CHAPTER 4

After I served Rhea's the tea. They all ordered me to work until midnight.

"Is this a punishment?" I whispered and went back to my room after my chores were all done. When I laid down on my bed, and wondering why they were treating me so badly. I was curious if they harbored a grudge against my parents. I can't ask my uncle about this since he's working in another country. And I continuously thought of many things until I fell asleep.

I put so much powder on my face after getting ready for school that the bruises didn't show. And came late to school because I was afraid Cassy would notice my bruise. I arrived safely in my classroom without seeing Cassy. I took a deep breath and sighed.

During class, I felt very dizzy.

"Miss Holmes?"

"Arien, Arien." One of my classmates was trying to wake me up. Then told me that the teachers keep on calling. When I stand up because I feel unwell, I faint.

"Somebody, please help me! Arien had passed out.

"Call her cousin. Hurry!"

"That's impossible. They're not getting along."

"Bring her first to the infirmary."

"It's deafening. I don't have the strength to open my eyes," my mind said.

"Excuse me, have you seen Arien?" Cassy was searching for me inside the classroom.

"Arien, she's in the infirmary room."

Without asking for a reason, Cassy rushed to the infirmary room. When she arrived in the room, Cassy shocked at what she discovered. She didn't take her lunch and other classes because she stayed with me.

After I woke up, I noticed her eyes were watering.

"Are you crying, Cas?" I asked her.

"What happened, Arien? Why do you have bruises everywhere? And why did you faint? Cassy was distressful.

"I fainted because I forgot to eat my dinner and my breakfast. Regarding my bruises, I fell down the stairs.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Arien? Tell me what happened in your house yesterday, please." Cassy begged me to tell her the truth about my bruises.

"It was only a brief fight with Rhea, and I bumped into the table when running to my room. I'm OK now that I have rested enough." I lied to Cassy to stop her from worrying.

"By the way, what time is it now, Cas?

"3:30 pm."

"I need to run some errands at the teacher's office," I told Cassy, and asked her to call Dave and let him know I'd be there at 4:00 p.m.

Cassy called Dave to inform him of the time of my arrival after I had left the infirmary room.

When I arrived at the teacher's office, she briefed me on my assignment.

"Andi, you and Arien go to the record room. Then organized all files." The teacher commanded us.

"Miss Gray, I can do this alone," I stated, to avoid Andi.

Andy Smith, our school's hunk. The person I wanted to avoid the most.

"Sorry, Arien, but I need him to help you since I want you to finish it early because the faculty needs that file well organized as soon as possible." The teacher stated.

After agreeing with the teacher, we headed to the record room. I hurriedly worked on the files in the record room. To go back early, especially to avoid Andi.

"Are you in a hurry?" He asked, but I didn't respond.

"Are you avoiding me, Arien?"

"Do you know my name? I asked him.

"Yes! "I've known you since our first year together. And I heard a lot about you." He replied.

"Oh yeah! He heard about the gossips, I guessed!" I mumbled to myself

"How come you've known me since then?"

"It's a secret. By the way, I'm Andy Smith, Arien Holmes, right? He remarked.

I nodded to him. And I changed my table to avoid more conversation. He smiled as he caught sight of me. After we finished our task, he asked me to go home together. And I rejected him. With my response, I could see his gloomy expression.

Cassy escorted me to Dave's workplace.

I'm curious about what kind of work we'll be doing.

" Cassy Dave chose this land? The field is quite wide, but why are there no trees and only big humps? I was curious about the company Dave had worked for." I'm curious.

" Dave enjoys motocross and has asked his parents to set up a sports business for him to manage." Cassy answered all my questions.

Then, Dave told us to wait in the waiting room to discuss our tasks. After his meeting ended, he came straight to the room where I waited, and Cassy went home since she didn't want to disturb us.

"Arien, welcome. Shall we start your work? Dave asked me. And I replied, "Yes, sir."

"Just call me Dave, not Sir, hahaha." When I address him as Sir, he laughs.

"Ok. Your first task is to create an advertisement flyer and a poster for recruitment. He, explained to me step by step. I paid close attention to him as he instructed me on what to do.

"About the slogan, do you have some ideas, Arien?"

"I know little about motocross. Cassy had previously informed me. He explained to me everything to learn more about the Motocross sport.

"Thank you for sharing your knowledge of motocross. It's a very challenging sport for brave people."

"About the slogan, 'FEEL THE DIRT. JUMP FOR GLORY.' How about it, Dave?"

"Nice!" He agreed with me and asked me to start my work. He headed outside after he instructed me on some additional information.

"Finally, I finished it all in a short time." I get my bag and head outside to show my finished work to Dave and ask permission to go home.

"Sound of a motorbike engine." I dashed out the door and looked at the person behind the wheel of the motorcycle. It was fascinating to watch Dave as he climbed the humps. I suddenly realized that it would be fun to learn that sport if I could drive a motorbike. Dave saw me when I stared at him for a long while. He called me, but I didn't hear him because I kept on watching him. He approached me and patted my head. I startled when his face is in front of me.

"He's close." It surprised me I spoke the words out.

"Hahaha! You're funny, Arien." He was laughing out loud.

I lowered my head because of embarrassment. Dave kept on laughing, and he asked me why I stared at him so fiercely.

"Do you have a crush on me, Arien? He smirked and teased me. I could feel my face getting hot. And I panicked when I heard his words and didn't have a chance to respond him.

I said goodbye to Dave and trotted.

"Crap! What a moron I am. I forgot to show my work to Dave. Ahhhh... On this first day of work, I had an embarrassing reaction to his presence. He, of course, laughed at my folly.

Dave watched me while I faded away, he giggled and whispered, "hee~ I liked her reaction today. Cute!