2 Nothing Happened

"I'm so sleepy." I slumped against the arm of my chair and pillowed my head with my arms.

We just finished our lunch and there's still a good 45 minutes left until the afternoon classes start.

"Already? It's only been 5 hours, you know?" Mia asked as she checked her face in the mirror, frowning at a pimple that wasn't there yesterday.

Katherine took the nail-cutter from Mia's pouch. "Duh! As if you don't know how Zee is. Just look at those hideous dark circles. I'd bet she was watching cartoons until late last night. Who is it this time? Conan? Syaoran?"

"It's Kenshin and he's not a cartoon." I muttered with my face still buried in my arms. It was around 8PM last night that I swore to watch just one last episode. Just one last episode. But I ended up finishing the entire arc. "Ugh... I want to vomit."

I tried getting up, but the ground under my feet swayed and my head suddenly felt heavy that I nearly lost my balance. Katherine reached out to hold my arm and made me sit back down.

"Woah, Zee." She shook her head and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "See? See? That's what you get for sleeping late. You're too addicted with those cartoons! What good does watching them do to you anyway? Do you learn something from it? Will it make you rich?"

'They're NOT CARTOONS!!!'

'And seriously?'

'I've already had an earful with my mom this morning and I don't need you to tell me something that I've already heard.'

'And to answer your question, YES! I do learn something from them!'

'Things like loyalty, integrity and altruism!'

'They're a whole lot better than those local dramas that you love to watch, which are all filled with nothing but excessive...dramas!'

Or at least that's what I wanted to say, but all I could manage to push pass my lips was a disgruntled sound. "Ugh..."

"Zee, you sure you're okay?" The concern in Mia's voice was something that I really appreciated. She's one of those few and good people that my mom advised me to keep. When I'm being bombarded by Madam Katherine Leomord's nagging like this, there's nothing that I could be more thankful for other than having someone named, Amelia Antoinette, as a friend. No matter how old fashion her real name is. Because the two of them actually make a good pair. They balance each other out. One's a warm sunshine and the other's a raging storm. And there's no way I'm telling who is which. Because I'm afraid of having my mind read.

I know that the thought was crazy, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I slightly flinched when I heard Katherine sigh then I felt her rub my back. "Fine. Sleep. Just sleep. I'll wake you up when the bell rings."

'Ah...right. The bell. That creepy and annoyingly out of tune melody that they call 'bell'.'

'Thanks, but I guess I'll wake up as soon as it starts.'

I'm not sure if I actually managed to fall asleep because I could still catch some of the conversation that they were having.

"I haven't seen Trixie since earlier. Did you see her?" It was Katherine who asked.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? She said she's going to the snack bar outside with some new friends that she made."

"Which 'new' friends?"

"You know... those guys that go to the same academy as her after school. Apparently, they made friends with each other yesterday after their class."

I must have zoned out a bit because the topic seemed to have shifted.

"You remember that guy who's doing Hapkido? What do you think of him?" I could swear that I could hear a smile in Mia's tone.

'Seems like someone has the hots for somebody. Is this puberty kicking up?'

But Katherine's ice-bucket reply never failed to disappoint. "That Black Belt shorty?"

"Oh my Gosh! You are so mean! He's not that short!"

"For you, he isn't. He's just not my type, okay? And will you stop pestering me about the boys in class? I don't want in on this Crush Hunting anymore."

"Why not? It's really fun. Even Percy and Vina decided to join in."

"And what do you get from it?"

'Will it make you rich?' I almost added. Katherine loves that line.

Mia let out an exasperated sigh. "A colorful youth? A potential boyfriend? A love life? Who cares? It's all for fun!"

I just listened to them bicker until I heard the awful melody resound all over the school and inside my head. I really must have dozed off a little because I was feeling a lot better compared to earlier which felt like just 5 minutes ago. I pushed myself up, just in time to see Trixie arrive. She sat on the other chair beside me by the wall with a mysterious smile on her face.

"Feeling better?" Katherine asked me so I turned to her and nodded. Then she looked over to Trixie. "What's with that smile?"

"It's creepy." I blurted which made Trixie frown at me. I immediately folded my hands and bowed my head at her. "Sorry, Trix. Just woke up. Something up?"

"Ah. I see." Understanding dawned on her face then she shrugged, the smile returning on her face. "Nothing. I just had a good chat with Craige after lunch. And we agreed to go home together starting tomorrow."

"Oh my Gosh!"

"Just the two of you?"

"Who's that?"

Mia, Katherine and I asked all at once.

And my question made them all turn to me. I looked at the three of them one by one. "What?"

"You were here yesterday, right?" asked Mia sounding unsure.

"Craige Clinton? Are you serious?" asked Trixie.

'Was I supposed to get the light bulb if she told me the complete name? Is it a celebrity?'

My eyes rounded. 'Trixie is dating a celebrity? Did our little small town get warped to another dimension?'

Katherine must have read the confusion on my face because she patted my shoulder. "He's not a celebrity, Zee. He's the guy who sits on the second seat in front of you. But I don't expect you to remember him since you were pretty out of it yesterday."

'I knew it! She can definitely read minds!'

I peered at the seat that she was talking about, but nobody was there. But looking at the empty chair made me recall something that I've willed to forget last night. I shook my head when the memory started creeping back to me.

'Eeeeyyy... no way.'

Just then, a bunch of guys came in with Arthur and Jake. They made a really nice-looking picture but one guy stood out in particular. And that guy walked straight to the chair two seats in front of me and sat down.

'Silver Rings? For real?'

I turned to Trixie and incredulously asked in a hushed tone. "You're dating that guy?! For real?"

"No!" She hissed back then moved closer to whisper just loud enough for the other two behind me to hear. "We just learned today that we live in the same area, so we thought that maybe we could commute together. Nothing more."

Then Katherine repeated her question from earlier but this time she kept her voice low. "Just the two of you?"

There was a momentary pause before Trixie answered. "No. Brian, Jake, Vina and Ameera will be coming as well."

I frowned. 'And you omitted to mention the other four because???'

"And you omitted to mention--" Katherine stopped midway because our math teacher came in and we all sat up in attention. The class started immediately and there was no room for chatter, but it took only one exchange of glances with Katherine to know that she knows that I know that she's thinking what I was thinking. We squinted eyes at each other.

'Something smells sushi.'

And when we looked at Mia, she smiled as if saying that she's also caught on it quickly. So as soon as the class ended, we didn't waste time, and all turned to Trixie who seemed to be expecting our second round of assault. And loving it.

It was Mia who asked. "So?"

"What? Just drop it." Trixie's familiar defensive pitch rose up.

Mia squinted her eyes at Trixie. "Oh, no. There's no way I'm letting you escape this one, Trix. Do you like him?"

Trixie chuckled and whispered. "Guys, will you tone it down a little? He might hear you!"

And since we're a bunch of very obedient friends, we exclaimed in unison. "Seriously?!"

She put a finger on her lips to signal us to quiet down as she nodded. Our jaws instantly dropped at her admission. But I recovered quickly because something did not add up.

"Then what about Jake? I thought the two of you were unofficially a thing." I quoted the word with my fingers.

Trixie sat up straight on her chair and held her chin up. "Well, we officially became not a thing before Summer break."

'Oh....'

I looked at the other two and saw that they were mouthing the same letter. But no one tried asking for more details.

Katherine shifted the topic back to the new guy. "So... you and Craige, are you now unofficial?"

"NO!" She instantly denied but she was holding back an obvious smile as she said it. "He's a nice guy but we're just friends."

'That smile... I've seen Trixie wear that countless of times before.'

"Oooooohhh...You're smiling! You're obviously getting there! Stop lying you beyatch!" Mia teased enthusiastically.

'Beyatch? Is that even a word?'

Trixie was cheerfully smiling as she whispered, "Fine. I like him. But that doesn't make us a 'thing'. He'd have to feel the same way for that to happen."

I know that I may seem very skeptical about the situation, but I've known her for far too long to not notice the signs. Mia on the other hand was probably just too innocent to see it. That or her judgement was being clouded by her excitement of experiencing romance. Even if it's not hers. "Of course, he feels the same way. Would he ask you to go home together if not?"

There's that pause again, which I already saw coming, before she shrugged and answered. "I don't know. I don't want to assume things."

'That's right. Let's not assume things.'

Mia shrugged as well then turned to me, dismissing the topic rather quickly which obviously disappointed Trixie. "Zee, we were talking earlier about our new-found crushes. And Kath said she's absolutely crushing Bubblegum--"

"I never said absolutely!" Katherine objected.

'Ah... so that's what I missed.'

And Mia ignored her. "--so, I was wondering... Who's your bet?"

'My bet? It's time for that again?'

It became a tradition among the four of us to share our 'crushes' at the beginning of the year and after every periodic examination. Apparently, one was expected to change 'crushes' frequently. Something that I will never understand since people's faces don't really change that much in a matter of months. So, I'm not quite getting the point of changing 'favorites' every season.

But, as usual, I telepathically sent my heartfelt apologies to my poor scapegoat and answered Mia nonchalantly. "It's still Arthur."

'Forgive me, brother. I'm eternally grateful to you, not that you'll ever know about it.'

But to my surprise, Mia shook her head with vehement disapproval. "You've been saying that for the past three years that it's starting to sound like a broken CD."

"Or like she's finally fallen for him after years of crushing." Katherine added with a sneaky look on her face.

I glared at her. 'Don't you dare sabotage me, Katherine Leomord.'

Katherine's the only one who knew that I've been 'fake-crushing' Arthur for years.

The poor guy's actually my stepbrother unbeknownst to everyone except Katherine. Arthur and I agreed to keep our relationship a secret since our family's situation was quite complicated. Take our surnames as an example: He's a Paige and I'm a Haile. But despite all the bickering both at home and in school, I've always been comfortable with him for as long as I could remember.

That's why, when my friends hit that age of believing that not having a 'crush' was considered abnormal, I've got no one else to turn to but my very good-looking though slightly retarded 'brother' as a sacrificial lamb. My choice had always garnered approval from everyone and never failed to shut up my inquisitive inspectors.

Until now.

"If that's not it, then think of someone else." Katherine challenged which made Mia and Trixie look at me with anticipation.

'You witch, I'll get back at you for this.'

I took a deep breath and scanned the room, and my eyes kept on pausing and darting back to a particular person. I shook my head and willed myself to focus elsewhere. And this guy, who was sitting right beside Silver Rings, caught my eye.

"The one wearing blue beside that Craige guy looks cute." Or at least, the back of his head did. It was round with fluffy looking hair which reminded me of Rocky's backside. May the poor thing rest in peace.

"Joshua? No, not him! I already put dibs on him." Mia protested as if I just said I wanted to order the same shoes that she did.

'Perfect! Now, I won't have to pretend that I'm attracted to him.'

I frowned and nodded. "Okay....then I guess I'll just pass on this round. Ask me again next time."

'Nice save!'

'Now I won't have to pretend that I still like Arthur in that weird vomit-inducing way, nor will I have to do the same to anyone else. Spell perfect.'

Or so I thought.

Because three days after that smooth escape, something happened that completely shattered my hope of having a quiet and low-key high school life.

It was a breezy Friday afternoon, a perfect day to conduct our first ever general cleaning. My group was tasked to clean the tall windows. That's why I am now on top of the desk and standing on my toes, cursing myself for being the tallest girl in the group.

"Why can't we just scrub the floor and let the guys clean the window?" I muttered when I realized that Jake Lawton was just standing behind me.

With his hands on his hips and one foot on top of a scrub, he gave me a smug smile. "Because we do a better job at scrubbing?"

I looked at the sloppily scrubbed floor, where a few places were obviously not even slightly touched by floor wax. I squinted my eyes at him. "Says who?"

"Says me." He answered and stuck out his tongue, which gave me a very strong urge to tug it out of his throat. But before I could succumb to my violent tendencies, someone grabbed the legs of the chair that I was standing on and caused it to shake slightly which nearly gave me a heart attack. My knees buckled, but thankfully, I was able to swiftly grab hold of the window frame to steady myself.

"What the f--" I nearly cursed but it got caught up in my throat when I turned my head and saw a pair of silver ringed dark eyes.

"Sorry. Can you get down for a minute please?"

For probably a second or two. Or was it three? I was too dumbfounded to speak and just stared at Craige who was blankly looking at me, showing no signs of being apologetic.

"What is it? You could have just asked me to get down if you needed something. No need to frighten the hell out of me by grabbing the chair like that." I grumbled as I slowly levered myself down from the chair, with knees still shaking and hands sweating. As soon as both my feet were safely on the ground, he wordlessly took the dirty towel from my hand, went up on the chair that I was on then started cleaning the window. Especially the part that I was finding hard to reach.

Jake nudged me playfully and held his thumbs up at Craige. "Ooooh...as expected of our class' Prince. That was so cool, Fafa Craige."

'FAFA CRAIGE? Ewe.'

I shivered and looked at Jake incredulously. I've known for years that he had some few screws loose, but I never thought that his craziness has reached this level. But what's more disturbing was that he's not the only one who's been acting like this towards Craige. The boys in class became enamored with Craige to a gay-like level ever since they came back from lunch yesterday. And what makes it crazier is that they're all 'straight' guys. Or at least the last time we've checked.

"What's wrong with you people?" I whispered to Jake who was still smiling ear to ear as he held the chair securely for Craige. Something that he didn't bother doing while I was struggling on my toes earlier.

"What's wrong is that he's a really amazing guy and I think I'm in love." he whispered back without looking at me.

"ARE YOU FOR REAL?!"

I must've startled Craige because he flinched which made the chair shake dangerously. My hand automatically reached out to steady him in place, only to land on a very disconcerting place. I slowly raised my head, very slowly that I could swear that I could've strained my neck. Then our eyes met, equally shocked. Mind-blown shock.

'What did just happen?'

My gaze went back down to where my hand was before I ever so carefully removed it. I lifted my hand off him and put it behind me. But the memory of that round and fairly soft area, that I felt tense at my touch, lingered in my head and made my fingers tingle from both embarrassment and incredulity. I wanted to get away from there as soon as I could, but my body refused to move. Even my brain was not functioning at a normal speed. It's as if I was in a frustrating slow-motion picture. Except that my heart was drumming too wildly to be considered slow.

I cleared my throat and managed to apologize in a well-controlled voice, "Sorry."

"No. Thanks." He said absentmindedly, still looking taken-aback. Embarrassed even.

'At least now I know that he's also a human being capable of normal emotions.'

I turned to Jake who still has his mouth open after witnessing what just happened. He looked at me with round eyes as if wanting to accuse me of all sorts of things but just couldn't decide which one to go with first. I raised a finger at him. "Nothing happened."

"B-but...you just..." His eyes darted from me to Craige and then back at me again, making groping motions with his hands.

'I did not grope him! For Pete's sake! My hand just lightly touched his backside!'

But instead of being defensive, I went for an offensive. "If you don't want me to pull out your braces, you better keep this in mind. Nothing happened."

His hands flew to his mouth and covered it. "Nothing happened."

I nodded and turned away. I couldn't dare stay there any longer, knowing that my face looked like it's about to explode any minute. Just when I made it out of the classroom but still within earshot, I heard the boys hoot and laugh behind me followed by the girls' voices asking what happened. And they're wondering why I'm not attracted to any of these simpletons.

'I'LL !@#$%^& KILL HIM!'

And just when I thought that my hands would be dirtied by only one person, I heard Mia shriek at the very top of her lungs to defend me.

"It's not like that! Zee likes Joshua! Not Craige!"

***

Dear Dairy Milk,

Do you think I could still transfer schools?

This is not how it should be!

My plan to lay low was completely trashed out of the window from the 63rd floor.

What do I do now?

I'd like to jump from the 63rd floor too then get reincarnated/transmigrated to another body or another world...

but I'm a Christian.

T^T