Chapter 9: The Leaders

"Hey."

From resting her face on her knees, Ally was forced to look up. She glared at Ella who was sitting next to her and almost scratched her arm just to get her attention.

In return, Ella raised her brows at her while using her lips to point at the young man who was standing in front of them. Ally confusedly looked up in that direction, and stilled when a bottle of energy drink appeared in front of her.

"The vending machine is working," Paul Ortega simply explained with a smile then brought the bottle even closer to her.

Ally didn't react and just kept looking at her Babysitter's Club co-member, still confused as to why he was giving her a drink. She felt Ella tapping her arm again.

"Take it, I'm thirsty," her friend simply whispered.

Ally just sighed and accepted the energy drink. She directly handed it to Ella, even though the person who gave it was still looking.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome..." Paul bit his bottom lip for a moment and tightened his grip on another bottle of energy drink he bought for himself. "Uh… I uh…"

"Should we leave?" Terrence asked with a grin. He laughed a little when he saw the mixture of shock and shyness in Paul's expression. He patted Ella's shoulder then stood up. "Come on, I want a drink too. Let's buy."

"You... jerk," Ella said slowly as she almost blew out what she was drinking when their former class representative suddenly tapped her. "I almost spilled!"

"Let's just go."

Ally just watched as Terrence pulled the nagging Ella. She could only shake her head as she realized that even in this situation, her friend was being looked at because of the loudness of her voice.

"C-Can we talk?"

Ally returned her gaze to the young man who was still standing in front of her. Even though he was just sitting on the wide grass, she moved a little. The young man immediately understood what that meant, and sat down next to her.

"I saw everything you did this morning," Paul started.

"What did I do?"

The young man just smiled and then handed the bottle he was holding to Ally. "I haven't drunk on that yet."

The young lady just stared at the bottle. Ten seconds passed and Paul still didn't remove it from her face. She sighed then took it.

"Drink it," Paul said. "You're anemic, right?"

Ally slightly tilted her head and looked at the person next to her with narrowed eyes. "How did you know that? Did you look through my school records?"

Paul chuckled and shook his head. "I'm just the guy who listens."

Ally's lips slowly parted as her eyes widened. She blinked. "Y-You…"

"Hi, dead," Paul said, smiling, calling the young woman by her username on Louie's Friends. "How's life?"

Ally had to blink again. She heaved a deep breath again. "Since when?"

"Does it matter?" Paul asked back. "I only introduced myself to you today, hoping you'd consider my advice once you find out that I was the stranger you shared all your problems with."

"Advice?"

The young man smiled and faced Ally directly. Of the nearly two hundred young people around, his attention was focused only on her. "I will always listen."

"Why do you always say that line?" the young woman asked. "That's not advice."

"But it helped you." Paul shrugged and smiled again.

Ally stared at that smile. In just seconds, she found herself doing the same. Both ends of her lips also gradually curved up. "Since when did you know that it's me?"

Paul looked in front of them, still smiling. "You have a really unique personality, Allysa Santino."

The young lady could not speak immediately. She had to think for a moment and soon her brows furrowed. "Hey, you're the one who told me to join the Babysitter's Club! Did you do that on purpose?"

Paul raised both his hands as if surrendering and conveying his innocence. "You didn't tell me that you joined, right? And right after I told you to join the club, three girls applied at the same time."

Ally's eyes narrowed again.

"It was only during the second semester that I found out that you were the one I talked to on Louie's Friends. Only one week before the quarantine started," the young man added. "Missed me?"

Ally sighed again. Finding no harm in telling the truth, she nodded.

Paul's smile faded. "A-Are you okay?" he asked, to which the young lady simply shook her head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"In this situation?"

"'Didn't I tell you? As long as you need someone to talk to, I'll listen."

Ally smiled lightly then shook her head. She just looked in front of her. "You should have told me when you found out."

"'You said you don't want to meet in person, didn't you?'

"But we've been together at the club for a few months already," insisted Ally. "I missed the chance."

"Chance?"

Ally smiled again and looked back at Paul. "I kinda had feelings for the guy who listens."

Something seemed to sink inside Paul's chest because of what he heard. He had to look away and take a deep breath.

"That was just then," Ally added casually and still smiling.

Paul looked down again. He does not understand the regret he is now feeling. He felt like he was going to go crazy all of a sudden. He shook his head and smiled then looked up again. As he did, he caught a glimpse of Ella and Terrence who were still in front of the vending machine looking at them.

"Shit. Ally is smiling," Ella exclaimed while not taking her eyes off her friend and the young man next to her.

"In the five years we've been classmates, I don't think she's smiled at me even once," Terrence said with a frown. "Is he close—oh, why did she suddenly become serious again?"

Terrence found the answer himself when he saw another young man approaching Ally and Paul.

"We're planning our next move. Do you want to join the discussion?" Noah asked Ally, trying his best not to eye the young man next to her.

The young woman nodded but before she stood up, she faced Paul again. "I'm not dying today."

Paul smiled and nodded. "Good. I'm too busy to attend a funeral today."

Ally shook her head and smiled but that quickly faded when she saw Noah looking at her as well. She just nodded at him before walking ahead.

Even before she got close to them, Ally already saw who was involved in the so-called planning. Kingsley and Hailey were there and looked like they had just finished calming down the other graduates who had been frightened by the explosion. Even though their term is over and they no longer have duties for the Student Council, they automatically took the lead to get everyone away from the still-smoking CVMBS building. They were the busiest, especially when there were some who lost consciousness.

Arkin and Jerome were also there to help their former schoolmates. Vince didn't leave the group either, even more so because he knew that they would lead all the plans.

"Isn't that a blessing in disguise?" That question from Hailey was the first thing that Ally and Noah heard when they finally got close to the group.

"With that explosion being so loud, it was impossible not to hear it in the nearest town," Jerome said, nodding. "Maybe the police are on their way to see what happened here."

"It's already almost half an hour after the explosion," Arkin said with a frown. "Those policemen are taking too long."

"Why the hell is this campus located miles away from the city?" Hailey crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Stop waiting for them." Everyone turned to Ally, surprised by what he said. "I don't think help is coming."

;