The Bad Boy Nerd

Chapter Thirty Six: What a Bad Bad Day!

"Hey, is everything fine? You seem disturbed!" Mark enquired while we were on our way to school that morning.

I had been trying to call Drake a couple of times now but his phone was either unavailable or switched off. That got me all tensed up. Last night when we talked on phone, I could make out he wasn't really into it. And now this.

"Nothing.." I lied.

"I suppose you guys were to have a football practice today?" I asked.

"Yup." answered my brother, "The coach wanted us to. You see the match this Friday is gonna be the last for this year before the final exams commence. But Drake got the practice cancelled for today. He had to convince the coach a lot for this."

"Why would Drake do that?"

"Don't know." he shrugged, "Maybe he won't be coming to school today. And like I had said before— if he doesn't come to school on a weekday, you just can't contact him in any way."

"Didn't you ever ask him where he goes or what he does?"

"There are people who aren't comfortable sharing everything about their life. We should respect their privacy. " Mark replied smoothly.

And that was that.

When we reached school, I discovered Mark was right. Drake didn't turn up at all.

"His phone is still switched off, can you believe that?" I rued to my friends in the canteen during break-time.

"Andy, I don't think this is something new. He has done the same earlier as well, you had said, remember? Its just, in the past, you couldn't be bothered about anything related to him." Soph said.

"Yeah, and going by the history, he will turn up tomorrow as though he never really missed a day at school." Laura added.

I sighed, bending low to rest my chin on the table, "I thought he would tell me whatever he has been upto. I suppose I'm his girlfriend?"

"Well, he would. Eventually." Laura assured.

Right then, I saw Sophia looking keenly at someone who should be somewhere behind my back. I followed her line of vision & turned around to see she was staring at Daniel who had just joined his friends, five tables away from ours.

"O. M. G! Don't tell me you're attracted to Daniel! " I exclaimed in shock as well as surprise, "When did this happen?"

"It has been quite a lot of days actually!" Laura quipped.

"Really? I didn't realize until today!" I said, amused.

"That's because you're so much with Drake these days that you don't really have time for your friends." Laura taunted.

"Um, If you guys felt ignored, I'm really sorry..I didn't mean to.." I apologized.

"No worries! Just pulling your leg." Soph laughed.

"So, why don't you drop hints to Daniel that you like him? Should I help you in it?" I asked.

Soph grew wide eyed, "I didn't expect you to say this! You were dating him until a few weeks back. And now, I kinda have feelings for your ex. Isn't the whole thing weird?"

"I don't see where the problem is. Daniel & I are only friends, nothing more. We broke up really well, remember?"

Soph looked at Laura. The latter spoke, "Look, Andy, Soph & I both feel that Daniel still has a thing for you, even though he may deny it. We've seen how completely he was into you when you guys were dating."