Rhian sighed for the 10th time, slamming her book close before leaning back on her desk chair. She spent the whole afternoon studying and reviewing her notes for tomorrow's last final exam and so far, she only finished one subject. Her mind was all over the place.
Over the course of the week, Rhian had made it official about her 'relationship' with Glaiza, due to Jason's annoying questions. It was because of him that made things started to get awkward between her and Glaiza. They were forced to hold hands and say sweet nothings to each other whenever students would see them together, especially Jason. Based from her observation, Glaiza seemed calm about having to do these things, but to Rhian, it made her uncomfortable and embarrased, mainly because she had no experience in romance. Good thing she was able to picked up some things through her books, so she was able to apply some of them. But it didn't shake off the idea of having a mistake and messing it all up.
And even though they had made it obvious that they were indeed a couple, Jason is still pestering her by constantly asking about her day and leaving her love letters inside her locker. Its like her relationship with Glaiza doesn't faze him and it frustrated her to know that her plan wasn't working.
And to top it all, requirements have been piling through the whole week. This week was supposed to be review week, but apparently the teachers decided to drop all the major performance tasks on the said week. So the students barely been reviewed about previous topics on certain subjects, especially the major ones.
That is why instead of relaxing her mind, she was here cramming herself on studying two more subjects because she spend the whole morning finishing her performance tasks that are all to be sumbitted tomorrow.
This is crazy! Why would they even propose the submitted due dates be on the day of exam?! I mean are they trying to kill us?! They really are a son of a-
Her thoughts were cut off by a knock on her door. The door opened revealing her maid.
"Uh Ms. Rhian, where should I put this?"
"Oh! Just right on my nightstand please. Thank you." The maid nodded and left.
Rhian grab her textbook and sat on her bed, grabbing her peanut butter sandwich given by her maid. She didn't had dinner because she was busy doing her requirements so when her mother heard about this, she told the maid to bring Rhian sandwiches to at least have something to fill her stomach, which her mother insisted her. As she was munching on her sandwich, she continued reviewing.
Well, I guess I wouldn't have my beauty sleep, after all.
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True to Rhian's words, the brown-haired girl indeed didn't have enough sleep. She could barely even keep her eyes open during her ride to the school. So imagine Glaiza's surprise when she saw her walking like a zombie.
"Don't even start." Rhian said as she pass by her, and walk towards her locker. When she finish putting out her books, she turned and was shocked to see Glaiza close to her.
"Do you want-"
"Oh thank God!" Rhian grab the plastic cup from Glaiza's hand and chugged down the content, enjoying the sweet cold coffee passing down her throat.
"Uh, your welcome?" Glaiza said. Rhian looked at her and then only realize that Glaiza wasn't holding another cup. Which only means...
"Oh shit! I thought it was mine! God, how I could be so stupid! Here let me pay you back." Rhian fished out her wallet and was about to give her the money when she heard Glaiza chuckle.
"No no, its fine. You can have it. Besided, I didn't even like the taste. I would much prefer black coffee." Glaiza answered.
"Well, thank you." Rhian nodded awkwardly, thanking that its still early so there weren't much of students roaming around or else she would have been stared at weirdly.
"Heading at the library?"
"Yeah"
"Cool! Let's go together!"
Before Rhian could protest, she was pulled by the wrist until they reach their destination.
"So, what do you want to review first? Economics? Calculus? Oh wait, actually lets start on Science, that subject has a lot of-"
"Uhm Glaiza, look, I was planning to review on MY own. So..."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll just... I'll do that too."
Rhian nodded and begin reviewing her concept notes. Even though she had went through all of it last night, Rhian wanted to make sure she didn't miss anything. She simply can't risk it. But a minute of silence was of course cut short when Glaiza spoked.
"Hey, so after this, what are you gonna do? I mean what's your plan this summer?"
Rhian sighed. "Glaiza I really need to study here, so can you please not bother me now?"
Rhian didn't wait for Glaiza's response and went back to reviewing. She started going through science, starting to different kind of diseases in the urinary tract all the way to the topic of every celestial body.
Satisfied, she went to Calculus next. But just as she was about to open her notebook, a hand prevented her to.
"Hey you've reviewed enough. Give yourself a break."
"No, I still need to finish this and Economics." Rhian pulled away her notebook from Glaiza's hand and started opening it, but was again stopped.
"Glaiza..." Rhian warned. She was aware of the students filling in the library so unfortunately, she couldn't twist Glaiza's hand away from her notebook.
"Look, I know you have studied your ass off last night, so you have nothing to worry about. And I know, because of the way you walked earlier and the small bags under your eyes. You should be relaxing yourself. You know, take your mind off things."
"I have plenty of relaxing to do AFTER exam. For now, I need to make sure that I pass the exams, so that I would enjoy relaxing without having regrets."
"Rhian, you will pass the exams. All I'm saying is, you tone down a bit on studying. It'll make you less stressful."
"Less stressful? Did you see how many topics- I mean did you even review for the exams?"
Before Glaiza could reply back, the bell rings, making Rhian glance at her in irritation.
"Great, so much for not bothering me." Rhian shook her head and gathered her things.
"Rhian wait!" Glaiza managed to catch up with the brown-haired girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to distract you, all I was trying to say was that-"
"Don't bother." Rhian cut her off and pass by her. Glaiza slumped and followed Rhian to their room.
The two sat down and the professor started passing fown the test papers. Rhian closed her eyes and count one to ten before exhaling out a breath.
This is the last Rhian, make it count. Okay, lets do this.
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Series of cheering and whistles are heard throughout the building as the students heard the final bell rings, relieved that exams were finally over. Rhian would also be jumping in glee but there are still things that needed to be done. Unjusting her bag on her shoulders, she squeezed through the crowd brisk walking towards the faculty room. Just as she could exhale in relief, she's instantly tackled on the shoulders.
"Hey Rhian! Thank God! School days are finally over!" Glaiza squealed in happiness, rocking them both side to to side.
"Hey, hey, watch it there!" Rhian said as she balanced her essays, thesis papers, and science project on both hands.
"Oops! Sorry! Do you want my help?" Glaiza asked as she pulled away.
"No! Just... don't do that again." Rhian said, turning right down the corner.
"You should've submitted that earlier this morning just like mine, there wasn't much students crowding at the faculty room."
"Yeah, well, I was reviewing."
"You should've told me you know, I could pass all that for you. I wasn't busy anyway."
Right, why didn't I think of that? Rhian realized.
"Well, that's because I don't trust you." Rhian replied.
Before Glaiza could say anything, Rhian walked a bit faster and drop all the requirements on each teacher's pigeon box just outside the faculty area.
"Uh, hey, about me getting a job you said, when's that happening?" Glaiza said as she catch up with the brown-haired girl to her locker.
"Soon. I wasn't able to inform my relatives about it since you know, the exams. But I'll just text you when they response." Rhian replied as she gather all of her books and belongings.
"Oh! There they are!" The two turn their heads and saw Rhian's friends approaching.
"Hi guys!" Glaiza greeted. "How's the exam?" Most responded that it was good and easy, but one of them disagreed.
"Did you not find the exam alright, Lovi?" Glaiza asked.
Lovi shook her head no. "It was more of like tortorous moment for me. I didn't answer most of the questions correctly."
"Well, if only you had agreed in coming to my house for a reviewing session with us, instead of spending time at your boyfriend's, you wouldn't be feeling like that. I'm sure the two of you did more than studying there." Julie-Anne commented.
"You can't blame me, Lucas' lips are so tempting." Lovi said dreamily, to which the group chuckle.
"Sooo," Dennis put his strong arms on both Glaiza and Rhian's shoulders, as they started walking. "What's the plan for this summer ladies?"
"Well, the gang and I were planning a trip to Boracay." Glaiza replied. "How about you Rhian?"
"I have yet to find out. Mother's telling me our plans when we get home."
"We?"
"Yeah, Tita invited us over for dinner. You should come though." Josh suggested.
"Oh no, I don't want to impose."
"Why do you have plans for later?"
"Well no, but I-"
"Great! Then come!" Lovi mused.
When they've reach just outside, there's a man dressed in all black, greeting Rhian in a formal way and opening the car door.
"You should come, mother misses you a lot and has been bugging me to tell you to come over. So are you coming or not?" Rhian said, to which Glaiza smiled and nodded in agreement.
Upon arriving at the Ramos' residence, the sun has come down and stars had appeared in the night sky. Mrs. Ramos greeted the teenagers with warm hugs, asking what took them so long.
"We're sorry Tita, we stopped by a pet store because someone, not saying who, decided to just look at puppies and kittens, even though they had like tons of them in their home." Dennis said, his eyes trailing over to Lovi.
"You know, I can't help it." Lovi said, smiling cheekily. The group laughed and when Rhian's mother looked at Glaiza, surprise and joy are etched on her face.
"Oh Glaiza dear! I'm so glad you come! We have so much to catch up on!" Mrs. Ramos said hugging the short-haired girl, tightly.
Glaiza chuckled. "We sure do Tita."
"Oh come come! The food is already served. Manang Felia helped me make all of your favourite dishes, so I hope you enjoy!" The group smiled in excitement and was led to the dining area, where a bunch of foods were indeed served.
"Wow, Tita! This looks so mouth-watering!" Julie-Anne said.
"Yeah, good thing I didn't eat so much or I wouldn't be able to eat any of this!" Dennis remarked.
The group sat down and began with a prayer before they all dig in. Mrs. Ramos couldn't contain her smile as she was fed up with compliments on her cooking and thanking her for the delightful dishes. Halfway through the dinner, she questioned Glaiza about about the recent happenings and her parents's health conditions. Glaiza filled in with all the details but wasn't exactly being honest. There's just some things she didn't want to open up this moment.
Of course, this didn't went unnotice to the brown-haired girl across from her. Rhian once again witness the uncertainty in Glaiza's eyes whenever her parents are brought up, same goes at Glaiza's house last time she took her in. She had the feeling that something happened between Glaiza and her parents and not in a good way. But like last time, she decided to drop it.
"So Tita," Josh started. "What are you and your family's plan this summer?"
"Yeah, mom. You said that you're gonna tell me now." Rhian said, shoving meat into her mouth.
"Well, your father and I are going out-of-the-country trip together, so you and Sam could do whatever you want under my permission."
"Can I ask where you and Tito, we'll be going?" Julie-Anne said.
"Paris. And we'll be spending our anniversary there too." Mrs. Ramos responded with a smile.
"Aww, that's so romantic!" Lovi gushed to which the rest agreed.
"So if I want to spend my summer at our old house, would you allow it?" Rhian questioned.
"Of course!" Came the reply of her mother.
"Great! Do you guys want to come?" Rhian faced her friends.
"Hell yeah, I would!" Lovi replied.
"Really? You want us to spend our summer in a house?" Julie-Anne said, feeling unsure.
Rhian and Lovi exchange a knowing look before face their friend.
"Believe me once we get there, you wish you live there your whole life." Lovi said, the three gave the two a narrowing look, before agreeing.
"But just to be clear, I'm leaving instantly once I found it lame." Dennis said.
"Yeah, you girls better be right." Josh added.
The rest fall their attention to Julie-Anne who has yet to decide. "Fine, since I love the both of you, I'm in."
"Glaiza you should come. I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much." Mrs. Ramos suggested, noticing the silent girl who was being left out.
"Yeah Glaiza!"
"That would be fun!"
"It would!"
"Come with us!"
Were just some of the comments the group says.
"Oh no, its alright. I'll be applying summer jobs and I'll be taking care of Chloe, my little sister. Plus, dad needs me. Thanks for the offer though." Glaiza reasoned out.
"Well, bring your sister!" Julie-Anne said.
"And your father!" Josh said.
"And also your friends, because-" Dennis was cut off
"The more, the merrier!" Lovi ended. Glaiza couldn't masked the surprise on her face at how the four managed to connect their words together.
"Exactly." Mrs. Ramos said. "So what do you say Glaiza?"
As much as Glaiza want to come, there's one more missing. She glance at Rhian who has been quiet all of a sudden. She wants to know if she's okay with it. Rhian was the one who suggested the place and Glaiza wouldn't come if Rhian wasn't okay with it. So when Rhian gave a small smile and a small nod, Glaiza was relieved and finally agreed to come.
The group cheered and throughout the dinner, the conversation was lively. Mrs. Ramos were able to catch up with Glaiza about the recent happenings. After that, they all decided to call it a night. Its safe to say that Glaiza went home with a full stomach and relieved mind.