NINE

My huge weekender, enough for at least three days, was of plain baby pink color with a transparent thick covering; but, right now, I couldn't find it. For the bags, I had brought the weekender and my tote bag which contained only a few small things. My weekender had it all. Yes, a nightmare just struck me.

Everyone was still asleep when we had reached Wight County except for me, so I got up and woke some of them. Before I could think of waking all of them up, Dr. Burton came over and did the needful. I could only wake Elijah and Yvonne up.

I was still going through the attached baggage compartment on the bus when I heard a voice, pulling me out of my frustrated thoughts, "Cannot find your weekender?"

It was Elijah.

"Uh-Yeah, I don't know where it ran away." I replied, more frustrated at the fact that people would notice my frustration. I knew that it must've been obvious from my expressions, but it still frustrated me, nevertheless.

He pursed his lips to hide a chuckle and gave me a nod which perplexed me. Seeing my confusion, there was pity in his eyes, before handling me something. My weekender. I gasped in shock and grabbing my weekender from him, blurted out, "Oh my God, thank you so much! Where did you get it?!"

"The other side."

"What was it doing on that side? I kept it here before boarding the bus,"

"No idea about that but I found your weekender on the other side, abandoned and alone. So, I checked everyone else and realized everyone already had their own. Then I saw you, frustrated and realized it's yours."

"Oh my God, thank you so much!" I said, slowly understanding the pity in his eyes from earlier.

Just when he was about to say something, Yvonne came up to me. "Summer, come on. Let's go inside," she said enthusiastically. Of course, she was in a good mood. No doubt.

I nodded, feeling bad for Elijah but when I turned to look at him, he was gone.

She took me by my wrist and dragged me like typical Yvonne would, taking me inside with her. I let her and kept on walking, but my eyes searched for him. I was slowly starting to accept the things he made me feel, and not hate it anymore. In fact, I was slightly starting to like it.

. . .

"Okay, students, everyone inside?" Dr. Green asked once everyone was inside.

A guy got up and gave the full headcount to her. Considering that, Dr. Green continued, "Students, the visit to St. Luke's Church is our main purpose for our trip here. As for the museum, we will go there on the last day if time allows. But, most probably it should. Now I would brief you all about the trip tomorrow to Benns Church: the Isle of Wight is an unincorporated community in and the county seat of Isle of Wight County. Originally, Isle of Wight County was named 'Warrosquyoake Shire'. This was changed to the current name of Isle of Wight in 1637. St. Luke's Church, also known as Old Brick Church, or Newport Parish Church, is a historic church building, located in the unincorporated community of Benns Church, near Smithfield in Isle of Wight County. That is our destination for tomorrow. Today, you guys can take rest but sleep early since we are leaving for the Church early morning at 7:00,"

I was listening to her every word very carefully, and I wanted to make sure Yvonne was too, so I turned to look at her to only see her mouth drop open. At first, I was perplexed but I realized why she was so shocked. It was the waking up time.

Usually, back in our college, our classes wouldn't start before 9:00 so we had all the time to wake up. I used to be awake by 7:30 earliest but she was Yvonne after all, she would wake up five minutes before her lecture. Usually because of me, she would be ready on time, of course with a frustrated face.

I giggled softly but she caught me.

"Stop laughing, loser, you are waking me up tomorrow." She whispered.

"No, I won't. Do it yourself."

She gave me a deathly glare and narrowed her eyes, making me want to burst out laughing but now was the worst time for it so I suppressed it with much difficulty.

"I will but you have to sleep early." I added.

"I know," she said sadly.

Dr. Green continued with her briefing, "The journey to Isle of Wight County is only about 12 to 13 minutes but we have a lot to do so we won't be back until at least by six so go take rest for today and be well prepared for tomorrow. There is no dress code but be sure to dress warmly. Trust me, you will need it. The dinner will be served at 8:30 pm. It's outside in the restaurant across. It's a request to not skip dinner. Now, I'll give you the room keys, two in each."

With that, she turned to the reception counter of the inn that we were staying at. Yvonne volunteered to get our room key. I sat at the same place as I waited for her when Jason appeared in front of me out of nowhere.

"Hey Summer." He greeted me sweetly. There was softness in his voice, and I instantly knew he came to ask for a favor.

"Hey! What's up?" I greeted back, acting completely clueless.

"Nothing much but how was the sitting partnership between you and my Eli?"

I gave him a confused smile. "It was fine. Nothing special but why are you asking this?"

"Just, it's just that I haven't seen him talking to a girl properly,"

His words awakened the butterflies inside my stomach which was again starting to dance. I felt a sting of happiness and nervousness, making my heart flutter. I could feel the excitement and satisfaction in full on, inside of me. Soon, I could feel my cheeks turning red from the blush that was on its way.

'Shit. This can't be happening, jump out of this, Summer.' was my instant thought when my senses came back home.

"What do you mean?" I asked, acting desperately as if none of his words didn't affect me in the way it actually did.

"Eli usually doesn't do girls usually. Stays away from them because most of them are only interested in the fact that he hails from a rich family. But today, he was so normal with you that it aroused my suspicions. You must be special to get Elijah to talk to you decently. Anyways, don't tell him I told you, or I'm dead."

I smiled at him reassuringly. "Yeah, yeah! Of course! You can trust me."

Just then, Yvonne came back. When she was on her way to us, he got up to leave.

"Okay, I'm leaving. Take care-" He spared her a glance. "-of her too," before smiling genuinely and walking away.

I nodded, smiling back. After he left, I realized how wrong I was to assume the reason why he came. It wasn't even partly wrong but completely, wholly and fully wrong. Not that I was overconfident about it, but the way he approached me looked like he only came up to discuss something regarding her. Something like a favor in which he would need my help but, I was so damn wrong.

Anyway, that wasn't the elephant in the room. I did not at all mind being wrong. What I actually was worried about was what Jason had just told me. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? Was I supposed to feel bad or feel flattered?

Oh well, let me be clear about this first: all of these questions were coming from my head. My heart knew how I was feeling. Happy.

On our way to our room, she asked me what Jason was telling me. I kind of expected her to ask this. I told her it was nothing but just normal stuffs. But I didn't tell her what he actually told me. Part of me advised me it was wrong to not tell her as she was such a good friend of mine but the greater rational part of me which did not influence emotions, told me to keep it within myself; and that was what I did.

In all honesty, I was truly taken aback by his confession about Elijah, and if that was true in any way possible, I was not sure if I was still sure of everything that I had always been sure of.