I kept staring at Eric's back, waiting for him to return my photo. School was almost ending already but he still hasn't shown a single sign that he'll return it.
The moment our classes ended, I went to the library. It wasn't to do assignments nor read any books, I just wanted to have sometime to myself before heading home.
I felt like someone had been following me for the whole time so I turned around and as expected, Eric was behind me. He handed me the photo just when I was about to ask him what he was doing.
"You could have just let me know. You'll be mistaken as a stalker."
"I was observing what accessory you are wearing today." He's totally a stalker!
"I told you I wear anything that matches my hair color." I was getting annoyed by him constantly following me everyday. "Why are you so curious about it anyway?"
He said he wanted to ask me something important so we went to the cafeteria. I ordered a limited-edition drink since it was his treat and he didn't seem to mind.
"So, your question?"
"What do girls want for their birthdays?"
I doubted my ears when I heard that.Is his fiancee's birthday coming up? No, he wouldn't be the one to plan what she gets for her birthday. Then what is it? A love interest?
"She'll like anything you give her if she likes you."
"That's exactly the problem. What's 'anything' and I don't even know if she likes me the same way as I do."
"I don't think this is something you can ask an inexperienced person about. I'm leaving." I couldn't bear that boiling feeling in my stomach. Seriously, can't I just reserve my feelings for my fiance?
"But this is something only you can answer-"
"Anyone would be willing to answer you since you're so popular among the girls."
Alice was already there when I reached the gate. She placed my bag into the boot and drove me home after I fastened my safety belt. I cleared unnecessary thought in my head and kept my phone in my bag. I didn't even charge it that night.
Ding!
Probably a text from him again. A goodnight text? Who cares.
I couldn't sleep the whole night and was overwhelmed by tiredness the next morning. I couldn't even taste the pancakes when mother finally allowed the chef to serve them again after so long.
Sigh. This is exhausting.
I finished the glass of milk in front of me in one gulp and went to take my bag from my room. I looked in the mirror to see my simple hairstyle like before. 'Looks like we're back to square one.'
That strand of hair that I left out tying it into my ponytail was really annoying, but nothing annoys me more than what's in my head right now.
I went to the car and went in when the door was opened. During the whole journey to school, I kept thinking how to face him after what he asked.
"I should talk to Mia."
"Is something the matter, Miss?"
"Ah, nothing, really." How careless of me, randomly blurting my thoughts out like that.
I was spacing out when the car suddenly stopped. I looked out of the window only to realize we were already at my school.
"We have arrived, Miss." Alice opened the door. "Please have fun in school. Contact me when you're ready to head home."
I entered the school grounds as Alice drove the car away. My phone was low on battery since I didn' charge it last night but I couldn't care less about it.
Yelling can be heard before I even stepped foot into the classroom. Mia ran to me and told me about the situation, although I couldn't really hear her since the whole class was so noisy.
"So you're saying, Eric asked Natasha something and she somehow began all these yelling when he felt pissed about her reply?"
"Well, to summarize the whole thing, yes."
I didn't really want anything to do with him already, so why was that the first problem I had to deal with so early in the morning? I didn't even sleep well last night.
"Amanda, did you sleep last night? You don't look good today."
I was surprised she even noticed the little details. It's quite annoying but sometimes it plays the role of a signal for me to talk my mind to her.
I told Mia what happened yesterday that made me unable to sleep and her answer shocked me.
"Isn't he asking you because it's a present for you?"
For me? What an absurd way of thinking.
"If I were to put myself in his shoes, I would ask you because whatever you say is what you want."
There she goes, saying something that has never crossed my mind. How did she even think of that though?
That aside, I was feeling really annoyed. I have no idea why that has to take place at Eric's seat, which was in front of me. Her yelling nearly made my ears bled.
"Why do I have to get rejected by you twice in two weeks?! Have you ever considered a woman's feelings?! Do you have any idea how much I suffered that night and now you are just cutting the wound deeper!" Eric was sitting there quietly with a straight face as if no one was talking to him.
'Was that a confession?'
Someone went to get a teacher and she finally quietened down.
Class went on as usual and it was finally break time.
"Sorry, Amanda. Could you head to the cafeteria first? Eric wants to talk to me. I want a red bean paste bun today. Thanks!" Mia passed me her purse and went to Eric's seat. She has been helping me out all these times so I guess it's fine repaying what she has done for me.
I accumulated my allowance because Mia has been treating me so I thought of treating her this time. I even got her favorite drink.
When I returned to the classroom, Mia was already done talking with Eric.
"Amanda! You could have waited for me in the cafeteria… Poor you coming back alone, you must be lonely. Come, let's eat together."
While I was enjoying my honeydew juice, Eric was typing something on his phone. He glanced at me when he stopped typing so I was thinking maybe he sent me a text but too bad, my phone ran out of battery.
I didn't even care to hope my phone's battery miraculously went up at least a few percentages. It's not like I support Natasha or anything but the fact that both of us fall in the 'being hurt by Eric' category doesn't change.
When class started, Carl was abnormally attached to me when he realized Eric wasn't close to me. Despite his constant glare, Carl still felt virtuous since I didn't let Eric take a step closer to me.
As I was doing the questions our teacher assigned us to do in class, Carl suddenly leaned closer which made me uncomfortable.
"Amanda, let me know if I can help you with anything. By anything, I mean literally anything."
What is he implying?