'What do you think of that girl, named Karmen?' Ameron asked calmly.
"What do you mean?" Ash turned his head towards Karmen's direction.
It was third period already.
'Do you trust her?'
"You saying that, must mean she did something, right?" Ash's expression got a little bit colder.
'Hm...'
...
Ding. Ding. Ding... The last bell rang.
Karmen had already given the list that she made for the sports festival to the teacher.
It was the discipline participation list with the students' names on the left and the sports on the right.
After today, no changes were allowed in it!
"Ling." Ash said. "I have something to do and I don't know how long it will take, so you can go home without me today."
"Hm... I'll see ya at home then." Bai Ling nodded and walked away after smiling gently at Ash.
It was time to fix a little problem...
"Mike, was it?" Ash asked a decent looking boy with brown hair, symmetrical face and black eyes, who sitted infront of him during classes.
"Ash?... How can I help you?" Mike was a bit startled. He didn't expect Ash, who almost never talked, even when the teachers asked him questions, to suddenly start a conversation with him.
"I need to see our homeroom teacher, but I don't know where the teachers' room is and I forgot her name." Ash said in an almost monotone voice.
"Sure... Follow me." Mike prepared his bag and led Ash to the teachers' room. Now everything made sence.
"Here you go, it's over there.... Oh, and the teacher's name is Isabela Wakowska. " Mike showed a door on which was written 'Teachers room'. "Now i'll be taking my leave."
Watching Mike go, Ash went infront of the door and knocked... On Karmen's head?
"Ouch!" Karmen was just about to exit when pain struck her head.
"Ops..." when Ash saw Karmen infront of him, his brows lifted a bit. "Sorry, I though I was knocking on the door."
"Ash?" Karmen lifted her head and saw the person next to her.
"Are you alright sweetie?" the homeroom teacher asked when she saw what happened.
"Yes, yes... Everythimg is fine!" Karmen reassured hastily.
"Miss... Ughhh..." In the end, Ash still didn't know her name... Was it, not paying attention to Mike or that his brain thought it didn't matter that much what her name was since he would probably skip another grade and get a new homeroom teacher, nobody knew.
"Wakowska..." whispered Karmen beside him.
"Yes, Wakowska... I need to speak to you about something... In private." Ash reacted immediately.
"Sure... Come in." surprised, miss Wakowska agreed and led Ash in.
"What is it, that bothers you?" she asked.
"It's about....." Ash proceded to explain.
....
"Goodbye miss... Wakowska." Ash waved and opened the door. "What a name..." he thought.
Infront of him was no other than Karmen.
"Bye Ash." miss Wakowska said with a smile, before she paused and when she saw Karmen waiting for Ash, she looked at both of them meaningfully before going back in and closing the door.
"You again?" Ash looked at Karmen expressionlessly.
"Hehe..." Karmen giggled with one hand infront of her mouth. "You know, I still feel pain from the earlier incident, so why don't you treat me at the school's cafeteria for an apology instead of giving me that cold look?"
"Didn't I apologise to you just 10 minutes ago?" Ash thought as he tilted his head.
Before he could open his mouth though, Karmen grabbed his hand and started dragging him."C'mon, I wont eat you, silly!"
The school cafeteria was built especially for the students of Cloud highschool and it was cheap and affordable for everybody.
At lunch, when there was a 1 hour break, it was full to the brim with students, but lucky them, now that almost everybody was gone, only a few couples could be seen in there.
Seeing the duo, handsome boy and a gorgeous blonde, who dragged him by the hand, the couples were stunned for a second.
Ash and Karmen seemed like the perfect couple in their eyes.
"So that was his little something to do..." Bai Ling pouted when she saw both of them enter the school cafeteria by hand and suddenly disappeared from her spot.
Although she said she was going home, Bai Ling actually patiently waited for Ash at the school gates so he wouldn't be all alone when going home.
Now that she saw Karmen holding Ash by hand, Bai Ling felt something in her heart, walking away with gritted teeth.
She didn't like this feeling!
"I'd like a hot chocolate please." Karmen ordered for herself. "I dont like coffee." she smiled. Her smile, like that of an angel.
"..."
"Won't you order anything?" seeing Ash silent, Karmen tried to continue the conversation and 'break the ice'.
"No thanks..." Ash replied bluntly. "Here is the money for your hot chocolate... I'll be taking my leave now."
"What are you running for?" Karmen asked. "There's plenty of time at our disposal! "
"Sorry, I'm not interested in wasting time with you... there are better things for me to do than staying here." Ash's cold voice could be heard clearly in the silent cafeteria as it resonated in the ears of everybody while he left like someone who gave zero f*cks about a girl's heart.
"Siiiii... Did the beauty just get rejected by him?" the other couples who were eating and enjoyimg their time were given yet another shock.
Who in their right mind would reject a beauty like Karmen? Ash just did it... and it looked like a merciless destruction!
Gritting her teeth, Karmen walked away too. This was the most embarrasing moment in her life. This made her almost hate Ash, but she understood, that it would be hard to take him away from Bai, from the start.
The boy was cold to everybody exept Bai Ling...
"But for how long?..." Karmen thought.
She would dump him after she was done with him immediately, for what happened today!
....
"Ash." said Bai Juan after seeing him come back from school. "What happened at school for Ling to be feeling so down?"
"She feels down?" Ash thought to himself while looking at Bai Ling, who was sitting on the table, eating her food silently while staring at him.
She looked more like an angry person than a sad one as her hair was gently floating in the air again.
"What's the matter?" Ash sat down next to her and asked while eating dinner.
"..." Bai Ling furrowed her brows and ate the food infront of her hastily before standing up. "I'll go up to sleep." she turned towards her parents, who watched her curiously, and went up, ignoring Ash in the meantime.
Finished with his dinner, Ash went up, too after a few minutes.
When he opened the door to his room, Bai Ling was already on his bed, pretending to be asleep.
It was night time, but it was also early for bed.
"Hey..." Ash sat on the bed next to her and poked her cheek. "Are you mad because... of me?"
"How can I not be? After what you said yesterday and now that I saw you holding hands with Karmen while entering the cafeteria..." Bai Ling pouted angrily and turned around. "And I was waitimg for you..." from almost shouting, in the beginning, she was now mumbling to herself.
"Ling... Are you jealous of her?" Ash tilted his head while watching her.
Her hair started emmiting heat and the pillow underneath her head blackened a bit before starting to burn slowly.
"..." Bai Ling got a little embarrased, but she didn't wat to say anything, still angry at Ash, and with that hateful feeling in her heart.
" I'll tell you what happened and you can even see for yourself at the sports festival if it's true..." Ash reassured and started narrating what happened after they parted ways.
Sure enough, in a matter of minutes, Bai Ling's hair went to normal again, the previous emotions turned to embarrasment and guilt.
She should have went in the cafeteria when she saw Ash being dragged by Karmen and ask what was happening instead of making conclusions on the spot.
Either way, if it was true, she would know immediately at the sports festival.
"Sorry.." Bai Ling uttered this one word and bent into a ball.
With the chance infront of him, Ash took the burning pillow and replaced it with a new one gently. He didn't want his bed to get burned down too.
'Kiss her on the forehead... Now is your chance!' Ameron suddenly said.
Gulp. Ash felt a bit nervous as his bloodflow increased.
After hesitating for a bit, he did as Ameron said and uncovered Bai Ling's still red from embarrasement face, under the blanket, and slowly approached her.
Tup. Tup. Tup... Her heart started beating fast as she watched Ash close the distance between their faces.
Bai Ling couldn't move a muscle as she stared at Ash coming closer and closer.
Biting on her lower lip while looking like a scared puppy, she closed her eyes tightly.
Kiss. Bai Ling suddenly felt tingly on her forehead.
After a while she opened her eyes and saw Ash lying on the blanket, Bai Juan prepared a few hours ago for him, next to the bed.
Touching her forehead, while watching Ash sleep like a log, Bai Ling could still feel the tingly sensation lingering around.
She felt warm inside. Would she be able to sleep tonight?