For the next two classes, Rhian spent her time jotting down notes while listening to her professor discuss about their new lessons. After that, came the most favourite time in school of probably half of the student's population: lunch time.
There is nothing more amazing for Rhian than to spend her lunch with her friends. She would always look forward to sitting with them as they all would listen to Julie-Anne gossip about anything she could found about in school. In her circle of friends, Julie-Anne earned the title of Gossip Girl, simply because she never runs out of gossips to tell.
When lunch was over, Rhian waved goodbye to her friends and went first to the comfort room to freshen up. A minute later, she went to her next class.
Upon entering the room, she was greeted by some while others, especially the guys, offered her to play chess with them but she politely declined, saying that she has to review for the quiz and suggested that they do the same. The guys were dissapointed by her response since one of them was dreading to beat Rhian at the game which has no one has ever done, considering that the girl is a pro.
As Rhian scan the room, she caught sight of Glaiza with her headphones on while swaying her head to the beat of music and has her eyes focus on the window beside her. The former shook her head at the other girl's calmness, took her seat and started reviewing.
In the middle of her review, a quick peck was placed on her cheek making her eyes shot up. Her gaze landed on Jason as he sat across from her.
"Hey babe, whatcha doin'?" Rhian scrunch her nose in disgust as she watch him chew his gum rather loudly.
"First of all, don't call me babe, I'm not your girlfriend. Second of all, please chew your gum somewhere else, I can't concentrate with you in front of me." Rhian said in a calm tone, because she don't want to make the guy furious.
However, Jason was not happy about it. He grab Rhian's chin and tilted it towards him until their eye level. "Oh you will be. You know your father approve of me. Just you wait, you'll eventually be mine."
She scoffed. "I won't let that happen. A playboy is not my type. And will never be. I would rather date a pig, than be with someone like you."
Jason gritted his teeth, anger building up in him but gave one last look before releasing the girl's chin forcefully and walk away. Rhian subtly looked around and sighed in relief when she saw that everyone was busy conversing with each other. She don't want to make a scene. Before she could go back to reviewing, the professor walk in.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Thanks to that guy, she didn't finish her review. The professor handed them the test paper and gave a mini speech about the exam, saying that its a major contribution in their grade if they ever pass. After that, the test began.
Rhian bit her lip as she scan the test paper. Oh how she hate math. It made her eyes dizzy, with the numbers and measurements and all of that. But nevertheless, she had review all of their topics a couple of times and was positive that she at least pass the subject. Although some were easy, Rhian was yet again stuck on a complicated problem.
To ease her mind for a minute, she look around the room and based from her classmates' expressions, majority of the class are also stressed out. Just then her gaze fall on Glaiza. The girl has a calm expression on her face and after a minute, she stood up and gave her paper back to the professor. When she went back to her seat, she saw Rhian watching her. She gave off a smirk and a wink which only made the brown-haired girl furious and went back to answering the test.
When the class ended, Rhian went to her locker and took her History book. Just as she was about to close it, a voice from her back was heard causing her head to collide with her locker door, startling her.
Rhian groan in pain as she massage her forehead. "Ow, that hurts!"
"Shit! I'm sorry couz! I didn't know you'll that be startled." Lovi gave her an apologetic look.
"Its fine. Just don't do that again. Let's go?" Rhian linked arms with her cousin and turn around only to see Glaiza grabbing things from her locker. The former pulled her friend and brisk walk towards the hallway in hopes of getting away from her enemy and her constant teasing.
"Rhian! Lovi! Wait up!" Rhian bit her lip as the both of them turn, seeing Glaiza jog up to them.
"What's with the rush? We still have five minutes until class starts again." Glaiza said as she balance her books from her arms and adjust her bag from her shoulder. Yes, much to Rhian's dismay, she and Glaiza has half of the class together and History is one of them.
"Yeah Rhian, pulling me was uncalled for." Lovi said as she helped Glaiza carry some of her books.
"Nothing, just want to arrive in class on time. You know I hate being tardy." Rhian lied. The converstion was dropped when she began walking, leaving the two alone. A confused Glaiza turn towards Lovi but the latter only shrugged. They quickly catch up with Rhian and the walk towards their class fell in silence.
As soon as they arrive, Rhian plopped down her seat and buried her face on her palms, counting one up to ten to calm her discomfort towards the test earlier. She did well, yes, but seeing Glaiza's calm expression stir up her nervousness of being the second in the class.
Her thoughts were cut off when she felt her left cheek being poked. "Hey, are you sleeping?"
Rhian groan at the voice. "No, just leave me alone."
"Guess the test tired you out huh? Psh, it wasn't that hard you know. Complicated, yes, but it was not difficult. I mean the first part was so easy, since it was multiple choice. It was practically feeding you the answer. But when it comes to problem solving, that's when things turn a little serious. It was fine though, I made it through. I'll probably get an almost perfect score since I know that I made a mistake at-"
"Are you done bragging?!" Rhian bursted.
Glaiza smiled inwardly knowing that she pissed the girl off.
Lets see how much she can handle it.
"Actually no, as I was saying before I was rudely cut off, I kinda made a mistake at the multiple choice. Wait, no, I think it was on problem solving. Kinda? I don't know. See, here's the thing-"
"Oh my gosh, can you just shut up! Why are you even here anyway?! That's not your seat!"
Rhian looked around when she noticed that Lovi wasn't by her side. Just then, her gaze fall on the certain tan girl on the farthest corner joyfully talking to her boyfriend. She sighes in defeat.
"Well, technically, neither does anyone in here. I mean, I don't see any name written on it. So I can seat here whenever I want." Rhian was about to shot a remark but was interrupted by the professor coming in and telling them to settle down.
Glaiza smiled in victory when Rhian turn towards her to give a glare. The professor started to discuss about World War 2 and the countries that were involved and affected by it.
Halfway through the discussion, Glaiza was bored out of her mind. She sighed as she lean back on her seat while tapping her fingers against the desk. Sometimes she would rest her head on her enclosed hand and pretends to listen. Or she would grab her pen and tap it against her notebook and would try to make a beat out of it.
Meanwhile, Rhian noticed the constant shuffling from her side but decided to ignore it. She tried to focus on the lesson but was annoyed by the noise Glaiza was making with her pen.
"Can you stop that?!" She angrily whispered.
"I'm bored and I didn't bring my stress cube. What am I suppose to do?" Glaiza replied as she twirled her pen then tap it against the desk.
"Sleep, daydream, stare at nothing. I don't know! Just stop that noise! Its annoying!" Rhian grab her arm to stop her from tapping the pen.
"Ms. Ramos! Ms. De Castro! Is there something you wanna share to the class?!" Mr. Sanchez interrupted. The professor was in his mid-50's and has this intimidating look on his face making all of his students tremble in fear.
"Uhm.... well... i-its...... uh....just....I mean... uhm...-"
"No sir. Sorry if we disturb the class. It won't happen again." Rhian finishes. She knows that it would probably take Glaiza long time to even form a coherent sentence, so she has to jump in. Although, it amuses her to see Glaiza stutters in fear considering that the girl always had a comeback comment.
Mr. Sanchez narrow his eyes at the two, contemplating on whether or not to let them go easily. But he decided to let it slide. "As I was saying, starting today, we'll only be having one performance task for this semester and it'll be by pair. The two of you must come up a creative concept to summarize our entire lesson. So I highly encourage you to always listen to our discussion if you want your project to be easy."
A boy from the back raised his hand. "Uhm, prof? How's the pairing going to be?"
"Well to make things easy, your seatmate will be your partner." Some students were glad, Lovi and her boyfriend being the one, while others were annoyed.
Rhian felt as if she was hit by a really cold bucket of ice as she repeat her prof's words in her head. No no no! It can't be! She thought.
Just as she was about to protest, her prof's words cut her off. "My decision is final. No switching of partners. Oh and by the way, the two of you will be graded as one. So I suggest that you take this seriously if you want to pass."
That's it. Rhian's hope in switching partner was crushed and now she have to endure the other girl's presence from now on. Mr. Sanchez gave the remaining time to discuss with each other about the project.
"Guess you're stuck with me." Glaiza shrugged.
"Yeah, unfortunately." Rhian rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what concept are we going for? I figured that since our lesson is all about World War 2 we might as well-"
Rhian was interrupted by a yawn from the other girl. She stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously?!"
"Can we not do this right now? I'm really sleepy." Glaiza mumbled as she rest her head on the desk.
Rhian groaned in frustration. This is exactly why she doesn't want to be partnered up with Glaiza.
"Glaiza I need your cooperation. I know you care about your grades so please don't make this even harder than it seems. We just need a concept then we're done for today." Rhian insisted as she shook Glaiza's arm to keep her awake.
"Fine" Glaiza groaned. "What do you suggest then?"
"Well, I was thinking that we should go with powerpoint presentation. Not only is it easy, it would also save us so much time. So here's how we should divide the work: You'll do the research and I'll do-"
"I'm sorry, but that's just gonna bore me out. Let's just figure this out some other time okay?" Glaiza patted her on the shoulder and took out her phone since Rhian ruined her attempt to sleep.
The latter gritted her teeth in anger and grab the other girl's phone. Glaiza sighs before facing a fuming Rhian.
"You really don't care do you?! In case you didn't know, I don't want to be in this situation as much as you. If this would be any different, I wouldn't put much pressure on doing this project. But its not. The outcome of this would affect my grades. So we need to do this together whether you like it or not."
Before Glaiza could response back, the bell rings signalling dismissal time. This only cause Rhian's blood to boil up.
Glaiza took a deep breath before answering. "Look Rhian, I really am tired. But I promise you that we'll think of a concept. Just not now okay?"
Just then, Mr. Sanchez dismiss the class and Glaiza retrieve her phone back before she went on her way. Rhian clench her fists before she angrily grab her things and went to her locker. She shoved her notebooks and books inside, with Lovi following her.
"Sooo, Glaiza's your partner..." Lovi started slowly.
The brown-haired girl slammed her locker shut. "Of all the people I could be partnered with, why her?! Not only is she on most of my classes, now I got to work with her for the whole semester?! I mean, I must have done something evil to be punished like this! Do you know how hard she can be? We haven't even pick a concept because that lazy brat said she's tired. Tsk! Tired my ass. She just wants me to suffer and see how much I can put up with her bullshits! I bet she's somewhere with her friends laughing how pathetic I was earlier."
"Woah okay, you need to chill couz! Breathe okay? Look, I know it sucks being partnered with your enemy, but there's nothing you can do. The only advice I can give you, is don't stoop down on her level. Keep it professional and ignore her, especially her nasty remarks or comments. But if she really annoys you, just walk out, you know, leave." Lovi comforted as she rub her cousin's back.
Rhian sighs before replying. "You're right. Thanks couz. What would I ever do without you?"
Lovi laughed as they walk down the hallway. "Probably a mess. Anyways, you hungry?"
"Starving" Rhian replied as they went to a nearby coffee shop.