You shouldn't have reacted that way toward Ryan." Ashley told Benedicta.
"Come on! Look at you! I mean, you wish to have a boyfriend like Asher. Who knows if your Asher is Ryan?" Bella remarked.
"You can't just walk out on every guy that comes your way. Uhh!" Ashley said, snapping her finger.
"Are you girls done talking?" Benedicta said, folding her arms and looking scornfully at us.
Benny!" Bella caed out.
"Oh please! Don't even call me that. It's eww. You girls are really getting on my nerves." Benedicta said it angrily.
"Come to think of it. The name Benny really sounds great for a charmer like you. I guess no one has ever called you that. Ryan, surely you know what best suits you." I said it teasingly.
"Really, Tara?" She exclaimed and walked out, leaving her food untouched.
We all giggled.
"What a drama queen!" I'll go speak with her." I said this as I stood up.
I went out of the cafeteria and looked ahead of the crowd to catch sight of Benedicta, but I did not see her.
"Did you see Benedicta?" I asked Taylor, the timekeeper.
"Sure. I saw her entering the toilet room." She replied.
"Thanks." I said, walking towards the toilet.
"Those girls! If not for Ryan, they wouldn't be calling me Benny. Benny! Benny? The name sounds kind of cool." Benedicta said to herself as I eavesdropped on her.
"Sure it does," I said, interrupting her.
"Tara! Were you standing there, listening to me?" She asked amusingly.
"Yup!" I said, smiling.
"Oh God!" She exclaimed as she buried her face in her palms.
"You know? You should try being friends with Ryan for just a day. If you still feel uncomfortable after one week, you can back out."
"Yeah." I guess I'm being too hard on him." She said it shyly.
"Did that come out of your mouth?" I asked, surprisingly.
"Come on! Don't look at me that way," she said, splashing water on me.
"How do I approach him to tell him I want to be his friend?" She asked.
"No need to say anything. Just smile at him when you have eye contact with him." I told her.
"Nice. You're the best." She said this, splashing more water.
We laughed together and splashed more water at each other. The toilet prefect came in and asked us to stop what we were doing. We both dried our hands and walked out of the toilet and back to the cafeteria.
"The drama queen is back," Ashley said to Bella.
"It looks like Tara successfully brainwashed her." Bella said, staring at Benedicta and me as we walked in.
Benedicta was looking around to see if she could catch sight of Ryan, and she did. He was with Victoria. They were both giggling and talking like they were interested in each other.
"I give up." Benedicta exclaimed, throwing herself on the chair and placing her head on the table.
"What?" I asked.
"All guys are the same. Look at Ryan over there with another girl. Talking with her like, Never mind." She said it, almost crying.
"Benny!!" Wait! What is going on? I thought you weren't concerned about him." Ashley asked curiously.
"Someone is in love." Bella laughed.
"I don't love him." Benedicta said, shouting at Bella.
"Really? Then why are you worried about who he is with?" Bella asked her.
Benedicta remained silent.
"No response? It is because you are in love with him and you are jealous." Bella continued.
"Benny, dear, don't worry yourself too much because Victoria is Ryan's sister." Ashley said and gulped her drink.
"Whatever. I'm not concerned. It's none of my business." Benedicta said, wiping off the little tear that dropped.
Ashley and Bella laughed very hard. "Benny is so full of drama. Why can't she admit she has a crush on Ryan?" I asked myself.
The bell rang. We rushed back to our classroom. On our way, Benedicta slipped and almost fell, but Ryan caught her.
"Oh my God! This is Korean drama in real life." Bella said, blushing.
"Are you okay?" Ryan asked Benny as he lifted her up.
"I'm cool. Thanks." She replied and smiled at him.
"Awwwn! This is so sweet and romantic. I wish this was an episode of a Korean drama. I would name it 'blind love'." Bella said, happily.
"They both look cute together." I said, placing my palms on my cheek.
"Bye, Ryan. See you during closing hours." We all greeted him and walked into the classroom.
Ryan was a class ahead of us.
*****************************************
Asher and I were alone, lying on the ground on the basketball court. We decided to stay behind during closing hours to spend time together. Pinky was with us as well. Bella begged me to let her take Pinky home, saying her cats would be very happy to see her,but I said no. How could I ever leave Pinky alone? My first pinky got lost, and I'm not going to let anything happen to this pinky.
"Hey, Pinky. I hope you are taking good care of my sweetheart." He asked, patting her in the back.
"Sure, she does. But she kind of stresses me." I replied, resting on his chest.
We both laughed, and he lowered his head down to my lip and kissed me passionately. We got interrupted by some noise and footsteps.
"Oh! There comes the two new lovers in our school. Ryan and Benny." I told Asher.
"Really? Since when?" He asked curiously.
"Well, since today," I replied.
"It looks like I'm behind the world. A lot has happened between you girls today that we guys don't know about." He said this as we watched both of them walk past the basketball court.
"What's up with you, Ashley, and Anna? Clinton told me Anna threatened you and Ashley." Dennis asked.
"How did he know?" I asked curiously because Clinton wasn't there when it happened.
"Ashley told him." He replied.
"Yeah, she did. I shouldn't take her threats to heart, but what she said and what I've seen are making me scared that she can do something." I said.
"What did you see?" he asked.
I explained all that happened last night to him. He seemed to understand me and knew something was up. She may hurt me, but not to the point of sending an assassin to kill me, because Asher loves me. I told my mom about it, too. She said she would tell the security agents to send men who would watch over our house throughout the night.
"I have to be on the watch." I told Asher.
"Sure. Try not to sleep alone in your room. Probably sleep with your mom. And make sure you have a weapon to protect yourself in case anything happens," he said.
"Okay dear." I replied, smiling.
We kissed again, and it was longer than the first kiss.
"I love you, Tara." He said this after we finished kissing.
"I love you more," I replied.
"It's almost dawn. Let's go home. I'll drop you home." He said.