Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🌹 The Red Rose Tyrant🌹 Chapter 7

"Whoa, didn't know you had that in you..." The delinquent who fell over said to the trio in disbelief.

The delinquent who got punched grabbed his friend and glared at the trio. "Look, I'm gonna let you off the hook this time, but only 'cuz I don't want my pasta getting' cold." They ran off, letting the students who were watching the fight disband once the losers left.

"Pfft! I knew you were all talk! You better hope I never see you again!" Grim teases the boys as they left, laughing at their cowardness.

Angel sighs as she heads towards the three. "What happened to 'no more incidents'?" She asked the three coldly, making them shiver.

Ace sighs, trying to get Angel's tone of voice out of his mind. "Can we just get some lunch already? I missed breakfast, and I'm about to collapse." Angel looked at the three and just sighs at them, continuing to get their lunch and sit at a table together, with Ace and Deuce at one side of the table and Angel on the other side, with Grim sitting on the table, enjoying his reward of grilled chicken.

Deuce sighs. "I can't believe this. Textbook bullies at an academy that's supposed to be famous for producing exceptional mages..."

"Maybe they're prideful to be here, just like Crowley said," Angel added, making Deuce nod at her words.

"You may be right. It puts a sour taste in my mouth that even this school has them. If one has them, then they all have them I guess," Deuce sighs.

"Aw, get over it already. It's time to chow like the wind!" Grim says as he starts to eat his food, and the three teens follow his example.

"Sometimes, I wonder how you could be so carefree, Grim," Angel says as she eats her pasta.

"I don't know. Just don't focus on things like that!" He says as he stuffs his face with the food Angel got him. He squeals in delight. "This omelet is as fluffy as a cloud, and practically burstin' with cheese!" He continues to chew while everyone else eats. After a while, Grim had to ask. "So, we saw your guys' dorm, but what are the other ones like?"

"Yeah, now that I think about it. I've been curious about it as well. There's seven dorms, right? Is each of them after the seven?" Angel asks.

"Oooh! Our little teacup is very observant!" a familiar voice behind Angel says, causing the four of them to look at Cater and another boy beside him. The boy was a little taller than Cater, with short green hair and glasses, with a clover mark under his left eye. He was wearing the same uniform as the others, letting Angel know that he was another student of Heartslabyul.

"Teacup...?" Angel asks about the name, in which Cater just winks at her and sits on her right side.

"Yeah! Teacup, because you're just as small and cute as a teacup!" Cater tells her and pokes her cheek while Angel processes his statement, trying to see the resemblance between her and a teacup as he says. Ace and Deuce glare daggers at Cater, in which he ignores and happily pokes her. The other boy sighs and sits on her left side, making Angel be sandwiched between the two boys.

"Anyway," Cater says as he addresses the group. "I'm sure you're familiar with the statues of the Great Seven? Night Raven College has a dorm themed after each one."

Ace eyes widen in realization. "Bwah! You're that guy from this morning!"

"You tricked us into paintin' those dumb roses!" Grim adds with his frown on his face.

"'Tricked' is such an ugly word. Do you think I wanted to spend MY morning painting roses?" Cater sighs as he continues to poke Angel's cheek. "It's dorm policy! I was just following orders."

"And grinning like a fiend all the while," Deuce says with a shrug, remembering how Cater basically tricked them into painting roses with a smile on his face.

"Now, now, Deucey," Cater says as he stops poking Angel's cheek, hands up in surrender. "Outside the dorm, I don't care what rules you follow. Here, I'm just a friendly mentor figure!" He says with a smile, while the other boy beside Angel just chuckles.

"Please. Do NOT call me Deucey," Deuce says a little creeped out by Cater saying it. Angel just giggles at him, causing Deuce to blush at the nickname and giggle.

"Ah ha ha. That's how Cater shows he cares," the boy besides Angel says as he tries to stop chuckling.

"And who are you? And why sit beside Angel?" Ace asks the strange boy.

"Oh? I thought the seat was available since all the other seats were taken, after all," the boy answers Ace's question. "I should introduce myself. The name's Trey. Trey Clover. I'm a junior at Heartslabyul like Cater here." He turns to Angel. "And you must be Angel, the new prefect from that dump of a- ah, I mean, the 'rustic' dorm." He says as he tries to catch the slip of the words out of his mouth.

"Ah ha ha...you can say it, we know," Angel awkwardly smiles at Trey, sweat dropping knowing at what word was going to come out of his mouth.

"I heard the whole story from Cater. Thanks for looking out for our boys yesterday," Trey gives her a smile, in which she blushes.

"I don't recall inviting you to sit with us..." Ace mumbles with Cater and Trey overhearing.

"Hey now, we're all from the same dorm, right? Let's try to get along. Here, gimmie your digits." Cater asks everyone in the table. Ace and Deuce sigh before telling Cater their phones numbers. Angel only looks in confusion at the exchange, with all of them having their eyes on her as they wait for her number.

"I...I don't have a phone..." Angel says quietly, causing everyone to be stunned.

"For real!? I've read about luddites like you, but never imagined I'd meet one in the wild!" He exclaims, while Ace and Deuce sighs.

"Angel here doesn't have one since she was...forced here, making her drop her stuff," Deuce says as he tries to find the words to not make her condition more suspicious, which she was grateful for.

Cater thinks about what Deuce said. "Then that doesn't mean we shouldn't let her have a phone! I know a place that sells the latest models cheap. How about you and I go on a phone-shopping date, teacup? We could go to that new cafe that opened up and eat sweets!"He asks Angel while he winks are her, causing her blush again. Ace and Deuce only scoff at Cater's flirting.

"Cater. You're freaking out the freshmen. Maybe take it down a notch?" Trey tells Cater, seeing her nervousness.

Cater chuckles as lean back from Angel's face. "Ha! Sorry! I can get a little extra sometimes. What were we talking about...The dorms, yeah? Ah, what fun to mentor new students! Go ahead, A-M-A."

Ace speaks up first. "Before you get into the other dorms, I wouldn't mind learning a bit more about ours. Like, what's the deal with all this 'Queen of Hearts rule number whatever' junk?"

"I'm sure you're familiar with the legendary Queen of Hearts already?" Trey starts to explain.

"Ace told me a little about her yesterday so more or less, yes," Angel says, making Trey brighten up with her statement.

"She had to rule over a kingdom of weirdos and did it by emphasizing order and making strict rules," he explains.

"Our dorm, Heartslabyul, is an homage to her," Cater adds to Trey's explanation. "By tradition, we wear armbands with the red and black of the Queen's dress, and we live by the rules she created." Angel notices the armbands they were wearing and assumed that her previous assumptions about it were right. So, they were all dormmates

"Pfft. Can you make me any more bored?" Grim says with a blank face, until Angel pulls his tail slightly, surprising him.

"You wanted to learn about the dorms, Grim. It doesn't hurt to listen you know," she whispers to him while Grim just grunts.

Cater continues. "Now, the degree to which we adhere to the rules depends on the sitting housewarden. Past wardens have been much more lax."

"Riddle though? He doesn't mess around. Basically, you could say that we're honoring that tradition to the utmost extent possible." Trey finishes.

Ace groans. "Bleah. Just my luck..."

"So what are the other dorms like, then?" Grim asks.