Like Yesterday [on hold]

[00]: Exchanging smiles.

Like Yesterday.

00 // Chapter Zero.

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” —Maya Angelou.

________

There he was, again.

I tapped my pencil, my Oxford dictionary and a novel, How I Met Myself by David A. Hill laying neatly on the table, pretending that I was thinking about homework.

He looked straight at me as soon as he stepped in the room, only a couple of people were in here, assuming that the class starts in twenty minutes, our lecturer was always late, so no one bothered coming early. I immediately looked away from him.

His name was Dylan. Dylan Holloway.

From what I’ve heard, his parents worked in our college as a lecturer, but boy, was he smart. He wasn’t popular, but he has a group of great friends, they hung around in the cafeteria pretty much all the time. Unlike me, a loner.

Dylan walked in, his bag being slung over to his back. Every steps he took towards me made my head felt dizzy. But this time, he took a seat behind me, placing his beg on the floor. I made no attempt to look behind though.

Honestly, I’ve never seen him around before, not until I spotted him in one of my writing classes, truthfully, my eyes landed on him first, just as I realized that he was looking at me, a boy-ish smile on his face, the kind of smile that could make your heart melt.

From that day onwards, we exchange glances every now and then. Like, when he was with a couple of his friends by his locker when I passed by, we’d exchange smiles. Or when we were both in our college’s coffee shop (yes, we do have that), writing my heart out, or maybe even reading, he’ll give me a playful glance along with a warm smile.

But the thing is, we never talked to each other. Never.

We weren’t even friends to begin with, I honestly didn’t know why was he looking at me in the first place.

At first I thought Dylan was being nice. Heck, maybe he smiled to every girls that passed him by every now and then. But there was one time, after both of us had our moment, I heard one of his friends said, “Dude. Was that the girl you were talking about earlier?”

I swear, that moment, my heart went spastic, it was beating so fast that I thought it might jump out any minute. I had to run to the bathroom and calmed myself down. Because I don’t have best friends to be able to rant to, I had to tell my sister, Cora about this, only because I felt like letting it out.

But the thought of my sister made my heart ache.

“—Miss Lancaster,” A voice called, pulling me away from my train of thoughts. I looked up immediately, just in time to find eyes staring at me, like I committed a crime or something. I realized one thing: Mr. Fields, my English Literature lecturer was here, so that meant that our class has started.

Damn. How long have I been spacing out?

“Yes, Mr. Fields,” I cleared my throat and lowered my gaze. I weren’t used to people staring at me. Suddenly, I felt very uncomfortable.

“Would you like to repeat what I just say?” Mr. Fields said, his hand holding a novel we were asked to read at home last week.

My mouth went dry. Shit. How was I supposed to do that when I hadn’t heard one thing he was saying? I looked around me, only to realize that people weren’t looking at me anymore, they were either texting under their desks, or chewing a bubble, some were even passing notes.

I searched frantically through the novel, trying to figure out where were we before. But none of it made sense, I was sure that I’ve finished this book! I have to figure it out before it’s too late, because he’ll be sure to embarrass me in this class. He does that to people who doesn’t pay attention to him all the time.

“John Taylor, the main character of this book, saw his doppelganger. His friends told him that it was a sign that something bad might happen,” A familiar voice spoke up behind me. I thought of it for a moment, behind me? Please don’t tell me that it’s—

“Pay more attention next time, Ms. Lancaster.” Mr. Fields deadpanned, giving me a you’d-better-pay-attention-now glare.

It was Dylan who saved me from being embarrassed by Mr. Fields. I turned around when our lecturer was busy jotting down some notes and the board, apparently he was looking at me.

I shivered slightly. Do I have to thank him?

Of course you have to, you idiot! A voice inside me yelled.

But if I did, then it’d be the first time we talked. Just as I was about to say anything, I heard my phone buzzing in my pocket. Damn it!

“I thought I’ve made it clear that no cell phones are allowed in my class?” Mr. Fields demanded, turning around looking at the room. I quickly took it out from my pocket, carefully not to let it drop to the floor. I flipped my phone to check the caller ID.

My heart stopped when I realized who called.

Turning back to my seat, I took a deep breath and murmured a silent ‘sorry’ to Mr. Fields. I pressed the ‘Accept’ button and put the phone to my ear.

“Yes, Dr. Goodings?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you at this moment,” she apologized through the phone. Her voice sounded tired. “But we need to talk.”

For some reasons, I was afraid now.

“About what, Doctor?” I asked, lowering my voice so no one could hear me. My heart was beating faster and I could feel sweats rolling down from my forehead (that was my nervous reaction.)

“Ms. Hazel Lancaster! Put the phone away this instance!” I heard Mr. Fields voice yelled at me. But I chose to ignore it. My sister was way important now. I’ll just deal with him later.

“I’m sorry to say this, but I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave school now. It’s about your sister—”

Before I knew it, I was sprinting down the hallway, towards the exit. I didn’t even bothered packing my bag. Whatever happened to my sister, I knew for sure that it wouldn’t be something good.