CHAPTER 3 - PART 1

[SAMANTHA]

I woke up because the sound of my alarm clock was already annoying me and there was also a non-stop knocking on my door. I knew that it was Saturday once again so I just groaned and covered my face with my pillow because we have to attend that mandatory math classes.

"Hey Niks, it's time to wake up, we're gonna be late!" I heard Sky's voice from the other side of the door. So I slowly got up from bed and slowly opened the door and my older brother Sky looking at me like we really need to hurry up now.

"I'm up already, go wake up Sage." I told him but he looked at me worriedly and giving out this i-need-some-help look.

"He pulled out an all nighter last night huh." I said and I saw Sky nodded. So I went to our parents room because I know they have this really sturdy throw pillow that really hurts when thrown to you. When I got hold of it, I quickly went into my brothers' room and not even having second thoughts I threw the pillow with all my might on my eldest brother's face. Which I can see was very effective because he shot up looked around his surroundings.

"What's happening?" he asked quite panicked.

"It's Saturday and it's already 8am. Saturday Advanced Math Classes starts at 9am." I said then went out of their room to get prepared.

Fast forward onto the time, we were already speed walking our way to school because it was already quarter to 9am! Sage took time to get dressed because he cannot find his favorite shirt. Our Saturday classes doesn't require uniform that's why we can wear our casual clothes. We were all exhausted when we reached school but I still hurried to my classroom because as I looked at the time on my watch there were only 10 minutes left before classes starts. As I entered all of them were doing their usual business and reviewing their notes. I sat down for a while to take a rest because of all the speed walking my brothers and I did earlier. I fanned to cool myself down and breathed in and out to relax a bit.

"I thought you weren't going to attend this one also" a voice spoke from behind of my seat.

"Anthony? What are you doing here?" I asked because as far as I know he's from the other class.

"Since there's only a few of us who attended today's session, a teacher suggested that we can sit in here in your class." he explained.

"Teacher? Our teacher's already here?" I panicked.

"No silly, someone just passed by earlier and told us to transfer here for the meantime." he explained again and I just nodded in agreement. I was about to face front again when a sudden question popped out of my head.

"Don't tell me you're gonna seat behind me for the next 4 hours?" I asked and he just lifted his shoulders telling me that 'Maybe' and smiled. Geez, he's really annoying and I don't really want to introduce him to you guys but that's Anthony. A classmate of mine during sophomore year and he was my seatmate for the whole school year and it was hella annoying! I can't even concentrate on the lessons because he kept on doing stuff to annoy me. I just composed myself not to get annoyed much because I don't want the teacher to scold me or it will be very embarassing.

Classes started minutes later so we were all stuck for the whole 3 hours just learning mathematics and I was already at my peak because I was starting to get headaches already. Good thing our teacher allows us to eat candy whenever we feel headaches. I really need that sugar rush right now. Then we heard the bell rang signaling us that it was already time for recess but I was no mood for recess so I took that 30 minute break again to just stay by the corridors once more.

"I knew you were going to stay here." a familiar voice spoke again from behind.

"Hey Ali." I greeted her and she smiled.

"Let me guess, waiting for him again?" she asked and I just nodded in agreement. I also noticed that she let out a deep sigh after I nodded.

"I hope that guy knows how lucky he is because of you." she suddenly stated and I just gave her that what-are-you-talking-about look.

"You're already so loyal to him and you still don't know if you have a chance for him or anything. You don't even bother eating during recess just to wait for him to show up." she added.

"What? Really? Am I really that desperate looking already?" I shockingly asked and she slowly nodded.

"Really now, I don't think-" I wasn't able to continue my statement because I saw him again at the entrance of the main canteen! Without even hesitating, I grabbed Ali's arm and started dragging her to the main canteen.

"Come on Ali, let's just pretend that we're going to buy something in the main canteen!" I said to her while quickly walking towards the canteen.

"Hey Sam, calm down. Alright, alright, I'll accompany you, don't worry." I heard her say but we were still walking to the canteen. But when we were already near the said place I suddenly halted and turned away.

"Wait, what?! Why so sudden?" she asked.

"I think I'm going crazy and this is so not my personality." I explained and walked back to our classroom. But I was shocked when Ali suddenly pulled me back towards the main canteen in which I already panicked because I don't know what she was doing!

"Ali! What are you doing? Stop it!" I said to her while trying to remove her grasp on my arm.

"Come on, we're just going to pass by." she said a bit relaxed but before I can say anything more we were already passing by the canteen and for oh so glorious day, we caught on to their group which was about to exit the canteen. So I immediately shook my head but I heard one of them said: "Hey, isn't that Ms. Hilario's daughter?" which made me look up and see who said that statement. But I was not expecting that they would be so close to us! I can clearly see that all of them were looking at me! INCLUDING HIM!

I felt like I was being hypnotized again because I got caught in his gaze again and those eyes of his were very dark as deep unending black color. So I just smiled at them and tried to look down again and grabbed Ali and quickly walked back again to our classroom. I tried to slap myself to get back into reality and I heard Ali was talking to me.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't want to overreact. I don't want to exclaim. I don't want to do anything scandalous in this corridor." I calmly said and tried to breathe deeply and slowly. Then I grabbed Ali's hands while trying to say everything normally.

"Did you see the way he looked at me? Did you see how he was reacting? Did he give any expressions at all? Have you seen his pitch black eyes?" I asked Ali non-stop because I was seriously having an adrenaline rush from what happened.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Don't worry everything went normal and yes he was looking at you and yes his eyes were really dark and very focused." Ali explained to me as calmly as possible and I just tightly shut my eyes and smiled like I finally won the lottery which made Ali laugh.

"I'll be going in the room already, enjoy your time staring at him, we still have 15 minutes left." she reminded me and I thanked her. His group was still there in front of the main canteen finishing their snacks when I suddenly heard that annoying voice again.

"You're here, I was looking for you everywhere!"

"What is it now Anthony?" I plainly asked.

"Nothing much, here, I bought this for you. I knew that you were always skipping recess just to stare at that guy." he said to me while handing me a pack of cookies.

"Wow! Since when did you start to be this nice, hm?" I asked quite shocked and at the same time weirded out.

"Don't ask and just eat, it's almost time to continue the lecture so hurry up." he grumpily said and went back inside the classroom. When I looked back to where George and his group is, they were already gone that's why I decided to get back inside the classroom also. Ever since we were separated to different classes this junior year, that's when I noticed Anthony's sudden change in personality which was kinda weird and creepy for all I can say.

There were only a few minutes left before dismissal time arrives and I'm just spending those minutes by zoning out and just looking out the wide open door near me. Until we all heard the bell again, so all of my classmates packed their stuff already including me so I can go straight to my mom's classroom on the 6th floor. But someone suddenly stopped my steps by covering my path to the door.

"Sam, do you and Zaliyah have any plans for today?"

"What do you need Anthony? I have somewhere to go to!" I exclaimed.

"Nothing! Treat me to some burger and coke outside!" he demanded.

"What?! Heck no! Now get out of my way as to I still have somewhere to go!" I insisted.

"Come on, please?" he begged.

"Ugh fine! Here." I said and handed him a 20-peso bill.

"Now, get out of my way." I told him but he was still not moving a muscle.

"Only 20?" I already gave him that 'move-or-i'll-kill-you' look that's why he just smiled and moved out of my way. Seriously, he's really acting weird.

I went to the bench where I usually sit while waiting for my bestfriends but that didn't take long because it was also their dismissal time. The first one that came to me was Rose, and I was surprised to see her coming out from Class 1's room because she's from Class 3 which was the same as Anthony's. But I remembered that they were told to compress with other classes because there were only a few of them so I just didn't mind. I waved at Rose to greet her and she waved back as she was walking towards me. A little bit later Zaliyah joined in and finally, we were complete. It's been so long since I've been with them because of all the busy work we have been given this year and this was also the first time we've been separated in different classes. Eversince elementary, we've been classmates already so being in different classes has been a big adjustment to the three of us. Since this will be a rare opportunity, I asked them if we could eat outside to any fastfood we can find near the school and they gladly agreed. But while we were walking our way towards the gates of the school, I halted my steps because I was not expecting to see his figure once again.

"Sam? Are you okay?" Rose asked because they were also surprised by my sudden stop.

"Hello? Sam?" this time it was Zaliyah and she was already waving her hand in front of my face and I just grabbed her arm to stop her because she was blocking my view.

"Guys, 11 o'clock and you can see the reason why I'm feeling numb right now." I calmly told them not pointing fingers again because I would be too obvious.

"Which one? There are like 5 of them." Rose said and I heard Zaliyah pointing out George to her because of what happened the other day when we went home together.

"Ooh, so he's the one? You got an eye for men like him huh." Rose teased. I was just observing them and if my calculations are correct, this will be a perfect plan. I started walking once I saw one of his friends started to walk also, this made my bestfriends surprised once again because I just suddenly moved out of nowhere. At first I was walking a bit fast to catch up to their pace then slowed a little bit so that my bestfriends can catch up on me and to also adjust my distance to them, and it worked! We were just a feet away from him and his group but this time I feel quite confident because they were not noticing us and they were just doing their usual guy talk while walking. I was observing him and I can see that the rumors about him are really not true, he's just that typical cool and calm guy as I can see.

But this unexpected thing happened. As I was just quietly observing his group and him, I was harshly pushed by Zaliyah! Which almost made me curse but I just blurted out a little 'ow!' and of course this caught their attention and I almost lost my balance but luckily I regained it immediately. I noticed that they looked at me and I just turned my back to slap Zaliyah's arm for doing that to me, and now they noticed my presence which made me nervous and numb once again.

"Hi little miss Hilario!" I heard one of them said. I slowly faced them and smiled, I thought they were gonna say more but good thing they continued to walk again and exited the gates. I swear I wanted to squeez something right now to let out all this tension out of me. We also continued walking and as we were exiting the gates I saw that his group crossed to the other side of the road while we were taking the other side of the road so we were like walking side by side but with a wide road gap. Then Zaliyah suddenly asked me an obvious question out of nowhere.

"Hey Sam, what's his name again?"

"George." I answered immediately while wondering because she already knew his name so why ask again? Until...

"HEY GEORGE! I WANT YOU TO MEET SAM!" she suddenly yelled at his group which made them notice us again.

I didn't look. I didn't say a single word. Not even moving my head, I walked as fast as I can to escape that embarassing scenario that Zaliyah did. I heard his group doing those teasing sounds but I don't know what was his reaction, but I didn't mind at all because for me, the thing that I am feeling right now is really unbearable. There were so many questions in my mind right now like 'How am I going to escape this?' or 'What am I going to do when we cross paths again?' or 'Did he know already?' or 'I think he already knows, what if he ignores me?' or 'Will he ignore me when we cross paths again?' I wanted to bang my head into a wall right now to make it stop. Then I didn't realize that I was already in front of that fast food chain that we were supposed to eat at but I can't see the two of them behind me. Was I really walking that fast? So I just waited for them to arrive and minutes later I can already see their figures from afar. I decided to walk towards them so I can give Zaliyah another slap on the arm.

"I didn't know you can walk that fast?" Rose stated while catching her breath.

"Why did you do that?!" I exclaimed at Zaliyah and she just blurted out a laugh which kind of annoyed me.

"Nothing. I just felt that I had to do it." she answered and I just groaned.

"NOW HE ALREADY KNOWS!" I irritately said to them trying to punch a lamp post and I can see both of them trying to calm me down. Rose suggested that we should just eat this up and she'll be the one paying for the food so we all agreed.

When our food arrived on the table, I saw that Rose ordered all of my favorite meals so I didn't have second thoughts and just chowed down all of the fries that I can get, took a big bite on the double cheezy burger and a big gulp on the large rootbeer float to calm my nerves down, in which they both find pretty amusing because they have never seen me act like this before in our whole friendship life.

"Just calm down okay? Everything that you're feeling right now is all normal for a girl who is having a crush for the first time in her life." Zaliyah stated trying to calm me down because anytime soon I can choke on my own food.

"But hey, that guy beside George lately was pretty cute though." she added which made me and Rose look at her for like 10 seconds.

"Who?" I asked with my mouth still full.

"That guy with a cute smile because his slight slanted eyes disappear when he does that." she said while trying to think of that guy again and I just let out the most mischievous smile I can ever give good thing that they didn't see it.

We continued eating and gossiping about how our lives have been, they also asked me about my brothers because they haven't seen them in a while and I told them that they were quite busy these days so they don't have that much time to bond with us. I decided to look at the time after we finished eating and I was shocked to see that it was almost past 1pm! I told them that I should get going because I remembered that my mom texted me a while ago to get her some take-outs for her lunch and now I'm late. They told me that they should also get going because they wanted to stroll around a mall a bit more before going home so I bid my goodbyes to them and bought some take-outs for my mom before rushing back to school.

It didn't take long before I can reach the school again because the fast food chain was just close to it so I rushed to the senior's building but when I was about to take a turn to the stairs, I accidentally bumped into someone which made me almost lose my balance.

"Hey what's the big dea- Sam?!" the guy said and his voice was familiar so I looked at him and I was surprised to see my childhood friend, Chris.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry Chris! I was in a hurry!" I explained.

"It's fine, I was on my way to my grandmother's office how about you?" he asked.

"On my way to my mom's classroom on the 6th floor." I answered. Chris' grandmother is the head of my mom's faculty department eversince so that's what made us childhood friends.

"Hey, is that for me? Thanks!" he suddenly said while pointing at the take-out I have for my mom and yes he can be quite annoying sometimes.

"No! If you want some though you have to come with me to the 6th floor." I said and teased him blurting out my tongue.

"What?!" he exclaimed but tried to think of it for a while.

"Okay, fine, but you should go first. I just need to run some errands from my grandma." he said and left while I continued to take the flight of stairs to the 6th floor.

It took me at least 15 minutes to take those annoying stairs to reach the 6th floor so when I took the last step, I tried to catch my breath for 20 seconds and then continued to walk towards my mom's classroom. Then when I arrived, I peeked inside to see if there were already a lot of students inside but I can see that there were only a few of them and they were busy so they didn't notice that I was here. My mom saw me peeking through the wide open door so she called my attention and was walking towards me. I handed her the take-out that I brought and she thanked me for it even though it was already late. Then I got back to the usual spot where I was last Saturday and that was in the corner of the corridor near my mom's classroom. I took my earphones inside my sling bag and decided to listen to some of my music to pass the time and while waiting for Chris. I'm also that type of person wherein once I heard a music that I like, I will suddenly sing or hum, but this time since I know there are other people around i just hummed quietly to the music. Then someone suddenly pulled out one of my earphones so I looked to see who it was and I was not surprised to see Chris beside me looking a bit annoyed.

"What?" I simply asked him.

"I looked stupid here talking to you but you were not responding." he answered.

"Wrong. You looked stupid for not noticing that I had my earphones on." I teased and he just sighed in frustration so I laughed.

"What are you doing here in the corner anyways?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just feel like it plus the breeze passes through here so it's relaxing." I answered while trying to put my earphones back in my ear. I stood up because I wanted to take a walk for a while and I saw that Chris took my seat once I left the spot.

One of my favorite song was playing while I was taking a stroll on the 6th floor so i just quietly sang with it. I looked out the view here because it was so beautiful even though it was lightly raining. 'Will they ever arrive today?' I asked myself because his group is still not here so I became hopeless because it was also raining so I thought they would skip this one out and I also remembered what Zaliyah did earlier. I started to get embarassed once again, but I just shook it off and listened to my music and tried to sing it all out but just softly. I don't want anyone to hear my voice because I'm not confident with it yet though many already told me that I have the talent. The fun song 'Live While We're Young by One Direction' was playing so I just tapped my fingers to the beat while strolling.

I suddenly felt heavy again so I tried to lower down the volume of my music and I heard footsteps coming from the flight of stairs I took earlier. I tried to lean my back against the pavement of the 6th floor where I was viewing the scene earlier and just tried to listen at the footsteps coming closer.

2?

4?

No, 5! It was a total of 5 persons I can feel it. I lowered down my head once again pretending that I was just peacefully listening to some music then I can see from my peripheral view that it was one of his friends! Then not a bit long they showed up one by one so I pretended to look away because it seems that I cannot move from my spot right now and my earphones are still on but with a faint sound of my music.

"Hi little Miss Hilario!" one of them greeted me and that was the guy that Zaliyah was talking about earlier. So I just smiled at him but after that I heard one of his friends teasing and saying: "Hey George, look it's.. it's.." while giving glances at me but I didn't mind because when he passed by my eyes cannot believe what it is seeing right now.

He. Was. Smiling!

By that time I wasn't even aware of what my face looks like right now because I was having mixed emotions already and my brain was trying to remember that moment. But I know that I was still holding that smile until they all completely passed by me and when they were all already inside the room, I cannot hold it any longer, I just sat down the floor and squinted my eyes and tried to slap myself to see if I was dreaming. BUT NO! He was really smiling at me! For real! I tried to catch my breath once again because this is just too much to handle for me right now.