story there. Best not to ask about it (for now).
"What middle school did you two meet in?"
"P.S. 22. I know, real creative but that's what you get when you live in a big city. And before you ask which one, it was New York City. I was mostly raised in Maryland so neither of us really have the accent despite growing up there."
"That's probably for the best," Tua acknowledged, making absolutely no effort to conceal the fact she was writing notes on everything he said. She had a thing for New York accents, if Kyran had one she probably would have spontaneously combust a long time ago. "Did either of you play any sports or anything? I did soccer," she added when she was done jotting down information with her neon green gel pen.
"He did archery in his spare time. Quite the impressive marksman, I'll tell you that. So if you want to daydream of archer Kyran, I'm not going to stop you, I would too." He laughed with a shake of his head before continuing. "I was actually normal and did basketball but dropped it in high school after I broke my leg in my last middle school game."
"Basketball? Nice, I did that for two years in Highschool! Sorry to hear about your leg though, that's a shame." Tua took a moment to leaf through her notebook. "Give me a sec… Did you ever meet any member of his family? Like, who dropped him off at school and whatnot before he could drive?" Tua recited from her list of questions. (So far, she had asked two out of three. Past that, she had written 'Just wing it' with a smiley face.)
He shook his head. "No idea. Blacked out windows. I never saw a driver. No one ever did. I've seen his mom before though. Once. Let's just say, she's not a nice lady. I have a high suspicion that Kyran's the way he is because he was emotionally abused. Although that could just be me overestimating the comments she made."
"Damn." Tua went quiet for a minute. Blacked out windows? His best friend only ever saw his mom once, and was convinced in that time she was abusive? A sudden wave of concern hit her- Had she been too aggressive?? She was no expert, but if he had been emotionally abused at some point wasn't it like. NOT good to loudly pine after him in public.
He'd only seemed irritated though… hmm, food for thought.
"What kind of comments?"
"Nothing major, I'm assuming because I was there but they seemed be veiled threats and backhanded compliments. That was when she actually paid attention to him. Most of the time she was too busy focusing on his other siblings."
"Threats? And hang on, didn't you say you hadn't met any of his other family? What do you mean she focused more on his other siblings??" Tua said, frowning. A second later her eyes widened and she grinned at Seth a little apologetically. "Sorry, man. I'm really not trying to sound like I'm interrogating you or anything, that's just. Kinda concerning, ya know?"
"Well, she always said she was busy helping out one of his siblings or that someone was calling for her. Kyran seemed to be ignored in his own home, treated like some kind of outcast. They may have seem him as the family regret."
"Wow." Tua said out loud, sitting back in her seat.
…In all honesty, she had kind of been able to tell that there had at some point been something sketchy going on with Kyran's life, but she had hoped she was just being paranoid. "That's… pretty messed up. I'm glad you were friends with him back then." She was quiet for a minute and then laughed a little nervously. "Yeah, so I'm just going to stop the whole police interrogation thing, that don't feel right in this situation… I don't know." Tua slumped backwards, waving her hands wildly. "I mean, I feel like he wouldn't have given me the questions if he didn't think I would try and find out, but it feels pretty disrespectful to try and dig this stuff up on another person, y'know? I don't know, what do you think?"
Seth just shrugged. "Kyran's never tried to stop anyone from finding out anything. He just never tells them anything himself." He flashed her a weak smile. "But out of curiosity, what's the last question? Can't say I know the answer but I might be able to point you in the right direction."
“Who was his first love,” Tua told him. “With how the rest of this conversation has gone, I’m half expecting the answer to be Darkness, or loneliness, or something. But yeah, can you help me with that one?”
"Finally! One I actually know!" He laughed. "This one is deceptively simple. Oh I remember her well. Haylee Tinsdale. Dated for three years from sophomore year to senior year. Turns out she was a manipulative bitch who was only using him for his money." Seth sucked on his teeth. "Yeah, I'm probably the only person that Kyran actually trusts. Everyone else either hates him or just wants to use him."
"That sucks," Tua said, a little lamely. "And yeah, I know the type…Also, is he from one of those old-money family types? Because that the vibe I'm starting to get. I would NOT have pegged him for the type, to be honest," Tua said, eyebrows raised. After a beat of silence, she remembered her purpose for chatting with Seth in the first place and scrambled to write down 'HAYLEE TINSDALE' in sparkly red letters under her last question. She added a descriptive drawing of Regina George beside it on a whim. Satisfied, she turned back to Seth. "What can I say, I guess the patricians are everywhere. They could be any of us. YOU could be one, for all I know," she finished, eyeing him skeptically.
Seth snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Remember what I said, Kyran isn't afraid to cut anyone off that he deems necessary to cut off. You really think I'd still be here if he thought I was?"
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Kyran comes from a successful family. His brother is expected to take over the family business and his sister is a famous lawyer. So it's safe to say there was and still is a lot of pressure on him from his family. But he never worked hard enough, learned fast enough, he was never enough to them. So this is who he is now. A broken, burnt out and emotionally drained college student who doesn't know how to let people in."
(Hehe, expositional best friend is greatest best friend)
