5 Chapter Four - The Evening...

Briella patiently looks at the clock right above the door of her English classroom.

'Any second now... Any second...'.

Suddenly, Briella's attention moved from the clock to the ringing of the cathedral bell, marking 4 PM. Barely a few seconds pass before the school bell, too, goes off, dismissing all the students.

Outside, the sky, just like this morning, began to show the beautiful golden shades from the sun as it's sinking down towards the horizon.

Barely anything has changed, there are fewer clouds in the sky, but the ones present are now bigger. It's also warm, something that won't last for too long. Within a few weeks, rain and the cold will rule the skies, as Autumn will take over.

"Ughhh... I wish that weather like this can last forever..." Nadia says as both herself and Briella make their way out of the school and towards the big bicycle shed.

That is where Briella faces her dread once again with the incident that happened this morning. The branch is on the ground, in the exact spot where it fell when it untied from the loose knot.

"Hey, why is there a random branch under your bike?..." Nadia asks, rubbing the back of her head in pure confusion.

"Ummm... its... its nothing..." Briella replies, blushing in slight embarrassment. "It must have fallen from a tree or something...". 'Little does she know...' she says to herself.

Quickly pulling out her bike from the rack, she grabs a hold of the handles before walking it on her right side, while on her left is Nadia.

They both continue talking and laughing about things today and memories of previous years.

Very soon, they both reach the school gates before the two young women go their own ways, Nadia towards the busy city centre, while Briella will take the scenic countryside route back home.

"See you tomorrow, Nadia!" Briella says, waving at her.

Nadia waves back before replying, "Sure thing!!".

With that, Briella hops onto her bike and pedals off.

Passing by the river, she notices more people out and about, she greets as much as possible.

Maybe its the fact that Briella is going back to her cosy home, but something about this ride, this one right here, beats the one this morning. Maybe its the lighting... maybe it's the people... maybe its even the weather...

But she does not dwell on it too much, for too long.

Within 10 minutes, she is back home. She slows down her bike as she enters the front yard of her house, getting off of her bike right by the garage door, she left it where she found it this morning. Before leaving to enter her house, she ensures to place her bicycle safety lock at a convenient place where it will easily be seen.

With that done, she enters the house...

Upon her opening the door, a strong scent of food overwhelmed her senses. That was all she needed to know that her mother is home.

Dropping her bag by the front door, she takes off her footwear before going into the kitchen. Just like she imagined, mother by the stove as father tries to help her as much as possible.

They both turn around and face Briella, not even a second passes, both of them have huge smiles on their faces.

"Welcome home, honey!" they both say in unison.

And for the next hour or two, maybe even three or four, they all spend some family time together. From having a family dinner together, they went to playing board games, to a very brief session of karaoke. They finally ended their day by watching a few films.

This... this what Briella missed, this is what she wanted... and that was what she got...

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"Good night, mom and dad!" Briella says before leaving to go to her room.

Going into her room, she closes the door behind her and almost immediately, she begins to undress before fetching her pyjama and dressing up into them.

After that, she lays onto her bed.

Looking up at the ceiling, she is going through everything that happened today. More accurately, she is going through her encounters with Ryan.

The way his eyes looked at her. Though he was a couple of meters away, she felt him looking right into her soul.

"I wasn't joking when I said and compared his gaze with that feeling of someone winding you in the stomach... except... his gaze... it felt... pleasurable..." she said under her breath. "Boy, am I pathetic...".

She continues to look at the ceiling... she can't get Ryan out of her head... along with Nadia's words, encouraging her to try something with Ryan...

'But... maybe he is actually just a crush... a phase... something that comes and goes. Speaking of going, this is Ryan's last year in this school, so... I can only see pain at the end. We will be forced out own ways, there is very little of what we can do about it, that is, if we even become a thing...'.

She stays laid out for a little bit longer before sitting up.

She looks around the room before her eyes end up on the big work desk right beside her bed.

'I... I wonder if I write down how I feel about him... would that make me feel at least some ease?' Briella asks herself. Her eyes move to the very top drawer. 'I guess there is only one way to find out...'.

Reaching out, she pulls open the first drawer and from there, she takes a notebook. It's small and brand new. She grabs a pen from a cupful of pens, pencils and colours.

Immediately, she flicks to the very first page before she begins writing.

She wrote about Ryan, explained how he looks, how handsome he is, how it feels whenever he looks at her...

Some time later, a yawn made her aware that it's getting quite late. Finishing her sentence, she gives herself a few minutes to add some finishing touches to the page.

Moving back a little, she gives the page a final review. Slowly, a sheepish smile grows on her lips.

'Oh wow... what have I done?...'.

"Anyways..." Briella sighs, closing the notebook, she puts it back both the notebook and the pen. The notebook into the drawer, while the pen in the fancy mug that it holding all of her pens, pencils and colours.

She goes under the cover, tucking herself in before turning off the lights. Her eyes close as she slowly let's sleep devour her...