CHAPTER III

"Good morning, everyone" I am watching Charles in front of the room with my forehead creased. I only noticed now that he is wearing a navy blue dress shirt with few buttons opened paired and the sleeves folded up to his elbow paired with black slacks and black shoes. He look clean and formal. His clothes fit his lean body perfectly.

"I am a friend of Professor Gustav, Charles, and he has a business meeting to attend today so he asked me a favor to administer the exam in this class" he scanned the whole room using his cold and full of intensity eyes while explaining.

Keyla and I are sitting on the third row and near the aisle so he easily saw us. He stared at me as he continued to speak, "I hope it is okay with you" my classmate enthusiastically nodded especially the girls, so Charles added, "If so, let's proceed to your quiz" 

He added some rules while Keyla leaned towards me to whisper, "I wanted to complain that why do Sir Gustav needed to look for a substitute when he can give the quiz next meeting but if the substitute is this handsome? It's fine. I hope Sir Gustav have business meeting every week" then she giggled.

I shook my head in disbelief, "You're getting married. Stop it!" 

"I love your brother but I want to admire how gorgeous this man is. How old do you think he is?" I glanced at Charles to examine him but I got startled when I met his stare while my classmate is talking or asking him. 

I quickly diverted my eyes to Keyla, "I don't know. I don't want to look at him anymore" I whispered with my voice full of panic.

"Why?" then she tried to glance at Charles and I tried to stop her face using my hand but because of panic, I put some force that it turns into a slap. 

"Ouch!" she put her hand on her cheek, glaring at me only for a short moment because she continued to glance at Charles. Her eyes turned wide, when she saw him looking at us. "OMG! OMG! She's looking at you!" she happily told me but her hands is still on her cheeks. 

I can feel my face heating up when some of our classmates turned their heads at us, wondering because of what Keyla said, "What the hell, Keyla? Turn down your voice" I stopped her using a low voice.

"Why is he looking at you? OMG. Being pretty has its benefits huh?" Then she wriggled her brows to tease me. She forgot my slap a while ago. I should've put more force to it to divert her attention.

I bit my lip and lowered my head. I hope no one heard our conversation. What if Charles is looking at someone behind us and I'm bein assuming? I mean, why would he stare at us? At me?

Keyla continued giggling and teasing me but I acted like I'm busy on my iPad. 

Good thing that Charles told us that we will start the quiz or else Keyla will never stop. I mean, she's not stopping completely, like if this is a game, she's just on pause. 

I'll just think of a way to make her forget later. Right now, I'll focus on my quiz first.

The quiz isn't that hard but because of essays, it last for almost an hour. I'm the third one to finish and we can leave the room since the quiz is the only thing we'll do today in this subject. 

I stood up to pass my paper. I grabbed my things too and walked to Charles. I'm so nervous and intimidated. I only put the paper on the table in front of him, avoiding his eyes also.

"Bye and thank you" I bowed a little bit as a sign of courtesy.

I saw him in my peripheral vision that he's staring at me seriously and nodded lightly, "Okay. Goodbye" 

I hurriedly left the room and took a deep breath when I knew that I am meters away from him already. My hands are cold and I'm sweating. What the hell? Who is that guy anyway? He's so intimidating.

I was sitting in the bench near the soccer field when Keyla sat beside me excitedly. She literally has a big smile on her face.

"Maureen! You know what, when you went out of the room? I saw him following you with his eyes. I think he got a crush on you" then she hit me repeatedly while giggling.

"Ouch! Stop it, Keyla" I told her with a smile on my lips. 

She stopped hitting me but she still has a teasing look on her face, "I think you guys would look good together"

"Don't go ahead of yourself, Keyla. We just met and what if he has girlfriend?" I rolled my eyes at her but she continued smiling.

"I don't think so. I have a feeling that he got enchanted by your beauty" then she gently cupped my face. I made a disgusted look and she bursted out laughing.

I pushed her away and look at the field, "He's gorgeous but I don't want to be dramatic and put meaning to everything he does. We just met, Keyla" 

"Whatever. I will still ship you guys" the she crossed her arms and looked at the field also. 

We stayed silent together for a minute which is unusual because Keyla is rarely quiet. We were both enjoying the breeze when someone approached us.

"Uhm. . hi?" We turned our heads and behind us, Allena is standing shyly holding two frappes. 

I smiled at her and move a little so she can sit with us, "Hi! Come on, sit here" 

She hesitated a bit but she still took a seat beside me. She's still look shy and uncomfortable as she handed the frappe to me and Keyla.

"Awww. Is this for me?" Keyla look so shocked and happy while her hand is in her chest. While me on the other hand, smiled at Allena.

Allena smiled a little bit and put her hair behind her ear, "Yes. I wanted to thank you guys for protecting me a while ago" she stopped for a minute and tried to meet our eyes but she failed and lowered her head, "I know, it's nothing and you can buy it anytime but I just wanted to give you something to show how thankful I am. And I'm sorry because you got hurt" she continued and I can see her pinching her fingers.

Keyla laughed and tried to hit her but I stopped her. She has a habit of hitting people when she's happy and excited. Her hits are painful that's why I need to protect Allena.

"Don't worry, we didn't have our hair done last weekend so it's fine. And I'm really craving for frappe" Keyla told her happily.

I shook my head on Keyla and smiled at Allena, "It's fine. I just got shocked because I never got my hair pulled by someone"

"Well, there's first time for everything" Keyla commented while sipping on her frappe.

Allena chuckled but stopped immediately like she realized that she did something bad. I continued smiling at her to assure her that it's fine.

"And also, it's not your fault, okay?" I added while softly brushing her hair with my fingers.

She tried smiling but I can sense that she's really umcomfortable. 

"What year are you by the way?" Keyla asked with her eyebrow raised. She's not mad, she just like that.

"First year" Allena answered in a soft voice.

Keyla nodded and continued drinking her frappe while using her phone, completely ignoring us. 

"Why are they bullying you anyway?" I asked Allena.

"I don't really know. I'm just looking for my class when they blocked my way and told me to follow them. I did because I thought they will guide me to my first class but they started rummaging to my things. I was really scared" she explained and she does look nervous. She kept on pinching her fingers and biting her lower lip. 

I rubbed her back hoping that it could comfort her, "It's fine, Allena. I'll make sure that they will all get punished" 

She gave me a small smile and nodded a little bit, "Thank you, Maureen" 

"Why don't you stick with us during lunck break? Or when our schedule match?" I suggested. I am very careful on choosing someone I could treat as a friend because being the only daughter in our family, there's a lot of time that people approached me with hidden agenda. However, I felt something on Allena that I think she would be a good companion.

Her eyes looked happy at what I've said, "Really?" 

I nodded at her, "Yup. Let's exchange numbers" then I took out my phone to get her number. She did the same.

"Keyla, can I give her your number?" I asked. She looked at me and nodded, "Sure. Just please don't share it with others. My phone number is precious" the she flipped her hair and continued texting.

Allena and I chuckled. After sharing numbers, we also followed each other on our social media account.

I can feel that Allena is starting to get comfortable with me. We're on the middle of talking with each other about our brother, because it's something we have in common, when I felt Keyla nudging me. I ignored her and listened to Allena more, but she didn't stop and put more force so I turned to her, "What is it?" I asked her while frowning.

She leaned towards me to whisper, "Charles is walking towards us."

My turned wide and about to look around, "Don't look!" she hissed.

So I stopped and whispered back, "Where?"

"On your left" then she paused "Oh my goodness, he's so gorgeous but I love your brother" she sighed dreamily. I rolled my eyes, "His girlfriend is beside me, she might hear us" I turned my voice lower so Allena can't hear us. 

Keyla opened her mouth to answer when I felt Allena standing up. We both turned our heads to her,

"Charles" she called out.

Charles is now standing near us. He looked at Allena for a minute then he glanced at us then he looked again in Allena. 

"I'm calling your phone. You're not answering" He told her looking so serious again.

I leaned towards Keyla and whispered, "See? They're in a relationship"

Keyla didn't answered me so I stood straight.

"I'm sorry. I left my other phone on the car" Allena explained in her cute and soft voice. 

Charles nodded. I was watching them quietly when Keyla butted in.

"Excuse me, are you guys in a relationship?" My mouth literally opened in shock when she asked that with no fear and worry on her eyes.