Chapter 7

'It's hard trying to act normal' That was Drystan's first thought as he sat in his seat, arms crossed in front of his chest, eyes closed. He let out a sigh, three days ago after the fireworks ended and Galene looked at him, he felt his whole being weakened.

Galene asked him what was wrong but instead of answering, he did the stupidest thing of running away. Now, he knew that there was a chance that Galene might bring the topic up. And so far, since that night and over the weekend, he had been trying to rehearse what to say but he still couldn't come up with anything

"Hi, Galene!!"

Drystan flinched upon hearing their classmates greet Galene. He opened his eyes just in time to see Galene walk towards her seat.

"Yo, Zael"

Drystan could swear he could feel himself melting again as he stared at Galene smiling widely at him. Galene on the other hand furrowed her eyebrows when she saw him staring hard at her. She placed her bag on her desk before sitting in Malkiel's seat beside Drystan instead of her seat.

"Come to think of it, what happened last time?"

Drystan flinched once more before clearing his throat.

"Last time? What do you mean?"

Drystan could feel Galene's stare at him so instead of looking at her directly, he directed his gaze towards the class board.

"Ohh you mean last time during the festival, I just kinda had a song in my mind so I needed to write it quickly"

Galene made a mental note of how Drystan spoke faster than usual like he wanted to end the conversation. She felt the same last time too, like he disliked having to talk to her. Truthfully she was angry at this, she didn't like the feeling of talking to someone who wasn't interested in talking with her.

"Oh? So it's like that"

The certain strain on Galene's voice made Drystan turn around but before he could even catch her expression, Galene sat on her seat and laid her head on her desk.

Drystan gulped down, he knew that Galene wore her heart on her sleeves. When she's happy she doesn't hide it, when she's sad she doesn't hesitate to show it and when she's angry and annoyed she makes it apparent. 

And at this point, he was so sure that she was angry. But as to why, he couldn't answer it. 

"Hey uhh" 

He wanted to clear things up, he certainly didn't want Galene to get angry at him but before he could say anything, Koa and the guys burst inside the classroom making it noisy with their cheers.

Drystan just glanced at Galene whose head was still buried on her desk. He was worried that if he left it as it was, it might get worse. But then again, how was he supposed to appease her when he didn't even know what he did wrong? 

He let out a deep sigh and faced forward when Malkiel and the others sat in their seats. So much for trying to act normal, he thought.

"Hey uhh did the two of you fight?"

Drystan turned his attention to Malkiel who was sitting in front of him as they ate lunch. The four of them decided to eat at the cafeteria while Galene, Quincey, and Serenity ate their lunches in the classroom.

"Eh? Who? Who fought?"

Kenzo annoyingly shifted staring at Malkiel and Drystan which Drystan found annoying.

"Are you talking about Drystan and Galene? Aren't they always like that though?"

Koa pointed out as he took another bite from his sandwich. Malkiel shook his head and stared at Drystan again. Drystan knew that out of all of them, Malkiel was the one who always paid close attention to the girls. He had always been looking out for the three so he would be the first to know if something was wrong.

But even just the thought of Malkiel being the closest to Galene made Drystan annoyed.

"It was different, it seemed like Drys was avoiding Galene and Galene seemed really pissed off that I haven't even seen her smile the whole day"

"Well, Galene not smiling is weird since that girl almost smiles and laughs at every opportunity given"

Talking about how they knew so much about Galene, only made Drystan feel more annoyed. He hated the fact that Koa and Malkiel seemed like they knew everything about her while he didn't.

Drystan let out a sigh and resigned from eating. He wasn't in the mood to eat and truthfully he didn't like the feeling of being jealous, especially towards his own friends.

"Hey Drys what did you do to Galene?"

Kenzo accusingly pointed his fork his a tonkatsu on it towards Drystan to which the latter glared at.

"Don't play with your food"

In an instant, Kenzo dropped his fork and muttered a sorry.

"I didn't do anything okay? We just talked earlier and well, she just became like that. She wouldn't even look at me now."

He did try to talk to her again but Galene blatantly refused to talk or even look at him. To make matters worse, it hurt him that he couldn't even talk to her now. He even missed arguing with her for Pete's sake. 

"Maybe because you were avoiding her that's why she got pissed off"

Drystan's eyebrows knitted as he stared at Malkiel.

"When did I avoid her?"

The three looked at each other before staring at Drystan like they were all labeling him as an idiot.

"Last time during the end of the festival, you ran so suddenly, we were all shocked but Galene was the one who was the most surprised. She even stood there for like five minutes"

"And earlier it seemed like you guys were talking but you weren't looking at her"

"Drys are you stupid?"

Drystan threw a glare at Kenzo.

"I don't want to hear that from you"

"HEY!"

Kenzo stood up to wrestle Drystan when Malkiel pulled him back in his seat.

"Drys, Galene hates it when you don't communicate with her properly"

"And how did you know that?"

"Well, it was obvious, Galene is talkative, she likes listening and talking to people. But, if someone doesn't show any interest in talking to her then she would be pissed off and do the same as revenge."

Drystan was apparent now, he hated the fact that his friends knew Galene better than he did but he hated the fact that he knew now why Galene was mad earlier.

Frustrated, he brushed his hands up in his hair before staring at his friends. He messed up. He should've come up with some better explanation earlier and he should've taken notice that Galene would be sharp enough to know that something was wrong.

Just that, she misunderstood the whole situation, Drystan thought.

"Well, looking at you now I guess you didn't mean it"

"Yeah well, I thought you had an argument again"

Everyone was misunderstanding, that was because that had always been the way they saw him and Galene. Always at each other's throats, arguing and bickering every chance they get.

Of course, Galene wouldn't know his feelings if he didn't confess, but right now the thing about confessions hasn't crossed his mind yet.

He knew he loved Galene, contrary to what they thought, he wanted to talk to her more. He wanted to know more about her, he wanted to do more but every time she was near him, it would always feel like he was losing his sanity. That was her effect on him.

Drystan let out a deep sigh and stared at his friends who continued eating. Then quietly he confessed.

"Then how do you tell Galene that she was misunderstanding without explaining that the reason why I can't talk to her normally is because I am in love with her?"

Right there and then, everything became a mess.

As Malkiel, Koa, and Kenzo gawked at Drystan's sudden love confession, he knew that he made a mistake in telling his friends.

Especially when they can't even hold their tongues and keep their mouth shut.