6 Chapter 6

Honestly, why did he ever bother to be concerned with reason number two.

Theo had a disgusted look on his face the moment Andren went on with his introduction eloquently.

Of course he'll adapt. No matter what, Theo should know that Andren wasn't the type of person that would easily get discouraged.

He introduced himself with a cheery tone, almost attracting half the class' attention, "Hi everyone, my name is Andren! Nice to meet you all!"

The girls were obviously whispering about how good his looks were.

Andren obviously heard it all as his face became arrogant and shot a playful look on Theo.

Goodness, it was truly tempting to just start acting like Theo never knew who Andren was. He couldn't though, he needed to know why Andren was sent into the same school as he was even though he was doing just fine in his previous school.

At least he somehow got a friend so it wouldn't be so boring, and Theo would enjoy school a little bit more than before. It was really not the worst to have your childhood friend in the school.

When the classes started progressing, Theo often caught himself staring at Tia and his brain would automatically try to think of what was missing between the both of them.

Hey, was he trying to remember something he had never been through? Theo found it strange, for sure.

His mind traveled everywhere, thinking of various things he didn't intend to think of and before he knew it, the teacher announced a group project where she'd be the one picking out the groups.

In this school, there would be one group project every semester. It wasn't a bad thing, really. Just a bit troublesome for those without friends. Yeah, Theo being one of them.

Half of the class was happy with it, and the other half was groaning about it. Which includes Theo, an introverted person who hated group projects because he didn't have this one specific person he would go with, but he sighed knowing that his teacher would pick so he wouldn't need to go with the "leftovers".

Being in groups of two or three were specified, so maybe there might be a chance of the teacher putting Theo in the same pair as Andren.

Oh, look what fate chose. Tia and Theo made eye contact once their names were uttered as members of one pair.

Their reactions were different, to say the least. Theo seemed okay with it, even though he had a happy feeling inside. He wondered why, but decided to brush it off.

Tia, on the other hand, looked like someone just drove her to the deepest pits of despair. Out of everyone in this class, the universe was mean enough to put them together. Theo, a man she got a bad impression of, had to be her partner.

Somehow, both had an emotional attachment to each other for some reason, and it was nowhere near helping.

It was a couple of hours later when during dismissal time, Theo approached Tia for her phone number, wondering if they could meet up outside of school hours to work on this project.

As much as Tia felt discomfort around the boy, she agreed because to her, grades were very important to her, if not, the most important thing she needed to focus on for now.

Right after all the conversing about arranging a little meeting as they needed to know when each other were available and where they were going to work, the two parted ways to start going home.

Just right after sending Tia off at the school gates, Theo thought that he needed to look for Andren so they could walk home together, just like what they usually do.

Ah, he forgot that Andren's father wanted to buy him school uniforms and most likely started telling him about why he was sent into that school all so suddenly.

To be frank, Theo didn't know if Andren would inform him about the reason. Yes, they were like brothers, but Andren had always been a secretive, mysterious person despite his cheerful, encouraging aura.

Seeing his brother-like friend with a familiar man, which is said friend's father, Theo decided to leave them behind and send Andren a message about it instead.

The moment he stepped in his room, Theo threw his school bag somewhere else and then himself on the bed.

He felt like taking a nap, but he heard a notification from his phone. Just as he was about to throw a tantrum because of it, he read the sender's name and found out it was Tia.

"Heya. It's me Tia. I have a few research links about today's project."

Instead of getting mad at it, Theo sat up and texted back.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks but we can do it tomorrow, you know? Besides, I just got home."

A minute passed by, and Tia responded back quickly.

"No problem, just a preparation before we need to do the hard copy of everything."

Theo smiled at how determined Tia was, this could boost his grades too even though they weren't as bad. He could manage achieving 90s to 100s when with lazy students, so imagine what he could do with Tia, a diligent student. Smart, too.

"Alright, I'll check it later. You can go rest first and we'll work on it later on. Don't overexert yourself." Theo sent back, hoping Tia would take his advice because he was definitely going to get some shut-eye himself in a few minutes.

To him, it's important to work without being too tired because once you exhaust yourself, it would be hard to focus on one thing.

If there was anything he hated, it would be lack of sleep. Relaxed, Theo napped right after school, not bothering to change his clothes at all.

On the other hand, his blonde friend was receiving instructions that he wanted to oppose so badly.

Andren cared dearly for Theo, but he could never abandon whatever his father told him, no matter what.

He seeked…appreciation, validation and compliments from him. His father was the only one Andren had ever admired in his whole life.

"You've got to be kidding me! Why are you asking me, a teenage school boy, to do this?! It's none of my business!"

Andren let the words out in front of the man he truly looked up to.