"She was standing right here," Rhea mumbled but Louie could hear her.
"Who was?" Louie asked.
Rhea turned to face him, her face was filled with nothing but surprise. Louie stared at her in surprise too. He could not understand what she was trying to say or who she was talking about.
"Who was?" He asked again.
"She was..." Rhea groaned.
How was she supposed to explain to Louie?
"Talk to me," Louie said. "Who were you talking about?"
"You did not see the girl in front of me a few minutes ago? She was dressed in a black gown. She..."
"There wasn't any girl, Rhea," Louie answered.
Rhea furrowed her brow. "You did not see her?"
Louie shook his head. "I did not."
Louie must be serious about this. Rhea thought as she blinked slightly.
She had thought Louie wanted to play a prank on her, but the look on his face had just said otherwise, she could not help but ask Louie again.
"Y-you did not see her. You did, right?"
Louie shook his head. "I did not, Rhea. If I did, I would have told you. If there was any girl in the class with us a few minutes ago, that should be Maya but she already left."
Rhea's heart was beating so fast. "But I did see a girl. She looked so much like me. She was the same height as I was. She..."
Louie patted her shoulder. "Rhea, you must be tired. There was no girl."
Rhea furrowed her brows. Was there no girl like Louie said? Was she only imagining things? Could that be a sign of being tired? But she doesn't feel tired and why does the girl's appearance feel so vivid and real?
There was no one to answer those questions and she had no answer for any either. She decided to let it go.
She sighed. "Maybe you are right," she mumbled. She picked her bag up. "If I am tired like you said Louie, then I should go home and let some rest."
"You should, Rhea. You look so tired. You will be better by tomorrow."
Rhea wasn't sure Louie meant his words or he was only trying to make her feel better.
He must know she wasn't tired. She thought.
"I will walk you to the door. Let me get my bag ready."
"That would not be necessary. I need to leave now. Celia would be waiting for..."
"Hi, Louie." Celia walked in.
"Hi, Celia. Rhea was just talking about you," Louie answered.
Celia's eyes beamed with a smile. "Did she? Do you miss me, Rhea?"
"In your dream," Rhea mumbled. "Can we go now?"
Celia moved closer to Rhea. "The new boys," she mumbled.
Rhea knew Celia was trying to ask after Alan and Reece, but she pretended not to know. She hadn't noticed them in class today; she had a lot of things to think about.
She furrowed her brows instead. "What are you talking about, Celia?"
Rhea's voice was so loud it drew Louie's attention.
"Is there a problem?" He asked.
"No, there isn't a problem," Celia answered. "Right, Rhea?" She added.
Rhea nodded. "Yes, Louie. Celia was only asking after..."
Celia pulled Rhea by her shirt slightly. "Shh..."
"You do not want Louie to know you also have a crush on the weird boys?"
"What weird boys?" Louie asked.
He seemed interested in the conversation, it made Rhea beam.
"Alan and..."
Celia pulled her slightly. "That is enough."
"What? You do not want me to mention their names? Well, I will. Alan and Re..."
"Why are you calling our names?" Rhea heard and she turned quickly.
Standing by the door was Reece who was staring dangerously at her; Rhea's heart skipped a beat.
She hit her head slightly. Why did she insist on calling their names?
Silence had taken over the room but Reece would not stop staring at her; she knew she needed to say something
"I... I-I..."
Her mouth could not form a complete sentence. His eyes were over her; she felt so uncomfortable.
"I-I..." She tried to speak again but she couldn't.
Who is going to save her now? She thought.
Reece brushed his hair to the side revealing the part of his face he had kept hidden for so long. Though the hair fell back immediately, Celia could capture his face quickly.
Reece pointed at Rhea. "I asked you a question. Why..."
"She meant no harm, Reece," Louie said. "Please don't take it to heart."
Rhea did not expect Reece to listen to Louie but he did, though he said nothing. He did not insist on Rhea explaining why she called their names. Instead, he headed to his seat to pick up the earpiece he had left in his locker. He gave Rhea one last warning look before heading out of the class.
Rhea's heart, which had stopped breathing the moment he stared at her, began to beat at ease.
"Phew! That was a narrow escape," Rhea mumbled.
"You should be careful next time," Louie said.
"Did you see his face?" Celia said dreamily, and that got Rhea provoked.
"I almost got into trouble, and all you could do was ask about seeing someone's face." She said almost in a yell.
"Chill, girl. You did not get into trouble. Did you? Louie saved you." She turned to face Louie. "Are you close to him? He seemed to listen to you."
"You know you're older than he is, right?" Rhea said.
"It doesn't matter," Celia answered. "Louie, you are close to him, right?"
"I am not, Celia. No one is."
Celia sighed. "Too bad."
"Can we go home now?" Rhea asked.
Celia scoffed slightly. "Whatever," she mumbled. "I am leaving, Louie."
"Bye, Celia. Rhea, do not forget to read your book. We will be having our chemistry test tomorrow. Hope you, remember?"
Rhea blinked. She had forgotten about that completely.
"It's all your fault," she whispered to Celia.
"Like I care," Celia whispered back.
"Thank you, Louie. For reminding me. See you tomorrow at school."
Louie waved. "See you too."
Rhea and Celia left the class and headed home. On their way home, Rhea could feel that someone was following them, but whenever she turned, there was no one.
"Can you hear the footsteps?" She asked Celia but she gave no reply. "Celia, I am talking..."
She turned to face Celia and noticed she had earbuds on, which explains why she gave no reply. Rhea decided to listen to music, too; maybe that would help her stop imagining things.
She brought out her phone and earbuds and then connected them through Bluetooth. She decided to go for a soothing song that would make her feel better.
"Rhea?" She heard and she turned quickly.