Chapter 5
Nadia feels relief to finish her lessons and thanks to the map, managed to get to the courtyard in one piece. She looks up at the clocktower to see it hit at exactly 3:00 but she looks around to see no sign of Cortex. She goes towards the fountain and decides to sit on the ledge and entertain herself by reading her geology book and read about different stones. She was hoping to find anything about the mysterious purple crystal that she can see glittering from the bag. She remembered finding this since she was a child which got her into Geology, figured out how to break apart stone and rocks when she discovered the crystal inside it that caused her to be captivated by its beauty, but after all these years, she still can't find any information on it. She thought about going to the library for more information, especially getting help from the Cortex person she thought when she hears someone clearing their throat to gain her attention. She looks up to see a familiar giant 'N' on a big yellow head, looking down at her with a annoyed expression on his face. Nadia closes her book and swiftly stands up with a smile on her face. She was about to say 'hello' when Neo cuts her off by shoving a paper at her face. A page of his plan with her meeting time written on it,
"What the hell is this? You know you could just say you want to meet and not ruin my plans with your stinky smelling pen. Who has smelling gel pens? What are you? Five?" He points at the drawing of a pointed shape of a familiar crystal,
"And what is this? Does this suppose to mean something?" Nadia is at a loss for words, watching Neo being slightly angry at her was not her intention. Instead of talking to him, she reaches into her and brings out a big stone with a purple shine coming out of it and shows it to Cortex. He decides to humour her and gives it a closer look and se a similar shape right at the centre. He has to admit, it is something he has never seen before but he failed to see why it's important.
"It's…..pretty?" he said questionably while cocking his eyebrow. Nadia just shoves it closer to Neo so he can give it a closer look. He snatched it out of her hands and peer inside it to see the very shape that was on his paper but the colour and the shine is captivating, like he can't take his eyes off it. He noticed he as been staring at it and look up to see Nadia giving him that small smile again making his heart skip a beat. He clears his throat, shaking off his trance and hand the crystal back to her.
"Ok, well if that's all, I'm going to go and do some important things and not waste my time hanging around here with some random crystal" he turns when he hears an unfamiliar voice,
"Wait." This is the first time he heard her voice and he doesn't want to admit it, but it sounds almost musical, he turns around to see what she wants.
"I need your help." Again he cocked his eyebrow questionably at her, waiting for her to continue.
"There's something strange about this crystal, I have spent years trying to find information on it from Geology books to crystal books. I even asked scientists, archeoligists, geologists and even spirtualists and psychics and nobody knows anything about this, but all of them had the exact same look as you did when they looked at it." Neo gets a tinge of red on his cheeks from embarressment, he didn't think his look was obvious.
"And what look was that?" he said while clearing his throat as he sees Nadia give him a concern look,
"Like you're in a trance, like it's pulling you in. It's the same look you have when you staring at someone you love and can't take your eyes off them. Does that make sense?" Neo shakes his head,
"I wouldn't know, I've never been in love before. But how can I help?" Nadia smiles brightly as she puts the crystal back in her bag.
"Based on the plans and ideas I saw in Madame Amberley's class, you seem to be a very intelligent guy and I would like you to research it with me." Neo just crosses his arms,
"And what's in it for me?" Nadia tilts her head with confusion,
"In it?" Neo is getting annoyed.
"Yes, what do I get for helping you?" he said while crossing his arms while watching Nadia thinking.
"You have me as a friend!" she said with confidence, trying to sound as intimidating as possible, hopefully it will impress Neo, but it didn't. Neo can't help but laugh at the absurdity,
"um...no, villians technically doesn't have 'friends', they have either minions or assistants." Nadia nods with understanding.
"Ok, I'll be your assistant and you'll be mine. That seems fair." she said with a smile on her face and the mst annoying thing is, Neo can't argue with that and grudgingly accepts.
"Let's start tomorrow! Ginny wants us to go out campus to the new burger place for lunch. We can talk more about them then and get Ginny to join to. It will be so much fun!" Neo can't help but watch her happily picking her bag.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Nadia says and walks off leaving Cortex staring after her and subconsiously wave back at her with a small smile, when he realised what he's doing he slaps his hand down and shakes his head to make himself back to his evil self. Without realising for the both of them, a subtle clicking sound from the bush behind them where a camera lense slightly poking out, aiming where Neo and Nadia were. The mysterious person puts the camera down revealing bright, amber eyes, giving a low, menacing chuckle as he watches Neo walking into the school building.