Maybe I Have Feelings For You

Chapter seven: Pigeon Killings

The next day after Elias apologized to me, he started acting differently. Though he continues to call me by my surname, he was being nicer to me.

He stopped helicopter-parenting my every move, it was like he finally started putting his faith and trust in me. I was satisfied with the progress in trust we were beginning to have for one another, given the circumstances.

Even though the pressure he laid on me for succeeding was gone, there was an even bigger amount of pressure put on me for not messing up. I can't afford to make any mistakes.

One wrong move and he will go back to hating me, I'm sure of it...

As I walked down the busy hallway to attend my next class, I was so distracted by my thoughts that I crashed into somebody; and just my luck, it happened to be Elias.

I watched all the stuff that I carried in my hands, scattered on the floor. I uttered a curse word under my breath as I immediately crouched down to collect my things.

"Hey, would you watch where you're go-" He paused mid-sentence when he realized who bumped into him. His tune unexpectedly changed and he helped me put my stuff back together. "It's you. Are you alright?" 

"I'm fine," I lied, my tired eyes boring into his. "I just got distracted."

"Look, if you're going to be my Buddy, I can't have you lying to me or being distracted," He formally averred
as he picked up the last object that was on the floor; a book I had recently checked out from the academy's library. As he read the title, he raised an eyebrow. "Good taste."

"I just didn't get a good night's sleep is all." I vaguely explained, snatching the book back from him.

He commented with a scoff, "You look like you didn't sleep at all."

"That's because I kept hearing this weird-"

Before I could begin to explain what happened to me last night, Luca, being Luca, appeared out of nowhere to interrupt our conversation. "Jeez, prince Elias! Thirteen days haven't even rolled by and you're already being mean to her."

"I'm not being mean to her," Elias fumed. I watched as his eyes twitched in irritation towards his rival. "And I've told you countless times not to call me that!"

"I heard when a boy is mean to you, it means he likes you." Luca teased, nudging my arm with a wink. I rolled my eyes before laughing at his commentary, which only seemed to tick Elias off even more.

"That's it." Elias dumped his books and such in my arms, rolled up his sleeves and chased Luca down the hall.

Students gasped and scurried to get out of their way, parting a big space down the middle of the hall to avoid the chaos. Luca's laugh echoed off the walls. "If you're gonna catch me, you gotta be faster than that!"

"They act like children, sometimes." Yukiya commented, walking along with me in the classroom. He shrugged it off as if it happened a hundred times before.

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Elias and Luca managed to miraculously walk into the classroom moments before the bell rung. My face went pale as I watched headmaster Randolph enter the room. He stood in front of the chalkboard like the professors always do before beginning a lesson.

His eyes landed on my terrified expression and chuckled. "Miss Espinosa, you're acting as if you've seen a ghost."

"I don't know why you're here, sir. I thought you were here to expel me or something..." I confessed, feeling a massive weight off my chest as the class giggled at my sincere reaction.