XII

TRUE TO WHAT LAIA EXPECTED, THE ASSHAT DID SEND HIS PLAN TO THE GROUP CHAT later in the evening, just a few minutes after Laia finally finished her shift at Brewing.

She volunteered prior to double-check everything and lock the doors but Niel reassured her that she can go home ahead and rest. The girl's coworker was quick to notice how Laia didn't seem to be in a good mood and even gave her a free cupcake in hopes of improving her mood.

Laia thanked him profusely, and at first even tried to refuse it as it was quite expensive. Nevertheless, Niel insisted and Laia could no longer refuse as the boy threatened to shove it down her throat.

The ride back home was silent. The houses she passed had their lights already turned off and nobody else was strolling around. Laia also missed the stray cat she often fed and talked to as well. Maybe it was already sleeping somewhere.

As she arrived at her house, the turned-off lights meant that her mother still wasn't home. Laia hopes she would at least rest for a day, but bringing up that topic would only cause another argument and the girl doesn't want another unnecessary fight.

Not with the argument earlier that almost cost her her crystal-clear reputation. God, she can only hope that the new rumors her classmates had already spread by now wouldn't reach any of the staff. But knowing how much of a chatterbox her adviser is, Laia can just kiss her reputation of being a kindhearted and helpful girl goodbye.

She slumped on the couch, exhausted both physically and mentally. Despite her phone continuously vibrating at the messages being sent to the group chat, she didn't want to look and watch how enthusiastic the asshat was. However, she had no choice.

[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Since there are three of us, let's divide the workload. I can do the research as I did propose the topic. Shane, you make the PowerPoint and make sure that all the content would be presented well. You can also help in the research when you're done. Lopez, you do the presenting.]

Of course, the asshat doesn't even bother asking his groupmates if they were okay with the roles he gave. Laia scoffs and was tempted to just throw her phone in frustration as the humiliation and anger she felt earlier resurfaced again.

But she knew throwing the phone would do her no good so she screamed at one of the couch pillows instead. Regardless of the fury she felt inside her, she still grabs her phone that she placed on the coffee table and read Shane's response.

[Shane Victoria Miles: dats alrite with me! juust send me the deets xD]

He's literally not asking, Laia thinks as she frowns. Is Shane acting like an airhead on purpose or is she really one?

[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Great. Lopez, stop leaving the messages at seen and respond. This is a group project after all.]

Fucking asshole, Laia thinks as she felt her jaw clench. Can anyone invent being able to punch a person through your phone?

As much as Laia wanted to spite the asshole by continuing to leave the messages at seen, she knew that he may give her a low grade at their peer evaluation that occurs after their reporting and will be done individually, which makes Laia unable to see what grade will the asshole give her.

[Laia Racquelle Lopez: i was cooking dinner.]

She was currently lying down on the couch.

[Laia Racquelle Lopez: anyway just let me see the pptx so im ready b4 the report]

[Shane Victoria Miles: noted <3333 i'll just PM it to u laiaaaa]

[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Don't send it to her privately. Send it here.]

[Laia Racquelle Lopez: as long as you're certain that u did ur research part well, u wouldn't worry abt the pptx's content. it's okay to send it to be privately shane.]

Laia laughs out loud when the asshat leaves the message on seen. Look who's speechless now!

[Shane Victoria Miles: alrite as u say so!]

[Laia Racquelle Lopez: 👍]

The conversation ended there and Laia lets out a huff, standing up from the couch and making her way to her bedroom.

She ended up deciding for a solid ten minutes whether to study in advance or just go to sleep. But upon hearing the front door open with a loud creak, Laia immediately jumped to her bed and pulled the covers up until they covered her face.

Laia closed her eyes and feigned sleep. Her mother entered her room a few moments later, and Laia can smell the sweat on the older woman's clothes and the lingering smoke from grilling all sorts of meat all day.

She felt her mother kiss her gently on the forehead before leaving, closing the door as quietly as she could behind her.

Laia immediately fell asleep after.

The next day was just chaos. Not only was the girl awakened by her phone vibrating loudly due to all the texts Brie bombarded her with and even called her more than ten times, but Laia also woke up to another rainy today.

She frowns and lets out a grunt. A rainy day meant having to wear a raincoat and having to ride slower than usual to avoid her bike from slipping or from any other terrible accident happening.

True that the girl knew that riding her bike slowly is the right thing to do, but it may result in her first late attendance since her first year.

And here she is now, pedaling as hard and as quick as she could to reach her university before the flag ceremony starts. Laia still had lingering anxiety behind her mind that keeps on telling her to pedal slower, but her pride and stubbornness wouldn't allow the said anxiety to further influence the girl.

Laia arrives at the university breathing heavily and exhausted. She knew she was sweaty as hell from having to wear a raincoat on top of their uniform, but does she really have a choice?

It didn't help that despite the fact that it was raining, it was still hot. It could be like that sometimes, which pisses Laia off. Shouldn't the weather stick to one temperature?

She quickly makes her way to where the flag ceremony was being held and had her day immediately ruined when the asshat stayed true to his words and stood behind Laia, occasionally whispering the most abhorrent of sentences or just pure nonsense.

It took every bit of Laia's patience (which was as thin as a single hair strand) to keep herself from lashing out at the asshat and choking him to death.

When they were finally at the classroom, Laia was immediately greeted by Brie and Jake, who seemed to have skipped the flag ceremony and went straight to their classroom to probably do their thing.

Hopefully not, Laia thinks as she shivers in disgust.

"... anyway, I'm still bummed that I'm not groupmates with my Jakey," Brie repeats for the umpteenth time as she sat on her usual chair. She urges Laia to sit beside her by patting the chair next to her own. "And I don't even like my groupmates!"

"I thought you like everyone," Laia teases, as she sat on the chair beside her friend. Jake sat on the armchair of his girlfriend's chair, and Laia was a little bit terrified that it might break.

Brie narrows her eyes at the girl beside her and whispers, "Definitely not everyone especially those who would rather talk all day with Sammy than take the report seriously!"

She then wraps her arms around her boyfriend's waist and buries her head on his stomach. "Ugh, I wanna be groupmates with my Jakey,"

Jake chuckles and ruffles his girlfriend's hair. Laia rolls her eyes at their PDA but says nothing about it and continues the topic at hand. "Just reprimand them or something if they continue texting or staring at the asshat during your supposedly planning time,"

The only good news about the whole group reporting is that their adviser left her entire period for her students to plan their group report. It may or may not be because she's lazy to discuss other topics. Laia doesn't mind at all, but she does mind having to talk to the asshat more than necessary.

"Why do you keep calling him an asshat? He does have a name you know," Brie scolds her friend, as she pulls away from her boyfriend but not far enough to remove her arms from looping around his waist.

Laia rolls her eyes. Because he has a bad attitude and Laia doesn't even want to bother saying his name when he calls her by his surname, she wants to say but goes against it. "Don't mind it,"

Brie was about to say something else when their adviser arrived. She exchanged a brief greeting with the class and everyone then went to their groupings.

Laia internally calmed herself and repeated mantras of "don't murder the asshat" and "don't start another fight".

Unfortunately, the last chair just had to be the one facing the asshat (again) and having to see his annoying grin that mocks Laia at every chance he could get. Laia repeats the two mantras again.

Shane seemed to be her pillar of strength as the girl clapped her hands together and the sound from it effectively ended the awkward situation. Kind of.

"So, uhm, Samuel," Shane looks at the asshat. The asshat cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah?"

"Are you done with the research?" She asks, taking the paper from yesterday out of her bag and placing it on the table.

The asshat shakes his head. "Not yet," He genuinely looked embarrassed for once. Laia is delighted at his reaction. "The WiFi back home was shitty yesterday. It's also one of the reasons why I wasn't able to respond to the group chat and left your message on seen."

Laia scowls subtly. Apparently, it wasn't because the asshat was rendered speechless. It was because of his WiFi.

"Disappointed that I didn't respond yesterday to your taunting, Lopez?"

Shane looks away and whispers, "Oh shit, here they go again,'

The girl rolls her eyes. "Not really. If you ask me, I was beyond elated to not hear from you for a while. I was this close," She showed her two fingers about to touch. "To celebrating. Sadly, I would still be seeing you today so I didn't bother."

Asshat grins. "Are you sure that you have enough money for one celebration?"

Laia grits her teeth but forces a smile. "Oh, more than enough for even about ten celebrations,"

The two stared at each other for a while, neither backing down. Shane's eyes drifted from Laia to Samuel, and she suddenly claps her hands together again loudly, catching both of their attention.

"As much as everyone here," Shane discreetly tilts her head to the side to imply that everyone was watching again. "loves watching your arguments, I don't. So how about let's start discussing before you go to war again?"

Their groupmate's words were enough to silence the two for the rest of the period.