5 III

Timothee told us that he still need to talk to some teachers regarding his section so we went to out room first. I saw Deilan outside the room, but it looks like he's going in already. My gaze wandered around his back until it stopped on his hand. A bandage was wrapped around his knuckles, I wonder what happened.

"Deilan!" I called him. I heard Marga's frustrated groan like it was saying, "Here we go again!"

"Deilan!" I called again, this time I was in front of him. He was, again, glaring at me. His eyes look so dark right now. As much as I love those pair of orbs, it's also pretty annoying because I can't read them. "Are you alright? What happened to your hand?"

He looked at me and sighed, then continued to walk towards the room.

"Thea? What took you so long?" I heard Marga asking. I looked back and saw that Althea was already with her.

"Ma'am Lazaro had a lot to say." she shortly answered and sighed.

I sat down on my chair. We learned that our afternoon teachers are busy preparing for Social Night, so we just have to stay in our room and keep quiet. Margarette was reading a fictional book, while Thea was in her phone. I, however, was drawing a beach scenery while asking myself some questions.

'Why can't Deilan like him? Should I just stop? But it's not like it's that easy. Why is it so hard? We didn't even have relationship or a fling. Three years of chasing him, but I didn't gain anything at all. I want to give up, but at the same time, I also don't.

"That's beautiful."

"Jesus Christ!" I shouted.

"Amen!" a voice somewhere in the room.

I caressed my chest to calm myself down and looked at the man who was comfortably sitting in front of me. I was too focused on my drawing and the thoughts on my mind that I didn't even notice him. Even if he was sitting on the floor and I was on the chair, his head was still on my chest level.

'Why is he so tall?'

I tapped the chair beside me.

"Sit here, the floor is cold." I told him, then he followed. "Why didn't you just sit beside me in the first place?"

"I want to get permission from you first." he scratched his head. "You were so deep in your thoughts, you didn't even notice me in front of you. I already said hi and introduced myself to everyone."

I looked at my friends.

"Even with you, Thea?" I asked and she nodded. I looked at him again and smiled excitedly. "Ah, so you're our new classmate."

"Yep." he quickly answered. "Do you mind if I ask you for help on something?"

"What's the problem?" I asked him.

"Our adviser told me to ask one classmate to kind of tour me around today since we don't have classes, and that way I can get easily familiar with the surroundings."

"Of course--"

"Not." someone interrupted. I looked at the guy in front of us.

"Deilan?" I stood up.

"Ma'am Alex is looking for us, it's about a project in the student council." he looked at me.

"There's a project? The school year just started." I reminded him.

'That's right, Mara, don't give in so quickly.'

He glared at me, so I glared at him too.

"You can tour me later, Mara. I'm sure it won't take a lot of time." Timothee swooped in. Surely, he also was feeling the tension like the others. Everyone has gone quiet. He always gets everyone's attention, so now that he's with us, we also get his dumb spotlight.

I looked at Timothee and smiled at him.

"I'll ma--"

"Oh, look at the time!" Deilan, yet again, interrupted me. This time, he held my wrist and pulled me away from the room. I looked back and saw our classmates staring as we hurriedly walk in the halls.

He was pulling me, yet the way he was holding my wrist was gentle and doesn't hurt.

"Your ears are red." I commented. He looked back at me then at the way again.

"At least it's just my ears, your whole face is red." he retorted.

"But that can't be helped." I reasoned out. "You're holding my hand."

"Why? Do you blush every time someone holds your hand?"

"No, only because it's you." I answered truthfully.

'It's not like it'd make a difference if I lied.'

After that, he didn't say anything. He pulled me towards the TLE Room and closed the door. Everything is complete here, it's like a mini house. Living room, a small room with two beds, kitchen, dining area and a bathroom.

'But, just why are we here?'

"I thought our teacher was looking for us?" I asked while looking around.

"Bake for me."

"What?" I looked at him, he looked away.

"I lied." he sat down at the sofa. "No one is looking for anyone.

"But you said I was stranger, didn't you?" I scoffed. "Well, I don't bake for s-strangers."

"You're talking now." he commented.

"Eh? I was never mute." I answered.

"I won't bring you here if you're a stranger, just bake." he commented. He turned on the TV and placed his feet on top of the coffee table.

'Why do I feel like a maid?'

"Are we even allowed here? Where did you even get the key? What if we get in trouble? You're even turning that on."

"As long as you're with me, you'll be fine." he frowned while hardly pressing the remote to change the channel. "Now, bake."

"What should I bake?" I asked while rummaging the cupboards. Good thing they have ingredients and things I can use here.

"Do what you want." he lazily answered.

"What about cookies? You di--"

"Not that."

'I thought he told me to do what I want?'

"Then brownies?" I asked, taking out the materials I'll need.

"How long will it take?" he questioned.

"About thirty minutes." I answered. "But for it to be chewy, we still need to put it on a refrigerator for an hour."

He looked at his watch, then he crossed his arms.

'What is this? He looks like he's deep in thought.'

"Bake it slowly." he sighed. "Do everything you need to do, take your time."

"But it will take me at least 2 hours if I do that."

"Perfect!" he exclaimed. I looked at him, confused.

"Are you possessed?"

"Stop acting like you're not enjoying being here with me." he brought back his poker face and continued to watch the TV.

'It's not like he's wrong.'

Technically, I wouldn't even humor him and would've left the room if I didn't like him. And yes, I have been feeling giddy ever since he interrupted my talk with Timothee despite my banters.

I started opening and taking out the things that I needed.

"Slowly!"

He was like that the whole time, looking at his watch then telling me to slow down.

I sighed and massaged my wrists as I go out the school. I wasn't even able to say goodbye to my friends, I just texted them.

I can't see our car where it always parks so I walked towards the end part of the parking lot more, until I saw my Dad waving inside the car with the windows open.

"Daddy! Why are you here? Are you not busy? Where's manong* Rey?" I asked while fixing my seatbelt. "And why did you park so far from the gate? I almost didn't see you."

(Manong is used to refer to any male who is older than the speaker within his or her family, but it could also be used for men outside the family to convey respect like how it's used here. Manong Rey is the Mara's driver.)

"Your mom is with her friends, she left work early so I did too. But since, I don't really have anything to do, I just volunteered to fetch you." he answered then started to drive.

'What? Did he think it was unfair that my mom's taking a break?'

I chuckled.

'How childish. It's not my mom's fault that his company is bigger than hers.'

I like it when my dad drives, we play music and it's like we're having a road trip because he always detour. When we got home, my mom was already there. They acted lovey dovey again like they're my age.

After dinner, I just went to my room, browsed my phone and slept early. With a smile on my face, that concludes my day.

I woke up very sweaty and panting hard. It's that nightmare again. I was dizzy but I still decided to go to school early, thinking that maybe I'll get better when I talk to other people.

I heard giggles as I walked through the hallway. When I looked up, I saw Deilan walking while other girls were following him.

Yes, I was also one of his fangirls, but I wasn't overly obsessed with him. I bother and follow him too but at least, I'm not the type to literally wait for him outside the comfort room.

'I like him but I don't want to look like a fool. I just want him to accept my appreciation.'

We locked eyes for a second, he was the one who looked away and continued walking past me.

'Right, he was probably just hungry yesterday and decided to pick on me.'

I sighed and continued walking.. When I got to the room, I saw Thea reading a book.

"Good Morning!" I greeted her.

"Good Morning too." she answered and continued to read our book.

'I'll just use my phone, Thea is not really much of a talker and I don't wanna disturb her.'

I took out my phone and looked up Deilan's facebook account. It has been a while since I last checked it.

His friends are still less than 50, but his follower count is more than five thousand.

He doesn't really post much and if he does, it's just a picture of him and his family, no statuses or anything else. He has only posted three pictures here and all of them already has thousands of likes and reacts already, mine just gets one thousand at most.

One for his profile picture, another one wearing formal attire.

'Even in here he doesn't smile, very classic.'

And one family picture? Still not smiling. This is the first time I saw this, oy must've been posted just recently. As I looked in the picture, my head started to get hurt. I massaged my temple and it looks like it got my seat mate's attention.

"Are you alright?" Thea worriedly asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little dizzy. Must be because I slept late last night." I excused.

"Alright, I'll go get medicine for you."

"No!" I stopped her. "I'll get it, stop worrying."

"It's not like I can magically not worry, Mara." she answered. "Come on, I'll go with you."

"Thea! Are you busy?" one of our school mate asked, she was in our door. "Ma'am Sison's looking for you."

"Why is so many teachers looking for you?" I asked, confused.

She was obviously hesitant. I laughed because of the expression on her face.

"Go, I'm alright." I answered and stood up. When I did, my surroundings suddenly started spinning and my vision became blurry, but I tried to not make it obvious so Thea can leave. "Ma'am Sison is not very patient."

"Are you sure?" she asked. Worry was very evident in her eyes. "Mich, can you accompany her?"

"Sure!" the schoolmate who called her replied.

'Ah, so her name is Mich.'

When Thea already left, I looked at her.

"You don't have to accompany me, Mich." I smiled at her. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure? I'm not that busy."

"Yeah, it's fine." I brushed it off.

"Oh, okay." she answered.

I know that I was walking in a bit of a zigzag direction. I was confident earlier, but when I started walking, I felt like everything was in circles. If someone saw me, they'd probably think that I'm drunk.

'How embarrassing.'

When I saw some people walking in the hallways, I looked down and hid my face. I continued walking like that. When I saw someone's feet in front of me, I tried to change my direction and I succeeded. Not until more dizziness came in and I almost fell.

"Oh, thank you." I mumbled when that someone caught my shoulders, helping me not to stumble.

"What is that? Zombie walk?" he bleated. When I realized who it was, I became more embarrassed, making my face heat up. I tried to walk away and walk straight but my sight was definitely spinning. I saw the clinic and I let out a sigh of relief.

'Finally!'

"You look stupid." Deilan commented again. This time, he was beside me. He took my arm and hooked it with his, then he leaned my head in his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I took my head back. My face heated up more.

"I'm sure you don't want me to carry you." He placed my head on his shoulder again. "I'm just helping you."

"Why?" I asked. I must admit that it was definitely helping me. It also feels comfortable, because I know I won't fall.

"Since you look stupid."

____________________

No, Timothee is obviously not the male lead. Some people asked me this when they first started reading this. He's just a supporting character in this story, but he did have a purpose. ;)

Oh, and sorry this update took a little longer. I was supposed to update yesterday, but I had to draw my client so that's why it took longer.

-yany :)