The News (2)

"I don't think I can join." Althea shook her head.

"What? But why? Thea, we need you." Karin gave her puppy eyes look again.

"We? Who are we?" Althea pinched Karin's cheek, not falling for her pitiful look this time.

"Yeah. Me and the other member who will join soon." Karin send signals to Lucas with her eyes. Lucas absolutely refused to be the other member, but he joined in convincing Althea regardless.

"Karin is right, Thea. You are the only one eligible who already knows how the competition work. Your help will be needed." Lucas pointed out. Indeed, the other two members of Althea's teammate last year have already graduated, thus impossible to join the competition.

"Ahh what about this. You look for two other members, then I'll tell you guys about last year's competition. If there is no one joining then I'll join." Althea compromised.

Karin wanted to say something more but Lucas stopped her by his gaze, telling her to give in for now.

"Sigh .. Okay..." Karin sighed in defeat.

***

That afternoon, Althea faced the two person with a similar begging look on their faces, standing close to the entrance of her class. One of them was Karin, obviously, while the other one...

"Dev?" Althea asked, not expecting him to be the other member asked by Karin.

"Vice-Pres, please join us." He made a please gesture with the most pitiable puppy eyes he could manage. The look might seem weird for other guys, but considering his friendliness and energy which is almost on par with Karin's, Althea found it adorable. But...

"Guys, I'm sorry, but I don't think I could help you." Althea looked at them apologetically.

"That's not true, you are the only one who can help us!" Karin exclaimed almost immediately.

"... And the other eligible member I told you to search?" Althea asked.

"You're the most eligible person in the entire school, Thea." Dev interrupted. The students passing through the hallways start looking their way and Althea felt a bit embarrassed being crowded like this.

"Umm, alright, can you give me time to think?" Althea sighed. These two, even one of them is a tough nut to crack, forget about two.

"Okay. The registration is until tomorrow so please tell us as soon as possible!" Dev said. He gave some more words of persuasion before going back to his own class.

"Karin, let me think." Althea said as she saw a sign of further persuasion from Karin's face. Karin pouted and slumped on her chair once they entered their class.

'Sigh...' Althea exhaled silently for who knows how many times by now. This problem made her torn.

She lifted her phone and thought of the one who she can confide in when she had such a problem. Yeah, she will need advice.

"Ray, my friends asked me to join them for a debate competition." Althea sent.

"I see. When is it?" He replied.

"It's not announced yet. But I'm still wondering if I should join or not." she typed. Her eyes turn to the class' clock. Still some time until the next lesson.

"I don't know." He answered.

'What? What's the use of asking you then?' Althea felt a bit annoyed and typed again, "Can't you give me some suggestions on whether I should join or not?"

"If you want to join, you should. If you don't, then don't." Reading his answer frustrates Althea more.

'I wouldn't ask if I already know that, alright?!' Althea grumbled as she typed again,

"It's not about whether I want to or not, it's like this..."

Althea told Ray about her experience last year, her condition now, and how her friends asked her to join.

"I see." was all Ray said, which almost drove her mad.

'Did this guy really said he loves me? How come you said only that to the girl you're trying to woo, huh?!'

Althea was about to bite back but Ray sent again, "Ignore your friends." He said.

'This ---'

"I can't. They relied on me and I don't wanna disappoint them."

Their endless discussion which seemed like it's going nowhere continued until the bell ring.

"Then don't go." Ray said, annoyance thick in it, or maybe it's just Althea's assumption as it's only a text.

'But I kind of wanna go...' Althea debated within herself but kept her expression the same. Karin looked at her questioningly before Althea shook her head.

"But if I don't go then my friends will be troubled." Althea typed, hiding her phone under her table. She never text during class before, but right now she needed an answer badly.

"Okay. You go and I won't eat for as long as you're gone."

Althea's mind halted. She felt even more troubled as she knows Ray wouldn't say something he won't do.

"What? it has nothing to do with your meals." Althea said.

'And does he even know how long will I be gone for? the competition lasts for three days!' she thought.

"Doesn't matter. Your friends asked you to go, and I will not eat if you do. So what will you do?" Ray asked again and Althea felt her eyes pricked. What does he want by making her even more troubled?

"I can't choose," Althea said. Ray is immensely important for her but she loves her best friend and appreciates Dev too.

"Then just go. It'll only be a few days at most." Ray replied and Althea's face started to feel hot as her mind turned into a jumbled mess.

"Why are you doing this?" she typed furiously.

"You can't choose so I'm helping you."

"It doesn't help!" Althea felt her tears threatened to fall, so she quickly looked outside the window to hide it from Karin. Ignoring whatever the teacher is saying in front, she continued her protest.

"It only troubled me! Why are you doing this when I start to like you??" Althea sent back just as fast as her heart felt both frustration and helplessness from the talk.

"... Really?" Ray replied.

'Really what?' only then did Althea realized what she just sent.

'Oh. Great.'