Chapter 21 - Pissed Off

"CLINGY!"

Max pushed Hero lightly, pretending to hate his embrace when, in fact, she wanted it to last a little longer. She pulled herself together and get back to her composure. "It's time for class." She turned around and secretly giggled.

"Look who's talking! Hugging e like a pillow in the middle of the night," he murmured.

She made a halt. Thankfully, she was not facing him so he did not see how red her face had become when she remembered what she did the night before the classroom quiz bee. She reset into her ill-tempered self before facing him again. "Are you blaming me now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I'm not," he replied defensively, returning to his new normal self. "I told you, I..."

"Whatever, " she interrupted before turning around first and walking downstairs.

He immediately chased after her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Get off of me," she pretended to protest.

But Hero didn't listen.

They teasing each other throughout the corridor when they both stopped outside their classroom. Liam was there, talking with their girl classmates. She secretly rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. This man was really giving her a headache. Hero might be angry again because he didn't say a word when he went inside first and just stayed silent in his seat.

"Hey, Max! Come here first!" Brenda, who was talking with Liam and blocking the front door, called her as she was entering the room through the other door.

Her forehead furrowed. "What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as she approached them.

"Liam, this is Max. Max, this is Liam," Lisa said, introducing them to each other. Yeah, right. They had not yet been officially introduced to each other...as if!

"Nice meeting you, formally," Liam said to her, extending his hand to her.

She did not accept it. "The class is about to start. We need to get inside already," she said before turning her back on them.

Hero frowned as she sat down but he did not speak. When she could not take it anymore, she slapped him in the arm.

He did not see it coming so he was shocked. "Aw! What's your problem?" he complained. When he looked at her, she met the young man with a sharp look. "Alright, sorry," he said and bowed his head.

She did not answer yet she secretly laughed at his reaction.

One hour and thirty minutes were over before they even noticed. Their class was heading to the gate when Liam's car parked in front of them.

"Again!" she said to herself with a sigh of irritation.

"Hi, guys! Need a ride home," he offered.

"Wow, dude! What a beautiful car you have!" Darwin complimented. "But I don't think it can accommodate us all."

Liam's face darkened out of embarrassment.

"Thanks, anyway. We have our motorbikes," Jason, Darwin's friend, seconded.

"We don't have a ride," Brenda said quickly. "If you like, you can take us - me, Lisa, Steph, and Hazel."

"Sure," Liam replied with enthusiasm, glancing slightly at her.

"All right, be careful. Hero and I will just walk home," she replied in her unusually sweet friendly tone. Then she held Hero's hand, much to the young man's surprise. "Let's go?" she asked, sending a message into his eyes

"Yeah, sure!" he nodded before leaving their classmates.

When they came out of the gate, she waited for Liam's car to pass them by before she let go of Hero's arm.

"Is there a problem?" he asked in concern.

She shook her head, but deep inside a lot of things had been going on her. She just couldn't shake off the sense of fear and danger every time he saw Liam and Hero being at the same place. She wanted Liam to see that Hero had changed and stopped fighting, but she didn't think Liam would give a damn. She knew he was just waiting for the right time; he was going to provoke him until he would snap and fight him.

"Hey, Max! You're being absent-minded again. Are you okay?" Hero commented, giving her a soft tap on the shoulder.

"I'm just tired," she replied, feeling drained from all the negative thoughts. "Will you hail a tricycle for us?"

"What? We're almost there."

"Just do as I say."

"Fine. Here," he said, raising his hand to the first tricycle approaching them.

Two weeks later...

THE Science Quiz Bee is over. Max was finally relieved. No more tiresome tutorial sessions and annoying tutees.

Even though her classmates did not make it to the finals, it was still a big achievement to make it to the top five. And Hero was the happiest among everyone!

"I still can't believe it! We made it into the top five. I feel so smart back there," he repeatedly said to almost everybody since awarding.

She was happy for the young man. Somehow they forgot the impending danger lurking around--Liam. He still hadn't made a move during his two-week stay at Cas-U, something that's bothering her. She did not know what his plan was and when he would attack. The only thing she could do was watch Hero's back all the time.

"You seem to be in deep thoughts."

She immediately turned around when he heard not Hero's voice but Liam's.

"Are you disappointed that it's me and not Hero?" he asked in a sarcastic tone that she's already familiar with.

Her gaze sharpened. "What are you doing here?" She was currently at the poolside of the swimming club, sitting alone and trying to sort things out.

He approached. "I wanted to talk to you," he replied, his voice shifted to a serious tone.

"We have nothing to talk about." She looked away and fixed her gaze on the water.

He stood next to her. "I hate it every time you treat me like that as if I'm a criminal...as if it was all my fault."

"What are you expecting--special treatment? For more than a year you did not show up, nor did you explain to me what happened before you disappeared. Then you suddenly show yourself here at Casa de Oro as if nothing happened? Do you expect me to treat you the same?"

"Fine. I know I hurt you, and I owe you a lot of explanation. But I want you to know that you are out of whatever conflict I have with Hero and his group. I want the two of us to be the same as before."

"The same as before?" She gave off a sarcastic laugh before getting serious again. "Liam, you are one of those who ruined my life. Nothing and no one can bring me back the way I was before!" she said emotionally and immediately left before he could see the tears dripping from her eyes. She felt like she would explode with too much hatred right there and then.

Suddenly, everything came back to her--all the anger and pain in her heart. She wanted to snap and beat somebody. She went straight to the first female CR she saw. She entered one of the empty cubicles and wept bitterly as she punched its cemented wall.

When got tired of it, she fixed herself and returned to their classroom not to attend the next class but to pick up her belongings to go home.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hero asked her.

She did not answer. She left without a word.

Hero chased after her to stop her, but she got pissed and impulsively punched him in the face. They both looked at each other in shock, but she was the first to look away. She left him without looking back and headed for the gate.

"They've just gotten into the top five in the Science Quiz Bee, did you see how he boasted about it? How arrogant!"

"If I know, their gangster classmate threatened the other opponents to lose the competition."

She stopped walking when she heard what the two male students who passed by her had been talking about.

"What did you say?"

They stopped and turned to her. Suddenly the color drained out of their faces when they recognized her. Their lips were trembling as they looked at each other in fear.

"Repeat what you said!" she commanded in a roaring voice, causing them to wince.

"N-Nothing... W-We're...s-sorry," replied the shorter guy whose glasses were already fogged.

They were about to run when she held them in both arms. She then kicked Mr. Glasses before punching his companion. Still not satisfied, she also picked Mr. Glasses up and punched him.

"Hey, Max! That's enough!" a familiar voice shouted from behind her, but she did not listen. The next thing she knew, Hero was already holding both her hands to stop her.

"Let go of me!" she protested violently. But Hero's grasp tightened, feeling his strength overwhelming her.

Soon they were surrounded by a lot of students who came only out of curiosity. One teacher saw them and called a security guard to break them off.

"Take those to the infirmary," the male teacher commanded the guard in an authoritative voice before turning to her. "Miss Mejares, come with me to the detention office!" His voice was more demanding towards her than to the security guard. She could not remember his name but she knew he was one of the college instructors of Cas-U.

"Sir, can I come along?" Hero asked.

"Don't get yourself involved in this," she warned him.

"Miss Mejares!" the teacher rebuked her before turning to Hero. "All right, Mr. Gaston. It's up to you."