Chapter-138 Love Hurt

Jay-jay's POV

"How's Mayo?" Edrix asked me as soon as I stepped out of the clinic.

"He's... being attended to by the nurse."

"Tsk! Your punch was strong. Even stronger than Kit's punch to him," he said, shaking his head.

Serves him right!

"He made me mad," I reasoned, but Edrix just laughed at me.

I sat down in the waiting area just outside the clinic, and Edrix followed. I didn't feel like going back to the room yet—I was sure the guys would bombard me with questions.

"What were you and Mayo fighting about?" he asked.

"N-nothing... Just... it's complicated," I answered, avoiding his gaze.

It seemed like Edrix got what I meant because he didn't push the topic further and just stayed silent.

I heard his phone buzz. He took it out, and I immediately saw Freya's face as his wallpaper.

Haizt! Kiko's words echoed in my head.

"She has a new boyfriend again," Edrix said, showing me his phone.

It was a Facebook post from Freya, posing with a handsome guy. The caption read:

"My new love once. 😍😘"

Nice!

"This is my dream..." Edrix murmured. "...For her to post our picture and shout to the world that I'm the one she truly loves."

I could feel the pain and struggle in his voice. How long had he been hiding his feelings for Freya?

"H-have you ever tried approaching her?" I asked.

He immediately shook his head while staring at his phone.

"I can't... She hates people from Section E, remember?"

Oh, right. And it seemed like her hatred only grew when I arrived and ended up clashing with her.

"If only I could help you with her... but we're enemies," I said, forcing a smile.

He did the same. Not that I would have helped him if we weren't enemies. I still didn't know the full story of what happened between Freya, Yuri, and Keifer.

"Falling in love is hard, huh?" a voice suddenly spoke.

Edrix and I immediately turned toward the clinic door. Mayo stood there, holding a tissue and an ice bag.

He sat down beside me. Now I was stuck between the two of them.

"Haaayyy... Your punch really hurt, Jay," Mayo said to me.

"That's your fault... You pissed me off," I snapped back.

He chuckled softly. Edrix and I exchanged glances. Was Mayo losing it? Or did my punch rattle his brain?

"Sorry... I didn't mean to say that. You're different from Ella, you two aren't the same," he said, smiling at me.

I'm different from her...

"...I just got carried away by my anger," he added.

"S-sorry too, for punching you," I said, smiling back at him.

"Alright! You two have made up," Edrix said, standing up."...Let's go back to class."

Mayo checked the time on his phone. I glanced at it too. We had been sitting here for quite a while.

"We won't make it in time. Let's just go in for the next subject," he suggested.

Yeah, it would be awkward to go back now anyway. Besides, I was still feeling lazy.

Edrix slumped back into his seat. "Alright, later then."

"Who were you and Edrix talking about?" Mayo asked.

"Chicks!" I answered.

Edrix immediately shot me a glare.

"...Edrix's girl," I corrected.

"His girlfriend?" Mayo asked.

"No," Edrix answered.

"He's dreaming of her," I added.

Edrix glared at me again, but I just laughed at him.

"Have you told her yet?" Mayo asked.

Edrix shook his head and looked down. "I don't even know if she notices me or if she even knows I exist."

"You're just admiring from afar?"

"Something like that."

"At least you're like that. In my case, he knows I love him, but he avoids me." Mayo said as he pressed an ice bag to his face.

"That does sound worse."

I kept glancing between them. It was nice listening to their conversation—simple and straightforward, no pretenses.

I leaned back and sighed. "Falling in love is hard."

Mayo and Edrix both turned to look at me.

"You're the one struggling? When there are two people who like you?" Edrix said, making me grimace at him.

"You have Yuri, and you also have Keifer." Mayo added.

W-what? Hold on!

"Maybe she likes someone else-someone who's not either of them." – Edrix teased

"Maybe… Who is it then? Tell us!" – Mayo pushed

What the--!

"Keifer's going to get mad at you." – Edrix teased more.

"Poor Yuri. Heartbroken again." – Mayo chimed in.

"Shut up, you two!" I shouted at them. "...You're saying too much! I just joined in on your drama!"

So annoying!

"But seriously, you don't like either of them?" Edrix asked again.

"I-it's not like that."

"You can't choose?" Mayo asked.

I looked down and bit my lower lip. Ugh! I hate these kind of questions.

These two were obviously waiting for my answer, but I remained silent.

"If I were you, I'd go with Yuri." Mayo suddenly said, making us all look at him.

"Why Yuri?" Edrix asked.

"Keifer doesn't count. The problem with him is he's selfish when it comes to girls. Even though Yuri is the only friend he has left, he still took someone away from him." Mayo explained.

It felt strange. The way C-in talked about Yuri before was exactly how Mayo was talking about Keifer now.

Yuri once mentioned that Keifer was selfish when it came to girls. Now, with two people saying it and me experiencing it firsthand, it still felt hard to believe.

"Took someone away? Who did Keifer take from Yuri?" Edrix asked.

"Ella, of course! Yuri was supposed to be the one she chose, but Keifer staked his claim, so she ended up with him instead."

Yuri was supposed to be the one?

But Yuri told me Ella never really loved him. So how could he have been the one she wanted to choose?

"How was Yuri supposed to be the one?" I asked.

"I don't know… But Ella said Yuri was the one she really wanted." Mayo answered.

Why was it like this? I suddenly felt confused. I was about to ask Mayo more when I saw Rakki approaching us.

She looked thinner and more stressed compared to the last time we saw each other.

"Hello, Rakki!" I greeted him.

"H-hi… Why are you guys here? Don't you have class?" he asked.

"It's their fault." They both said in unison while pointing at me.

"Hm?!"

"Hahaha… You probably just cut class and dragged Jayjay along with you." Rakki teased them.

"No way! It's really Jayjay's fault." Mayo said, pointing at his nose.

"That's karma..." Rakki said, then turned to me. "...By the way, how's C-in? I heard he's staying with you now."

Ayyiieeehhh... Someone misses him.

"He'd be fine… If only he knew how to do his laundry and clean up his mess." I replied. Because I was the one washing his clothes. It was so embarrassing for me. -_-

That feeling when I wasn't even the one doing my own laundry, yet I was the one washing his clothes.

Lazy!

"Don't expect anything from him. He won't even get water himself; he'll ask someone else to do it." Rakki said.

He's like that with us too. It makes me want to flick his forehead. Probably because he's a rich kid and the youngest child. No one ever goes against him since his parents are always away—except for his crazy older brother.

"Alright... I'll go ahead. I still need to get this signed by the nurse." He waved the paper in her hand.

"She looks like she lost weight." Edrix observed.

I thought I was the only one who noticed.

"Probably from stress… Her problems keep piling up." Mayo said.

I looked at him in confusion. "Problems?"

Mayo glanced briefly at the clinic door before turning back to me.

"Ever since Rakki sided with us, Section A has blocked all the benefits meant for her section. Now she's struggling to get them back." He explained.

Poor Rakki. Since he's the president of his section, all the responsibility falls on him.

"Don't tell C-in about this." Edrix suddenly said.

"Why not?"

"Do you want things to get even worse?" He replied sarcastically.

Good point. Who knows what that kid might do? Aside from picking a fight with Section A, he might even go after the Guidance Counselor and the Principal.

We kept talking about random things, mostly about our classmates who seemed to have a few screws loose.

That's also when I found out that Josh had lost his girlfriend. They weren't sure when it happened, but ever since then, Josh had been acting weird.

Meanwhile, Drew had been sneaking off to gamble in an alley near the school. That idiot! He still hasn't paid me back, and now he's at it again!

We didn't even notice how much time had passed.

"...During vacation, we should—"

"Ahem."

We all froze at the sound of a fake cough.

"...We've been waiting and looking for you, and you've been here this whole time!"

Uh-oh!

Slowly, we turned around. Arms crossed and glaring down at us was the King of the Snakes.

I forced a smile, but it clearly didn't work.

"Get back to class... NOW!" He shouted, and we immediately jumped to our feet and ran back to our room.

"This is your fault, Jayjay!" Mayo yelled as we ran.

I shot him a glare. "You were the one picking fights!"

"Enough! Fight later! Keifer's coming! We're are so dead!"