Avoiding Evelyn

Days went by on quick and the exam weeks had finally arrived. It was surely a very nerve wracking time for all of the students. The estimated time for the exam was 2 weeks.

Evelyn and Charlie also seemed to have not interacted at all throughout the whole 2 weeks. They didn't even greet each other like they used to. They went about their days on their own. It was as if they've never known each other before, like they were complete strangers.

"He didn't even look my way," was what Evelyn thought of everytime they walked past each other. She was in such disappointment because of Charlie and his sudden cold behaviour towards her.

"I'm sorry. I have no other choice," was Charlie's thought. He missed to be with Evelyn again like before. Unfortunately, he knew he had no choice but to just obey Noah. If not, he would've been Noah's victim of bullying and that was the last thing he ever wanted. He had to avoid Evelyn at all cost for his own and Evelyn's sake.

After that incident, Evelyn had decided to do the same and followed what Charlie did to her. She ignored him like how he ignored her.

"Let's go to the library!" It was lunch break and Kevin had asked Evelyn to go to the library with him. Kevin knew that Evelyn and Charlie was in a bad condition and he was smart enough to take advantage of that to get closer with Evelyn again.

"Okay," Evelyn simply replied. She hadn't rejected him and would accept his offers right away after Charlie's avoidance. Evelyn swore to herself to also avoid Charlie but she knew well that deep inside, she desperately wanted to become friends again with Charlie.

Everytime it was lunch break, Kevin would always asks Evelyn to accompany him to the library. She didn't mind it because it was also her routine to go to the library whenever they had an exam going on. Kevin knew about that information so he would make up excuses to do revision together. Kevin tried with all his might to make Evelyn fall in love with him by spending time with her in the library.

Meanwhile in the cafeteria,

"Oi Charlie, why are you late?" Brian immediately asked when he saw Charlie's presence in the cafeteria.

"I already told you I was gonna go to the restroom for a bit," he replied, letting out a small laugh.

"Oh yeah. I forgot," Brian said, scratching the back of his neck while laughing in embarrassment.

"You're so forgetful," Rebecca laughed at his silliness. Brian sheepishly smiled at her. Charlie went to go get his food and quickly took a seat beside Brian. While Charlie was eating, he realized there were two other person that he'd never seen before, sitting beside Rebecca. It got him curious so he gestured Rebecca to tell him who they were. Rebecca who was still eating, quickly swallowed her food.

"Ohh yeahh, I forgot to introduce them to you hehe. This is Jenny and beside her is Jerry. They're twins! They're the new kid," she explained, letting Charlie's curiosity went away.

"Ohh. Hi, Jenny. Hi, Jerry!" He immediately greeted them after Rebecca was done with her explanation.

"Hi, Charlie! Nice to meet you!" They both said in sync with full excitement. They were happy to be introduced to Charlie.

2 weeks had passed and the exam finally ended. The students were at relief and they were also filled with excitement due to the arrival of a special day. The school festival was finally to be celebrated. A day before the festival, they were all busy making their own preparations.

As they had planned before, Brian, Evelyn and Charlie was told to make the waffle batter over at Brian's house. Evelyn dressed up nicely before going off to Brian's house.

Once she had arrived, she realized that Charlie wasn't there. She was furious because according to plan, they were all supposed to be making the waffle batter together. However, Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Charlie?" Isn't he supposed to be herr with us?" She immediately boombarded him with questions. She had a feeling that the cause of Charlie's absence had something to do with her. She figured that he didn't want to meet her and that he wanted to avoid her. But to Evelyn, she thought that he should've acted more professional. Even though they were in a bad condition, he should've felt responsible and just show up at Brian's house.

"I don't even know where he is," replied Brian. He knew about their breaking friendship so he lied to her despite knowing where Charlie was.

"Lies. You know well where Charlie is. If you don't tell me where he is right now, I'll tell her that you have feelings for her. I know your secret, Brian. I know that you like her. You can't run from me," Evelyn threaten him. She knew that Brian had a crush on one of the girls in their classroom. So she took the advantage and used it on him.

"Yeah right. Do you even know who you're talking about? Prove it to me and say her name," He confidently said, thinking that Evelyn was just making up lies to force him to tell her where Charlie was. Evelyn smirked and brought her face closer to his ear. She whispered her name causing Brian's eyes to immediately went wide. Evelyn was definitely right and it made Brian's heart dropped. She knew who his crush were.

"Fine, I'll tell you where he is. But promise me you wouldn't expose my secret to anyone?" He sighed in defeat. At last, Brian had to tell her where Charlie was for his own sake.

"I promise!" She smiled innocently.

"Follow me," he gestured her to follow him. Evelyn obliged with no questions until they arrived at a bakery. Evelyn started to grow some doubt on Brian as she thought that he was lying to her and that he had brought her to a bakery to convince her to stop being mad at Charlie.

However, she was proved wrong when she saw Charlie helping an old lady in the bakery from afar. She stopped on her pace to carefully examine Charlie who was helping the old lady. She was shocked because she realized that she had seen that old lady before but she couldn't pinpoint from where. She thought about it for awhile until she realized that the old lady was the same old lady that she saw Charlie helped before when she was on her way home.

A few minutes passed and Charlie was finally done helping the old lady. He walked back behind the cashier counter. Evelyn continued her walk to the bakery when she saw that Charlie was at the counter. It was fortunate that there was no customer around so Evelyn quickly left Brian behind and walked into the bakery and straight towards the counter where Charlie was.

Charlie was in shock when he saw Evelyn standing in front of him with Brian following her from behind. Evelyn then ordered two slices of chocolate cake and two chocolate smoothies. Charlie hesitantly took the order. He was about to send the order to the kitchen but was stopped by Evelyn.

"Hold on. When the order is ready, I want you to be the one who send it to us. I have something to talk about," she sternly said before walking off to find a table for four.

"Sorry," Brian quietly said to Charlie with a guilty face.

"It's fine," Charlie replied and made his way to the kitchen. Brian sighed and walked to the table where Evelyn had chose. Granny Nancy walked over to their table. She wanted to know about them.

"Hi, welcome to the bakery. Are you both Charlie's friends?" Granny Nancy asked them both. Her instinct was telling her that they were Charlie's friends so she had to just ask the question.

"Yeah, we're Charlie's friends," Brian smiled. They offered Granny Nancy to sit with them.

"Thank you for being friends with Charlie. I was actually worried that he wouldn't make any friends because he just moved here. Thanks again," she softly said. Granny Nancy was feeling a bit relieved that Charlie already had made friends at school.

"Don't worry. We love being friends with him," Brian gave her a reassuring smile. Evelyn copied his actions without saying a word.

"Oh yes, may I know your names?" Granny Nancy asked.

"I'm Evelyn," she introduced herself, sending Granny Nancy a friendly smile.

"I'm Brian," He said right after Evelyn.

"Because you both are friends with Charlie and this is the first time you both came to our bakery, I'll pay your orders for you," she said. Granny Nancy wanted to pay for them because she was so thankful that they were friends with Charlie. She was so happy of their presence in Charlie's life.

"Thank you," they both thanked her politely. They were surprised and excited by her offer. Charlie walked to their table with their orders in his hands.

"Oh, I forgot that I was waiting for the pie in the oven. I'll get going now," Granny Nancy said. It was a coincidence that Charlie had made it to their table right after Granny Nancy had stood up.

"Charlie, I'll be paying for their orders, okay?" Granny Nancy informed to him with a smile. Charlie simply nodded to her as she then walked to the kitchen. Charlie hesitantly sat on the seat beside Brian.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Evelyn started.