"Pres!"
Paul called out as I was heading to the faculty office.
I decided to ignore him and quickened my pace, but he appeared right in front of me.
"I know you're still mad at Noah about yesterday…" I kept walking, trying to brush him off. He didn't give up and began to chase after me. "Look, I'm trying to help…" he said suddenly, which made me stop.
I turned to face him, my hands on my hips.
"What is it this time? Can you stop already? This is my last warning" I stated firmly before walking away from him.
I know I can't avoid Noah forever, so I'm keeping myself busy to distract myself from the issue.
"No, I'm not kidding. Believe me, Noah has been wanting to apologize to you." I looked at him with disbelief.
"You know what? He's not wrong about me bringing leftover food from school. What I can't understand is why he looks at me as if I'm worthless just because I'm poor…" I explained. "I'm not asking for an apology, and I don't even care about him. I'd be happier if he just ignored me and we went on with our lives."
I felt sorry for myself yesterday after receiving many stares from the class.
They did not deserve to see me like that…
"Sorry…" He said, almost in a whisper. "I wasn't able to do anything about it. I didn't think Noah would say those things to you. I talked to him, and he admits that he was wrong"
We both fell silent for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
I was trying to move on from yesterday, but it's hard when we see each other almost every day. Although everything his friends said was true, I couldn't help but feel hurt by it. I just couldn't get it out of my mind.
I was confronted with the harsh reality of those words.
I realized I couldn't say anything to him, so I was about to turn back when I remembered Lara's uniform. I quickly unzipped my bag, took it out, and handed it to him.
"Here's Lara's uniform. Let her know she doesn't have to worry, it was cleaned at the laundry shop. It smells really good now even if you try to smell it" I said.
He chuckled suddenly.
"Actually, Lara can't tell whether it's from the laundry or if it was hand-washed. I can't tell, either, if you ask me. You probably should have just washed it normally. You don't really need to take her word for it" He said, still chuckling.
"No, I don't go back on my word, so here it is. Just give it to your annoying friend…" He started to laugh this time, and for some reason, he was acting strange. "Just don't tell her that I called her annoying" I pleaded insincerely, worried she might confront me again.
"Lara and I are not friends. She's not even friends with Noah. We just know each other, so don't worry, I won't tell her anything" He assured me.
"You're not bluffing, right? If I get in trouble with her again, you'll be the first person I come to" I said, confused by his reactions.
It felt like everything about me was amusing to him. He continued to laugh at my comments as if it was just weird.
"By the way, I'm Paul. Can I call you Rianne instead of 'Pres'?" He extended his hand to me, and I hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether to shake it.
"I really don't mind. It's your choice…" I replied, ultimately deciding to shake his hand. "Anyway, I need to go now. Could you tell the class to keep their voices down and not to loiter around? You can say it's from me" I requested before quickly running off, realizing I was late for our meeting.
When I arrived, I saw our president talking to someone. The council oversees the entire school, while I've been appointed as the president for the senior high curriculum. This arrangement is meant to lighten his load, especially since I'm currently the vice president of the council.
He noticed me and called me over.
"Rianne, these are the members of the school paper team. This is Ryde…" He said, introducing a tall guy with glasses while holding a camera. "He's going to cover your upcoming event. He's the photojournalist for our school." I couldn't help but notice him
He was overwhelmingly tall and had a somewhat stern look on his face. I imagined standing next to him and realized I would barely reach his shoulders given my height.
"Hi, I'm Ryde. Nice to meet you" He said, offering his hand. I shook his hand and replied.
"I'm Rianne. Nice to meet you too. I look forward to working with you all."
I started interacting with his members during our committee meeting for the event. We're making some progress, but we have a lot to improve since we only have a few weeks left.
When I returned to the classroom, I realized that no one was there. I remembered that it was our career guidance class, and everyone must have been at the covered court.
Given the time, I decided to take a short nap since it was a four-hour class, and I had plenty of time.
In the end, I couldn't seem to fall asleep at all. It took a while, but eventually, someone entered the classroom. It was Leila, accompanied by our new classmate, who appeared to be the daughter of our city mayor.
"Are you okay?" Leila asked, placing her hand on my forehead.
She must be checking to see if I have a fever or not.
I must really look tired.
She's the only friend I've had since the school year for senior high started.
"Leilany..." I softly called her. "I think I'm going to die" I said, slumping my head on my desk as I noticed our new classmate.
"Hi, you're one of our new classmates, right?" I asked, looking at her.
I can definitely tell that she's beautiful. Her warm-toned skin makes her features stand out, and she's quite tall. It feels like I'm looking at someone from Miss Universe.
"Oh, I didn't get to introduce her to you. She's Therese. I know her because of our families" I explained, nodding to indicate I understood what she meant.
I smiled at Therese.
"Hi, Therese. I'm Rianne, in case you don't know me. I'm also the class president," I said. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that yesterday. I hope it didn't bother you" I added, feeling embarrassed.
"There's no need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong" She replied, surprising me with her response.
"Yeah, I was mad at those guys too yesterday, but I just couldn't bring myself to talk to them" Leila chimed in.
"Lara was rude too. I apologize on her behalf" Therese interjected.
"Oh, you're friends with her?" I asked, surprised.
"No, we're cousins. That's why I'm sorry too" She replied. I insisted that she didn't need to apologize.
It seemed that Lara's family was richer than I had expected.
"Have you talked to Noah?" Leila asked. I shook my head in response.
She walked over to the water dispenser and filled her tumbler.
"You should try to talk to him. He needs to say sorry too…" She added as she returned.
I let my head slump against the desk.
"I don't know what to do… And I don't care about it anymore. It's in the past…" I blurted out, staring blankly at the wall of the room.
"No, he still needs to apologize to you" She insisted.
She walked over to her bag and began rummaging through it. After a moment, she handed me some sweets.
"It's chocolate," She said, walking back to my desk and placing it beside me. "Here. Eat these so you'll at least have some energy. We're going back now. Just rest and stay here for a bit… I won't tell the teacher" She added, waiting for Therese, who was still filling her tumbler.
I laughed happily as I accepted the chocolates.
"Thank you, Leilany!" I exclaimed as they headed out of the room.
I know sweets bring me a little happiness, but I didn't forget to pack some for my youngest brother and slipped a few into my bag.
As the bell rang for the second time, the room slowly became noisy as my classmates returned from class. Elton arrived and walked over to me, pinching my chin lightly.
"You're really unfair. You're here relaxing while we were stuck in that class for four hours" He complained, and I just laughed at his remark.
I didn't even bother to glance at my seatmate, who had just arrived.
The entire afternoon, I pretended that there was no one sitting beside me. Little did I know, a day would come when classes would be my escape from Lara, who I was sure would start another argument at any moment.
After class ended, I quickly put on my shoes and headed out of the classroom to make my way to the faculty.
"Hey, Lopez!" I heard someone call out while I was busy tying my shoelaces.
I recognized the voice as Lara's, so I hurriedly finished up and rushed downstairs. I was quite certain she would want to challenge me to another fight, and I wanted to avoid that this time. It always ended up causing more trouble for me, and I worried that if I let her provoke me, I might lose control and end up in serious trouble.
I was right to rush to the faculty because I earned a lot from cleaning three teachers' cubicles. As it began to get dark, I quickly walked back to our room to grab my things and lock it up.
I was beaming with happiness because I had earned quite a bit today, and I knew I needed to add some to my savings.
The hallway was quiet as usual when I arrived on our floor, but I flinched when I saw someone still sitting beside my chair.
The person looked in my direction, and it was Noah.
Although the atmosphere felt a little bit creepy, I bravely walked towards my chair and started gathering my things.
"Can we talk?" He asked.
I was taken aback for a second. I had planned to ignore him, but the thought that I couldn't avoid him forever crossed my mind.
I sighed and looked at him.
"What are we going to talk about?" I asked.
"Can you take a seat first? You look like a mom who's about to nag her son" He gently pulled me down into my chair.
I quickly raised my eyebrow but I ignored his remark and stared at him, waiting for him to say something.
"Sorry..." He began. He fell silent for a moment. "I didn't mean to humiliate you or anything yesterday. It's just that I was annoyed for some reason, and somehow I vented it out on you" He said while meeting my gaze.
I let out a heavy sigh.
"Apology accepted..." I smiled a little. "Honestly, it doesn't mean much to me now. You were just stating facts. I was embarrassed, so I slapped you, and I know that was too much. Sorry about that" I said, showing him a peace sign.
"It still kinda hurts..." He said, placing a hand on the left side of his face.
I felt concerned for a moment and touched his face to check for myself, but it turned out he was just joking when he chuckled.
"It was a joke" He added.
"Oh," I said immediately, pulling my hands away from his face. "You're so annoying..."
He stopped, looking at me.
"What?" I asked as his stare became uncomfortable.
"And you think you're not annoying too?" He replied sarcastically.
I chuckled as I realized something.
"Let's try to not fight each other, deal?" He suggested, extending his hand for a handshake.
"I won't promise anything since it's likely that you'll annoy me from time to time, but sure, let's seal the deal..." I laughed while shaking his hand.
He began to smile too, so I teased him, and we started laughing at each other when the door suddenly opened.
We both stopped when we recognized the person who entered.
"Oh... You're here" Lara said.