Yuri's POV
"What did Ci-N say?" I asked.
"He said the wounds on his face are obvious… so he won't come to school for now," Keifer answered.
We heard that he got into a fight. They said he faced seven people. Knowing Ci-N, we knew he could handle it, but when he mentioned he got wounds and bruises, we strongly suspected his opponents weren't ordinary.
"He came from Jay-jay's place when those guys confronted him," Felix added while eating.
I raised an eyebrow. Jay-jay?
"What was he doing there?" Keifer asked.
"He walked her home… I think," Felix answered, followed by a loud burp.
Arrghh! Gross!
I glared at him. "Where did you even get that food?!" I asked angrily.
"From Jay-jay…"
Seriously?
Keifer and I exchanged glances.
"I thought we weren't supposed to have any girls in this section? Why does she seem like she has no plans of transferring?"
"She doesn't want to leave… What am I supposed to do?" Keifer answered in a bored tone.
"Maybe we didn't do enough? The one before her left after just one prank."
"Are we really kicking Jay-jay out? What a waste…" Felix chimed in.
"Felix… we talked about this before, didn't we?"
"Yeah…" he answered shortly.
I turned back to the front and adjusted my glasses. It's not that I hate girls or anything, but a girl was the reason for our past conflicts.
I don't want that to happen again. I'm already exhausted from the problems at home, and now this too.
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Jay-jay's POV
I felt like a fool sitting in Aries's car. I wasn't moving. If I could stop breathing, I would've done it by now. Good thing I wasn't gassy.
"Uhmmm… Aries." I started, but he kept his eyes straight ahead.
"I… I know you're mad at me, and I just wanted to say sorry—"
"Jay, your sorry won't change anything," he said seriously.
"I-I know… I just wanted to—"
He suddenly slammed his hand on the steering wheel. I was a bit startled, but his expression remained the same. There goes my English effort.
I didn't want to make him angrier. "Aries… please stop the car. I'll get out here."
But he ignored me and kept driving until we reached the school, where he finally stopped in the parking lot. I was about to get out, but the door was still locked.
I looked at him, but he remained silent. He released a heavy sigh.
"Anger doesn't fade quickly… Just do what Kuya and I want. Maybe then, things will change."
He unlocked the door and stepped out. I quickly got out too and walked away from him.
Maybe things will change…
He's giving me a chance. This is it. Aries and I might finally reconcile. I'll prove that I've really changed. Yeah! I'm a good girl now.
I entered our classroom smiling. But that disappeared when I saw my chair. A piece of my ruined skirt was still stuck on it.
I glared at Keifer's group. Ugh! Even Yuri was here! That guy kept a poker face, just like Keifer.
Since this was part of a painful memory for me, I decided to leave it there. It stays forever. I'll take a picture of it later.
I carefully checked my seat before sitting down. You never know!
I rummaged through my bag for my notebook and book. But because of the pile of chocolates inside, I had a hard time finding them.
Why does my bag feel so deep?
I might have brought too many chocolates. I only planned to give some to Ci-N and Felix. Kuya Angelo was to blame for this.
He brought me so many gifts. Even clothes and a handbag. As if I'd use them.
I turned around to call Felix. He had just finished eating Nova chips. He was even licking his fingers. Eewww!
"Felix! Come here!" I called out.
He was about to stand up, but Yuri stopped him. What's his problem?
"If you need something, why don't you go to him instead?" Yuri said.
I frowned at his words. So rude! I rolled my eyes at him.
I just took out a big chocolate from my bag.
"Felix!" I called and held out the chocolate to him.
That fool looked like a drooling dog. Even our classmates turned to look, their eyes sparkling at what I was holding. Have they never seen chocolate before?
Even Keifer glanced our way, but he kept his poker face.
Yuri couldn't do anything when Felix suddenly ran toward me to grab what I was giving him.
"This is really for me?!" he asked excitedly, clutching the chocolate.
I smiled at him. "Yes, it's yours."
Like an eager child, Felix hurriedly tried to open the box of chocolate. But he was so flustered that he couldn't open it properly—until Keifer snatched it from him.
"You're too slow!" Keifer complained, opening the box in an instant.
He took a piece and handed the rest back to Felix.
I looked at him in surprise. So, he likes chocolate too? But it seemed like he didn't want to make it obvious.
He raised an eyebrow when he noticed me staring. Oh, crap! Why am I even looking at him?!
"You really like bringing food, don't you?" Keifer suddenly asked.
"Huh?!"
"Then I have a task for you." He said and went back to his seat.
I was about to ask what he meant, but Sir Alvin suddenly arrived.
What kind of task was he talking about? I started to feel nervous. It was probably another one of their pranks. They might be planning to mess with me again.
What are these guys up to now? I couldn't even focus on what Sir was teaching.
And why isn't Ci-N here yet? Did something happen to him? I suddenly thought about the guys following him.
Class ended. I packed my things, ready to leave and have lunch at my hideout. Hehehe, so hungry!
"Jay!" Felix called out to me.
I looked at him and saw that they were all approaching me. As in, all of them! The whole class, even Keifer and Yuri.
"Oh!" Keifer said as he handed me a piece of paper.
I took it and read it.
Order #1
2 rice / menudo / 1 bottled water
Order #2
2 ½ rice / shrimp sinigang / orange juice
Order #3
Lasagna / iced tea
And so on…
"What's this?" I asked in confusion.
"Our orders… you go buy them from the cafeteria," Keifer said.
Why me? Unbelievable! These jerks just got themselves a servant!
"What?! There's so much—hello? I'm just one person!"
"Then figure it out," Yuri replied.
Woah… This guy is testing my patience! Deep breaths.
"Why are you guys ordering me around?"
"You like bringing food anyway, so just go all the way with it. You can be the one to bring our food here," Keifer said, one hand in his pocket.
"What makes you think that I will follow you?!" I snapped.
I said that in English, just to maximize the sass. Do they think I'll just follow orders? No way! I'm smart, men, smart!
"Simple…" he started. His expression suddenly changed. He smirked, his gaze dark and intense as he slowly walked toward me.
I don't know why, but there was something about his stare that made me step back. With every step he took, I moved backward—until I stopped, trapped against a table behind me.
Even my heart panicked, beating wildly and fast. Hey, heart! What's wrong with you?!
On either side of me, Keifer slowly placed his hands on the table, effectively caging me in. There was no escape. He was so close that I leaned back slightly to put some distance between us.
"You wouldn't want us to go hungry. We get vicious when we're starving… We might just eat you instead." Then he winked.
Okay… I get what he meant. Dear Lord! No, please, bro! What do I do? They actually eat people?!
I swallowed hard. "O-okay… I'll buy your food."
A loud cheer erupted from our classmates. Keifer straightened up and handed me some money. I finally breathed properly again, my heartbeat slowly returning to normal. I stood up and took the money from him.
"Nice one, bro!"
"We can finally eat."
"Yeah, I'm so sick of Yuri's food."
Can I laugh? Because that last comment cracked me up. Yuri immediately shot a glare at the guy. Hahaha. That mouth is so savage.
I looked at the list they gave me again. Damn! This looks more like a grocery list.
"Is there a problem with the list?" Keifer asked.
Oh, there are many! I'd love to shove this down your throat!
Of course, I didn't say that. I just smiled—a fake one—so he'd notice how annoyed I was.
"No… In fact, your list is so short. Maybe you want to add more?" I answered sarcastically.
He just smirked irritatingly. "Go now… we're hungry."
The nerve of this guy! But I still did it. Better safe than sorry. My complaints were just for show—I didn't want to risk anything. I quickly walked to the cursed cafeteria. Cursed because it always brought me bad luck.
As soon as I entered, just as expected, the whole place fell silent before breaking into whispers. But I ignored them. My focus was on the line.
It was so long! Damn! It looked like a relief goods distribution line for typhoon victims.
I joined the queue—before it got even longer.
It was moving so slowly. Annoying!
I checked how much Keifer had handed me. It felt pretty thick.
1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… Seems like a lot? 8… 9… 10…
"Ten thousand?!" I shouted, making everyone turn to look at me.
I gripped the money tightly. Damn that guy! So much cash! This could cover an entire birthday feast. Should I pocket some?
The line moved, and I finally reached one of the cafeteria vendors. I handed her the list, and she looked at it in confusion.
"Sweetie, where am I supposed to put all this? It's a lot."
Oh, crap! I forgot about that. Maybe I should just dump it all into a giant pot—like slop for pigs. But Keifer might kill me.
"Ate, do you have a box? Just put everything in there so I can carry it all."
"W-we do… okay." She nodded and immediately started preparing my—er, I mean, their orders.
She even called someone to help her. There was really that much food. Well, those guys are basically starving wolves, so I shouldn't even be surprised.
While waiting, I suddenly realized that everyone here was talking about me.
"Really? She's so lucky to be hanging out with Keifer."
"I bet she'll transfer out soon too."
"I even saw her with Ci-N. So she's flirty too."
"Maybe they just bumped into each other."
"Ci-N is cute, though."
"Isn't Calix from the same class? The ex of Mica?"
"I saw Yuri. He already went inside."
"Did you see Edrix? He's so handsome. He was with Felix earlier."
Different people were talking, saying different things. But then, I heard something that really caught my attention.