XXV

IT WAS REALLY HARD TO FIND A WAY TO TALK TO VIVI ALONE. 

After the whole fiasco, she was always either with Jake or with some of her friends from another section. It also didn't help that the girl seemed adamant about avoiding Brie or Laia.

Or maybe it's just Laia overthinking.

Laia sat down on one of the seats on the back row, exhausted. Massaging her temples, she caught sight of the asshat entering their classroom obviously chewing gum.

Which is prohibited, by the way. Maybe Laia should snitch on the asshat?

Or maybe not, Laia rolls her eyes. The girl was already exhausted with the Vivi-Brie-Jake situation, she didn't need another unnecessary fiasco on her plate.

"Ugh," Laia groans. Her headache didn't subside regardless of how much she massaged her temples. Maybe she should visit the clinic before their teacher arrives? "Brie,"

"Yeah?" The long-haired girl from beside Laia turns to her. "What is it?"

Fuck, even that brief conversation made Laia's headache worsen. "Can you accompany me to the clinic? My head hurts,"

Brie helped her friend stand up. "Okay, let's go--"

"Good morning everyone!"

Fuck! Laia couldn't help but grimace when their teacher entered their classroom with a huge grin on her face, obviously aware of how pressuring the whole group reporting would be but nonetheless doesn't mind that her students are well, mentally-exhausted.

Sometimes Laia just wanted to scream at her teacher's face. Like, a scream enough to wake her up from her delusion that her students are all great and excited to receive more homework or performance tasks.

News flash, they are all absolutely drained!

Brie seemed to share the same sentiment as her friend as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Ugh, of course, she just had to arrive," Nevertheless, the long-haired girl raised her hand which Laia pulled down. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Don't bother," Laia closes her eyes briefly in an attempt to lessen her headache. "I can't afford to be absent anyway,"

"You do realize you have a rightful excuse, right? I mean, if she had a headache as bad as yours, she'll probably be on the teacher's lounge all day."

Laia waves her friend's words off. "I can probably take it,"

"I definitely think you cannot--"

"Brie, I'm serious," The short-haired girl glares at her friend who was about to raise her hand again. "Just... leave me be."

Brie stares at her friend but concedes anyway with a shrug. "As you say,"

Their teacher then started her class by announcing that she had already requested the next classes to give way for hers, which meant that an escape wouldn't be easy for the girl and also translated to Laia having to withstand her headache for the next four hours.

Well, fuck.

"... Okay, class! I'm sure you're quaking on your boots due to the excitement you feel! Finally, you can finally report on the topics of your choice!"

Definitely not excited. More like constipated, perhaps.

"Anyway, as I said earlier, all eight groups will be able to report as I have allotted a total of thirty minutes per group. Now, shall we start with the first group?"

Laia was quick to realize that they would be the fifth group to report. She sighs in relief as she resumed massaging her temples and occasionally pressing her pressure points. The girl knew she should have had let Brie raise her hand earlier, but it's too late to regret it now.

Catching the eye of the asshat who sat beside one of his girls, the asshat had the audacity to wink at her. Laia sneered and averted her eyes immediately. Disgusting!

The sudden movement of her head made her dizzy from the pain. Holding on to her chair for dear life, Laia tried her best to regain composure immediately. Despite not sitting down on her usual seat by the first row, her teacher might still notice her discomfort and react overdramatically.

Ma'am Anne had an affinity for theatrics, unfortunately.

Laying her head on her bag which she opted to make her pillow, Laia closed her eyes in an attempt to nap for a while. It's not as if they'll be reporting anytime soon, anyway. Based on the short-haired girl's calculations, her group will probably report around 4 o'clock.

Which is about two hours away. Definitely enough for a short nap, the girl thinks.

Plugging in her earphones, Laia drifted off to dreamland.

For about thirty minutes.

The girl rubbed her eyes wearily to a disaster unfolding up in front. One of the current group's members is debating with another one of her own groupmates, which was weird, to be honest. Aren't they supposed to share the same opinion regarding their issue on hand?

Their teacher didn't seem to be too pleased with the whole situation in front of her as well. The older woman didn't waste time on calling the dispute off and making the entire group go back to their seats and cease their presentation altogether.

Based on the glares the members sent towards one another by the time they sauntered back to their seats, Laia is already expecting a fight by the end of the class. Looks like she has to leave earlier than usual.

One fight is enough for the day, thank you very much.

The rest of the reports the other groups before Laia's own went well. Brie's group, who was the second group to report, tackled unemployment. Brie elaborated the most among her groupmates, and Laia would be lying if she wasn't astonished by how good her friend was at elaborating.

She was indeed in her element. Even their teacher seemed to be impressed, probably forgetting the whole fighting fiasco from earlier with how brilliant Brie's performance was.

"You were great!" Laia whispered to her friend the moment the long-haired girl sat down.

Brie smiles brightly. "You're definitely gonna do better,"

"Shh. Bask on your achievement, honey."

Laia's personal favorite was the fourth group, who reported before them. The group choose to tackle the issue of corruption. It was thoroughly explained and they gave concrete examples that really brought out the importance of being educated on the said issue.

Despite her lingering headache, the short-haired girl still applauded loudly for the said group. Brie didn't even hide her shock at how Laia seemed to act as a proud mother hen.

"Favoritism!" Brie whispers at her friend's ear and even pouts.

Laia shrugs innocently. "They were just really great."

After a few more scattered claps from the class, their adviser stood up from her seat and grinned widely. Laia knew the lady was up to no good, and she was right.

"Brilliant reporting," She spares the members of the fourth group a short glance and turns to Laia. Laia fought the urge to look away from her teacher's expectant gaze. "Let's welcome the anticipated fifth group, then,"

The short-haired girl exhaled sharply, realizing that she doesn't have a chance to not exert much effort now. With her head still aching badly, Laia tried her best to remain smiling until she was in front of everyone's expecting eyes.

Shane smiles at Laia the moment she arrived on her side. The asshat even waved at some of their classmates who were cheering him on, especially a bunch of their female classmates who even started shrieking the moment the asshat arrived in front.

What is this, a fan meet?

Ma'am Anne raised her hand to cease everyone's cheering. Fortunately, their high-pitched screams did cease immediately. One more round of their cheering and Laia's head would have had cracked already.

Shane wasted no time connecting her laptop to their classroom's television to ensure that everyone would see their PowerPoint presentation clearly. The asshat sat beside Shane and Laia heard him occasionally giving Shane guidelines in a nice way.

Definitely because they were in a public setting, Laia couldn't help but think. If the three of them were back on the asshat's condominium unit, he would have had obviously screamed at Shane or berated her already.

Laia took Shane's hands forming a thumbs up as her cue to start reporting. Regardless of how much her head throbbed in pain, the girl tried her best to elaborate everything clearly. She even completed her elaboration with a few examples of her own which she researched yesterday and resulted in her lack of sleep.

Finally, her part came to an end. Despite seeing the asshat grimacing at her frequently, Laia decided to ignore him and instead bowed as deeply as she could after saying her final piece.

At first, the whole room was silent. Dead silent, and it made Laia anxious. Then, Brie clapped. Everyone else followed with cheers and claps, some even screaming Laia's name with pure adoration on their voices.

Laia couldn't help but smile. She turns to their teacher who was nodding in approval and was even clapping. "Great job, Laia," She even mouths to her student.

When the cheers and clapping finally subsided, their teacher made her way to where Laia was and patted her on the shoulder. She then urged the asshat and Shane to join them in front, placing her hands on both their shoulders.

Beaming towards them, she didn't waste time and complimented their reporting. "Amazing work, group five! Not that I didn't expect that already, especially with how Laia and Samuel are in the same group. But let's not forget about Shane, who did an amazing PowerPoint presentation!"

"She also helped in researching," The asshat unexpectedly interjects.

Shane turned to him, obviously shocked by how he defended her. Their adviser then nervously laughs but retains the wide smile on her face. "Again, the fifth group!"

Everyone clapped again, but Laia heard some of her classmates whisper about how their teacher invalidated Shane's efforts. Not that they're wrong, what their adviser really did was wrong, but Laia was too exhausted to complain about it.

And her head continuously throbbing in pain definitely doesn't lessen the said exhaustion from not sleeping yesterday.

The girl barely sat down on her seat when the asshat pulled her wrist. Dizzy and nauseous, Laia wasn't able to tug her wrist free from the asshat's grip, and she was then led to an empty hallway outside their room, free from anyone eavesdropping.

"Why didn't you follow the script I sent you earlier this morning?" The asshat hissed through his teeth. Laia could see how his jaw clenched.

"Ugh," Laia groans, weakly pushing the asshat away from her. "Just let it go, I did amazing,"

The asshat ran his fingers through his hair. "No, you fucked up the original plan! Shane was supposed to report the final part of the report," Laia blearily looked at the asshat's irritated state. "Now our teacher thinks she didn't do anything except make the PowerPoint,"

Unfortunately, Laia had to admit that the asshat was right. She didn't indeed check neither her email nor their group chat for the script that the asshat supposedly sent. But how was she supposed to when the moment she arrived at their classroom Brie was already in a fight with Vivi? When after the fight she had to come up with a plan to make Brie and Vivi talk?

Despite how many reasonable excuses Laia had on the tip of her tongue, she was getting dizzier every time she breathed. The asshat was still ranting in front of her, but she couldn't even hear or understand his words anymore.

It was almost as if there was an invisible wall in the middle of the little space they had in between them.

"... Lopez? Lopez, hey, what the fuck is wrong-- Hey!"

The asshat's perplexed face was the last thing she saw before she blacked out.