Steph hurriedly approached the lecture hall for her first class of the day when she heard the crazy noise and commotion that could send someone crazy. Everyone was talking at once and Steph was very sure no one could hear what the other was saying.
She slowly took a step to the door and from a distance, she could make out the figure of Ivan.
'What the hell is wrong with his fucking mind? Why is he in my class?' She posed as she thought of what to do next.
'Maybe he is here for another friend. No, it can't be. He has never set foot here and it makes no sense that he would come here after our interaction yesterday. He is here for me, how did he even know which class I was in? How many times am I going to tell him I am not interested in him? God, what am I going to do? Skip class? Because he is here? You can do better than that Steph,' she told herself as her hands ran through every bare part of her body.
She was trying to feel her temperature since it always rose whenever she was stressed out.
She turned to look at Amy who was rushing to her class and for the umpteenth time in her life, she wished she was Amy. Carefree and confident with absolutely no cares and worries in the world. She knew had it been Amy, she would have gotten into the lecture hall and commanded attention for herself and more often than not, Amy's character had saved them from situations she thought would break her.
Inhaling deeply, she decided to walk into the lecture hall and one of the other students, Joel Russo took the same opportunity to stand from his chair and walked towards Steph, his full attention on the phone in his hands.
Lost in her own thoughts and driven mainly by fear for attention, Steph wasn't looking at where she was stepping. Her whole attention was on the seat she had noticed was empty so they knocked each other.
"Uh…I'm… sorry," Steph whispered.
"Weren't you looking where you were going? Are you blind or something?" Joel asked arrogantly and Steph felt like slapping the hell out of him.
'If you had been looking where you're going, you wouldn't have knocked me,' she reasoned inwardly but knowing how arrogant and egoistic Joel was, she decided to ignore him and try to walk to her desk.
"I'm talking to you! How dare you ignore me," Joel said harshly as he held Steph's arm tightly, forcing her to writhe in pain.
The class was quiet and most people's attention was on Steph and Joel. Joel was enjoying the attention but more than anything, Steph wanted the ground to open and swallow her alive.
"Stop it!" Ivan shouted, looking squarely at Joel but Joel held Steph's arm more tightly. She was struggling to have Joel let go but he was more energetic than her.
"Joel, I said stop it!" Ivan shouted again, upon realizing that Joel had assumed he wasn't the one being talked to. He had to be confused, how could he not be when Ivan was his friend and not Steph's yet he was defending her?
As if being burned by a hot sensation, Joel let go of Steph's hand. Looking intently at Joel in anger, Ivan walked slowly towards the two and not wanting to create a scene again, Steph started walking hurriedly towards her seat.
'What the hell is going on? I don't like this attention but for the last two days that's all I have been in,' Steph wondered in confusion.
"No thank you for your guardian angel?" Ivan said with a smirk on his face but Steph ignored him.
"The hell bro, how can you defend a girl like her? What do you want from her when you have girls like Chloe and Camila? They are much better than her a million fold," Joel said in disgust, looking at Steph from head to toe.
Ivan scoffed and turned to look at Joel, an impassive expression on his face. Joel stepped towards Ivan, glaring at him. Before Ivan could say anything, Joel shoved him backwards and screamed, "How could you do that? How dare you embarrass me because of her? Hell, that is unacceptable. Bros before hoes, did you forget that?"
Joel was angry and in pain, still not believing what had just happened. He had always stood by Ivan continuously but Ivan always drew the line when it came to girls.
"She is my girl. You need to respect her," Ivan said in between clenched jaws and raised his hand to slap Joel hard on the left cheek.
For the next one or two minutes, all Joel could hear was vibration in his ears. Some of the students in the class were cheering on and recording the drama. Others were logged into their Instagram and Facebook profiles and were live streaming the whole incident.
"She is my girl. You need to respect her," Ivan's words were on replay in Steph's head. Her eyes had almost bulged out of their sockets when she heard Ivan's words.
Tired of being the stepping stone and not wanting to be seen as a coward, Joel slowly and angrily looked up at Ivan, ready to throw a fist at him but he was stopped in his tracks by the loud approaching footsteps and giggles.