CHAPTER XII: Fret and Be Anxious

Less than three weeks away from the festival, the hype has calmed down tremendously, for now.

It was a few days before the midterm exams and the students are now focusing on their studies.

Well…some of them.

"Do you think this is pretty?"

"No."

"How about this?"

"No."

"Right? It kinda needs more charm."

"No."

"Are you even listening, Dia?"

"No."

"I'm a great friend."

"No."

"You're prettier than me."

"Of course."

Without even looking, I can tell that she's scowling at me.

We are currently situated at the usual spot. If anyone was wondering whether or not we should leave this place, the answer can be pretty obvious.

Even though this was my only sanctuary, it's slowly become a hangout place for unwanted people.

Like, for example, her.

"At least look at me!" Solar shouted desperately.

"If I direct my eyes at you, so will my fifty pages module."

I heard cluttering noises.

Her voice suddenly sounded distant, "Joking! Joking! Don't take me seriously!"

"I never did." I replied while still flipping through the pages of my bounded module.

As seen, I'm here at the garden to study, similar to any student alive, but there's always that annoying person whose existence is meant to bother everyone.

"Where's Ross when you need him?!" I automatically paused at that.

"He's the only one who can stand up against the beast."

"Do you want to test the beast?" I blankly stated.

"Again, kidding! Kidding! Whoo, the weather is great!" I rolled my eyes at her.

Ross is not present at school today. Don't know why, he just said that he won't be coming today.

Haru, on the other hand, went to the library to fetch some books. I think he's taking up law or something related to justice. That's why for the past few days he has been running back and forth from here to the library and vice versa. When Solar suggested that he just studied at the library, he continuously refused.

I guess she still doesn't know about the bullying issues he faced for the past years.

The only thing wrong about this current set-up is that all of them decided to use the garden as the primary base for our daily get-together.

Which was fine until Solar kept on turning this sanctuary into a hell pit.

"I don't have anyone to talk to here." She grumbled.

"Lucky you." I took out my pen and continued writing my notes.

"Dia, here." A voice called.

I looked up and saw Haru holding a ton of books with a paper bag at the top.

I grabbed the paper bag and took a peek. Haru then crouched and let go of the books he was holding.

Once I was satisfied with the contents inside the bag, I placed it down on the table and raised my hand.

As per usual, I petted Haru on the head.

"Thanks Haru!" I said and stroked his hair some more.

He nodded eagerly and sat down after I was done.

"What was that?" Solar intervened.

I looked at her, "What was what?"

"When did you become close?! With the petting and stuff!" She pointed between Haru and I.

"Food does that to you." I opened the bag again and brought out a huge hamburger.

"Friendship is expensive." I added.

"The friendship I want costs a hamburger?!" She exaggeratedly pointed at the food I'm holding.

"There's also large fries and a large mango shake." I enumerated as I brought out the remaining snacks inside the paper bag.

"I-I'm speechless."

"Don't be. I give discounts to cute people." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"What's the standard of this 'cute' you're talking about?" Solar crossed her arms and gazed at me with a challenging look.

"Clearly not you." She furrowed her eyebrows and was about to yell at me but I cut her off. "But him."

I motioned towards Haru who just gave us an innocent tilt of the head. He really looks like a puppy. Maybe that's why he also loved being petted by people. It was a trait I noticed by accident.

After he brought me food before, I unconsciously patted his head because I was busy reading at that time. He looked really comfortable as I was doing so and when he noticed that I was watching him, he immediately became shy. Now that was the definition of cute.

Ever since then, I always pet him as a silent sign of thank you.

"Um…by the way, what's that?" Solar and I looked at the contraption Haru pointed at.

It was the decoration Solar was bothering me about.

"It's the design for our classroom! It looks good right?" She looked really excited about it as she showed it to Haru.

"Yeah. I like the piglet at the bottom!" Haru said and gave out a huge smile.

Using my hand, I hastily covered my mouth.

"Um, what piglet?"

Haru went near it and touched the pink blotch on the huge cardboard.

"This one!" His voice matched the excitement he was showcasing.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I laughed out loud.

Solar awkwardly scratched her head, "Haru, that's a pink rose."

I chukingly waited for Haru's response.

"Oh." That made me laugh even louder!

"Haru. Come here." I called out between laughs.

Haru hurriedly went to my side.

"Good job!" I raised my right hand and shared a high-five with him.

"You know what, I give up." I heard Solar mumble at the side.

During the next few hours, Solar continued to hold a grudge against the two of us while Haru and I continued our personal study sessions.

The following day, Ross was back to school. Solar was still glaring at us which made Ross wonder what had happened the day before.

"We played 'guess what' and Solar lost to Haru."

"I didn not! I mean we didn't even play anything!" She shouted whilst still shooting daggers at me.

"Oh we didn't? Sad." I grinned mischievously at her.

"You look happy." I turned my head towards Ross.

"I'm probably happy when you're not here." I replied.

"Ah, really? That hurts." I was shocked when he leaned on me. He was practically hugging me since he was facing sideways at me! Making his arms fall near me.

I shoved him full force and stepped back. He ended up coughing lightly but he still managed to tease me after.

"Maybe it's not happiness that you're feeling. Would you mind if I confirm it?" He took another step forward. In return, I stepped back.

"Take another step and I'll confirm your appointment with the infirmary soon enough." I threatened.

"Your love is so feisty. Never had it before, may I try?" He again took another step forward and I instinctively moved back.

"Your eyes seem to be a bit blurry. You're mistaking a few details."

We were having a stare off when a voice interrupted us.

"And this is why Ross is the only one who goes one-on-one with the great Dia!"

I snapped my head towards her.

"Just kidding!" She quickly turned around and rushed off somewhere.

"Oh, so I'm the only one?" Here he goes with his teasing.

"That's not a compliment."

"No, that's a declaration."

Frustrated, I swiped my hair upward, "Argh, I can't with you!"

"But I can with you." He repeatedly raised both of his eyebrows at me.

I swear to…

If he doesn't shut up, I'll explode.

I left him standing in his spot and sat beneath the usual shade.

I grabbed my notes, as well as my modules, and began studying for the upcoming exams.

I also have my plates ready at my side if ever I feel energetic enough to finish those.

When the clouds began to turn orange, we decided to end it here and go home.

The four of us walked to the parking lot.

On the way there, we saw some students hanging around and finishing some major touches on their departmental designs.

Solar's department was almost done with theirs so she rarely goes missing anymore.

As we neared another group of students, I saw one of them holding a huge canvas. I looked at the boy holding it and recognized him as someone from the same department as I am.

I was planning to ignore them when the canvas caught my attention. It was still clean.

Didn't they start already?

I didn't bother helping them because I was not even close to anyone. They also didn't like having any form of connection with me to which I'm glad.

Later on, I found out why they hadn't done anything with the blank canvas yet. Apparently, they couldn't make an artwork that satisfies their tastes.

Well, when you're involved in an art-specified department, nothing really caters to your interest anymore unless it is of best quality.

Being an architecture student really brings out the best works from you until you can't bring out anything anymore.

The following day, I planned out everything I needed to do and that includes…

Studying.

Yup, just plain old studying.

That's what I had in mind but I can't seem to catch a break.

Solar, again, was doing nothing but becoming a hindrance to my plainly-made plans.

Ever since she came to the garden, she kept on complaining about how the people from her department never paid any attention to the departmental contest.

Apparently, they were busy studying like normal students.

I wanted to point that out but with how she was rumbling nonstop, I wouldn't be able to control myself and I might just throw her off from the face of the earth.

That's why here I am…at the campus library.

Peaceful.

Serene.

Full of information.

And yet, I'm still hearing stupid rants!

Rants.

Rants.

RANTS.

RANTS!

I'm going insane…

I sighed and gave up. I guess I won't be able to learn anything today.

I sat quietly and closed my eyes.

"How do we finish that design?"

"I don't know. Argh! I'm getting antsy."

"Me too. Geo gets super scary when he's dissatisfied."

"You don't say. He even broke one of our classmates' costly paintbrush and threw him out of the room."

"Wahhh! Why didn't I hear that?"

"You were skipping your duties because you kept trembling by just being in the same room as him."

"..."

Poor thing. That Geo guy must be a demon in disguise. Without even opening my eyes, I can feel them shaking from behind me.

"Being in the same archi department as him gives me nightmares."

I literally almost fell from my chair.

Archi?!

He's from the same department?!

Wow, never heard of him.

But, well, I never heard about anyone after all.

Wait, the design they were talking about must be the one I saw before.

If I remember correctly, some students from my department had a large blank canvas before.

It's probably still blank until now based on what they're talking about.

I scowled. They'll most likely never make it. A canvas of that size cannot be hurried.

When I looked at my wristwatch, I saw that it had already been an hour since I went here.

Since I won't be able to study anything here, I guess I should just go back to the garden. Haru might have some food ready.

I gathered my things and headed out of the library.

As I was just about to pass by the architecture building, I saw someone arguing inside one of the classrooms.

I was about to ignore it when all of a sudden a girl came running towards me at full throttle.

Before she could bump into me, I quickly stepped backward and watched her run past me.

I got a slight glimpse of her crying slash frustrated face. Don't know which is which.

When I looked at the direction she took off from, there was a man standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

He was staring coldly in my direction.

Particularly at me.

Wait. What?

I looked around and there was not a single human being near me.

Was he looking at the girl that ran? Yeah, that's probably it.

I looked back at him and our eyes immediately locked.

He was totally staring at me.

I frowned and decided to ignore him.

I'm done with college dilemmas. I don't know what his problem is, but I don't want any of it.

Technically, my prayers weren't heard.