"Ken, did you have a moment?"
The voice of a girl entered his ears as Ken was digging into his boxed lunch. He put his chopsticks down and turned around, seeing a somewhat familiar face.
'She looks familiar…'
The girl had long blond hair and tanned skin, her eyes were green and her face flushed for some reason. Ken wasn't sure why she would be talking to him, especially since he didn't really know who she was.
"Erm, sure I guess." He said suspiciously.
However, there was an awkward silence between them as Ken was still sitting down, having no intention to move.
"Um, could we go somewhere private maybe?" She asked softly, fidgeting.
Ken sent a look to Steve who seemed just as confused as him. Feeling that the guy was no help, he eventually agreed to follow her.
After they rounded the corner, they appeared in the hall where not many people were. The girl stopped, her head lowered towards the ground as she turned his way.
"A—Are you going with anyone to prom?" She asked, her voice wavering.
'Prom?' Ken was slightly taken aback. Wasn't prom for Seniors only?
"Um… I didn't even know that I could go to prom this year." Ken stated honestly.
The girl's gaze lifted, until she was looking directly into his eyes, filled with hope. "The prom is a Junior-Senior one. Would you be willing to go with me?"
"Eh?" Two pieces of information were revealed at this moment. Both the fact that junior's could take part in prom and the fact he was being asked by a girl he did not know.
Seeing the expectant look on her face, Ken felt a wave of regret. Even if he wanted to go to prom, he would have declined unless Ai could somehow make it. Just thinking about what would happen if he went with another woman made him feel destitute.
"I'm sorry… I have a girlfriend." He stated, giving her a soft smile.
Her hope-filled features were suddenly crushed. Ken could see tears forming at the corner of her eyes almost instantly, making him feel even worse.
"B—But I haven't seen you with any other girls. Are you sure you don't mean boyfriend?" She replied, her words a little scathing.
"Huh?" Not expecting the retort, Ken looked at her with confusion. Was she insinuating that he and Steve were boyfriends?
Before he could reply, the girl stormed off, stomping her feet along the ground as she walked. Ken was left to stare at her retreating figure, his face contorted.
'Who the hell was that?' He thought.
After a few moments, he shrugged it off. He had successfully declined the invitation and life would go on. Soon after, Ken returned to the lunch table where Steve was awaiting him with question's in his eyes.
"She asked me to prom…" He said, sitting down in front of his food once more.
"Oh… I never thought Brittany would be the type to ask a guy to prom." Steve mused, scratching his chin in thought.
'Brittany? Oh… That girl from gym class.' Ken finally recognized the person after his friend mentioned her name.
"Are you going to ask Steph?" Ken asked, a lopsided grin appearing on his face.
"Pffft, like she would say yes." Waving dismissively, Steve scoffed as if the entire notion was absurd. To him, doing such a thing was just asking to be rejected.
"Well, we could always go together." Ken replied jokingly.
"Hahaha! Yeah right, just a couple of straight dudes going to prom together. Nothing suspicious about that."
Both Ken and Steve laughed, feeling that it would be quite ridiculous.
After the bell rang, the two went to their next class. While they were walking along the halls, Steve noticed that the people around them were acting a little weird.
He was used to people looking at Ken, but this time he felt some disdainful and amused gazes looking his way. Not only that, some of the students were whispering and even pointing at him.
"Dude, why does it feel like everyone is looking at us?" Steve whispered, moving closer to Ken.
Ken frowned. He also noticed the change in the behavior of the other students. This wasn't the usual effect of his Charismatic Air, which meant that it had to be something else.
He looked towards one of the students who was whispering, using his mental capacity to try and read their lips. But what he saw made him almost jump in fright.
"I heard that Ken and Steve are a couple."
The words rang inside of his mind, echoing and taunting him. The first instinct was to immediately object, but he quickly held it inside.
'What the hell happened?' He thought, frowning deeply.
But almost as soon as he asked this question, a face appeared in his mind. Brittany, the one who had looked angry after he rejected her had said something similar about him and Steve.
'Did she spread a false rumor?'
"Haha, such a cute couple." One of the students called out, after which a few laughs broke out in the hall.
"Huh?" Steve looked behind him, wanting to see who the guy was pointing at. However, after seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, he looked back at the guy with confusion.
Right next to him, a familiar figure appeared. Stephanie looked at both Ken and Steve before her face turned up in disgust. In the next moment she ignored them once more, walking away.
By now, Steve had already understood that people thought he and Ken were a couple for whatever reason. Tears began to form in the corner of his eyes as he felt wronged.
Ken on the other hand merely brushed it off. So what if the school thought he was gay? He currently had a beautiful girlfriend who would be a famous fashion designer one day.
He didn't give two craps about what other people thought, especially people who he only knew for only 2 months.