"I hate Chemistry," I thought to myself.
I pinched my ears in frustration and stared horrifyingly at the text before me.
Describe what reduction is in terms of oxygen transfer.
Okay, maybe it isn't all that bad . Next question!
Plan an experiment on electroplating an iron nail with copper.
Ah. There goes my chances of passing. It's like, what the heck is this stuff? What's even more frustrating is the fact that I remember most of these questions but I don't remember the answer! I'm so pissed with myself.
I just want to jump off a building now.
I looked to my left and right to see how the others were doing on their Chemistry test. I breathed out a sigh of relief as I saw one boy who seemed to be looking like he was at world’s end. I then concluded to at least answer some of these questions. I should at least try to pass. It’s okay. It’s only the first term, Erin. There’s still second term.
I quickly scribbled down whatever answer I could come up with, unsure whether what I was writing right or wrong.
But then a terrifying thought had dawned upon me. Mr. E could actually send in a tutor if I got bad marks. Aw, man. I’m screwed! I’m going to be laughed at! There’s no way in the world I’d want to have a stupid tutor!
“Five minutes left,” our invigilator announced.
Aggh. All right, calm yourself, Erin. Just answer whatever! Who cares! It might only be Chemistry! I can do my best on the rest. It’s just stupid Chemistry that annoys me the most. I breathed out as I topped my answer off with a full stop. There. Done. Hopefully, I’ll pass. Please, dear God. Please.
“Time’s up. Pass the papers, please. Otherwise, I’ll cut your marks.”
I grabbed the stack of papers from behind me and added my paper in. I quickly passed the papers to the front of me and couldn’t help but frown.
Whatever. It’s okay. Just worry about tomorrow’s exam. What was it?
“Nee. What do we have tomorrow?” someone behind me asked.
“Magical Creatures, I guess,” the other party answered.
I felt my face drain in color. Magical Creatures? Isn’t that..Mr. E’s subject? Now this I have to pass.
I packed up my things and prepared to leave. I hate Mr. E’s class! Heck, I hate the man himself. I left the classroom and headed towards the elevator to quickly jog to my dorm.
Who knows what the man would do if I failed. He would probably break my neck. No, that seems too merciful. He'd probably do something worse. Oh God, please let this exam week pass in a blink of an eye! Please, please, please!
----------------------------------
“Soo,” Nate started.
“How were the exams?”
I felt my face pale at his question.
“Uhh..”
Nate frowned at my response. He then held a stern look on his face. “Did you even study?”
“I did! I really did!” I honestly told him. “I’m serious, Nate. But no matter how hard I studied, it was still difficult!”
The corner of Nate’s lips twitched. “Ah. Then I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
I gawked at him. “How are you so sure?! Didn’t you hear me right? It was difficult, Nate! Difficult equals failure!”
“Well you studied didn’t you?” he questioned, raising a brow.
“Yeah..?” I answered, unsure where this was going.
“And you learned a few things, right?”
“Yes..?”
“Then as long as you studied and learned something, that’s fine by me,” he stated a matter-of-factly.
“What,” I stated in utter confusion. “H-huh? Is there something I’m missing here?”
Nate gave me a flat look. “Erin, you’ve already done what you could. We can’t do anything about it now. I’m just happy you did you best, all right?”
“Oh..”
“Geez, Erin. What do you even see me as? A tyrant? I’m no sadist, just to let you know. And I do find it insulting that you do.”
“S-sorry then,” I apologized, ashamed. “But thanks, Nate.”
He waved his hand in dismissal. “Whatever. We’re family, aren’t we? But still, if you really did do bad, we could cut all ties with you.”
“Hey!”
“I’m kidding,” he grinned. “Putting that aside, how are things going?” he smiled. “Anything exciting?” he smirked.
I gave Nate an annoyed look. “Wow. Do you really see my life as something amusing?”
“Yes,” he honestly answered with a mischievous smile.
“How the heck is it amusing to you?” I stated in anger.
“Well, for one, I find it really interesting you failed in the pretest. Two, despite you being in the same place as Darren now, you hardly see each other. And three, almost everywhere you go, guys fall for you here and there! Haha!”
I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. “I hate you! Your third evidence makes me sound like a promiscuous woman! Boys do not fall for me everywhere I go! Anyway, even if they did, it would only be for my status.”
Nate wiped a fake tear. “Nice to know that you don’t fall too easily into traps.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “And I do see Darren. Just not every day!”
“Oh?” he said, his smile growing wide. “So what’s been going on between you two?”
“Uhh,” I averted my eyes, feeling my face grow hot at every second.
“Wait. Darren? Did you just call him Darren?” Nate questioned. “As in, no Prince? Prince Darren without the Prince? Woah, well you two have grown close.”
“Shut up,” I told Nate with annoyance dripping of my voice. “Anyway, I’m also really pissed with Lucas.”
“Lucas?” Nate echoed. “What did the Prince of Ruby Kingdom do now?”
“Well, first of all, he lied to the school that we’re going out.”
Nate gasped with exaggeration. “Are you?”
“Nate!”
“I’m sorry. Continue.”
“And so until now, the misunderstanding still hasn’t evaporated! It’s sickening! People actually think I manipulated the guy to date me!” I explained in frustration.
Nate pursed his lips at me. “Soo. Do you want me to call the school or something?”
“What? No! You wanted an update, right? So here’s your update! That conniving Lucas has lied to the school and now the school thinks I’m some sort of manipulative girl! All because they think Lucas has this good guy image! It’s so unfair!”
“Wait, Lucas is the bad guy right?”
“Yes!” I exasperated. “He only has this good guy image to win a social life! When really, he’s evil inside!”
“O-kay,” Nate said awkwardly. “Then why aren’t you doing something about it?”
“I did! I told him to tell the whole school of the truth!”
“..so did it happen?”
I then slowly frowned. “No. Till this day, he still hasn’t said a word. Hopefully he will next week. We just ended exams.”
Nate gawked at me. “You’re going to wait till next week? Are you serious? Erin, what can be done today shouldn’t be put off tomorrow!”
I was shocked at his response. “Y-you’re right! I’ll go and talk to him right now!”
“Go see that you do!”
“Okay, Nate! Bye! Oh and say hi to grandpa for me,” I grinned.
“Yeah, whatever,” he smiled.
The hologram then closed. I stood up and dressed up into my casual wear. I wonder where Lucas is right now though?
I walked out of my dorm and headed straight to the library. He must be there. But to study? Exams just ended! Who would study on the day of rest? Seriously, if I see him studying, he must be a masochist or something..
I made my way to the library and felt the cold breeze nip at my bare neck. Winter has finally come! Not only that but winter break has finally started! Three weeks of no school!
Oh but they did say of a ball on the 31st of December. A ball, huh.. imagine all the food on the banqueting table..
Roasted chicken with crispy skin along with it’s soft meat, a side of sweet potatoes, a plate of delicious profiteroles, some creamy custard, oh and dark chocolate cake that would just ooze out its bittersweet taste as it touches the tip of your tongue! Oh and also some—
“—oomph!”
“S-sorry, princess.”
“It’s all right. It’s mostly my fault and I—”
But before I could assure of the fellow, he ran opposite of my way. What caught my eye was that he was wearing armor. A knight? In this school?
But that voice.. it sounded..so..familiar.
But seriously, a knight? A knight here is almost like having a personal bodyguard here. I shook away the thought and continued to where I was supposed to go: The library. I shouldn’t get distracted.
But before I could continue, something in the distance lay on the grass on my farther right Something..red. Well I seem to have some spare time. Soo..
I quickly ran to where the red thing lay. Is it blood? Apples? A yoyo? What if it was someone’s trash? Then I came here for nothing? Come to think of it..there are a lot of red wrappers lying around in this school.. I pulled myself away from my thoughts and didn’t realize I had almost passed the red object.
“—shoot.”
I fell with a thump as I tripped on the red object.
“Ah..”
I tried to stand up and found a terrifying face glaring at me.
“L-Lucas,” I stiffened. “What a coincidence to see you here!”
Lucas’ black hair fell slightly on his burning red eyes.
“What do you want?” he seethed.
“Were you napping here?” I asked, curious that he was lying here all alone in this wide, spacious, grassy area.
“Yes until you came along,” he smiled darkly.
I felt myself step back from his menacing aura. No. Don’t you remember what you came out here for, Erin?
“Lucas, I really want you to tell everyone the truth,” I told him with sternness.
Lucas raised his brow with irritation. “This again?”
“I’m serious, Lucas!”
“All right, all right. I’ll do it next week, okay? Let me rest for a bit. We just finished the exams for crying out loud—”
“No!” I told him stubbornly. “Now! I want you to do it noow! Now! Now! Now!” I demanded.
Lucas’ expression turned sour. “You’re so annoying! You brat!”
“I wont stop till you do it!”
“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes, staying put, his arms behind his head and lying still.
I groaned in aggravation. “Now, Lucas! Now! Now, now, now, now, now!” I screamed.
He stayed still, closing his eyes.
This irritated me all the more.
I knelt down beside him and shook his body. “Now! I want you to do it now! Now, now, now!”
“Now, Lucas! Do it now!”
I felt a strong force push me down to the ground. Before I knew it, Lucas was right above me.
“All right, already! Geez!”
I grinned at him. “Yey!”
He stood up and started to walk towards somewhere.
“Hey, Lucas.. You’re not going to at least help me up?”
“What am I? Your butler? Get up yourself.”
My lips twitched in irritation. I stood up and ran after him. “So..where is everybody?”
“Wow, and you’re the one pushing me to tell everyone the truth? While you don’t even know where everyone is?”
My face grew hot in embarrassment. “I guess I didn’t think this through..”
“You bet you didn’t! –Ow!”
I slapped him on the arm. “Whatever. Do you know where they are then?”
“Yeah you’re lucky that I do. They’re all probably by the hangout area.”
“Hangout area?”
“The place beside the canteen. Next to the canteen, they sell smoothies.”
“Wait, what? So we actually have a smoothie place? Woah.”
“Yeah.”
“And how’d you know they’d be there?”
“They invited me of course. Being popular, it’s no surprise they’d invite someone as great as me.”
I suddenly felt a wave of depression hit me. Not because of how narcissistic Lucas was but because I actually felt..lonely. I mean, no one invited me? Not at least one person..? Do the girls hate me that much?
“Erin..?”
I pulled myself from my thoughts. No. Not now, Erin. Anyway, it’s all just a misunderstanding! It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.
“Let’s go!” I grinned, wanting to get it all over with.
“..yeah.”
Silence fell between Lucas and I as we walked towards the canteen of the school.
“Erin..”
“Hm?”
“Having so much friends..really isn’t satisfying at all.”
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “Huh?”
He looked at me with annoyance. “Being a loner is much better than having a thousand friends who don’t actually care about you at all.”
“Oh.”
He then looked straight ahead. “So don’t envy the popular too much. It’s really..not that satisfying to be the social butterfly.”
Something in the back of my mind told me that Lucas was trying to console me. But I pushed the thought away.“That’s weird. I mean, hearing all this coming from the person who actually wanted a social life,” I smirked.
“Well, it isn’t actually good as I expected,” Lucas explained with sternness on his face.
“I see..”
“So Erin..”
“Hm?”
“I’ve..been thinking about what you said..”
I squinted my eyes, trying to recall what I said that could have made him ponder. Nothing came to mind. “What do you mean?”
“About my double personality,” he smirked. “I would definitely feel my burden lighten if I had just been my natural self from the beginning.”
“Oh, that.”
“And it really does take a lot of energy from me. Being nice and goody-goody all the time really tires me out. I don’t know how you nice people do it. It sickens me,” he shuddered.
“Hey,” I playfully slapped him.
“Oh, we’re here,” Lucas stated. I looked before me and indeed found a group of adolescents hanging around, each one holding a smoothie. Music blasted from some speakers as some danced wildly. They were almost scattered in the canteen. Though most of them were in the area of the smoothie place.
We walked towards them as the music grew louder and louder.
“Hey, it’s Lucas! And his girlfriend!”
I shuddered at what the dude just announced. I ignored the side glares from the girls and elbowed Lucas. The guy went nearer and smiled widely.
“Get some smoothies and grab a seat anywhere!” he welcomed.
“Uh, no thanks,” Lucas replied. “But I do want to say something.”
The guy had a questioning look on his face.
“Guys! Lucas has something to say!”
Almost everyone’s attention turned to Lucas. Well, except the ones who were further away and dancing. But whatever.
They all looked at him expectantly, their eyes wide and ears open.
“Listen, about Erin and I.. we’re not dating. I lied,” Lucas admitted, holding a straight face.
There were a few gasps here and there but they all stayed quiet. I smiled at Lucas surreptitiously. Well, I guess that’s that, huh?
“Is it true, Erin?”
“Yes,” I half-smiled.
“Thank goodness,” someone replied.
At least the misunderstanding is gone. I have to remember to thank Nate later on. At least I don’t have to carry the burden of worrying about it for the next week since it’s all done and over with!
“And.. I have also lied about another thing,” Lucas added.
I looked at him with shock. Huh? What does he mean? Another lie?
“You guys..have no idea what my real personality is like. I’m not actually the good, polite guy you all know. I’m actually the opposite. And by that, I mean, I honestly get totally annoyed whenever you guys try to hang out with me when I’m studying. I get irritated when one of you touches me so freely. And I find it greatly aggravating whenever you guys whine about the smallest of things! Things like not having a girlfriend, having a pop quiz, seriously!”
I stared at Lucas, wide-eyed. Is he serious? Is he seriously serious?! He’s just going to bluntly tell everyone about his horrid personality like that?!
“OMG I LOVE BAD BOYS!” someone randomly squealed at the back. Lucas took this by surprise and stepped back a bit.
“Ahh! A bad boy is definitely better than some boring nice guy!” another girl agreed.
“Aw, Lucas! And you know how I love irritating people! Knowing that I actually irritate you.. makes me want to do it all the more! Finally! I knew something was wrong with you! I always found it weird how you were able to smile so patiently at me!” a guy confessed, smirking widely.
Lucas now had a horrified look on his face. “Ah, great.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at Lucas’ expression. “Haha! Isn’t that great Lucas? They still love you despite your awful personality!”
Lucas looked at me with a grim look. “Hmph. Whatever. I’m not finished yet.”
“Eh?”
“One more thing, guys,” Lucas announced. “I may not be dating Erin but.. I’m chasing after her.”
I felt my face flush at the nonsense Lucas was spouting. “Lucas, stop—”
“So don’t you dare hurt her or make a move on her. Else, you’ll be meeting my fists,” Lucas threatened. I trembled a bit at how fierce Lucas looked.
Despite the terrifying atmosphere Lucas had made, someone decides to lighten the mood by whistling. This was then followed by a few more whistles and a few supports for Lucas.
“Way to go, Lucas!”
“Rooting for you, dude!”
“Ew, why her?”
I rolled my eyes at the comment. “You idiot!” I whispered to Lucas. “Everything was all right till you added that last bit!”
Lucas smirked victoriously above me. “Well at least it means I can freely be my horrid self. And..I can now have you all to myself,” he grinned wickedly.
I gawked at what he just said. “I hate you!”
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Author’s note: AHAHAHA :)))))) LONG CHAPTER RIGHT?! I FEEL SOO HAPPY :))))) But yes. I sacrificed almost my whole time in writing this chapter for you guys :’c ANYWAY, I just want to thank those who have been reading my story :) THANK YOU SO MUUUCH. LIKE, I WAS SO SHOCKED TO SEE PEOPLE VOTING ON VARIOUS CHAPTERS OF MY STORY. LIKE, YOU’VE MADE ME SO HAPPY :””) THANK YOU. Hope you guys are well!
My school life? Well.. it’s pretty peaceful :))) Though there’s this one girl that greatly aggravates me. But whatever.
Love you guys! <3