Chapter 4

Trence's POV

It took long before I realized what the hell I just said.

'C - Cute? What the heck am I saying?'

I looked at Taileen, who was busy painting a rose over the violet background we did.

'I mean, physically, there's no denying that she was beyond average. She looked like a doll, for chrissakes.'

But there was NO denying that I didn't mean that she LOOKED cute.

I sighed and mentally shook my head. 'Nope, I'm not gonna think of that. She hit me with a baton, just a few days ago. What kinda crappy development is this?'

-

In a few minutes, Taileen finished the rose.

I didn't have to be a pro artist to think that she did a great job. "That's cute," I commented.

"Yeah, I knew." She retorted. I sighed, "Do you have to be sooo snarky all the time?"

She smirked. "Can't help my character, honey." She said and shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah sure honeyboo." I sarcastically said and smiled, which made Taileen roll her eyes.

We still had three more newspapers.

"What will we do with that?" I asked.

"You took it, you decide." She muttered, slumping back to her chair.

Now I rolled my eyes. As I flipped through the newspapers, I decided to tease her. "Maybe we could create the three words that we want to say to each other," I smirked.

She blushed, which took me aback. 'What's with her?'

"D---Don't stare at me like that! Dummy!" She punched my shoulder.

"OUCH! Dude, I wasn't staring at you! I was wondering why you were blushing." I said, wincing. 'This girl can sure pack a punch!' I thought.

"I wasn't blushing. Do you want me to kill you?" She denied, still blushing.

"Um, yeah, you are, but don't kill me."

"W---Whatever! What do you want to tell me, anyway?"

"I hate you," I smiled smugly.

But she blushed more.

"What's your problem?" I said, laughing.

"Nothing." She said.

I finally had an idea. "Dude...are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" I said with a teasing smile.

She grew redder but refused to take my bait. "No way, 'cause I don't have the same two brain cells that you have."

I chuckled. "Oh, I thought you were thinking that I wanted to say I love---"

Taileen immediately punched my shoulder before I could continue.

After teasing her and receiving a couple of punches, I, the none artistic, just pasted the newspaper, colored it blue, and painted the three words I wanted to say with light blue.

But somehow, I painted "I LIKE" instead of "I HATE".

I turned red as a tomato once I realized it.

Taileen suddenly leaned over. "Hey, what's taking so long? Writing I hate you isn't that hard."

I pushed her back before she could see. "H - HEY! Don't look. I - I'm not done yet, you know?"

"Yeah, I DO know, dumbass. Why are you so slow anyway? Words too hard for ya? Maybe spelling 'I' is too difficult?"

I chuckled nervously. "Ha- hahaha. Yeah. Shut up."

I ripped off the newspaper, covered it with the two others, and simply wrote "HATE YOU" in my childish handwriting. "Finally!"

"Finally what? Learned how to spell?"

"Finally wrote hate, other than like."

.

.

.

In about three seconds did I realize that I said it out loud.

I looked at Taileen to see her reaction, but I was surprised to see that she had a calm, unbothered face. 'Maybe she didn't hear me? Thank god.'

When we turned in our project to Ms. Umi, she seemed to be so happy to see our work. Apparently, only a few pairs managed to send in a correct vase.

"Expect a, um, very high grade on your card!"

I grinned cheekily. I turned to look at Taileen, who I expected to be smiling arrogantly as if it was obvious. She surprised me again; she was smiling as happily as I did.

"Thank god..." She whispered under her breath.

I was confused, but I didn't bother asking.

-

The classes had finally ended for the day. I went to Jack's class and saw him waiting for me.

"Yo Trence!" He said with a wide grin. I smiled back and waved. "Yo, guess what? I nailed the Arts class."

Jack laughed in disbelief. "Sure, and the cows have wings."

I remembered Taileen's sassy remark from earlier and scowled. "I hate cows."

He looked at me in confusion and laughed. "The hell? Are you good, man?"

I sighed and walked ahead of him. "Whatever. I really did nail Arts class earlier, screw you."

He quickly followed me and laughed. "I was joking, okay? Come on, let's go to some cafe to celebrate this miracle! But I can't believe you did it alone."

"I didn't do it alone, okay? I was partnered up with someone."

"Wait, first you scored high on something artsy, now you're partnered with someone? Who's the gutsy chick?"

"How'd you know it's a girl?"

Jack shrugged. "No guy wants to sit next to you for three seconds."

I sighed. "It's the baton chick."

Jack started laughing hard like some lunatic. "BAHAHAHA! The girl who hit you on the guts with an iron stick? Bro, I wish I was in the same class."

"Oh screw you, Jack."

We were near the school gates when someone suddenly called Jack. "Oh, hold up. I gotta take this."

"Who is it?"

"Rinna Clark!" Jack said with a chuckle.

"Oh, Rin? Let's wait for her then."

"Nah, man. Go ahead to Mace's." He said, his hand signaling me to go away. I groaned, "No way! I'm not going to a family diner alone."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself!"

Jack ran away from me, laughing. I sighed and turned away. "Ugh, guess I'll go home."

While walking, I noticed someone in the corner of my eye.

Taileen was sitting on a bench under a tree, holding some paper. She was staring so intently at it; like she was solving a puzzle.

I decided to bother her. "Yo Taileen!"

She looked at me with a scowl. "What do you want, NCS?"

'She's really gonna call me that now, huh.'

"Wanna come with me to Macy's? My treat."

She smiled sweetly. "Hell no."

'I expected that.' "Why not? It's just a little repayment since you helped me score high on Arts."

Taileen checked her wristwatch for a second and sighed. "Fine. I'll make you spend all your money."

She stuffed the paper she was staring at on her bag. I didn't get to look at it for long but I did notice what was written.

ST. FLORA HIGH

1/ 75 / 2 / 78 / 3 / 81 / 4 / 80

'Were those...her grades last school year?' I thought. 'She scored lower than I did.'

"Well? Are we just gonna stand here?" Taileen suddenly said.

"Oh,"

"Oh?" She said with a scowl. I ignored what I saw and smiled. "Nevermind! Come."

'I should just...forget that.'