"Who is that behind Mr. Harthers?" "I have never seen her before." "Is she a transfer student?"
Carra and Felly saw the blonde-haired girl and felt that she was awfully familiar.
Beside them, Noele widened his eyes.
Meanwhile, the students of Class A tried to look at her face, but her long ruffly hair only served to hinder their attempts as it acted like a curtain for her face. Her huge, rounded glasses also blocked her eyes, making them unable to determine her appearance.
Glancing at everyone, the blonde student halted her footsteps beside Mr. Harthers.
"We were right, she is a transfer student!" "Teach is gonna introduce her to us now."
The students' comments prompted Mr. Harthers to look towards the girl weirdly.
"What are you doing here? Go to your seat!"
"Sir, my papers." The girl reached her hand out.
"Oh, right." Mr. Harthers grabbed the test papers from the desk drawer and handed them to the blonde student.
"...What? What is teacher giving her?" "The transfer student is taking the quarterly tests? Is that it?" "But those papers... they're not blank."
After receiving her papers, the girl started walking to an empty chair, one that had been unoccupied for exactly one week. She swiped the dust off and sat down, holding her long skirt.
Noele quietly sat down and turned away. No matter what she looked like, he would be able to recognize her any day of the week.
On the other hand, Carra and Felly, as well as every other student in the classroom, stayed silent for a good few seconds before their jaws dropped.
"Vinny?! That's Vinny?" "What the hell... what happened to her the past week?" "She's undergone a massive makeover..."
Vinny inhaled before shouting. "You're all too noisy! Shut up!"
After her shout, everyone thought the same thing: '...That's Vinny alright.'
Carra slowly walked towards Vinny in disbelief. On the other hand, Felly swiftly ran past her and grabbed Vinny's shoulders.
"You...! What happened to you, boohoohoo..."
"St- stop shaking me, Felly... I just forgot to put on my makeup today..."
"No, I don't mean that, idiot! Where have you been....? Not to mention your makeup, but you have glasses now, and your skirt and blouse... You're properly wearing them!"
"Oh, that..."
"You! Carra and Felly, sit down! Have your emotional reunion later. And you, Vinny, you're lucky we did nothing last week. If we did, I won't have let you retake any tests! Your excuse isn't valid!"
Mr. Harthers was clearly in a bad mood, so Carra and Felly sat down obediently.
"Okay, now that that's all done, let's start our lesson. Guys, this is our first lesson for the third quarter, but you must not be complacent. It's because this lesson sets a foundation for every other lesson in this quarter, and basically everything in this subject..."
As Mr. Harthers went on to do his well-known ranting, Vinny quietly sneaked glances at Noele.
Meanwhile, Noele was not taking in any of the teacher's words. They went in one ear, out the other.
-----
Lunch time.
Noele approached Felum with two lunchboxes.
"W, what is that?"
"This is your lunch. I made it for you."
Felum shivered as he rubbed his arms in fear. "How about no?"
"Come on, just take it! There's your favorite fried shrimp inside and, ooh, octopus hotdogs!"
Felum's mouth started to drool. 'Should I just take it? Noele's cooking is delicious, after all...'
In his mind, he imagined a possible scenario that would arise...
.....
He obediently takes the lunchbox. When he opens it, there's a heart shape made of red beans on the rice.
"This is...", he answers in disbelief.
"Do you like it? I made it specifically for you." Noele gives him a small smirk.
Fast forward a decade later.
"I now pronounce you, husband and husband."
.....
"No, no, no!" Felum shook his head profusely. "I won't take it! I won't get tainted! I have a girlfriend!"
"I'll take it then." Vinny swiped the lunchbox from Noele's arm and smiled.
Both Felum and Noele were dumbfounded.
The former spoke first. "You...! You just got back and you're already bullying Noele?"
"Ha? But you yourself said you didn't want it? It would be a waste if someone didn't eat it."
"Th-that's true..." 'Shit, it's my fault! I should've just taken the lunchbox and gotten married with Noele, damn it.'
"V-Vinny..." Noele's expression darkened.
"...I was just kidding. Here's the lunchbox back."
As Noele took back the lunchbox, he felt something like a thick stack of paper under it. He took a look.
"--!!" His breath became rapid as he looked for Vinny.
By the time he found her, she was already headed out of the classroom with her friends.
"Ha! Good job, Noele! One simple look scared her off! I knew you had it in you!" Felum rapidly patted Noele's shoulder, sneakily grabbing the lunchbox from the latter's hands.
Meanwhile, Noele was too preoccupied to notice Felum.
"..."
-----
After eating lunch.
"Family matters, my ass!" Carra angrily washed her face in the restroom sink. "Does she not trust us at all?!"
"Ayayay, you need to calm down, madre. Just because she doesn't want to tell us, doesn't mean she has no trust."
"...Despite you saying that, you're clearly frustrated." Carra looked at Felly's displeased expression. "I haven't seen you look like that since the third grade."
"It's unavoidable." Felly sighed. "It just... saddens me that Vinny doesn't think she can tell us what happened to her. It makes me feel like it's my fault, for making her think that way."
"...You're right. Maybe she's thinking that we'd make fun of her if she told us. Like, that's the vibe we give off in front of her."
"..."
In the end, both Felly and Carra sighed.
"Wow, I didn't expect to get so introspective." Carra felt refreshed.
"What does introspective mean?" Felly scratched her head.
"It means... thinking about your thoughts and feelings, very deeply." A voice suddenly cut in their conversation. The door opened, a girl walking in.
"--Vinny!" "How long have you been here?"
Carra and Felly watched Vinny walking closer to them with a lowered head.
Despite that, they could see tears dropping onto the tiles of the ground.