"You should have checked every corner of the dark room. I heard that you guys breezed through the lightroom"
"Well, the dark room really is hard. I don't remember how much I've stepped on somebody's foot. The flashlight is so tiny!" Grei tries to extend the conversation.
"Haha, they are, don't they? That's why we provided 3 flashlights in there" Grei was stunned a little
"There are three flashlights?" He was surprised when his eyes got bigger.
"That's cute." I couldn't help smiling. Then I saw Max looking at us behind him in my peripheral view.
"I should shut up, right about now. You guys could try again tomorrow". He nodded
"Yes, yes. We will come back". He stepped a bit near my ears.
"Thanks for the tips" Grei grinned, stepped back, and then stepped away.
Max is still looking at me
"I don't know if I am blushing, but I feel a bit hot"
"Don't worry, I didn't say much!" I exclaimed before Max stepped towards me.
"Since when did you guys get so close anyway?" Max whispered into my ears, mimicking what he had just seen.
This time, his breath tickled my ears and I felt goosebumps. I slapped his shoulder lightly and pushed him.
"Stop that!" Max smiled slightly.
"We're not close, okay!" I almost shouted from embarrassment; he didn't understand my reaction. He sat back in the chair where we waited when it was not his cue to work.
"That guy, I heard he's usually low-key, aside from. Aside from the fact that he has famous parents, he's a Bumi too". I looked at him with curiosity.
"Really? He's Margie's brother?" I asked, and a bit confused.
"I didn't know Margie had a brother?" Max shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm really having bad vibes here, is it because of Grei?" I squinted my eyes a little bit and asked
"Don't you like Grei?" I asked. Max heard me, and he looked at me straight for a second.
"Hmm, why wouldn't I like him?" Max answered my question with a question
"Shouldn't they be closer? They were classmates last year…"
"Just because…" I said.
This is how he is when he's hiding something, dragging the conversation.
"I just… I feel you're a bit cold towards him." And this is how I am in difficulties, can't say things straight, can't pass the message clearly.
"You see… he's just the new kid, we were classmates last year, he's good at making friends…" he started storytelling.
"So, you've known him ever since he came? I really didn't notice him much; we didn't even talk about him before."
"Maybe because you're just not interested… But he looks like a great guy, he's running top of the class, he's not too studious. He's not part of the student leaders or council, but he helps sometimes. I even got to see his parents at the last parent's conference last year."
"Really? I didn't see him there that time. But I think I saw his parents walking down the hallway after that". After my statement, he nodded his head.
"Yeah, of course, who wouldn't notice them, a lot of people wanted to talk to them, they're like glowing gold after the Bumi Corporation became the talk of the town", he explained.
"But then again, I don't understand, why does he look distant when it comes to him?"
"Do you like him?" Max suddenly faced me and asked.
"If you like the guy, why are you not trying to be friends with him?" Max took a deep breath, and he became silent after that question and I didn't answer.
"I really don't understand, can't you just explain why? If he has a bad reputation or behavior I should look out for, then I could stop getting close to him before it could begin."
"Hi, can we register for the escape room? I heard we could get awesome prizes and coupons from the pizza corner if we won this place". Some group interrupted our talk after they saw me holding the folder of the list.
Max and I didn't get the chance to continue the talk that day. He actually began avoiding me. He didn't even come with me to roam the festival grounds on the second day. Another batch of 5 classmates is assigned the next day. We are right to reduce the time limit. So far, 3 groups have successfully escaped. And they were sworn to secrecy before they got their prizes.
"But we actually change the placement of the keys and clues at every turn of the group, so even if they get to tell their friends how to escape, they still need to find them in the rooms"
The second day was fun. I came with my girlfriends, and we saw Max's group of friends. He came with them, but he just smiled back at us, but he didn't look at me in the eyes.
"What the hell is happening? I should call him later."
Today we are free, but I decided to check our room sometime during the day.
The school grounds are not that big, but the real events are in the classrooms. Even some of the food corners that are made by the students are scattered throughout the building. The place is packed, so many faces are there that we don't know.
There are parents and small kids, and it's fun to see that they are enjoying themselves with the different themes of the classrooms.
When Max and my group came together in the hallway, we went into a classroom with a food theme. They have 5 booths and it's a street food theme. We entered the room together, but we were always far from each other with our friends between us.
"Don't they notice that Max isn't talking to me?
We walked in the middle of the room and the booths were scattered on the sides. Then I heard somebody giggling from the side,
"Hey, it's the Pres… the Pres" I heard somebody say that from the murmurs.
"Chuna!" Then somebody shouted my name from the side.
Then a very broad smile welcomes me, he's wearing an apron and a chef's hat. I smiled back, and he waved to me to come.
"Hey, Pres you came!" One of his friends pushed him a little and Grei pushed back.
"Hold on, I'll give you a free sausage bun and a drink". The girls behind me squealed.