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"I'm just saying, we should be rather lucky that we've been learning everything so fast," Blake was telling Layla and Amber on the way to school. The summer break had ended with their last week finishing off with that latest encounter with Ires. The incident had been all over the news, and they weren't spotted through any of it. Although, a few witnesses claimed to have heard gunshots in the mall where no gunman was found and while running from the multi-car crash they could hear strange grunts.
"I agree. But I think that we've done really well for our first time working together fighting Ires," Amber continued their conversation on how they did that day, "For having to deal with that large horde the way we did as a beginner's team I say we did really well. Especially Layla despite her limits."
"I'm... not sure how I feel about that," Layla muttered, looking away. Blake stifled a chuckle. They've been really happy with the results of their training thus far, and that was enough for them to celebrate. Especially with Layla being extremely helpful with crowd control during the fight, things went a lot more smoothly than she had expected. Even Ryne couldn't help but to smile and give praise to Blake earlier in the day before he and Maria left to return to their home for... "preparations", whatever that meant.
"Main thing is that civilians and innocent lives were put in the least amount of danger with your work," Ryne had told Blake, "Keep that up and this city will be safer in the long run. Remember that, kid." His words had taken the young Knight by surprise; the man was never known for saying anything nice to her since he always viewed her as a responsibility he got for screwing his Guardian. Literally.

"In any case, we should still keep things low-key between us. Which means we need a place where no one can find us and we can train with ease," Blake brought up the point that the girls could not be contempt with one victory. Layla and Amber nodded in agreement; Ires never took breaks and they never stopped for anything. All three girls knew that they would need to keep their strength up and be ready at all times. This meant that even if they were in school, they would need to be ready to leave at any moment to defend their city from any future Ire attacks.
"That's gonna be hard for you, Blake," Layla commented idly, "I mean, aren't you really popular? We can't just have you ditching school all of a sudden with two other classmates; rumors will spread."
"And you honestly think that'll stop me?" Blake asked casually. Amber and Layla exchanged glances before Amber gave her a solid "Yes." Blake blinked.
"Of course you'd think that. Then again, you aren't wrong," Blake said as they entered the main building.
"The rumor thing may not affect you, but it will look quite badly on those much lower in the social chain," Amber pointed out, gesturing to herself and Layla. This matter was also very true; if Blake began disappearing from school, the students of Cor Fortium would go crazy and spread wild stories about why she would have run off with two other students. It may get out of hand and cause the faculty and staff to try and investigate on the matter, which sounded much worse. Layla felt a slight chill run down her spine at the mere thought of one of the teachers trying to follow them out the school. If things went the way that was going and they ended up calling her parents...
"I think it would be best if you guys didn't think about it. Who knows if it'll really go that far," Blake quickly said as she watched Layla and Amber's faces go white with worry. Whatever they were thinking of, Blake didn't want to know. And for the sake of their sanity and her own, it would be best if they began praying that it never gets that far.

The school day came and went normally. As per usual, at the end of the final class, Amber and Layla watched from their side of the classroom as students began surrounding Blake once more. Some of the boys and girls were holding envelopes in their hands as well, hiding them from Blake behind their backs but in plain view for Layla and Amber to see with interest.
"Which one of them do you think is going to give theirs first?" Amber whispered, suppressing her giggling. They were talking about which one of the shy students would be brave enough to go first. They weren't surprised that it was Blake that was going to be receiving the letters due to who she was to the rest of the student body so their only interest was the mental fortitude of extremely shy students gathering up the courage to confess. Many of the students rubbed their fingers over their envelopes with restlessness, finding an opportunity to speak up before it was too late. Finally, after minutes of nothing, Amber spotted one of the boys making their move, pushing his way through the crowd of students towards Blake. A few moments of hushed conversation later, Layla and Amber noticed the boy emerging from the crowd once more with Blake right behind him. All the students in the classroom became silent as they watched the boy and Blake step out of the classroom to speak in the hall.
"Three. Two," Layla counted down, looking away from the door. "One," Amber finished, and right on cue, the classroom watched as Blake returned, the boy's letter in her hand and the boy no where to be found. Before returning to her seat, she opened the letter and read its contents, then took out the letter and folded it up neatly before placing it in her pocket and throwing away the envelope. When she returned to her seat, she greeted the crowd once more, and the classroom returned to its normal, noisy state. Amber sighed.
"Looks like she rejected him too. I'm not surprised," she said.
"How many times have you seen this happening? I mean, you are one of her biggest fangirls, right?" Layla asked curiously. Amber thought about it for a moment, before blushing and hiding her face herself. Layla smiled knowingly and leaned towards her flustered friend.
"You've seen all of the times she's been confessed to, haven't you?" Layla said slowly in a hushed tone. She smiled wickedly, knowing fully well the type of person Amber was. Sure enough, as she had thought, Amber nodded her head slowly, conceding to the truth. Amber raised her head once more, still slightly red, and looked up at Layla with puppy-dog eyes. Layla laughed.
"Don't think that those puppy-dog eyes are gonna get you out of this mess," she told Amber, "I just wanted to tease because I already know the truth." Amber face-palmed as Layla laughed at her friend's embarrassment, not knowing that it had caught Blake's attention. Not only that, but it had also caught her friend Daniel's attention as well, who nudged Blake back towards her current state.

"Yo, you've been hanging with those two cuties during the summer I heard," Daniel said, "You let them head over to your place, right? You know them?"
"Um, yeah. I do. What about?" Blake asked, wondering why Daniel decided to say that. He scratched his head and looked away, as if he was embarrassed about what he was going to ask next.
"W-well I... uh..." he trailed off as he looked over at the two girls again. Blake smiled. She had seen that look on her friend before, and she had known what it usually resulted in shortly after.
"You like one of my friends over there, don't you, Daniel?" Blake said with a cheeky smile as some of the girls surrounding her squealed softly. Daniel's eyes went wide and he nearly jumped out of his uniform in surprise and embarrassment.
"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no I don't," he stuttered wildly, shaking his head madly. Blake couldn't help but to laugh. She really did know her best friend too well.
"Aw, no need to be so embarrassed, man. I'm just joking," Blake said, hands raised in surrender, "Although Im still curious as to why you asked."
"Well," Daniel replied as soon as he composed himself, "The school's Homecoming dance is coming up and... I... uh..."
"Wanted to ask the one you like to go to the dance as your plus one, eh Daniel?" Blake finished with a smug grin on her face. Before Daniel could explode into another flustered outburst of emotions, a female student from the crowd surrounding them asked to speak with Blake in private just like the boy before. Blake smiled to the girl, nodding.
"Be right back," Blake told Daniel as she got up from her seat once again, "When I get back, be sure you let me know if I was right or not, 'kay?" With that, Blake left Daniel bright red and everywhere as she stepped out of the classroom once again.

Layla and Amber sighed. Yet another student had taken Blake out of the classroom with a letter in her hand. They knew what was going to happen, but they also understood what it meant to each of those students waiting their turn for that heartbreak just outside the classroom.
"What's with all the letters anyway? This is much more than usual," Layla wondered suddenly. Amber blinked blankly. It did seem odd, but she just never noticed that at this time, there were more students asking to speak with Blake than usual.
"It does seem off, but I can't really think of a reason why," Amber noted, stumped from wondering what could be the reason.
"Maybe it's because the Homecoming Dance is just around the corner around this time," Blake replied with a smile, scaring the daylights out of the two girls. While they were busy wondering about why Blake was getting so many confession letters, they failed to notice that Blake's crowd had long since gone and the only ones left in the classroom were Layla, Amber, Blake, and Daniel who decided to stay right by Blake's desk instead of following her.
"Geez Blake don't scare me like that!" Layla grumbled as Blake stifled her laughter.
"Sorry, it's just that you two were so out of it that I thought it would be funny," Blake replied, calming down, "But yeah, to answer your question, it's probably because of the Homecoming Dance."
"And what makes you think that's the reason?" Amber asked Blake, "Hoping to find a plus one for yourself?"
"Hah! Not me," Blake replied, "My buddy Daniel over there is the one keeping his hopes up." Blake threw her thumb towards Daniel behind her as Layla and Amber looked to see who he was. Becoming aware that he was the topic of discussion, he gulped and nervously waved at the three girls, who waved back so that it didn't look or feel awkward. Blake leaned closer to the two other girls with a smile.

"He's hoping that one of you will be willing to be his date to the Homecoming Dance," Blake whispered to them, "That's why he's still here."