18 Chapter Seventeen - Cole...
The bell rings at 1:15 PM, signalling the second, and the final, break of the day before everyone is dismissed to go home.
Both Briella and Nadia walk to their usual spot. It wasn't long before Liam and Ryan came out of school and joined them.
"I see that we all meet once again..." Liam says as a pleasant smile takes over his face.
"Yeah... Ryan, Briella, me and... the model who has a boyfriend..." Nadia says, teasingly.
"W-WHAA!? I am nowhere near being a model, its not my type of thing, and I thought I already told you that I am single! Very single!!" Liam replies. "Also, as I said before. My name is Liam...".
'And all this time, I thought he would have at least one girlfriend from all the girls that swarm around him...' Briella thinks to herself.
"I know, I know..." Nadia says, using hand gestures to aid her while speaking. "Looks like someone can't handle jokes very well..." Nadia adds. Once more, her tone shows off her teasing.
Liam looks up at Nadia as his eyes widen.
"M-maybe you... you are right!!" He admits as he begins to run his hands through his hair.
"Hey, hey, hey..." Nadia begins. "I didn't mean it seriously! Relax, don't worry about it!".
"H-hmm??". Suddenly, Liam's eyes tear up. "So far... that's one of the nicest things you have ever said to me...".
"You make it sound like we go years back, when in fact I know you for barely even two weeks," Nadia says.
"What is that supposed to mean!?" Liam asks.
"Nothing... I was just saying..." Nadia replies.
From there on, silence descends upon the group. Then, Nadia's eyes widen when she notices someone familiar over Briella's shoulder. Briella is the first to notice her reaction.
She looks in the direction to where Nadia is looking at. It does not take long for Briella to see who she has her gaze on. It's that guy from a few days ago...
"It's him again..." Nadia mutters under her breath.
"Who?..." Ryan asks, confused, while Liam turns around and tries to spot who Nadia is talking about.
It wasn't long before he...
"Wait... It that Cole? Waiiit... That's Cole!!" Liam exclaims.
"Oh, look really!" Ryan says.
With that, they move away from Briella and Nadia before walking over to the tall, handsome student, who - with his brown hair - proves to be the guy from a couple of days ago. He stood only a couple of meters away from them, he was enwrapped in a conversation of his own.
"Cole!! Hey!" both Briella and Nadia hear Liam's and Ryan's voices.
'Wow... is this like their reunion?...' Briella thinks to herself as she is mesmerised by the sight unfolding right before her.
"So his name is Cole..." Nadia mutters under her breath.
'All they need are some petals from the cherry tree falling around them to make this reunion an emotional one...' Briella thinks to herself right before ber forehead begins to sweat. 'Where exactly am I going with this thought?... I'm not so sure myself either'.
Then suddenly...
"Wait... why are they coming here?..." Nadia questions.
"Hmm?...". Nadia's voice caused Briella to come back to reality. "Oh, look! They are coming back here!!".
"That is just what I said... not even a second ago..." Nadia replies.
And then...
"We want to introduce you to our friend, Cole..." Ryan begins.
"Hello guys," he says, nodding at both Briella and Nadia.
Through Briella is not effected by Cole's presence, the total opposite could be said for Nadia. Her cheeks become red as she has her eyes on Cole. Then, for a brief moment, Cole's green emerald look into Nadia's light earth-brown eyes. It caused a reaction to happen within her. Something she thought that not even in a million years she would experience, an eruption within her. A strong sensation radiated in her body, as excitement circulated through her flesh, reaching to any and every edge of her. The way his eyes felt when they looked straight into hers, into her soul, the feeling was simply unexplainable...
'I thought this could only happen in movies!?!' Nadia exclaims in her thoughts.
"Nadia? Is everything okay??" Briella whispers to her, while Liam, Ryan were in their own conversation. Cole too was meant to join in, but it was too obvious who took his attention. He noticed the way Nadia reacted. Something about it, something about her diffidence, he liked what he saw. He was looking forward to seeing more of her. To make her look all flustered simply by being there beside her.
"I... I am fine..." Nadia replies. Her cheeks redden even further when she notices that Cole's eyes were still on her.
Slowly, Nadia drops her eyes from him and down onto the ground, to which Cole lets out a small chuckle.
"Tell us Cole, any women?" Liam asks.
Practically everyone, except for Cole, rolls their eyes.
"Well..." Cole begins, catching Nadia's attention, just as he was hoping to. "I am single..." he adds seconds later. Now, he watched closely for any reactions that could resonate from the beautiful creature that stood right across from him.
Her cheeks increase in redness ever so slightly.
But before anything else could be done...
"Well, if it isn't Cole!" a deep, masculine voice enters the chat. Everyone knew instantly who it was.
It's Ronan, and seconds passed before Scarlett too join the small crowd. Once again, it was very hard to miss the slight mark that is still on his left cheek.
Only when Scarlett mores closer in the group does she notice Briella and Nadia.
"Hi, Briella! Hi, Nadia!" Scarlett greets them both.
"Hello, Scarlett!" They both greet her back in unison.
"Wait, how does Scarlett know you and you know Scarlett, Nadia?" Briella asks.
"As I said..." Nadia begins. "I know the whole school...".
'Ah, yes... I was told so by Nadia herself...' Briella thinks to herself, deadpan face being the dominant expression on her face.
"Wait, what happened to your cheek, Ronan?..." Ryan asks.
'Wait... Ryan knows Ronan... and on that note... Cole too?? The way Ronan greeted Cole... there must be a correlation. It could be because they are all in sixth year, is has to be because they are all in the same year, right??' Briella thinks to herself.
"Well..." he begins before turning gaze towards Scarlett, who smiles at him as if she has no clue where the mark on his cheek came from.
"Let's just say we had an eventful day yesterday at the drama club..." Scarlett finishes Ronan's sentence.
'Okay, Scarlett may now be giving some wrong ideas of what actually happened yesterday...' Briella thinks to herself as her deadpan face once more takes over her facial expression.
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They all stay out for a little while longer until it was time to go to their last period of the day. But before that happened...
"I think we should all travel home together!!" Liam suggested.
"You know..." Ryan begins. "That's not too bad of an idea!... That way we can all get closer to each other!!".
"I'd really love to... but I can't today..." Cole says.
"Wait, why is that so?" Ronan asks.
"I have got football training after school," Cole replies with a sheepish smile as he caresses the back of his head. "Maybe some other day I can join you guys..." he adds before looking at everyone in the group and then finally laying his eyes, and keeping his gaze the longest on Nadia.
Nadia notices his actions, and as a result, her cheeks once more turn a rosy red.
Cole let's out a gentle sting of chuckles.
"I-I think I better get going, I-I don't want to be late for class! It was nice meeting you..." Nadia says, referring to Cole. Then, their eyes, once again, meet. They look at each other, and the same as earlier, Nadia is the first to break their gaze.
With that, she turns around and quickly heads away from the group.
Both Briella and Scarlett look at Nadia, slightly confused at what they just witnessed.
"What exactly happened to her?..." Scarlett asks.
To which, Briella replies with a simple shrug.
Then, Briella's eyes move to Cole, who - undoubtedly - too had his eyes on Nadia as she walked away from them all. He still has his eyes on the school building, he is looking at that corner where Nadia turned and disappeared only seconds ago...
'Wait, I know I teased her and all, but... is something actually going on between them two???'.
