The class was quiet again, and everyone's attention was back on Oliver as he stood in front of the class. At this moment, Oliver realized that he was totally lost in words. He wasn't paying any attention to the teacher when the lesson was still on, therefore he learned nothing. As a matter of fact, he had nothing to offer right now.
How on earth am I supposed to summarize the lesson, Oliver thought. He wondered why he never thought of this before agreeing to do the summary in the first place. He had the chance to simply turn down the offer without any embarrassment, but for some reason, maybe due to the pressure the teacher intentionally put on him, or maybe due to some slight overconfidence, he blindly agreed.
A warm sweat of frustration had begun to dampen Oliver's face, and he could also feel some trickling down his armpits, in addition to the discomfort he was already in.
The look on everyone's face, at this point in time, showed impatience. As for Oliver, he would rather hang himself on a hangman's noose, than embarrass himself in public. He made sure to do whatever was necessary, to avoid disgrace.
Oliver stole a quick glance at the whiteboard behind him. He was able to grab over a dozen words, some in short phrases. In his mind, he linked all the words and phrases to the subject topic, and like that, he was able to come up with a theory.
At the end of Oliver's presentation, the teacher was still staring at him expectantly, like it wasn't over yet. She didn't seem all that impressed or satisfied with the presentation, but at least Oliver was able to embarrassment that could have befallen him.
At 11: 30 AM, the bell for the mid-break went. All the students were gradually emptying the class, moving out mostly in groups of twos and threes.
The number of people remaining in the class drastically lessened, and Oliver was just noticing that the place was almost empty. The people remaining were not much. Just a small group of girls, giggling and gossipping noisily by the corner, and one seated on her own, on a single desk up ahead, actually the person he had been unconsciously staring at for a while now.
Felicity closed the textbook on her desk and slipped it into a bag lying on the floor beside the foot of the desk. She stood up immediately, and headed for the door, ignoring the obvious giggles and chuckles from the pack of girls nearby.
Oliver quickly turned his gaze away from her, as she got to the front of the class. Felicity walked straight out of the door without any attempt to turn her head like she had no idea that Oliver was even there.
Oliver suddenly realized that he had lost sight of Jasper about a minute ago. He looked behind him to see if he had returned to his desk, but Jasper wasn't on his desk either.
He immediately went out of the class to the hallway, in search of Jasper. The place was crowded with so many people, moving uncontrollably in different opposite directions. Oliver was a bit disorientated at where he was, at the moment. He got engulfed in the noisy crowd, and for the moment, he could not identify which door he came out from.
He started scanning through the hallway to see if he could spot an average-height boy with a green jacket and red hair. He was finding it certainly difficult to identify Jasper in such a crowded environment. The students wouldn't cease from gauging out of the doors along the hall, and most of them were taller than him.
Unlike his former school which had just the lower secondary phase, this one included the lower and upper secondary phase, from grades 6-12.
"Come on, Jasper, you've got to show up," he mumbled to himself.
"You shouldn't be far already."
He was not even sure which way Jasper might have taken, he just started pushing his way through. As he went, he tried asking some people if they had seen Jasper. With the response he got from most people, it was certain that Jasper was not as popular as he thought.
In his former school, he was the most popular student, but not in a good way. And when he passed by, everyone; both students and teachers, would stop whatever they were doing, to gape at him in a petrifying manner, as if it was a dead man walking the hallway.
It was a good thing he never really cared about what other people felt about him, except his parents, even though they were so unpredictable and tended to hide their feelings when he was around.
"You're looking for Jasper?" a voice suddenly said.
Oliver paused immediately, looking around for the person that just asked the question. There were so many people passing by, that Olivia could not detect the actual person.
"Oliver Logan?" came a voice, close beside him.
Oliver quickly turned. He saw a tall boy with a dark skin tone, standing there beside him. Obviously, he was a senior student, probably in 9th or 10th grade.
"You're looking for Jasper, right?" he asked Oliver.
"Yeah," muttered Oliver, thoughtfully. He was inspecting the boy's face, trying to figure out if it was familiar.
"Wait a second, how do you know my name?" Oliver asked.
"White skin, black hair, blue eyes? You're definitely the kid that's all over the place. Though, I think the white skin was an exaggeration. Honestly, I admire the solemn personality, I think it's badass," the boy replied.
"Pardon?" muttered Oliver, with his eyebrows wrinkled in the display of confusion.
"I mean the cool bad-guy attitude, I like it," the boy said.
Oliver was totally puzzled by what the boy meant.
"Just tell me where Jasper is," Oliver said.
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot. He's right over the..." said the boy, pointing straight ahead, but then pausing with a startled expression. "I lost him," he muttered.
Oliver looked back at him, expressionlessly.
"Believe me, he was like standing right there next to the pillar, with Shelter, I guess," the boy, said, with a sincere and convincing tone.
"Thanks for the help," replied Oliver, casually. To the senior boy, Oliver meant; thanks for wasting my time.
Oliver went off, following the direction the boy pointed. As he went, he spotted a flash of green amongst the crowd. He doubled his steps that instant, purposefully pushing forward.
He saw the flash of green again, but this time he was closer. He followed up the green fabric, with full concentration, as he didn't want to lose sight of it. He increased his steps as he was getting closer, but as he went further, he didn't see it again. It was completely out of sight.
"How could I have lost him that suddenly?" he muttered.
As he stood there in disappointment, he heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Oliver," called the voice.
He turned back immediately, surprised and also satisfied, seeing who it was.
"It's actually you. I never expected I'd see you standing out here, staring at the..." said Jasper, before the quick interruption by Oliver.
"I've been looking for you. There's something I need to tell you," Oliver said to him.
"You look tensed. Is there a problem, is everything alright?" Jasper asked, thoughtfully.
"Come with me," Oliver said to him, in an attempt to leave.
"Wait, I can't come with you right now. I and Shelter were on our way to..."
"Come on Jasper, you're wasting our time," said a boy a few distances from them. He looked impatient.
Oliver recognized the face, from the previous night. It was the other boy in Jasper's room, only that he appeared a little taller than he was on the bed.
"Just a second, Shelter!" Jasper said to him.
"It's important, Jasper. I messed up so badly, and I need to make things right, or else there might be complications," Oliver said.
As they were still there, another boy approached the three of them. He was older than all three of them, and he had a red badge attached to his breast pocket.
"Shelter, Jasper, what are you two still doing here? You know Mr Gary wouldn't be so patient, and he is so mad," the boy said.
"Wait, who's Mr Gary?" Oliver asked Jasper.
"He's the hostel master. They say he wants to see us, I wonder why," answered Jasper.
Oliver's conscience was beginning to trouble him the more. He knew what was about to happen.
"Oh, no. No no no no, this is not good," he muttered under his breath. Oliver was battling a rising panic.
"What is the problem?" asked Jasper.
"You won't understand. You guys are in trouble. I think he must've mistaken me for one of you guys," Olivia said.
Jasper was in a state of puzzlement at that moment, meanwhile, Shelter had grown so impatient.
"Jasper, you heard the perfect, the hostel master is not in a good mood, that means we can't keep him waiting," Shelter said to Jasper.
"Look, I have to go. Maybe you can explain later," Jasper said to Oliver, as he went to meet Shelter.
Oliver stood there as they walked away. By the corner, was the boy with the red badge. Oliver immediately approached him.
"Excuse me," Oliver said to him.
"Hay, newbie, anything?" the boy asked.
"I just wanted to ask, is Jasper in trouble?" Oliver asked with a concerned tone.
"I don't know for sure, but I think so," replied the boy.
He reduced his voice now.
"You see, a couple of locals brought a report. He and his roommates were seen roaming around the neighborhood at midnight."
"Impossible," muttered Oliver.
"Said something?" the boy asked.
"No, nothing," replied Oliver.
He knew that something was entirely wrong. The previous night, he saw Jasper and Shelter sleeping in their room. It was impossible that they were both seen outside too, at that exact time, appearing in two different and distant places at the same hour.
"Oliver Logan?" a girl called, as she approached him. She was also a senior student, and had a badge on her clothes too, just like the one on the boy's shirt, but hers was purple in color.
"I'm Oliver," he said in a low tone.
"I know you are. Principal's office, now," she said, as she walked straight ahead.
Oliver's heart leaped.