After school what?

"Gary, wait up!" Henry yelled while running after Gary. Gary totally ignored him, picking up the pace faster as he was already a few blocks away from getting to their class.

"Look I'm sorry man," Henry said as he caught up with him, "I didn't mean to do that. But why did you throw such a fit? It's just Laura, isn't it?"

"But that still doesn't mean you could mention anything to her," Gary replied, still maintaining a fast pace.

"I already said I'm sorry," Henry made a pout as he pleaded again.

Gary stopped and turned to look at Henry with a slight growl. Stupid ass, he thought. He had it in mind to voice out how stupid Henry was for sharing his problems with Laura, but he just relaxed the tension going through him, revealing a calm expression after.

"I'm also sorry for walking out on you like that. I just don't buy the idea of you telling Laura about my problem. You know this isn't the first time you're doing such. It makes me more upset by even mentioning it." He looked annoyed and guilty at the same time.

"It's okay, man. I wasn't thinking... again." Henry declared. "But I think you went a little overboard this time..."

"Did I?"

"Sort of... you attracted quite a lot of attention in there,"

Face palming himself, Gary groaned. He knew he might have acted out of impulse at the cafeteria. "Screw me!"

Henry chuckled, "I wish I could,"

Slowly, Gary took his palm off his face and stared at Henry disgustedly before letting out, "Eeeww! That's gross, man!"

"So, you wanna hear what Laura suggested?" Henry deviated the conversation.

"What was the so-great idea the all-knowing Laura gave?" Gary asked mockingly, laying emphasis on the 'so-great'.

"After school reading." Henry announced and this seemed to make Gary startled.

"Huhn? After school what?"

"Yeah, after school reading." Henry reiterated.

He immediately tried to disagree. "I don't know if—"

Henry quickly cut him off, "It's just going to be me, you and her. Maybe her friends might tag along, if they are interested though. Please don't let us misuse it, I might get the chance to talk to Stephanie that way," Henry looked innocent as he explained.

Gary couldn't control it as he immediately erupted into laughter. He instantly grabbed why Henry would willingly want to do it. Surely, once Stephanie — his longtime secretly harbored crush — is involved, then he wouldn't think it twice.

Henry watched confusingly, then smirked upon realizing the reason behind Gary's sudden laughter. Left with no choice, he had to just wait for him to stop. After a minute, Gary stopped laughing, his hand still on his stomach.

"You done?" Henry rolled his eyes as he asked. But Gary was snorting uncontrollably.

"Yeah, yeah. Stephanie's crush," Gary replied while trying to suppress the laughter that was about to evolve again, "little wonder you gave in to it."

Henry playfully punched him on the shoulder and smiled. The mere mention of being called Stephanie's crush made him happy... No, glad. Literally the same thing, except in a deeper sense.

"So, you simply want me to help you with your love life huhn? Just so you can stare at Stephanie all day? Like seeing her in class isn't enough already..." Gary commented awkwardly.

"Just agree to it, will you..."

"Fine," Gary eventually agreed to it. 'If only you have the balls to strike a conversation with her,'

"But you know Laura simply wants to take advantage of the situation right? Just to get closer to me... and I sure wouldn't want that to happen..." Gary stated.

"Yeah I know," Henry replied with a grin, "and we are going to take advantage of that!"

Gary thought for a while. Just what does he mean? "And how are we gon do that? Isn't it only to favor your love interest?"

"Watch and learn brother. Watch and learn." Henry told him, "Let's go back to the cafeteria, I'm still hungry," Immediately, he started walking back to the cafeteria, not minding if Gary was tagging along.

Gary looked at his retreating back as he wondered what he was up to. 'He had better not be thinking something crazy,' he thought, and immediately followed closely behind.

* * * * * *

Thursday;

Blue was physically and mentally exhausted from the day's work as she got out of the music room. She was tired, obviously, and Mr Robinson had been making things quite difficult for her since day one. It was the fourth day of her internship, although she had managed to survive Mr Robinson's temperament for the first few days, she feared if it would be for long.

With Sydney's help, she had been able to familiarize with some of the other members of staff, building a slow friendship with two other interns.

Right from the first day, the principal always made sure to have a ten minutes meeting with all the interns after school hours and today wasn't exempted. He had announced that it would last for this week only and thankfully, a day was left for it to come to an end.

Blue wearily dragged herself to the general staff room where the meeting was to be held. After a sort of stressful day, all she wanted was to go home to get a nap, but that would obviously have to wait.

"Blue!"

She heard her name being called just as she was about to enter the room. She turned around to check who had called her. Her eyes landed on Sydney, who was walking up to her alongside a tall fit man she wasn't familiar with. The man's tall height was a huge contrast to Sydney's short one.

"What's up Sydney?" she greeted in a familiar tone soon as Sydney and the unknown man got to her.

"You're going in for the meeting, right?" Sydney inquired.

"Uhn uhn," Blue affirmed.

"Okay. Meet Jacob, he's the physical education teacher and a good friend of mine. Or maybe I could say my best friend." explained Sydney, apparently referring to the tall man beside her.

Jacob, the newly introduced man or teacher, smiled and stretched out his hand towards Blue for an handshake. Blue willingly accepted and studied him for awhile.

By looking at his body structure, she noticed he has a physique which was a clear substitute for an athlete's. That should explain why he's the physical education teacher, she deduced.

She shifted her gaze straight to his face and realized it was broad — just the perfect fitting. His straight hair, which was a good topping to his face, and brown eyes made him stand out. 'He's not bad though,' she concluded thoughtfully.

She had to put it that he was probably in his late twenties or early thirties, or what else could he be? As she was staring at him, the man smiled. She was obviously sizing him up and she noticed he was doing the same.

Eventually, the man spoke after what seemed like a minute, "Since you're Sydney's friend, I hope we can be good friends too."

"Sure we can," she straightforwardly replied, making sure to keep a straight face. She wasn't ready to send the wrong impression... though she eventually did.

The man smiled again as he let go of her hand. 'Wait, we have been holding hands all along? This is crazy,' she scolded herself inwardly. Her thoughts had made her to completely forget.

"Has your internship been going well?" the man asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, it has. Asides the Robinson stress, it's been good." she replied with a humorous tone, which made the man chuckle slightly.

The man looked at her in what seemed to be a pleased expression and said, "Don't worry too much about him. Yeah, he might be a pain in the ass though, but in time you'll get used to him."

"I hope so," she said and checked her phone to know the time, "I gotta go. I'm already late for the meeting. Sydney, I'll catch up with you later. And it's nice knowing you Mr Jacob." She then turned to leave.

"It's just Jacob,"

She heard the man say just before she got into the room. She turned her head slightly, replied with a nod and quickly went in.

As soon as she was out of sight, Sydney turned her gaze to the man. "Now that I've helped you meet her, I'll be getting free lunch for two days from you. No negotiations,"

Jacob grinned. "No problem."

"Look at the way you were staring at her," Sydney laughed and walked off.