Innocent Devil’s Harem Ch. 86

June 5, 2022

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<< Chapter 85 | Ch 1 (Book 1) | Ch 16 (Book 2) | Ch 31 (Book 3) | Ch 46 (Book 4) | Ch 61 (Book 5) | Ch 76 (Book 6)

- CHAPTER 86 -

When Avery and I got to school, I decided to park as far away from the rest of the student vehicles as possible, just so we could have a clear escape in the event we were bombarded with a mob of her friends asking questions afterward. Of course, I knew I was just being paranoid, but we’d made it in enough time to avoid being late, and could use the extra walking time just to get comfortable with our initial plan.

Which was to walk in, physically touching.

Thus, with my backpack on my shoulders, my hand holding onto one strap, while Avery casually held onto the crook of my bent arm, we strolled right into the first hallway past the Junior lockers. Of course, I figured that our obvious physical touching would draw some attention. But, that was kind of the point. It was the easiest way to make it clear to a large number of people that we were together now.

However, I honestly didn’t expect to draw this much attention.

I was confident we both had our ‘charm’ reigned in, but that didn’t stop almost every single person from either outright gawking at us, or else nudging the person next to them to tell them to ‘look.’ And it really was almost everyone, with there being just enough people reacting to cause those who ‘didn’t know what was up’ to stop to try to figure out what all the commotion was about. Like some kind of social chemical reaction, there was just enough catalyst to affect the whole system, causing our casual walk down the hall to become way more of a spectacle than I was anticipating.

Usually, physical displays of affection, or PDA, wasn’t allowed at school, but a lot of the teachers let little things slide -- things like how Avery was casually holding onto my arm, the rest of her body just barely far enough away so that we weren’t technically touching otherwise.

And sure enough, even as I briefly exchanged glances with a few of the teachers who were standing by their classrooms, as was normal when most of the students were in the hall, none of them said anything, seeming just as stunned as the others.

I supposed I shouldn’t have been too surprised there.

Most of the teachers loved me.

I was always respectful in class, always paid attention, usually had the right answer if called on, and was always willing to help with something if requested of me. Not necessarily because I was trying to be a nerd, but instead because I knew that my former court-assigned legal guardian might have an issue with me living with Serenity if my grades ended up suffering.

Between that, as well as a lot of the teachers having a general idea of my home life, and the fact that I didn’t seem to really have any friends, there wasn’t really a single one who didn’t know exactly who I was. Even those who I’d never actually had a class with.

So between my popularity with the teachers, and Avery’s popularity with pretty much everyone, no matter what grade they were in, it kind of made sense we were drawing this level of attention.

Still shocking though.

I figured people wouldn’t start whispering and gawking until we actually got in class, but oh no, they were already stopping awkwardly to stare in the hallway as if their brains couldn’t register what they were seeing.

Avery and I had our first class together, so I walked her to her locker so she could unload all her stuff, literally having taken everything home with her. Aside from the cute decorations on the inside of the door, it had been bare when she first opened it. And then, we walked to my locker to grab my stuff.

Everyone was staring.

Still moving, still grabbing their stuff or heading to their classes…

But staring.

Damn.

And I wasn’t the only one a little surprised. Avery seemed stunned too, likewise not thinking it would be this bad. Our first class was English with Mr. Crawford, a guy who was only twenty-four years old, and was actually kind of a cool teacher who got along well with most of the students. Played videogames and such, and loved to talk about the things that interested his students. Was also popular with the female students, just because he was fairly good-looking, well-groomed, fairly well built, and was in a position of authority -- one of the ‘hot teachers,’ in the opinion of some of the girls at least.

He especially seemed friendly with me, because he’d met Serenity once at a school ‘open house’ a couple years ago when he first started, and unmistakably had taken an interest in her -- was friendly, even before I ended up having him as a teacher this year. Almost to the point of being annoying sometimes, with him trying to be buddy-buddy.

But for the most part, he was fine.

In total, out of our seven classes for the day, Avery and I had three together.

First period with Mr. Crawford, fourth period Pre-Calculus with Mrs. Hayes just before lunch, and then sixth period Chemistry with Mr. Schneider. Most of our teachers sat us alphabetically, whereas a few let us pick our seats. In our fourth period and sixth period class together, it was alphabetical, which meant that Avery sat right behind me for our Chemistry class toward the end of the day, whereas there was a Bates and Baker who sat between us in our pre-lunch Pre-Calculus class.

But first period was different.

Wanting to be the ‘cool teacher,’ Mr. Crawford let us sit where we wanted.

And since I’d spent most of my school life sitting in one of the very first seats, I sat down where I normally would end up, and didn’t budge when he told everyone they could choose whatever seat they wanted, since it didn’t really matter to me…

Avery also didn’t budge, having claimed the seat behind me the moment she walked in, probably being familiar enough with the students to know there was one kid with a last name between us that would separate us for the entire year if we’d been placed alphabetical.

Certainly, I hadn’t paid much attention to her most of the time, but I’d at least been aware of how relieved she was when realizing she wouldn’t have to move -- I even remembered her immediately opening her book and notebook, making it look like it would be a big hassle to clean up, in case someone tried bargaining for the seat, essentially claiming the space for herself.

Making it obvious that she was going to sit in that seat, and no one was going to move her.

My recollection of the memory, which she had no problem picking up through our bond, was currently a little embarrassing for her, but it helped that I now found it endearing.

Also helped that the slight tanning underneath her shirt immediately caused her to be reminded of the fact that she couldn’t afford those kinds of emotions right now. She needed to be the calm, collected, confident Avery that she usually presented when dealing with a non-Kai situation.

Or as she clarified in our bond, a mundane uninteresting not-the-source-of-her-love-and-infatuation situation.

It was odd having her call it an infatuation, but she felt like it better represented how she felt, being stronger than the word love, and viewing it as a more powerful and permanent version of interest…

Which was interesting, considering that was how Miriam claimed she felt too.

Feeling like ‘love’ wasn’t enough.

It was more a permanent unending infatuation.

Avery had stopped holding onto my arm by this point, with us walking into class about a minute before the bell, causing me to hope maybe we’d avoid too much additional attention for now. I mean, on the one hand, I knew we had to get this over with, but on the other hand, I sincerely hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

It was like people were just shell-shocked and dumbfounded by what they were seeing.

Was it possible that rumors had circulated while we were gone for two days?

I mean, we normally sat together at lunch, so both of us missing in front of a third of the student body -- considering that lunch was separated into three sections -- might have been enough to stir up the gossiping on Monday, and possibly caused it to really go out of control on Tuesday.

Between that and us showing up together on Wednesday, maybe that’s why people were reacting this way.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anyway to know unless someone mentioned it.

Doubtful they would to me though. Maybe Avery.

And even though I had really good hearing, sounds got too jumbled up when there were enough of them, for me to distinguish individual conversations, which was the same problem I had when I was at the hospital with Avery and Michelle.

However, it quickly became clear we wouldn’t be off the hook for even this period.

The moment we sat down together in our respective seats, Mr. Crawford walked right over and sat down on the desk right next to me, still being temporarily empty even though over half the students were in class by this point.

He normally dressed at least somewhat professionally, today wearing an untucked button-up shirt with tan pants which were probably a bit too tight for him -- no doubt some of the female classmates would appreciate that fact.

“So now,” he said cheerfully, looking as chummy as ever. “When did you two happen?”

I realized he must have seen us in the hallway if he was already making assumptions, since I was sure we hadn’t shown enough inside the classroom to come to that conclusion.

But needless to say, all conversation in the room died off immediately.

Just like that.

I sighed heavily, acting like it wasn’t a big deal, not looking at him or back at her.

“Since Saturday. Picked her and her mom up from the hospital after they were in a car accident.”

Sure enough, that immediately turned the conversation around.

He was immediately concerned, focusing on her instead.

“Oh God, are you both alright? Is that why you were out the last two days?”

Unlike my uninterested attitude, Avery was much more animated and reassuring -- technically, normal behavior for us both.

“Yeah, my mom and I both had concussions. She was worse than me, so I actually took off yesterday too, just to make sure she was alright. She threw up a few times at the hospital, and was dizzy the last few days. But don’t tell the office that. Don’t think staying home to take care of a parent is a valid excuse to be off.”

He scoffed. “Well, you’re allowed a few unexcused absences anyway. And if you had a concussion too, then there’s nothing wrong with you making sure you get enough rest to recuperate.”

Avery paused, mentally verifying with me, to go ahead and just rip off the band-aid -- to not try to hide how serious we were, so that people would get over it faster.

She continued when I silently indicated I was fine with it.

And apparently everyone else bonded with us was interested, because I could sense that Natalie, Serenity, and Gwen were all intensely focused on our interactions now. Gwen especially seemed…almost enthralled, back inside the mansion but just stopped in a hallway as she focused on me…

Because the sexy maid had never experienced regular life before, and now everything she was sensing from me was truly a new experience for her.

Her first time being in a school.

Her first time sensing so many unfamiliar people all around when we were in the hallways.

Her first time seeing what it was like just to engage with others, as a human.

Avery cleared her throat. “Yeah, I guess that’s true about the absence thing. And Kai helped out a lot too. He was at my house pretty much all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Definitely some unexcused absences for him,” she said in an amused tone.

Mr. Crawford’s jaw dropped, easily representing the reaction of the entire room.

Not a soul spoke, to the point that the last couple of students entering the room immediately slowed down, confused as to why it was so silent within.

I scoffed at her comment, focused more on my desk. “I’m about to graduate and have perfect attendance. I don’t give a shit if it’s excused or not. I’m just glad you called me when you needed the help.”

Avery was her usual bubbly self. “Should have called you years ago,” she mused.

“Wish you had,” I said more casually, opening my book just to do something, knowing the bell was about to ring. There was always a slight buzz about five seconds before it happened. “You should have assumed I was just dense.”

The bell abruptly rang, causing Mr. Crawford to jerk violently from the shock of the sound.

Shit, I think everyone jumped with how quiet it had grown, even in the hallway, right before it went off. The guy who was supposed to sit next to me had just stopped near his desk, not even complaining that the teacher was occupying his seat, just seeming almost stunned that I was openly talking. Period.

Or that we were openly talking about our unexpected relationship.

That we were together now, and that I’d spent all day, every day, of the last three days, together at her house, when we should have been in school.

Yep, that was definitely going to rip the band-aid off.

Without a doubt, rumors would circulate that we’d already had sex.

Avery and I had already decided we’d deny it, since it was sort of true in the sense that we hadn’t had normal sex yet…

But our response wouldn’t be ‘no.’

It would be ‘not yet.’

Mr. Crawford finally got up when he realized the occupant of the seat next to me was waiting to sit down, and obviously didn’t want to be so close with the teacher sitting on the desk, only for the man to focus on Avery when she cleared her throat.

“Oh, and umm, I did get Friday’s homework done. Do you want that now?”

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed, pulling out my binder from under my textbook.

Neither of us had actually forgotten we had stuff to turn in, but focusing on our ‘act’ took priority right now.

“Err, umm, yeah,” Mr. Crawford finally managed, accepting the papers from each of us and then going back to his desk briefly, seeming almost a little confused as he got ready to start class.

In the end, it was a really awkward class.

Mr. Crawford never fully resumed his normal demeanor, even once he got into the lesson, and there was a lingering silence in the room that just wasn’t natural. Truly, it felt like all eyes were on us, to the point that I felt confident it wasn’t just my imagination. And I was pretty sure neither of us were exuding any kind of charm or something like that.

I was almost glad when the bell rang, and actually a little relieved to eventually walk into my second period to find everyone socializing before the bell like normal. In fact, my second class for the day, one in which Avery wasn’t present, was completely normal for me. And apparently fairly normal for her too.

I tried to keep an ear out for anyone talking about it, but not only was it difficult to pick out quiet sounds like that, unlike what I could do with smells, but there wasn’t a lot of discussion going on while the teachers were lecturing.

By that point, I knew Serenity was already at work herself, with me similarly assuming that Gabriella likely was as well -- I couldn’t confirm that since I didn’t have the same connection with my busty fiancé’s mind – and then Michelle, Mrs. Rebecca, and Natalie were socializing in my kitchen back home. From the sound of it, Michelle and Mrs. Rebecca were probably going to go hang out, since neither had any obligations, offering for Natalie to tag along, only for her to decline, wanting to just stay at my house all day.

I fully understood why.

For one, there was a yearning to just exist in silence, to be by herself and enjoy the peace of being free from all the stress that had plagued her for a year now. But also, when given the choice, she’d much rather focus on me and Avery all day, with me being aware she planned on chilling in my room once my MILFs headed out.

Honestly, after my second class though, I was really hoping that maybe today might not be so bad after all.

However, I supposed people had been whispering about it in other classes, because third period wasn’t entirely normal. Like damn, you’d think that they’d just found out we murdered someone, as opposed to just dating.

How in the hell was it really that big of a deal?

I mean, I knew it would be, but I supposed that I expected a lot of pestering questions, not the awkward silence and stares. Granted, it wasn’t like too many people took the initiative to talk to me at this point anyway, which was completely the opposite for Avery.

And sure enough, while the teacher droned on in my third period, in her class they were working on a final project for the year, prompting one of her friends, Emily, to speak to her in a whisper, the rest of the class noisily chatting.

‘Hey, is it true? Everyone is saying that you and Kai took two days off to have sex all day. I even heard you might be pregnant.’

Well damn! No wonder everyone was acting strange! The rumors had already skyrocketed out of control!

‘What?!’ Avery hissed in surprise, speaking louder on purpose, so everyone else would hear, rapidly causing quite a few people to halt midsentence. ‘No! None of that is true. My mom and I were in a car accident! And yes, it’s true that he was over a lot helping out, but we haven’t even had sex yet!’ She hesitated, acting as if she just now realized she had everyone’s attention. ‘I mean, at least ‘not yet.’ But I’m definitely not pregnant, that doesn’t even make any sense! You can’t even get a positive pregnancy test until you’ve missed your period, for heaven’s sake!’

‘Okay, quiet down,’ Mrs. Fletcher, her teacher, unexpectedly barked out. ‘This isn’t health education, Ms. Copeland. The whole class doesn’t need a lesson on menstrual cycles.’

‘Well apparently they do,’ Avery retorted, having enough rapport with the older woman to know she’d tolerate her speaking back. ‘Because Kai and I just started dating, and people are spreading rumors that I’m pregnant. Even if we were already having sex, I’ve been on birth control since I was like fifteen.’

‘Okay, you’ve made your point. Get back to work. All of you. Quietly,’ Mrs. Fletcher added.

I could sense Avery giving her an appreciative smile before doing just that, with her now whispering to Emily again, asking who she thought was spreading the rumors -- if it was a particular person, or if the story had just somehow gotten out of hand.

But honestly, Avery had a point.

It was hard to believe that the rumors would escalate that quickly on their own, and I actually did have a suspicion of who might be responsible, though I kept it to myself for now, since my own teacher was calling on random people to answer questions as a sort of verbal quiz to practice for a big test we had coming up on Friday. The last thing I needed was to be caught off guard.

Thankfully, the rest of class for third period was pretty much uneventful for both of us.

Next up was our fourth class for the day, Pre-Calculus with Mrs. Hayes.

Avery’s previous class was closer to her locker, so she met me at mine in anticipation to walk to class together. Lunch was actually separated into several sections, since the cafeteria wasn’t big enough to hold all the students at once, with some of our classmates heading there now, whereas Avery and I would be going afterward.

The fact that each student could end up in a different lunch every year might cause it to seem unlikely that Avery and I would have the same section for three years in a row, but there were a few reasons why it had turned out that way. For one, being in the same grade made it very likely we’d have the same lunch, not because of the grade itself, but because a lot of it revolved over which classes we took. Like Pre-Calculus for example.

There were only two Juniors in our entire class.

And in our Chemistry class, there were absolutely no underclassmen at all, since it was an optional second year that only seniors could take after taking the first year of Chemistry in their Junior year -- something no one could take any sooner, since there were other science classes that were prerequisites in Freshman and Sophomore years.

For me personally, I’d simply taken Chemistry because the other options weren’t appealing, especially Advanced Biology, as well as Anatomy and Physiology -- being in classes that might involve dissection or seeing pictures of the human body didn’t seem like a great idea. Not when I had a big secret to hide.

Alternatively, Chemistry was very safe, and kind of fun.

We didn’t even have a final in that class, since we’d worked all semester on an individual project that counted for our whole grade. And since I’d finished all my work ahead of schedule, it was basically a free period for me at this point.

However, now that I thought about it, Avery never really struck me as someone who would be interested in that kind of thing.

Unsurprisingly, she responded to those thoughts as I closed my locker and turned toward her.

‘I’m…only in it because I was trying to have as many classes with you as possible,’ she responded silently, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment.

At first, I was a little concerned about her beginning to transform, but then realized she was fine.

I sighed as I turned to begin walking toward our class, knowing she’d be right at my side.

‘Sorry, wasn’t trying to make you embarrassed.’

‘No, it’s fine. I really like knowing what’s in your head. I would have given up an arm to experience this,’ she silently commented with an overly dramatic tone, imagining herself in an almost cartoon imagery with a floppy stub of an arm as she cheerfully danced around in celebration of being able to experience my thoughts.

I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason I found that extremely funny. Just the little version of herself that she pictured was hilarious on its own, so exaggerated and cheerful.

Needless to say, I laughed out loud, chuckling while shaking my head.

Which unfortunately drew extra attention, a few of our classmates almost just seeming stunned that I’d just laughed in the first place. Though I had other concerns…

I quickly turned my head toward her, focusing down on her bright blue eyes, wanting it to seem as if she’d actually said something verbally, and just that no one had heard.

“That’s a great joke.”

“Haven’t heard that one before, huh?” she played right along, grinning widely.

“Nope,” I said simply, shaking my head. ‘But seriously, that was adorable. Disturbing, but adorable.’

She grinned, continuing silently. ‘I have a lot of goofy thoughts like that. Especially about myself.’

‘And apparently a mascot.’

She grinned even wider. ‘Hey, I needed someone to cheer me on,’ she silently commented, now imagining that tiny cutesy cartoon version of herself, what she called a ‘chibi,’ waving a ‘Team Kai’ flag.

We both grinned when Natalie burst out laughing back at home, apparently having been focused on cooking lunch, only to kind of ‘drop in’ on the conversation at that unexpected imagery.

‘What in the hell am I seeing right now?’ she cackled, practically busting a gut, she was laughing so hard. Probably a good thing she was home alone right now, because no doubt Michelle and Mrs. Rebecca would be looking at her like she’d lost her mind.

‘What’s so funny?’ Serenity unexpectedly chimed in, having been working on a report at her work, when she realized something was going on.

Part of me wanted to tell her, but I was concerned of drawing unnecessary attention to her as well, especially if she found it funny and started laughing with seemingly no prompt. Thus, I toned down my amusement a little.

‘Sorry, I’ll share tonight.’

‘That’s fine,’ Serenity thought simply. ‘I’m really busy anyway. Have a ton of paperwork to get through ever since they put me on desk duty.’

I gave her a silent acknowledgment, trying to remain focused on my surroundings as we walked into our fourth period together. I knew right away that news had already spread pretty far by this point, considering that Mrs. Hayes focused up at us as if she was anticipating that we’d be walking into class together.

She had a certain look to her that made most assume she was an English teacher, being skinny with a short pixie haircut that was fairly flattering, making her look like she was in her early thirties due to her more youthful style, even though I knew she’d just recently turned forty this year.

But nope, instead of English, she taught all the higher-level math classes.

And she had grown especially fond of Avery and me, since we were both technically her best students, at least in this class. Granted, I didn’t put much merit in that considering that ‘the hard part’ of Pre-Calculus amounted mostly to memorizing a bunch of complicated formulas -- so long as those were thoroughly memorized, then pretty much all the homework was easy, especially considering that half the battle was just figuring out which formula to use and then using it to solve the problem.

And actually, knowing that information was exactly why Avery had breezed through the class too -- because she’d seen over my shoulder that I aced our first test, and when I explained how, she made herself flashcards to memorize all the major formulas we’d be studying.

‘Yeah, pretty much took me a week of focusing on it every night,’ Avery silently agreed. ‘But the concepts were still difficult to grasp,’ she admitted.

Of course, I didn’t disagree with that at all, but again, it wasn’t necessarily the concepts themselves that were tested.

The room was already half full, and unsurprisingly we had most everyone’s attention as we walked to our seats. But not only because of the rumors.

Fourth period was a little unique in the sense that everyone in the class also had the same lunch section as us, and while not all of them sat at our table, Avery had pretty much befriended everyone in the class, making everyone view her especially as very approachable.

Which meant, in her perception, it was like every single person was a friend here, and really, out of all my classes, this group probably was the most social -- everyone spoke to everyone else without issue. No sense of cliques or separation.

When Avery and I sat down closer to Mrs. Hayes’ desk, she gave us an approving smile, as if she’d been silently cheering for Avery all this time, hoping the day would come when I noticed her. However, then she surprised me by grabbing some papers and getting up from her desk, walking right over to us.

“Here,” she said, handing me a few pages, and then handing Avery the rest. “Some worksheets that break down what we covered yesterday and Monday.”

“Oh, umm, thanks,” Avery said as she looked through them, seeming just as surprised as I was that our teacher was essentially giving us the notes we’d missed.

“So,” Mrs. Hayes continued without prompt. “I noticed the two of you walked in together today, after being absent the last two days.”

I tried not to roll my eyes, because she was clearly trying to bring it up without admitting that everyone was talking about it.

Avery’s tone was overly casual as she continued to look at the pages. “Yep. He agreed to date me if I was able to beat him in a wrestling match. So I whooped his ass, and got him to step in line.”

Mrs. Hayes burst out laughing at that, clearly knowing she was making up a story, prompting Avery to grin too.

“Well, I’m happy for you both,” she said warmly with another chuckle. “And I’m glad you and your mother are doing alright,” she added a bit more seriously, revealing she definitely had caught wind of rumors.

“Yeah me too,” Avery replied, finally looking up at her. “I was especially worried about my mom, but she’s doing fine now. Kai took good care of us the last few days,” she added, almost sounding a little too suggestive.

But Mrs. Hayes didn’t take it that way. “Not surprising in the least,” she praised. “Always knew Mr. Ashworth was a fluffy teddy bear deep down.”

I couldn’t help but rest my forehead in my hand in disbelief, knowing she was teasing me.

“Oh, the cuddliest of teddy bears!” Avery agreed cheerfully. “All that hard muscle is surprisingly really soft and comfy when he just relaxes a little.”

Mrs. Hayes laughed again. “Oh to be young again,” she mused, focusing on me. “Poor Kai -- hopefully I’m not making him regret going public with it.”

I sighed, being a little overdramatic about it. “It’s like she said. She whooped my ass. Didn’t have a choice.”

Mrs. Hayes cackled at that, beginning to turn when the bell rang, using it as a prompt to walk away back to her desk to get started with class. In the short delay of ensuing silence, the girl behind Avery tapped on her shoulder, prompting her to look back.

“Hey, are you really pregnant?” she said quietly.

Avery immediately turned in her seat, directing her words more toward the whole class, feeling comfortable speaking to this group as a whole in particular. “Okay, seriously. Who is spreading this rumor that I’m pregnant? That’s not even how it works! Even if Kai and I had fooled around, which we haven’t yet, then it would be at least two weeks before I’d even be able to find out, and that’s even assuming I’m ovulating right now.”

Needless to say, about half the class -- specifically all the guys -- flushed in obvious embarrassment and averted their gaze. I almost wasn’t surprised that the teacher acted especially focused on something in the textbook, pretending as she was oblivious to the outburst.

A girl from across the room finally spoke up. “Umm, I don’t know who started it, but it was Claire who told me.”

And there it was, the exact person who I was suspicious of.

Great.

Personally, I wasn’t that surprised, but the problem was, I knew Avery would be…

Because Claire had my blonde girlfriend convinced that she was a sincere friend, and Avery was unfortunately about to find out just how untrue that was.

Dammit.

Should have warned her beforehand.

FEEDBACK: Next chapter will get a little exciting/intense.

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