Flames Of Redemption

6

She was studying, but for some reason, Vesper came to her mind. Vesper's grades, to be more specific.

The girl didn't really know what kind of student Vesper really was, but she said she had A's. It was weird because she had checked some of Vesper's notes in class, and they were all wrong.

Did she lie?

Her mind then reminded her of Nate and Vesper, as if she didn't have better things to think about.

"Would you just stop? I'm trying to focus here! Stop thinking about it!" Regan said to her mind out loud, but it sounded a bit loud.

"Hey dear, with whom were you talking?" Monica suddenly entered the room.

"Holy shit," Regan muttered. She hadn't expected her aunt to be just behind the door.

"Huh...Vesper called me for some homework...why are you here?" She was a bit embarrassed, trying to change the subject.

"I'll pick up some laundries."

"Oh, okay."

***

Regan was hungry now as she hadn't eaten since lunch in school and the time was 7pm.

Guess she got too carried away with this test.

The girl put the phone on charge and headed downstairs. She was hearing familiar voices but who?

It didn't take a lot of time to find out.

She observed Vesper engaged in a deep conversation with her aunt, and wondered what they could be discussing. They appeared to have a long-standing connection, speaking as if they had known each other for years.

"Hi," Regan greeted, although her voice came out raspy due to her lack of water intake.

"Oh, Regan, Vesper arrived a while ago and mentioned that the two of you will be working on homework," her aunt informed, while Vesper smirked.

"Hey Reggie, glad to see me?" Vesper asked.

"Hey Vesper, I'm so happyyy to see you," Regan forced a smile. She wasn't happy to see her at all. She was exhausted by studying and doing homework and was going eat now and watch movies on laptop but....willingly or not, she was interrupted from doing this.

"Can I get Vesper to my room? She wants to see it," Regan asked. What she was trying to do was to ask Vesper about what's all that.

"Of course have fun."

Vesper immediately got up and headed upstairs just like knowing her room was upstairs. Did Regan ever tell her that? She followed close in, closing the room's door behind her.

"Okay so I was thinking about a sleepover."

"What sleepover are you talking about? I have test tomorrow!" Regan said frustrated.

"Relax, I was joking... I came to hang out," Vesper scoffed.

"But you didn't say earlier about this."

"I'm just trying to hang out with my bestie." She tried her best to make puppy eyes and somehow she got Regan to feel guilty about being a bit mean first.

The girl let out a sigh and started going downstairs.

"Where are you going?" she shouted behind her back.

"I'm hungry, I'm going to get something to eat."

"Bring something for me too!"

Regan ignored her words even though she knew that she would bring her something because would feel guilty if she didn't.

She took some bread and Nutella and headed upstairs again. When she entered, she saw Vesper holding the red rose from earlier. Vesper looked restless, and as soon as she saw Regan, something flickered in her light brown eyes but Regan couldn't figure it out.

"Who gave you this?" Vesper asked, narrowing her eyes. Even her voice seemed restless.

Regan shrugged, "My aunt got it, she likes roses...Why?"

Vesper seemed to calm down a little, letting out a sight. She placed the rose back where it was and Regan couldn't help but be confused.

"Well...uh...I thought of something else," Vesper mumbled, glancing around the room.

"What?" Regan asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh, so sorry Reggie, I was talking nonsense. My mind went back to my parents who are out of town that's why," Vesper cleared, trying to cover up her slip.

This didn't clear Regan's confusion. She was still uncertain of Vesper's reaction. What did she think earlier?

"No problem, do you like cocoa spread? If you want something else to eat-"

"No it's okay, I like Nutella," Vesper smiled.

They played games, talked and ate, and Regan would glance at time, silently calculating for how much time Vesper had been in her room.

She tried to think her a good company even though sometimes her mind tried to convince otherwise.

However...Vesper sometimes acted so bizarre that made Regan feel normal compared.

Suddenly, Vesper's phone buzzed with notifications and her features twisted into a frown when she apparently read them.

"Oh, look at the time, it's late. I'm going home," she said after a while, her expression unreadable.

"You're right. It's late. Good night," Regan said, finally relieved. She couldn't deny, she even blamed herself but still, Vesper held a weird aura hanging around her.

She hugged Regan before leaving and it caught her off guard but she hugged her back, not knowing what else to do.

After Vesper left, the clock was eleven pm. Regan didn't had time to watch movies. Her aunt told her that she'll come and check if Regan slept at the right time.

She did a short notes review and changed to her long sleepwear.

Then she again started to think about Vesper. There was something strange about this girl, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She didn't know if it was normal to feel that way. They just meet a day before after all.

Sleep wasn't coming to her at all. She drank a sleeping pill and hoped it would work. At least that was something that Monica was aware of. She knew that Regan couldn't sleep sometimes, so she would buy her these kind of pills. Regan didn't want to drink them because she didn't want to rely on them. But her mind seemed to not really mind it.