chapter 2

Jay-jay's POV

"What happened to you?" Edrix immediately asked Keifer. "Did you get into a fight?"

He looked at me, so I quickly looked away. Guilty! It was totally his fault. He pushed me into the cubicle, and then... Aarrgghhh!!!

He even tried to do a New Year Ano part two!

So annoying!

I had no choice. I bit his lip, punched him, and even kicked his thing. That's why he looks like he just came from a brawl.

"I didn't... I just ran into a demon," Keifer replied as he walked to his seat.

A demon?

I looked away, pretending I didn't know what happened to him. But that jerk—he's doing this on purpose.

"You'll pay for this..." he whispered as he walked past me.

I immediately gave him a glare. Demon, huh? So talking things out won't work with this guy. If he was hard to deal with before, now he's even worse.

Tsk! I should've realized that from the start. So annoying!

I looked toward the classroom door. I didn't want to waste more time thinking about that jerk.

Ci-N still wasn't there.

I wonder what happened. I suddenly wanted to go visit her at home. Who knows what her brother might've done to her.

I remembered how she yelled at me over the phone that time. Felt like she was about to come through the line just to scream at me in person.

Sigh...

Next, I looked for Kit. He had his headset on and looked totally indifferent to everything around him.

Mayo clearly wanted to approach him but was hesitating.

Ah, young love!

Then Sir Alvin arrived. He greeted us and asked how we celebrated Christmas and New Year. He didn't even teach—he just chatted with us.

We missed Sir. His long patience with us and these rascals... and how he'd even join in on our craziness sometimes.

"The planning for your retreat has already started," Sir suddenly said.

Retreat?!

"We're included in that?" Calix asked.

"Yes... You're fourth years now. All graduating students are required to join," Sir added.

I knew that retreat was a thing for graduating fourth years. But it felt too early to be talking about it.

"When will it be held?" they asked.

"No date yet, but it'll be earlier than the usual retreat. There's some uncertainty because of the post-final exam."

Post-final exam?

I turned to Yuri and tapped her.

"What's a post-final exam?" I asked.

"There's a fifth exam. That's where they'll decide if a student graduates or not," Yuri explained.

Oh no!

Why is there another one?! What if I fail? Then I won't graduate?

I suddenly felt nervous. We haven't even gotten to the third periodical exams yet, and now I find out there's that?

I really have to prepare. I might have to burn the midnight oil. Not only will I be stuck here forever, but my brother will skin me alive if I fail.

We spent almost the entire morning class just chatting. Even the teachers didn't teach. Maybe they weren't in the mood—or just didn't want to.

Lunch time!

"This is it?" Drew asked Eman.

"Just meatloaf... You guys haven't chipped in for groceries yet," Eman answered.

I just pouted. Our supplies ran out before the Christmas party. I should've brought at least something.

We had to settle for rice and meatloaf. I quietly ate in my spot. But even though I was hungry, I felt like throwing my food at the face of the person sitting across from me.

Keifer had suddenly sat in front of me. He stared at me while I was eating.

"Get lost!" I snapped at him.

"What if I don't want to?" he challenged.

I picked up my food and stood up. I was about to walk away when Keifer suddenly spoke.

"Booooxxxeeerrr..." he whispered in a sing-song tone.

Okay... sitting back down.

I sat back down and glared at him. Damn it! I didn't want them to find out that I was the one who gave him that.

That jerk found a new weapon against me!

"What do you want?!" I asked angrily.

"Nothing... Is it so wrong to watch you while you eat?"

"Yes... Go away!"

Instead of listening, he just laughed at me.

Look at this guy!

He's so good at annoying people. I'm trying to avoid trouble here, but if I lose my patience—ugh! I'll break everything I can on him.

"Is there a problem here?" Yuri asked.

I didn't realize she was already there. I suddenly felt nervous for no reason.

"N-nothing... W-we're just teasing each other," I quickly replied.

"Sure?" she asked again. I nodded. She glanced at Keifer briefly, then walked away.

I didn't take my eyes off Yuri until she was out of earshot. Then I turned to Keifer and gave him a death glare.

"Stop this already..." I hissed.

He leaned a little closer. "Why?" he whispered.

"What do you mean, why? Keifer, come on!" I looked around to make sure no one could hear us.

"...I'm marrying Yuri."

He chuckled. "You're asking me to stop?" I quickly nodded. "...stop what?"

This! What you're doing! Stop bothering me... Stay away... Stop flirting with me."

He glanced at Yuri again before looking back at me and saying,

"What's wrong with flirting? With flirting with the person I love?"

L-love...

Why do I feel shaken every time I hear that word from him?

"Keifer," I said. "It's wrong."

"Wrong? So it's wrong to show affection?"

I facepalmed. This guy is seriously impossible to talk to.

"It's wrong... because we're fooling Yuri," I said with frustration.

My throat hurt from all the whispering and trying not to raise my voice.

"Fooling? We're not in a relationship. So how are we fooling her?"

Okay...

That hit a nerve. He's right. We're not in a relationship. So why am I demanding things from him?

"There's nothing wrong with what we're doing," he added.

Damn it!

"You have nothing to worry about..."

Please stop!

"You're not cheating on Yuri because we're not in a relationship."

His words felt like a slap. We're not even in a relationship, so why is he doing this? It's so frustrating! I felt like crying and I didn't even know why.

I lowered my head and suddenly couldn't move. I wanted to leave and walk away from this jerk—but how could I if my knees were frozen?

I felt so heavy inside. I thought I was going to cry right there. But then he spoke again.

His words wouldn't register in my head. But they made my heart race like crazy. Made my emotions surge and shook me to the core.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked.

I couldn't speak. I just stared at him. He smiled and leaned closer again.

"I'll repeat it," he said. "We are not in a relationship but YOU..." He pointed at me. "...are..." He pointed to himself. "...MINE."

W-what...

I wanted to say a lot, but I just couldn't open my mouth. My tongue might've shriveled up.

Should I be happy about what he said?

"Y-you're crazy." That's all I could say.

I suddenly stood up and quickly walked out. My cheeks were burning hot. I even hit my chest because my heart was beating so fast.

This is wrong!

I stopped at the stairs to the second floor. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.

Damn it!

I'd been pacing back and forth for a while now. I kept sighing. Keifer's so damn infuriating. I couldn't even understand myself anymore. I was so confused!

"AAAGGGHHH!!" someone suddenly screamed, startling me.

W-who was that?

I quickly looked around. No one was there. It didn't come from our classroom either. Was it a ghost?

I looked at the stairs to the second floor.

Up there?

Even though I wasn't sure what—or who—it was, I still went up. Each step was careful and slow.

When I got to the second floor, I saw a guy punching the wall in rage.

"E-Edrix?" I called out.

He stopped and turned to me when he heard my voice.

"What?" he asked. I could hear his voice cracking. He looked like he'd been crying.

"Is something wrong?"

He didn't speak. It looked like he didn't want to talk. I was about to leave when he suddenly sobbed.

I didn't leave. I waited to see if he would say anything.

"S-sorry... I-I just couldn't help it," he said, leaning against the wall.

I walked over and leaned on the wall next to him.

"What happened?"

He took a deep breath and wiped his tears. Honestly, it's hard for me to see them like this.

"I'm just so mad at myself. I'm such a coward," he said, forcing a smile.

I feel the same. I'm mad at myself too. Because of that damn jerk.

"Why? Can you tell me?" I asked.

Right now, I just wanted to focus on something else. Thinking about that situation was only making me more upset.

"Falling in love is hard. Especially when you can't even say anything or show it.

It's so hard. But it's even harder when you don't know who to show it to."

"So frustrating..." he whispered.

So true! Especially that king of jerks—

Wait! I said I'd focus on something else, but here I am thinking about him again.

I looked at Edrix. "W-who's the girl?"

He looked at me, took out his phone, and started tapping. It looked like he was searching for something, and when he found it, he showed me the screen.

A picture of a pretty girl. Her look was simple, and she had a gentle smile.

"She's pretty, right?" he asked.

I quickly nodded. "Yes... She is."

"She really is beautiful... Freya."

"Yeah... She's really beauti—HUH?! THIS IS FREYA?!" I asked, shocked.

I stared at the picture again. Impossible! I zoomed in and out just to make sure. It was Freya!

She's so beautiful without makeup. With a simple look, she looked like an angel.

Is this photoshopped?!

"S-so Freya's the girl—"

"Yes. For a long time now," he cut me off.

Oh no! Why Freya of all people?!