Chapter 8: THE CONFIDENCE THEY HAVE

R Y A N

"You bastards! None of you had the courtesy of calling me!" She smashed her books on the table and glared at us. We were in math class and I was not in a mood to do any equation. Now, we had to deal with Miya who looked like she didn't get any sleep for the past two days. Her eyes were puffy and red although she tried to hide it with makeup. It looked she had been crying all night.

"Miya, are you okay?" I immediately voiced out. I knew that there was something wrong. Miya never cries. Like never. The only time she would cry would be when whatever was disturbing her was too unbearable.

"Ha-ha. What are you talking about? I am okay." She nervously laughed and broke the eye contact.

"Bullshit, Miya! We know you very well." David grabbed her shoulders and urged her to stare at him. As much as David was a goofy guy, he definitely cared about Miya a lot. Even if she didn't ask for his help, he was always there to offer.

"Guys, I promise that I am okay. I was up all night watching an emotional movie." She laughed and shoved our hands away.

David glanced at me and nodded. He was telling me 'We shouldn't force her.' And I wasn't going to. It would be her decision on whether to tell us or not.

"Leave that aside. So tell me why you guys did not even call me once?" She crossed her arms on her chest and raised her brow.

"Oh God! We would have called just so that I could gloat but this was the worst weekend," David grunted and laid his head on the table in an exaggerating way.

"Haha! Hilarious." Miya laughed loudly, attracting the students' attention. She was lucky that the teacher didn't arrive yet or else she would have gotten another detention.

"What's so funny?" David narrowed his eyes and grunted in annoyance.

"I thought you were going to 'laid'." She remarked sarcastically. Their fight was never going to end at this rate.

"Everything was going well. I met this cute girl and the party was rocking, but Andrew ruined everything." He gritted in annoyance. I get where his anger was coming from. Andrew was that annoying.

"What do you mean?"

"He brought drugs to the party and David had to cut the party short." I blurted out. I was sure that was what Andrew wanted. He wanted to ruin the weekend but that didn't stop us from having fun.

"Drug?! What the heck was he thinking?" She raised her voice, once again attracting the students' attention.

"Miya, the first thing to happen when I come to class is to hear your voice. Can you explain why?" Mr. Rodriguez placed his belongings on the table and crossed his arms on his chest.

Mr. Rodriguez was our school substitute teacher. I guess our math teacher wasn't in today. No wonder he was late.

"I am so sorry, sir. I was not aware of that." She smiled sheepishly. The only teacher I have seen Miya respect was him. I mean she does respect other teachers except for Mrs. Moening for some reason I don't know but she respected him the most.

"Do it again and I might just give you a detention." He narrowed his eyes at her and turned towards the projector to turn it on.

"He is fucking hot." I heard the girl sitting in front of me whisper to her desk mate. Oh yeah, did I mention that some girls have the hots for this teacher? I don't blame them. He was good looking for a man in his 40s.

"I swear at times he scares me." She giggled nervously and flipped her textbook to open the page.

"I also get that vibe from him. There is something off about this guy." He squinted his eyes at the teacher's back.

"I don't get that vibe from him." I shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. So far he was doing okay to me.

"Leave aside that topic so other than Andrew being a douche, did anything fun happen?" Her eyes got wide with excitement. I don't have to tell her what really happened but who was I kidding? She already knew what happened judging by the look of that face. Damn you, David!

"You told her!" I pointed my finger at him.

"Dude! You should know I can't hide anything from her." He nervously laughed and broke the eye contact.

That was true. The three of us could never hide anything from each other. There were at times where we didn't share some things but that's for another time.

"So, two girls in two days. Which one did you like the most?" She wiggled her eyebrows and leaned towards me.

"Oh My God! You guys are acting like I had sex with them."

"Both girls were hot but the caramel one was really stunning." He whistled lowly.

"Oh wow! Now, I must meet both of them." She said with a tease. Miya always wanted me to find a girl. She has been trying to set me up with some girls, but alas, I did not find a connection with any of them.

"I don't even know any of them that well. The caramel one was really weird and flirty. Like way too flirty." I blushed when I remembered how close she was to me that night.

"The three of you have been talking the entire time. Did you even get any work done?" Mr Rodriguez glared at us. Oh shit! I haven't even started yet. This was what would happen if you made three friends sit with each other.

"Umm...almost?" Miya smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, alright then. Just know that it is due tomorrow and I don't accept late works."

"Ah, shit!" David yelled.

"Watch your language, David!" 

"Dude! Where the heck were you?" David patted the seat next to him for Mike. We were in the cafeteria and the three of us including Mike were having our bro time. Miya said that she had some errand to go to, so she wasn't with us. She was definitely avoiding Mike.

"I was enrolling my sister and Diana so I had some forms to fill which took a lot of time." He rubbed his eyes and groaned. He was already exhausted and we were not done with the day.

"So they are now in our school?" David narrowed his eyes.

"Yep!"

"I had a question, Mike. If they are both from Australia, why don't they have the same accent?" I pressed my lips together and squinted my eyes at him.

He widened his eyes in alarm and I immediately knew that there was something off. But then he laughed loudly and shook his head.

"I knew that question would arise."

"So why aren't they speaking in that accent?"

"Yes, they came from Australia but they were initially born in the United States and the Australian accent never caught up with them." He shrugged his shoulders and took a bite out of his pizza.

"Oh, that's why."

"So where are they now?" David acquired.

"They are in the office, finishing up the paperwork. The secretary would bring them to the Cafeteria when they are done."

So, she was now studying in this school. As if that would make my life easier. I wonder if she would just ignore me or talk to me.

"Oh hey, guys." A voice interjected. We all turned the person and it was Catherine. She was wearing blue jeans with a white T-shirt. She walked towards us and stood at our table.

She smiled bashfully and looked quite refreshed from yesterday. Cathy was neither short nor tall; She had an average height of 5'6 inches. Her face shape was between a pear and oval but the forehead was slightly more narrow than the jawline, so it appeared more angular. She was a really pretty woman.

"Oh hi, Cathy!" Mike gestured her to join us. She smiled gratefully and took a seat next to me.

"So Cathy, It is great to see you again." David leaned forward and winked.

"It's great to see you too." She giggled and shook her head.

David was such a confusing guy. I don't even know whether he was flirting for real or not. There were so many instances where he wasn't serious.

"How is your project?" I asked her.

She turned towards me and her eyes turned soft. Something was sparkling in her blue eyes but before I could figure it out, she had turned away.

"I already submitted so I hope I get a good grade." She giggled nervously and took out her lunch box. I guess she didn't eat school food.

"You went to the woods alone just for pictures. I say you worked hard." David gave her thumbs up. He was right. Going to a dangerous wood just for a project was another level that a sane person wouldn't go for.

"Man, she is brave." Mike chimed in.

"It was nothing besides you guys were the brave ones. I mean who fights a bear for a stranger?" She threw her arms around.

"It will be Inhumanity if we didn't help you." David shrugged his shoulders. Helping her was the right thing to do or else we would have been cowards. Leaving her to death knowing that we could have helped her would have been a fucked up thing to do.

"Once again, Thank you." She smiled gratefully.

"Umm guys, Look who has arrived." David pointed out. We all turned to the cafeteria door to see the two girls came in.

The way they came in, with the confidence of a Hercules was gaining the attention of every person at the cafeteria. This was a school where everything you do attracts attention. Immediately, anyone could guess they were new to this school with they looked out of place because of their piercings and outfits.

I looked to my side to see that Catherine was glaring at them. She was clenching her hand and her eyes were changing the color. Wait, what? I rubbed my eyes to take a look again and it went back to its normal color. Look at what lack of sleep was doing to me. I mentally groaned.

"Oh hello, guys." They both smiled.

This day couldn't get more interesting.