|| Boys or Men?

SAMANTHA

"You make sure you pay! You don't know what I've been through just looking for you!" I almost cried, however, that's when I realized that a lot of people were staring at us. Let's just say that making good impressions on the first day is a fail.

Breathe in, Sam. After all, who cares?

"I promise! I'll pay!" He said while making the I-swear-sign.

"You make sure that you will." I rolled my eyes and turned my back from him, but as soon as I walked to the entrance of the main building, a girl with blonde curly long hair and gray eyes made me stop from my tracks. Noticing her familiar looks, I knew that I have seen her somewhere before. Alongside her, is just another male species. What a great day Sam, another exciting moment starting my new life!

The male specie, perhaps an Asian, walked straight to me and examined me from head to toe. For me, it was not an uncomfortable feeling unlike ordinary people would feel, maybe because I was used to being stared at and being watched to the point that I've learned to ignore their stares.

As this Asian species examined me, I did the same, I won't let him win over me. His jet black hair is what caught my eye, it was so black that it almost speaks to my soul. His V-shaped face made him look sharp and his lips, his lips were so red it was like some dyed it. His eyes are not that wide but it was certain that it would catch your attention. All in all this man looks straight out of God's oven but a little bit underbaked, but undeniably handsome.

Just when I was about to speak, our gazes met and I wasn't sure of what would be his next step, but I locked eyes with him. This guy may be handsome as hell but I am sure that I don't like the energy he's radiating, or just everything about him.

"You're probably well infor—"

"That it is rude to stare? I know." He smirks.

"I don't like you," I stated.

"The feeling is mutual, Samantha." He once smirked at me again which made my face crumpled like paper.

"I real—" Wait. Did he just say my name? "Hey! Did you just call me by my name?"

"Samantha Monteñegro the infamous daughter of Franco Monteñegro, your family owns a multi-billion oil and shipping company. Isn't that enough for me to know you? Or better yet the whole school?" He said while wandering his eyes at the surroundings. I completely forgot that we are being stared at.

"Great job, stalker." I rolled my eyes at him but he just looked at me. It was one of the longest staring contests in my life. I just hate his guts..

"Hey, don't scare her." The girl tapped stalker's shoulder and that's how stalker moved away. I guess he doesn't have anything to tell me.

"So Samantha, nice to meet you! I am Harper Ronan and as the school body president we welcome you to our school where you will learn things that aren't taught at any schools, this is also your second home a place where you can create friends that become family!" She smiled so heartily that she can make anyone's bad day into a good one. She held out her hands for a shake and I accepted it. Finally! A normal person.

"Nice to meet you too, Harper. I wouldn't say that I was welcomed that well." I glanced at my back to the stalker and Ethan. Ethan just smiled at me like we just didn't fight. "But I will surely have a great time." I smiled when my eyes landed on her.

With her blonde hair, grayish eye color, and her surname I knew that this girl that is standing in front of me is the daughter of the president of our country.

"Oh come on, Sam! I'll make sure you'll have a great time here!" Ethan smiled cheekily. "With the help of Harper..." He laughs and he locks me into his right arm while Harper is on his left. Don't he just look like a casanova with two girls on both of his arms?

"...and Stephen of course!" He tried to do the same to stalker, but his reflexes are quite great so he dodged it. And oh, the stalker has a name, Stephen. Looking at Ethan and even though we fought a while ago, I was still happy that I saw a familiar face around, without Marissa and Dale, I admit that it can be lonely and sad. And I was happy to see Ethan again.

"Now it's time for class, shall we?" He smiles. I swear if I were him, and he smiles like that every hour, I'd probably just smile at all. My jaw would probably hurt "Let's go Stephen!" He called and looked at the back.

"So the stalker has a name?! What shocking news!" I tried to be sarcastic. Faking to be shocked, I heard Harper snickered.

"Yeah, the stalker that you just called Stephen Everly, he is the top 1 of our batch which means he is smart. His parents are both CEOs; His dad owns law firms, while his mom owns hospitals.With the age of 12, he already has his doctorate in Psycholgy and now, he is studying for law." Harper proudly says.

I guess in this school everyone's habit is to know each other through stating one's family business and achievements, I didn't even ask for a brief history of his life but Harper already gave me one. Going back, by the looks of it if he is studying law then what is he doing in high school?? Shouldn't he be in college already for the second time? Hmm, something is not right. It was very suspicious.

"Hey, stalker! Stephen doesn't suit you, you know?" I can hear his footsteps in the background but he ignores me very well, I give you that.

"Ethan! Is playing with girls your hobby today?" Someone called ahead of us and my eyes landed on the three outstandingly handsome men.

Three boys or men? I don't know what to use in this situation. I mean in our age they are still scientifically considered as boys but they don't look like boys, they look like men. I guess men will suit them very well. Three men waited for us in the middle of the hallway, the one who just called Ethan waved at us vigorously.

As we walked to them the man who waved vigorously spoke first. "Good morning everyone!" He locked eyes with Harper, Ethan, and Stalker who greeted him in return.

When it was my turn, he took a sudden pause and examined me with a smile, most people will mistake him for a pervert but with the looks of his, no one will mistake him for being one.

"And who do we have here? Good morning, my love" The man took my right hand and kissed it like what they do in the movies. I was shocked; I felt my cheeks burn a bit.

"Good morning, M-"

"She's Samantha Montenegro, the daughter of Franco Montenegro who owns a multi-billion oil and shipping company."

I was cut off by a stalker and he doesn't need to be that formal, and I can introduce myself! I'm not a one year old! I gazed at my back and looked at him as if I was throwing thunder at his bubble.

"I can see that you two started on the wrong foot." The man said and laughed. "Don't mind him, Samantha, it's in his nature for him to be like that. My name's Colin Hasey and it is a pleasure to meet such a young lady." Again, he made me caught off guard, this time because of his accent. I just smiled at him for acknowledgement since he already knew me.

"Oh and these right here, this is Sebastian Assent." Colin pointed at the man who has blonde hair and blue eyes with a nicely formed jawline.

"Just call me Sev, as everyone does." I nodded at him.

"And lastly, this is Vincent Wright." He introduced to me the man who has perfectly slicked back brown hair, and his yellowish to brownish eye color. It was the most beautiful pair of eyes that I have ever seen but his eyes made me feel like they were familiar. Like I have seen them before but I can't seem to get a hold of my memory.

"Hey! What did you do that for?!" I looked at my back and the stalker and Harper were arguing. The stalker was reading a book when Harper grabbed it from him.

"Didn't you miss me Sev? You've been away for a week and now you just eat?" Harper said in a cute voice, which probably caught the attention of most boys around us. I must've mistaken it but I saw him smile, I knew I saw him smile.

"If I did miss you, don't you think I should've jumped in glee?" With his words, Harper made a frown, but I expected her to walk away but instead, she embraced him with a tight hug.

"This is making me tear up." Colin said while he faked sniffles. "I missed you too Sev!" Colin ran to him and embraced him in a tight hug. They look so cute when they squeeze themselves into Sev's body. I sensed he couldn't do anything, even complaining. He just made a straight face while Harper and Colin hugged him.

"I missed you too!!" Ethan said feeling left out and he ran as fast he could for him to hug them. But when he was about to join the group, Sev moved his body a bit so he could dodge Ethan's upcoming hug. As he, both Harper and Colin move with him as well, they look like tiny leeches sucking up Sev's patience.

"You guys are so mean to me!" Ethan whined while he pouted.

"You guys! Stop it already, you guys are attracting attention." The stalker said while continuously flipping the Constitution.

The guy who had the prettiest pair of eyes that hasn't spoken a single word since the moment I met him. He just kept staring at me like he was searching for something, but he can't find any dirt on me except for some things.

"Hey, Sam!" Harper called. "Did you receive your schedule already?" She asks, Colin and her are still hanging on Sev r and from the looks of his face, I can see he is pissed.

"Gosh, I still have a woman to impress." Sev murmured, but I heard it.

"I received it last night, through email." I answered Harper, disregarding what I have heard..

"Oh great! May I take a look?" She said and I nodded as she clanged off on Sev, and pinched him. Maybe she heard what he said. After which, she headed in my direction. I opened my emails and showed her my schedule and my locker number.

"Get off already, will you!" Sev sounded annoyed, but Colin just looked at him with a pout, and oh now he has Ethan in his arms too.

"This isn't good for my image. My girls may have thought I already left the straight sanctity."

"You have the first period with Vince, and second with Stephen, then third is your free period and fourth Sev and Ethan, then lunch, and fifth with me and sixth with Colin and Ethan. Your locker is near mine. All in all, you have a great schedule" Harper mumbled, it was great that I share classes with most of them.

"Hey, Ethan! When will you pay me?" I asked while he was still clinging to Sev. Not that I needed the money anyway, I just had something in mind.

"I'll pay you now if you want." He released himself from the stalker and he will probably be grabbing his wallet, but I stopped him right there.

"It's okay you can pay me later, but in coins," I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Wait, what is this about?" Sev asks from the tone of his voice he is confused.

"Oh yeah! You guys missed the show of the year!" Harper exclaims. "Ethan kneeled for forgiveness!!" She laughs.

"Oh man, holy shit!" Colin exclaimed as he and Sev laughed.

"I can't even imagine Ethan kneeling when he will p-propose. But you kneeled? D-Dude!" Sev had a hard time spitting out those words because he was laughing too hard.

"Pathetic." I heard someone mumbled.

"I think Stephen has a video of it." Harper says as she pointed to the stalker, he took out his phone and played a video.

I was kinda feeling bad for Ethan, by the looks of it, he looks embarrassed. So while everyone was watching the video I timidly walked to him.

"I'm sorry." I said to him. If I didn't act like the way I did a while ago, he wouldn't be red right now due to embarrassment.

"It's okay Sam. It was my fault anyway." He smiled reassuringly.

"Could we go to class now?" That voice made all of us stop at what we're all doing as if it wasn't a question it felt more of a command.

"Is he always like this?" I ask Ethan.

"You mean, Vince? Oh yeah, he always acts stoic when there are people that he doesn't know, but when you get to know him, he's a cool person." Ethan replied.

"We'll see you guys later at lunch, okay?" Harper said as she and Stephen took the west wing of the building. "Oh and Sam, join us at lunch okay?" I gave her both a thumbs up.

The rest of them headed to class while it was just me and Vince that was left. It was a bit of an awkward situation for me, I wasn't that comfortable with him since we didn't have any conversation yet.

"So Vince, right?" I asked, trying to make up a conversation but with him, it looked like it was a very impossible job. He just has this cold face on.

"I'm probably sure your memory is not that weak for you to remember my name, right?" He said in a rude tone. I was a bit taken aback by his tone. But as soon as he was finished talking he started to walk and I followed him since he knew the way and we have the same class together.

"Let's not get into each other's life, please. I don't want such a filthy woman to be on my side." I was taken back by what he just said. I made extra sure that I put my perfume on today, do I smell bad? I smelled my uniform but I couldn't smell anything, and just in seconds, he was out of my sight.

Maybe I should not get into his life, really.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was lunchtime already and I am with Sev and Ethan at the moment. We are currently walking to the dining hall where we will meet the others. The classes weren't that bad since I already learned most of what they teach. I only take notes for exams and quizzes. I was a bit late to some of them since I don't know the way to each of the rooms, but I managed myself.

The first period was a real headache. I don't want to be near Vince, I was conscious of what I look today because of what he said. So when it was time for my free period, I retouched my makeup and fixed my hair, and put on perfume.

"Dude, did you see Kelly's Instagram post today?" Sev asked and he sounded excited. I wonder what the post was about.

"Nope I haven't, I was busy hiding my face to the entire population of the school at the moment. I had a pretty busy day." Ethan looked really embarrassed so I smoothly linked my arms to his.

"I'm really really sorry, now don't be sad." I pouted which made him smile a bit.

"So guys." Sev made his way between Ethan and me and he intertwined our arms to his. "You really haven't seen Kelly's Instagram post?"

"Who's Kelly?"

"Kelly is the hottest girl in school, she is a supermodel you know and guys dig for her long and sexy legs." Sev said it was the most logical thing in the world.

"So?"

"He wants to fuck her, Sam that's so." Ethan informed me and Sev just nodded his head vigorously like it was the smartest thing that any person just said to him.

"I can't believe you. I couldn't believe that losers like you still exist." I said to him, I heard Ethan laughed because of it. "After that session what would you do?"

"Leave her of course, I want her to be begging on her knees like what Ethan just did today." Sev wiggled his eyebrows as he paused.

"Now I can confirm that you are a certified jerk." I commented which made him look at me in distaste.

"Oh honey, you just don't notice that most of the female population would like to be with me, so consider yourself lucky." He winked at me which made me gawk at disgust.

We finally arrived at the dining haul, Ethan said that the food was already paid and the payment was already included in our tuition fee. As soon as we entered the dining haul I couldn't stop myself from roaming my eyes around the room, it was like a fancy restaurant. There were literally round tables around the room and you can order whatever you want once you're seated.

But as soon as we stepped inside these two boys that are with me suddenly changed. From the perverted comments that Sev made, and Ethan's outgoing personality, they suddenly look untouchable. It was as if both of them embraced the persona of ice king because of their stoic faces, as if they were both expressionless. I also noticed that the whole population in the dining haul suddenly got quiet and moved their eyes in our direction, carefully eyeing us.

"Guys! Over here!" That voice made my eyes look ahead. I saw Harper and Colin waving their hands vigorously. What a dork.

We were about 100 meters away from the table but from where I was standing I can already see the table filled with Japanese food. "I already ordered food." Harper exclaims; I swear she can instantly brighten anyone's day.

At the table, Vince and stalker were already seated, stalker on the other hand was reading a book about the Constitutional law of 1983 and Vince was staring outside the window, but as soon as he noticed my presence, he looked at me with such distaste.

"We're eating with her?" Vince spat just as we sat on the circular table. It was obvious from his tone that he obviously doesn't like my existence. But I don't seem to remember doing something that can make him angry. In the first period I stayed away from him as much as I could. So I can't actually remember anything that would make him mad at me to the point that he doesn't even want me near him.

"Yes, do you have any problem with that?" Harper said, based on her tone it seems like she was already annoyed. The other guys just looked at her with question marks above their heads.

"How can your mood go from 100 to 10?" Asks Colin but Harper just ignored him.

"Are we even friends with her?" Vince looked at me with pure utter disgust. His tone made my blood boil, I haven't been angry in weeks, but this is definitely something to be mad about. I couldn't really put a hand on why he was mad at me.

"Yes, she is." Harper said in a stern voice. "Isn't she guys?" She looked at the rest of the guys.

"Yes she is." Ethan was the first one to answer with pure accuracy in the tone of his voice.

"Definitely" Sev and Colin immediately answered. This time they all looked at the stalker.

"I'm still looking into possibilities, but my straight forward answer is no." He answered without taking his eyes off his book, he is definitely focused on what he is reading. I can understand why stal- I mean Stephen's answer is a no, I must've been a bit harsh on him.

"But I am with Vince on this one, I don't want her here."

So this is the feeling of being rejected, I have never felt the feeling of rejection for a long time. I am used to rejecting things like business proposals and I must say it hurts.

"Wha-" Harper began but I cut her off.

"What is your problem with me?" I asked looking down at my skirt.

"I don't have any problem with you." Vince calmly said while looking me directly.

"You're the problem itself."

His voice was cold as ice that could make anyone freeze. "Now get lost, I don't want you here." I assume that was his final word.

I couldn't say a thing, I was in pure utter shock, to the point that I froze from his words. No one said a word, even Sev who at first didn't give a damn on our argument and was just fixing his hair stopped and looked at all of us.

"Du-" I cut Ethan off, by standing from my seat angrily to the point that you can hear my chair scraping against the floor.

I didn't want any more of this, my father taught me to leave the room if I was unwanted. He said that it was a polite way to do so, so I left without any words. And when I turned my back at the table I can hear another chair scraping against the floor, someone stood up it was probably Harper. At that moment I noticed that everyone was watching us, everyone's eyes were at me. I haven't felt this embarrassed for a long time that I just wished that the Earth would swallow me.

Thankfully my phone rang, as I walked to the doors I grabbed my phone and it was Marissa who was calling and for a second it made me smile. She called every day since I left home, I didn't even have second thoughts and answered it.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THIRD PERSON POV

"That was just out of the line. Seriously, where are your manners??" Harper was the first one to talk since Sam left. She couldn't believe what her friends just told Sam, she must've felt super embarrassed as she left the table, Harper thought.

"To say that you two are the smartest among us, you just proved to me that you two just don't have any brains at all." Harper was really pissed at Vince and Stephen.

Harper wanted to have a girlfriend, since she was friends with these guys all the girls around here never were true to her at all, some befriended her for them to be close to the guys. As soon as she saw Sam, she said to herself that this is her chance to create a new friend, but that plan seemed to be blurry now.

"I just don't want a filthy stranger to eat with us." Vince said calmly, as soon as Sam left the dining haul Vince continued to eat his food and acted as if nothing happened.

"She's not just any stranger." Ethan clarified, among them, Ethan was the angriest about the situation. He couldn't believe that Vince and Stephen are capable of doing this.

"She is." Stephen said. It was obvious that there was tension in the air, it was the first time that this has happened.

"Did you guys hear the song? What's the title of the song?" Sev interrupted them, but unfortunately, it wasn't the time for jokes he was reminded of it when Colin pinched his thighs under the table, it was the only way he can think to relieve some tension

For Sev who has been quiet throughout the situation, Vince and Stephen were clearly out of the line but one thing is for sure though, they wouldn't go beyond the line there must be a reason.