Chapter 2 - Two

"Andres!!". Daniel yelled his name aloud.

Andres was at the neighborhood playground, playing hide and seek with some of the kids.

"Can I have my student ID Card." Daniel said this while holding out his hand.

"Uh uh...that's so impolite. No thanks or even a tip for helping you find your student ID card." Andres said as he approached Daniel.

"A tip?. Why should I pay for something that belongs to me." Daniel smirked.

Andres titled his head, a small smile on his face.

"Okay. Thank you for finding my student ID card. "Can I have it now?" Daniel stated.

Andres smiled broadly. "What was our agreement?" He inquired.

Daniel let out a deep sigh.

"I'd do the dishes and the laundry for a week!" He sounded irritated.

"Good ". Andres smiled broadly as he handed Daniel the card.

"We're nearly late for class." "Let's go!" Daniel reminded.

_^

Alora kept walking alongside David.

"Could you please assist me in informing Mr Williams that I will be missing the test due to an emergency?" Alora pleaded with David, who only shook his head and said, "Nope. "Not possible."

Alora came to a halt in her stride. She sighed loudly.

David turned to face her.

"Don't make that pity pity face right now. You brought this on yourself.

You should have considered the consequences before swapping your student ID card just for fun!"

David sighed loudly. He felt bad for her.

She can be quite silly at times.

"I suppose I could assist you in informing Mr Williams that you are unable to take the test today due to an emergency." David said.

Alora's face lights up with a big smile.

"Oh, David!" She said as she unexpectedly jumped on David's.

David struggled to break free and ended up pushing Alora too hard.

Alora tried to keep her balance but ended up colliding with one of the passersby and collapsing together on the ground.

When they finally regained their balance.

Alora was startled when she recognized the owner of the Student ID card she had swapped her's with.

"Um..Hi. It's you. I apologize for swapping your student ID card. Here it is..." Alora apologized. She started looking in her bag for the student card but couldn't find it.

"Now what?" David enquired.

Alora turned to David. "The student ID card is gone. I can't find it!!" She spoke in hushed tones.

"How?!. Oh my goodness. Did you drop it off at the cafe? Alora, you really need to get your head straight!!" David was irritated.

Alora took a deep breath and swallowed.

After she pulled that stupid prank, things just got harder and harder.

How was she supposed to explain to him that she had misplaced his student ID card.

What a flop of a prank.

"I'm really sorry." Alora spoke slowly.

"Is she serious now?" So she didn't even realize she'd misplaced my student ID card the whole time. What a moron." Daniel muttered to himself, annoyed.

"I'm truly sorry." Alora pleaded once more.

"It's under your shoe." Andres said, pointing to Alora's shoe.

"What? How?." Alora inquired, startled.

"Daniel had it in his hand before you bumped into him, and now they're under your shoe." Andres laughed.

Alora quickly lifted her legs, and there it was, broken into two pieces.

She and the others both exclaimed.

"But I had it with me earlier.How did it get here?"Alora enquired.

"I took it. I overheard your earlier conversations at the cafe and used them to thwart your plan. But now the student card is in two pieces, and the owner is enraged like never before". Andres explained.

"Oh my Go. I sincerely apologize." Alora pleaded.

She quickly knelt and continued to beg.

_^

It's been a week since the student ID card incident. Alora ended up paying for Daniel's student ID card replacement.

Daniel was angry at first, but it was exhausting, so he just decided to forget about it and go about his day.

Daniel began to notice her around campus after that day, but he never stopped to say hello, and there was no need to. It's not like they had anything to talk about,they were essentially strangers.

Daniel paused in the hallway as he heard Alora and David's voices in the opposite direction.

"I have to get to the library in a few minutes." David stated.

"I'll go with you. Then we'll go to the cafeteria for brunch!" Alora was ecstatic.

"Didn't you just eat breakfast about a half-hour ago? You consume far too much food for someone your size, i'm curious where all that food goes." David continued walking.

Alora scoffed.

Daniel locked his gaze on them as they walked away.

_^

"I also invited Alora to karaoke." Andres said as he and Daniel sat in the cafeteria to eat.

Daniel shifted his gaze to Andres.

"For what?" He inquired.

"I just wanted to." Andres responded.

"Why would you?. You've only just met her." Daniel stated once more.

"Aren't you overacting.? And I don't have to know anyone to hang out with them. I just went with my gut because she seemed like a lot of fun. I also invited her friend, David, was it?" Andres stated as he inserted a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"Whatever. Why bother myself when I'm not even going?" Daniel said this as he continued to eat his meal.

"You'd better not try. You said you'd be there this time because you couldn't make it the last time. I even told the girls you were going to be there tonight." Andres exclaimed loudly.

Even if I go, it won't make a difference. I'm just going to sit there and do nothing." Daniel said as he drank from a plastic bottle.

"You're not coming because of Alora, are you?"

Andres teased.

"Who cares if it is." Daniel responded.

Andres let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. If you don't want to come, don't. You are also welcome." Andres stated.

Daniel, too, sighed loudly.

He felt awful all of a sudden.

But it wasn't all due to Alora.

He wasn't like Andres; meeting new people and socializing consumes too much of his energy, and he wonders where Andres gets the energy to do that every day.

" Since you're not going to karaoke tonight. I should give this to someone else." Andres said and immediately got Daniel's attention.

"As a promotion, they're giving out premium dog treats. Imagine how happy Lucky would be with this." Andres chimed in.

Daniel let out a deep sigh. "What kaoroke offers Dog treat. Stop trying so hard. I'm still not going." He said.

Andres bit his lips. He really thought it would work. He sighed out loudly.

Andres waved to Alora as soon as he saw her with David.

Alora returned the wave.

Daniel bowed his head, as if trying to avoid her.

Alora and David got their meals and sat few tables away from Daniel and Andres.

"It's your fault!" Andres explained.

"What?". Daniel inquired, perplexed.

"It's your fault they didn't sit with us." Andres complained.

"How is that my fault?. You didn't even invite them to sit with us.You just waved." Daniel tried to defend himself, even though he knew he was partially to blame because of how he avoided them.

"I didn't have to ask. Me waving to them was clear enough but you messed it up. I know you're still mad at her, but try to be nice; she has already apologized." Andres said calmly.

Daniel sighed. He looked up and unexpectedly locked eyes with Alora.