I turned to face them and tried to stay calm. He opened his bag and pulled out the book he had taken from me the other day.
"Here's your book." he said, handing it to me.
I took it from him.
"Well, it's good that you decided to return my book." I said sarcastically.
He didn't say anything more. Unexpectedly, a loud rumbling noise came from my stomach.
~~~Cruuuu cruuuuu~~~
How embarrassing, my stomach was growling loudly. I hoped they didn't hear it.
"Dude, are you hungry? What the f*cking sound was that?" Sade asked Cairo.
"It's not me; I ate earlier." Cairo replied. They both turned to look at me.
"H--h, not me—"
I didn't finish my sentence because
~~~Cruuuuu Cruuuuuu~~~
My stomach growled even louder. I was so hungry because I hadn't had lunch.
"It's you, Aria." Sade said, laughing.
"Tsk, why don't you eat? That's why you're so skinny." Cairo teased.
"I didn't have lunch, okay?" I said.
"Sade, go ahead. I'm hungry again." Cairo said. Then he grabbed my arm tightly.
"Let's go to the cafeteria, come eat with me." Cairo said.
"Hey! I'm eating too." Sade added.
"Shut up, dude! You ate a lot after practice." Cairo snapped. He then dragged me toward the cafeteria.
"Ouch! You're holding my arm too tight!" I shouted as he continued to pull me.
"Stop being so dramatic. I'm taking you to eat! Just be quiet." Cairo said.
What does he mean by "taking me to eat"? He was the one who asked me to come with him. Such a weirdo.
When we got to the cafeteria, we headed straight to the table reserved for the "Four Princes."
"Sit here." he said authoritatively.
Why is he making me sit here when this spot is reserved for them? This is where we started arguing before because I sat here. I can't understand what's going on in his head sometimes.
"Sit down already, stop being so difficult!" he yelled. Students started to look over.
"OMG!! Cairo is bothering Aria again."
"Seriously, he doesn't leave her alone."
"Tsk, she's just being too noticeable."
"She deserves to be bullied by Cairo, she's too much of a show-off."
"Well, serves her right."
I heard the students around us talking and more of them started to stare at us. I just sat down and kept my head down. I had no idea what Cairo was up to today.
"Stay here and don't leave." he said, then walked away. I didn't look at him and kept my head down.
I didn't want to see the surrounding students, who were definitely staring at me. They were probably saying a lot of things about me, claiming I deserved to be bullied and other insults. I just wanted this to be over so I could leave the cafeteria.
After a while, Cairo returned.
"Oh, eat up." he said authoritatively, then placed a mountain of food on the table. The table was now full of food.
I was shocked by what he was doing. Not only that, but all the food he ordered was also expensive. Has he changed his way of bullying me? Is he trying to kill me with an abundance of food? Is he going to starve me to death?
"Do you think I can finish all this?" I asked him.
Even the students were surprised by Cairo's actions. Many were annoyed with me.
"I didn't know what you wanted, so I ordered all kinds of food. Just pick what you like." he said, which shocked me even more. I couldn't figure out what was going on in his head or why he was doing this.
"You're crazy, I can't afford all this." I said.
"Did I say you need to pay for it? I said eat and choose what you want." he snapped at me. I just looked at Cairo, then at the food, then back at Cairo.
"Hurry up, eat already so your stomach stops making that creepy sound." he said.
"Shut up, don't remind me of the growling stomach." I replied. If I didn't eat, he would keep talking and annoying me, so I started eating. He sat down in front of me.
"Aria is so annoying, who does she think she is for Cairo to do that to her?"
"So irritating."
"Thinks she's all that."
"Arrggghhh, I want to pull her hair."
I heard students around us saying this, so I felt awkward eating and kept my head down while eating slowly. Who has the appetite to eat a lot while angry students are staring at you?
"GET OUT OF HERE! GET LOST! AND SHUT UP!"
I was startled and stopped drinking my milk tea, turning to look at Cairo because of his loud shouting. The students quickly scattered, and the entire cafeteria went silent.
"Why did you do that?" I asked him.
"Because they were too noisy, Aria," Cairo said, leaning back in his chair.
"Thanks for that." I said.
"So, is this a peace offering? Are you not going to fight with me anymore?" I asked with a smile.
"I'll still fight with you if I want to." he replied.
"Tsk, you're really a monkey." I teased him.
"Can you stop calling me that?" he said.
"I'll call you monkey if I want to." I mimicked his words.
"You're really a pest." he responded.
"You're a monkey." I replied.
"Pest."
"Monkey."
"Pest."
"Oh, whatever, you're a monkey! Monkey!" I kept teasing him.
"Call me that one more time and I'll kiss you right here." he said seriously. I stopped immediately and quickly finished my milk tea. When I glanced at him, he smirked at me as if saying he had won. Tsk.
I put the leftover food into plastic bags. I planned to take it home to Kai; it would be a waste otherwise. I couldn't understand what Cairo's deal was today. His actions were really weird. He just waited for me to finish eating, then I said I was heading to class.
He left for his next class as well. He really bought me food and stayed with me until I was done eating. I felt like this might be part of some plan of his, and I wondered if he had done something sneaky. I'd better watch out if my stomach reacts badly.
I entered the classroom, and the professor just discussed the lesson. Hours passed, but I didn't feel anything unusual. It didn't seem like the food was poisoned; Cairo was just acting really weird today.
Eventually, it was time to go home. I packed up my things and left the room. When I got to the parking lot, Cairo was standing next to my bike.
"Why? What do you need now?" I asked him. Instead of answering, he handed me a paper bag.
"What's this?" I asked, puzzled.
"Just take it." he said. I took it from him.
"It's art materials. Denzel mentioned that you joined the art club earlier." he said, which surprised me. When did he start caring about me enough to give me art supplies?
"Wow, thanks a lot... I didn't expect you to have a kind heart, Cairo." I said.
"Tsk, so you're good at drawing. I bought you art materials because you'll be doing my philosophy project. Draw five philosophers. Hurry up because the deadline is Monday. I can't do it myself because we have basketball practice every day." he said, making my blood boil.
So, he bought these materials just to get me to do his philosophy project? What a jerk. I forgot, Cairo is just annoying, and there's no trace of kindness in him. He's manipulative and deceitful.
"Are you crazy? Why would I do your project?!" I yelled at him.
"Because I'm busy! And I don't know how to draw!" he yelled back.
"I don't care about your life! You can't order me around!" I shouted, dropping the paper bag with the art materials on the ground.
"Fine, whatever!" I added.
"Don't you have any gratitude? After I fed you in the cafeteria, this is how you act, Aria?" he reproached.
"You're really annoying." I said.
"Just do it already. Don't make me get even more angry. I've done you a favor, and you won't help with my project," he said.
To quiet him, I picked up the paper bag with the art materials from the ground.
"Fine, I'll do it, you annoying monkey—" I stopped myself. I suddenly remembered what he said in the cafeteria earlier.
"Call me that one more time and I'll kiss you right here." His words replayed in my mind. I'm glad I stopped myself from calling him a monkey. When will he leave me alone? It's really frustrating.
"What? Are you going to finish what you were saying?" he taunted.
"Nothing! I'll do it, so if you could just leave, I'm going home!" I said, annoyed.
"Good, you're doing it." he replied.
I put the paper bag in my bag and got on my bike. I still needed to pick up Kai from school.