Chapter 10

Trence's POV

Classes for the day have ended, and since the past month, out of the goodness of my heart, I've offered to walk Taileen home every day. I couldn't deny that I was also worried that her father would find her and take her away if she walked home herself.

Anyway, I was at the front gates of school already, waiting for her slow ass. I've messaged her multiple times already; [Where in the world are you??? I'm leaving you if you aren't here by 5 minutes], [it's past 10 minutes already do you want me to leave??????], [Istg I'm hungry and tired FFS I will murder you and eat you for dinner], [That sounded wrong but I mean it], but alas, she was nowhere in sight.

I texted her some more and looked around to see if she was coming. I sighed and crouched down. I was tired, that was very, very true. "I wanna go home...," I sighed again.

"NCS!"

My eyes widened and I immediately stood up. "There you are ---!"

Taileen was running towards me, which made me smile instantaneously, but I noticed that there was someone behind her. 'Dane...?'

"Hey, huff...I'm so damn tired, wait a sec..." She said between breaths, holding her knees as she panted. "Yeah, sure...," I muttered, staring at Dane. I was trying to decipher what expression he was making but he was too far away. 'He seems...fidgety? What?'

"What took you so long?" I asked, trying to ignore him. Taileen sighed and stretched her arms as she stood properly. "Uh, about that, well, Dane offered to treat me out! Should I go with him? You told me we're having steak tonight so I'm kinda stuck..."

'Tr - Treat her?! This dumbass probably thinks it's just a casual eat-out...' I thought in annoyance. "Yes, we're having steak with lots of sauce. I bought a Worcestershire sauce, remember?"

"Yeah...but then again we could just eat steak somewhere else, too," Taileen replied with a shrug. "Mine would be better. And homemade, too. It's much healthier and economically helpful, so yeah, ditch --- I mean, decline him. Properly."

I looked at her expression, expecting either she'd understand or continue to decline, but she...she looked like she was being entertained. 'Wha...'

"Huh, okay then. Be right back." She said with a chuckle and ran back towards Dane. I watched them carefully, and it looked like she did decline his offer. I huffed and found myself smirking. "Heh, serves him right...," 'what.' "...I mean, heh, too bad. I feel so bad. Yep."

The two parted waves, with Dane waving at her enthusiastically. 'Tch, cheesy jerk.' I thought and rolled my eyes. Taileen jogged back towards me. "Alright, let's go!" She said and left me behind. "Hey! Wait for me."

~

We were still walking, in complete silence. I had some stuff I wanted to ask, especially about the two things she did earlier. 'I'm sure she was laughing at me back in the classroom...'

I decided to ask her. "Hey, earlier, in the classroom---"

"Yeah, I was."

She caught me off guard. "What? You...do you even know what I'm talking about?"

Taileen looked at me and huffed with a grin. "Do you feel conscious or something?" She laughed a little. "I saw that you noticed me earlier. Yeah, I was laughing. At you."

My brows creased. "Wha --- What the hell were you laughing at me for?"

"Well~ I couldn't help it! You were such a prince. I might've felt my heart thump." Taileen laughed hysterically. I rolled my eyes and clutched my bag. "Whatever. So you were just teasing me for being nice."

Taileen chuckled, "Yeah, you can say that. You truly are an NCS."

I could feel my blood rising. "What do you mean by that?"

"No common sense, duh. You didn't want to be a prince but you couldn't deny them because you're pretending to be super nice."

"I wasn't pretending, okay? I AM nice, and I don't need them thinking I'm stuck-up. The guys are already so intimidated by me so the least I could do is be nice to them to lessen their intimidation." I muttered. I heard her scoff and mutter, 'suck-up'. I sighed in annoyance, "What...?"

"All the girls like you so you treat them like crap, but because the guys don't, you suck up to them!"

"I do NOT! Please, they call me Prince Trence." I chuckled, although I was sort of realizing that...perhaps Taileen was right.

"Prince Trence? They call you that as a joke. No wonder Jack is your only friend."

"Jack AND Rin, okay? Shut up. And also!"

"What now?" She sighed. 'The audacity---!'

"Earlier, Dane was so obvious that he likes you. Is it because you have a secret admirer that you're acting like a cocky know-it-all?" I teased, but once I looked at her face, she bore a blank expression.

"It's no secret." She simply replied. My eyes grew and I leaned towards her in interest. "Wha -! He...?!"

"Yeah, he confessed to me earlier. No big deal; people confess all the time. You're no newbie on that field, right?"

"I mean, yeah, but...you rejected him, right?"

Taileen's cheeks turned red. "What's it to you?!"

'Wait, this expression-!' "No way, you're dating Dane Garcia?!" 'No way! NO way.'

She grew even more flustered and I ended up getting hit on the back. "Ouch!"

"What the hell?! Of course not, weirdo!" Taileen replied and began walking faster. "Huh? Then what's with that expression?! You're being so confusing!"

"YOU'RE confusing ME! Stop following me!"

"I'm walking you home, dumbass! Don't walk too fast!"

We kept bantering, but all that was in my head was; 'He got rejected, heh.'

~

A few days after that, our section already had a story concept done.

The princess, played by Taileen, found a samurai fighting near their kingdom (I don't know how a princess and a samurai managed to exist together but let's roll with it) and fell in love with the art of the sword. She practiced by herself and soon her father, the king, played by Kiko, found out about it. Of course, her father told her she couldn't do that, but the princess proposed that if she manages to defeat all the knights in their kingdom, she must be allowed to become a samurai. The king agrees but in the condition that she must also defeat the master samurai, who is coincidentally the same samurai that she saw that day. The princess agreed, and spoiler alert, the samurai falls in love, surrenders after a long and equal battle, and in the end, marries her.

I loved this idea because I wouldn't play a prince, but as the samurai that the princess finds and eventually ends up marrying. It was interesting too, just...ignore the major plot hole, I guess.

Anyway, since the announcement of the festival, the school has let us have half of the school days just for preparations, like prop-making and rehearsals. Of course, because our grades are on the line, everyone immediately gets to work. Our class was doing a theater-slash-battle show, so we needed a whole lot of time and as much work to do.

"Okay, we only have like, two weeks until the festival, so everyone with the knight and samurai roles, make sure you practice the basics of sword fighting with the kendo club or with Dane, especially you, Taileen, and," Rachel looks over and smiles at me. "...you, Prince Trence," she said with a flirty giggle. I laughed awkwardly and nodded. Kiko stepped in front of Rachel and, while getting yelled at by her, spoke, "Anyway! People with knight and samurai roles, please come with me to the kendo club room. Everyone else, please continue with the background and the props. Rachel will assist and make sure you jerks do your jobs. Alright, dismissed."

Once they finished talking, we pushed our tables and chairs to the back and began with their works. My classmates with a swordfight scene walked out of the classroom and went to the kendo clubroom. I was on my way to do the same, but I noticed that Taileen wasn't going out yet. I looked around for her and found Dane talking to her. 'Huh, he's still pushing even after getting rejected yesterday...well, it was just an invitation, so...,' I found myself sighing. 'Whatever.'

I walked out of the classroom and followed my other classmates. 'Would've been nice to go with Taileen...these guys won't talk to me. Ugh.' I groaned while looking at my shoes.

"Hey, Prince Trence!" I bolted my head up and turned around. "Oh, hi Rin." I greeted with a smile. She smiled back and walked up to me. "So...what's your class gonna do?" She asked, smiling cheekily. I scoffed with a grin and flicked her forehead. "Hey! Ah, that hurts!" She complained while massaging the spot I flicked.

"Don't try to trick me, okay? We're not supposed to say that." I said, laughing. Rin scowled at me but soon ended up laughing too. "For your information, we already settled with a concept! We're doing a maid cafe."

My eyes widened and I immediately looked around. "Hey, what the heck? You'd be MURDERED by your classmates if they heard you!"

Rin chuckled. "Don't worry, everyone's busy with their prepping! I was actually on my way from borrowing these buckets of paint from the art club." She said, holding up a pink and yellow paint. I noticed her hands shaking when she held them up so I took the pink paint from her. "I'll carry this one. Let's go."

She seemed surprised. "Huh? Why? I'll carry them myself. Also, you looked like you were going in the other direction."

I laughed at her and continued walking. "Don't be like that. Your class is just a few steps away. Come on, I don't wanna go in there by myself."

"Whaaaat? You - okay, wait for me, then!"

~

Taileen's POV

"So, what do you think? Perfect, right?"

I smiled uncomfortably and nodded. "I guess so."

I was smiling, alright, but I wanted to walk out of the conversation ten minutes ago. Dane looked at me happily and grinned. "Oh, really? Great!"

"Yeah, yeah..." I answered, trying not to sigh. "Anyway, we should REALLY go to the kendo clubroom now. I'll go ahead!"

I didn't even wait for his reply and simply went on ahead. I looked around and scoffed. 'NCS isn't around huh...I guess he went ahead minutes ago. Like I should've.' I sighed.

I walked out of the room and turned to the left. 'Oh, Trence!' "Hey -"

'Wait...he's with Rin.' I immediately held back my hand. 'He did say that they were friends. Rin is...' I shook my head no. 'Whatever, none of my business. It's okay if I waltz in there and talk with them, right? We ARE kind of friends, right? Alright, let's-'

The two of them suddenly started laughing. 'Huh. They look happy...good for them! I'll join in after they stop so it wouldn't be awkward.'

Once they did, I walked towards them, and just as I was about to reach them, Trence grabbed Rin's bucket, which made me feel a bit surprised at how gentlemanly he was. They began talking again. 'Heh...so he isn't just a 'prince' as a title. Then again, they are friends so...'

I didn't know why, but it felt off for me to walk up to them. 'They look like they're enjoying themselves, so should I really bother them?'

Trence and Rin began walking in the opposite direction to where I and Trence were supposed to go. "How very gentlemanly..." I muttered to myself. I turned around and saw Dane approaching my direction. 'Crap, I gotta go before he starts talking.'

I stepped out of the classroom and walked to the right, unnoticing my backward glances to Trence and Rin's departing figures.

~

At the kendo clubroom, I decided to sit a few meters away from my other classmates. I don't know why, but they decided to give all of the knight roles to the guys, so I was stuck there by myself as the single girl. Not that there were any issues with that, of course, but it's mostly because I wasn't close with any of the guys while I was already friends with all of the girls, minus Natalee and her two "mean" friends. (They're actually not mean at all, they just go along with whatever that dumb woman says. I guess they don't want to get caught talking to Natalee's "nemesis" so they avoid talking to me.)

While listening and following the kendo club advisor and Dane's instructions on the basics of swordfighting (which I've already mastered a few years back), I glanced often at the doors, waiting for Trence to enter. 'It's suffocating to be in a room without any people you're at least SOMEWHAT friends with, okay?'

"Um,Taileen?"

I bolted straight, startled. "Oh, yes?"

"I know it's hard but please pay attention, okay? You're lagging behind...," Dane said with a gentle smile. I laughed awkwardly, "Right, sorry about that."

'How am I lagging behind in freaking KENDO? Stupid NCS...' I thought and sighed. 'My kendo teachers in grade school would cry.'

In frustration, I angrily swung the bamboo sword in an aggressive manner. 'Dumb, stupid, dumb, fool, stupid, stupid, stupid.'

The club doors suddenly swung open, revealing a mildly sweaty Trence. "Hi! Sorry for being late!"

'NCS!' I thought with a small grin, eyes wide.

"Are they confessing to ya again? Come on, we've already covered most of it!" Kiko said with a chuckle. Trence smiled sheepishly and walked towards my direction, grabbing a bamboo sword from the table on his way. I stopped smiling and huffed, I don't know why, and looked to the front.

"Hiya there," Trence mumbled. "Dang, how will I swing this? My arms are so tired..." He muttered to himself.

"Stuuupid." I muttered. Trence laughed a little, "What, now?"

I glanced at him and found myself smiling, which made me cough immediately and straighten my form. 'What the hell? No, why not. He's dumb, that's funny. Yup.'

'Definitely just that. Ew, I'm not smiling at him or anything. No way.'

No way.