Hidden Gem

Chapter 36: Ashamed?

Chapter 36

“N-Noah? What are you doing here?”

Noah lifted what was in his arms: a bunch of books and a folder. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Ah. Here to do an errand for a teacher, I see,” I nodded in approval. I’m doomed. There’s a chance he might have guessed by now or not about me and Prince Darren. If not, then its best to leave quietly. “Okay, I..got to go,” I waved at him.

Noah held out his free hand and stopped me by my shoulder. “Hold on, Erin.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

He smirked at me. “Erin, you sly girl.”

Oh no. “Now before you make any weird judgments—”

“Noah and Erin!” someone called from behind us. We turned to look to see who was calling. It was the pink-haired teacher that I love so much. Yey. Note the sarcasm.

“Oh, miss R!” Noah greeted. “Sup?”

Miss R did nothing but roll her eyes at Noah. “What are you kids doing here? Flirting right in front of the teacher’s faculty, I presume? What nerve!”

My blood boiled at what she just said. “Now hold on a sec—”

“Haha. Sorry, miss R. Guess I couldn’t actually help myself whenever I’m around with Erin,” Noah cutted me off, grinning madly at ms. R.

“Noah—”

“Well, then please do your business elsewhere,” Miss R cutted me off. “The teacher’s meeting just finished and teachers are coming. I’m letting you guys off with a warning,” she dismissed.

“Now wait a darn minute—”

“AHAHA,” Noah cutted me off. Again. “Sorry, miss R, but I have to place mr. P’s things on his table inside. Erin, you go on ahead without me.”

“But I—”

“Go now,” he shoved me by my back. I narrowed my eyes at Noah but he only returned it with a grin. I shook my head and just left without another word. Noah really is an idiot. He’s going to have a full lecture from me the next time I see him.

I walked to the elevator and pressed ‘G.’ I’m going to have to run to the dorms.

Ding

I looked up and found that I haven’t arrived in the ground floor yet. The elevator had landed on level five. The door opened and in came Sana. She was slightly covered in sweat and she was panting slowly. Her eyes widened as she saw me.

“Erin!”

“Hey, Sana,” I greeted. “What are you still doing here?”

“Oh, I came from the twelfth floor. I used the stairs all the way to the fifth level.”

“What?!” I screamed in disbelief.

Sana only grinned at me. “Yup! I wanted to challenge myself if I can walk from the twelfth to the ground floor. But then, I got exhausted right at the fifth level. So I decided to ride the elevator from here on.”

“I..see. You and your crazy ideas..”

“Haha!”

I looked over at Sana more closely and saw her holding a piece of paper. “What’s that you got there, Sana?”

Sana looked confused at first but then saw I was referring to the piece of paper she was holding. “Oh, this? Mr. E told me to submit it to the office on the ground floor.”

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“Oh it’s just a list of names of our classmates in class A. See?” she held out the paper to me for me to see. I took the paper from her hands and scanned it.

“Oh,” I responded. My eyes immediately landed on Sana’s name. “Your full name is Sana Lynn?”

“Yup!” she answered. “Lynn is just my second name. Not exactly my last name.”

“I see,” I replied, continuing to scan the paper in my hands. I felt embarrassed for a brief second, seeing that almost everyone in our class had a second name whilst I only had one name. My eye then caught Lucas’ name.

“Lucas D?” I said in confusion. “D is his second name?”

Sana peered over and furrowed her eyebrows. “Lucas D. Yeah, I guess the D is his second name. He probably kept it in initial form. D probably stands for something.”

“Uh, do you know what it stands for by any chance?”

Sana slowly shook her head. “Nope. It’s a mystery to me. Although I do remember Lucas saying that he was embarrassed or ashamed of his second name.”

“Ashamed?” I echoed. How is Lucas ashamed of his second name? Embarrassed, even? I’m the one who’s embarrassed that I don’t even have a second name! That spoiled kid.

Ding

“Ah, here we are. I have to go, Erin,” Sana waved at me.

“Yeah, see you,” I bid. I handed her the piece of paper and dashed off to the girls’ dorm. What are the first subjects to come in the exam? I’m definitely studying. There’s no way I’m failing! And I really wouldn’t want to let Nate and grandpa down.

I opened the door to my room and quickly shut it with a lock. I really want to talk to Nate and grandpa about my mother but that’s going have to wait. I’ll maybe talk to them about it after the exams.

Ugh! And there’s the case about the love potion! How am I supposed to solve that! I scratched my head in frustration. Maybe I can ask Prince Darren.