HER FEELINGS

Nervous.

That's how Beatrice felt right now, she sat right in front of her principal who was sitting at the desk preparing to ask her a few things. Beatrice's heart was pounding fast and her hands were cold. Various kinds of bad thoughts filled Beatrice's head at this time.

What if she gets kicked out of school?

No... No!

This is what she is most afraid of. She could imagine how disappointed her parents would be in her if that happened.

Beatrice doesn't want to disappoint her parents, who have been struggling to raise her and pay for her schooling and her parents are the only reason she lives and struggles until now.

"Beatrice Blair, from third grade. Tell me what happened," said the principal.

Beatrice stiffened at the principal's words. "I... I have no idea what happened Mr. Steve," said Beatrice.

Yeah, the man who became the principal and also founded this school named Steve, is the most respected figure in this school.

Steve furrowed his brows. "How is that possible? While the locker is yours right?"

Beatrice nodded. "Yes, the locker is mine but I have no idea what happened Mr. Steve," said Beatrice.

Right now she was telling the truth, that she didn't know anything about the fire incident in the locker room. You also know that she was with Alyssa in the canteen when the fire started.

"Are you telling me the truth?" said Steve doubting Beatrice's words.

Beatrice immediately nodded. "Yes, Mr. Steve! I'm telling you the truth. I couldn't have burned my locker."

Even though she had to admit that she hated her life, she couldn't have done something as crazy as that. After all of the pain now she has started to like her life.

That's an old story.

"During the fire, I was in the canteen. If you don't believe me, you can ask Alyssa, Mr. Steve," Beatrice said, proving her innocence.

Steve was silent for a moment hearing Beatrice's words, one of her students. She was thinking at the moment, but Steve's silence worries Beatrice.

Beatrice clasped her hands together. "Mr. Steve... I beg you, don't take me out of this school. You have to believe in me," Beatrice said pitifully.

She hoped Steve believed her. During her schooling here, she never behaved badly or made a fuss, on the contrary, she was the one who was always being bullied. Steve should have been able to consider all of that if she wasn't a problematic student.

He sighed. "Okay, for now, you can go back to your class," Steve said looking at Beatrice.

Beatrice was surprised. "Really Mr. Steve?!"

Steve nodded. "Yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't investigate the cause of the fire," said Steve.

Beatrice nodded in understanding. "Alright, Mr. Steve. Thank you.... thank you so much!" happy Beatrice, she then walked out of the room as fast as she could.

...

The wind blew, making dry leaves fall from a tree that was tens of years old and one of the dry leaves fell right on the shoulder of the woman sitting right under the shady tree.

The woman just sat there quietly, looking like she was thinking about something, the look on her face looked worried. While being preoccupied with her thoughts suddenly, she felt something on top of her head.

"What are you doing here?"

Hearing that voice, Beatrice immediately raised her head which had been bowed down earlier. "Jeff..."

Beatrice saw Jeff standing right in front of her, blocking the sunlight from hitting Beatrice's face with her back.

"W-what are you doing here?" asked Beatrice surprised to see Jeff's presence.

Jeff smiled a little. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" said Jeff.

Jeff then sat beside Beatrice, took the small towel from Beatrice's head, and then gently stroked Beatrice's wet hair with the towel. "You could catch a cold at this rate," worried Jeff.

Beatrice froze, her heart beating wildly. She saw Jeff's face which looked so focused on stroking the towel on her wet hair. Right now, Beatrice was indeed wet, not only her hair but also her school uniform. That was because she was sprayed by the wet pipe system a few minutes ago in the locker room.

Beatrice was speechless as she stared at Jeff without blinking, admiring the perfectly sculpted face inches away from her.

"Am I very handsome?" said Jeff suddenly.

Beatrice flinched and immediately averted her eyes, making Jeff feel exasperated seeing Beatrice who was acting awkward. It seemed he had found his newest favorite thing; teasing Beatrice.

Because Beatrice is so adorable!

"Done!" said Jeff, after drying Beatrice's wet hair and then placing the towel beside her.

Beatrice touched her dry head. "Thank you..."

The two of them then both fell silent letting the silence envelop them and heard the soothing sound of the wind blowing. If Beatrice was looking straight ahead then Jeff was currently looking at Beatrice, which Beatrice was completely unaware of.

"Did you do it?" asked Jeff breaking the silence between them.

DEG

Beatrice immediately turned her head. "No! I didn't do it!" replied Beatrice, understanding the meaning of Jeff's question.

Of course, Jeff knew about the fire incident that happened in the locker room, he even ran outside with his friends. Jeff also knew that what was on fire was Beatrice's locker, he knew and listened to everything from the other students.

When he heard that he was very surprised, he even wanted to run back into the school building but his friends immediately held him back.

"Then why did it happen?" asked Jeff again. "Valery told me that you were the one who did it."

Yeah, aside from worrying about Beatrice the reason he was here was that he wanted to ask Beatrice this directly. Because he didn't immediately believe what Valery told him.

Beatrice glared at Jeff, she immediately changed her sitting position to make her face Jeff. "That is not true! I didn't do that, you have to believe me!" she didn't want Jeff to be consumed by Valery's lies, she didn't want Jeff to stay away from her.

She didn't want that to happen.

"Jeff... trust me. I couldn't possibly do something as dangerous as that," said Beatrice hoping Jeff would believe her.

Jeff stared at Beatrice, he looked straight into Beatrice's eyes trying to find lies there.

GRAB

Jeff pulled Beatrice's hand and then hugged Beatrice, ignoring her school uniform which got wet from hugging Beatrice. "I trust you," Jeff said softly.

Ah... now that Beatrice understood, she understood this feeling that she always felt whenever she was near Jeff.

Beatrice understands that she loves Jeff.

Her first love.