_22_ (Andrea Jess Collins's Point of View)
Who is making that irritating sound?
I went to the bathroom in irritation and did my morning rituals. I applied my skin essentials and took a bath then applied my moisturizing lotion and my lip tint.
I wore my uniform, exam day is one of those rare days where the school asks us to wear our uniforms. And while buttoning my blouse, I realized that the loud sound of metal hitting stainless steel was replaced by my phone's ringtone.
I read the caller ID and an anonymous number is flashing.
"Hello?" I said after answering the call
[Ohayo, Jess. Now get down here because we'll be late. I love you.] she said and hung up
That was Lavalee's voice but whose phone did she use?
It's obviously not hers because it's an anonymous number.
I took my bag and connected my phone to the power bank and placed it inside my sling bag.
I applied a little foundation and wore my earrings then went out.
I was a little startled when I saw Lavalee's tiger outside my door.
Actually, it was seated in the middle of the hallway. I looked at Irene, whose room is across mine and she too looked confused.
The tiger stood and walked downstairs, I guess it wants us to follow.
When we got downstairs, the tiger cub ran in Lavalee's direction – or not?
It stopped in front of Jace and sat on his feet.
"Very good, Mnemosyne," Jace said and tapped the little tiger's head
"Mne's shy, did Jace's compliment make you shy?" Lavalee teased and carried the little tiger
If I didn't know better, I'd be thinking that Mnemosyne's their tiger love child of some sort.
"Let's have breakfast," Chelsea said so we followed her to the Dining room.
"Ah, Ms. Lavalee, Ms. Chelsea, Ms. Irene., Ms. Jess." Caspian took our attention
"What? And please drop the Miss." Irene said
"Do we have to take the exam too?" he asked
"Yeah, we're enrolled. " Jace said that's why heaven and earth seem to have fallen on the three; Ethan, Elijah, and Caspian
"Why?" he asked and they averted their eyes
"Lady Lavalee," Suddenly the bodyguards sent by Frost approached.
"Why?" Lavalee asked in a cold manner
"A letter arrived," one of the men said
"Okay," Lavalee said and the bodyguard left after he handed the letter to Lavalee
We stood up and went to the garage after eating our breakfast.
I went to the car and as usual, Caspian was there, ready to start the car. His phone suddenly rang.
"Hello, dear. Ah, yes, I'm currently on duty. " I heard him say
"All right, only later. I will take Miss Jess. " He said and placed down his phone
"You know, you can go home already." I told him
"I can't, Jess. We have a job to finish." He said
"Okay," I said
"You know, Miss Jess - Jess." I corrected him
"Alright. You know, Jess, my girlfriend is a waitress in a café. A lot of people like her, and sometimes I think I don't deserve her. " He said while driving
My brow raised unintentionally.
I mean, I don't really mean to be rude but why is he telling me this?
I didn't ask him to tell me about his love life if I can recall.
"Huh, you don't?" I asked him
"I was just thinking because my contemporaries who courted her are those who have decent jobs. She has a bright future with them." He said
"Your job is decent." I pointed out
"I know but I rarely have time for her. I used to see her talking to a man, and then I kept texting her. One time, I saw a man kiss him so what I did was I punched the man and then pulled my girlfriend away." He said and I can already imagine what had happened
"Did you get mad at her?" I asked him my voice almost faded
Good thing he didn't notice because it's raining.
"Of course, when I was driving home I was angry, but when we got home I apologized to her." He said which made me confused
"You didn't call her names? Badmouthed her?" I asked in confusion
"Why would I do that? I just apologized for acting irrational and asked her to explain." He replied and I raised my brow at him
"Why did you say sorry?" I asked confused
Because he should be mad because it's his girlfriend and the guy kissed her.
I mean, usually in scenes like that the guy would get mad, right?
"Because my brain became shallow. I asked him who the man was, why did he talk to her and text her all the time, you know what she answered? The man was drunk and mistook her for someone." He explained
I can't believe what I'm hearing.
Lieutenant Caspian Sandoval is too good to be true, he's a prince charming and I can see that his girlfriend is lucky to have him.
"I hope everything is like that." I blurted out softly
"Because the response depends on how you look at the person, on how you trust them." He said and I looked at him, he's looking straight ahead
"At first, I wondered why, since when was she fooling me but when I couldn't think of a reason I asked her." He said and I averted my gaze
It doesn't feel realistic to me, it was like a straight out of a book thing.
"It is difficult to conclude. We can get hurt." He said and stopped the car
He pulled out an umbrella, he went out first, then I went out next.
He supported me until we reached our building.
As we entered the building, Chelsea immediately handed us a piece of paper.
We only have two exams for today, according to the schedule Chelsea handed us.
I think that's great.
I could still review for tomorrow's exams.
"Do we all have the same schedule?" Irene asked
"Of course. Though we had to pull some strings with the seating arrangement." Chelsea shrugged her shoulders
"How is it going to be?" Lavalee asked
"Irene and Elijah would be seated on square 15:17 and 16:17, Jess and Caspian on square 1:17 and 2:17, Ethan and I would be on square 3:14 and 4:14. Lavalee would be on square 4:2 while Jace would be on 5:3." She stated with her eyes on her iPad
"We didn't change their seating arrangement, if you want to know, and the seating arrangement would be the arrangement for all the examinations except the Self Defense Examination, of course." Chelsea said
"We're all set then," I said and we went to our room.
When we arrived in Room 309, where we'll take the exam, the boys seem confused about where to sit.
"Uh Jess, what does 9:17 mean?" Caspian said making me chuckle a bit
The floor of the room has is a 20X20 tile setting and for every tile from the third row there is an armchair so that means the counting begins at the third row.
I counted the rows and column, and when I saw our seat, I noticed that Chelsea chose it perfectly.
The position is perfect for exchanging notes and papers secretly.
I quickly understood what Chelsea wants us to do. Two tiles are vacant and that would serve as our aisle.
"Jess, how do you know this is our designated seat?" Caspian asked
"Count the row and column, you'll see," I replied and put my sling bag down
The classroom soon began to get filled, but some of the students remain in front because they can't understand the coordinates written on the board.
The teacher went in and started pointing out the seats and that ate almost 20 minutes of our examination time.
When we received the papers my head started to hurt.
I mean I know that I'm an heiress of a large company but damn, these questions are no joke.
"Eyes on your papers. Cheating is not tolerated." Mrs. Conchia said sternly
"Do you want your loved ones to cheat on you? But if you still dare to, make sure you won't get caught, or else you'll face the consequence." Mrs. Conchia said seriously and I looked at the questionnaire again.
Way to go!
What a great pep talk. Note the sarcasm, please.
The first question looks so damn easy but giving less would make it incorrect and going in circles would make it wrong too.
I answered it with all that I know and read the second question.
I closed my eyes and massaged my temple.
Damn.
Three questions in and my head's hurting already.
Remind me again why I didn't review these lessons?
I'm seriously going to ask Chels to review me for tomorrow's exams later.
When I was halfway through, I saw that Caspian's really struggling.
I gave him my paper.
"What, you can't do that." He said and looked at me like he can't believe me
"Believe me. You need to." I said and pointed to the students around us who are unsuspiciously exchanging answers
When he didn't budge, I took his paper and copied my answers on his exam paper.
"Ah, thank you,." He said and I shook my head
When I finished the 60-item midterm exams, I stood up and walked toward Mrs. Conchia's table.
"Are you sure of your answers, Jira?" she asked and I flashed my sweet smile
"Yes, Mrs. Conchia," I said and went back to my seat and fixed my small bag
I gave Caspian the paper I placed under my test sheet while answering and left.
I saw Jace and Lavalee outside.
They're unbelievably fast.
Lavalee's teasing Jace who on the other hand is just shaking his head.
"You're done already? Is it easy?" she said when she saw me
"What do you think?" I raised my brow at her
"I told you! Jess will be the first. " She said and flicked Jace's nose
"Irene or Elijah," Jace said and Lavalee faced him with a smile
"No, it would be Caspian. Jess helped him." Lavalee contradicted
"What are you two talking about?" I asked confused
Don't tell me they're playing betting?
No one beats Lavalee on that, sometimes she's scary because she can predict someone's choices like she can read their mind just by observing.
Irene came out next and she looked so stressed.
I know the feeling.
But, wait, what?
"You have a problem?" she asked me with a frown and looked at Lavalee who's glaring at Jace
"Where's Caspian?" Lavalee asked Irene
"The teacher's talking to him." Irene replied
"He turned his paper first so Mrs. Conchia didn't interview me when I turned my paper in next," Irene said and Lavalee's eyes widened
"Irene still came out first." Jace said like it's nothing making Lav glare at him
"That was once in a blue moon." I blurted out
"What is?" Irene asked
"Lavalee lost a bet. With Jace." I said and Irene looked at Lavalee who Jace flicked on the nose
"That was new," Irene said and we smirked while looking at Lavalee and Jace who seem like they have their own world.
They're in a staring contest and no one intends to look away.
I'm surprised Jace can stare at Lavalee's auburn eyes for a long time.
"Uh, thanks." Caspian and Elijah came out next.
Ethan and Chelsea came out last and we went to our last room for our exam which is ICT. I'm betting my Porsche that Lavalee and Chelsea would ace that one.