chapter twenty five

"Did you hear that Ethan had gotten himself a girlfriend?" I heard the blondie beside me ask her brunette friend. My heart skipped a beat upon hearing that. "Yeah. Do you know who she is?" Her friend replied. I strained my ears to better hear them as students started coming into the classroom. "No idea. I just heard that she's a model," blondie told her friend. "I heard that she's a singer," another classmate butted into their conversation.

What? I shook my head upon hearing what they said. Since when was I a model or a singer?

"She must be really pretty then, since none of the girls in this school managed to catch his eye," the brunette scoffed. "I heard that she seduced him, what a slut," the classmate who butted in previously added.

My lips flattened into a thin line upon hearing that. Pfft, since when did I seduce him? A slut? Seriously?

"As a matter of fact, I was the one who tried to seduce her," an all too familiar voice sounded behind me and I widened my eyes as I turned to look at the newcomer. Ethan. The girls who were gossiping beside me looked up in shock and had the same expression as me. "She's so pretty she could become a model, right? But you all got something wrong, she's from this school, so actually, one of the girls in this school managed to catch my eye," he said smiling sweetly while looking at me. Oh god.

You know that awkward moment when the people who were gossiping about you find out that you overheard them? I wish I could just bury myself in the ground this very instant.

I shot Ethan a look to ask him to stop but he made no intention to and continued to smile innocently at me.

"You know...I don't date sluts, that's why I rejected you guys," Ethan spoke up for me. Warmth blossomed inside me and though I find it embarrassing to be in such a situation, I kinda like this.

The girls stared daggers at me after Ethan's words and I blinked rapidly at the wave of hatred directed at me. Had I just made enemies with Ethan's fangirls? Its gonna take awhile to adapt to Ethan's popularity.

"Class, take out your textbooks," the teacher who just entered said loudly. "I'm Mr Smith, your teacher is absent today, so I'm supposed to take over his lesson," Mr Smith told us.

Although I'm glad that Mr Wallace was absent, but Mr Smith seemed even more unpleasant as compared to him. "I'll give you thirty minutes to study through chapter 8. We will have a short surprise test," Mr Smith announced, earning groans from the class. Urgh. I was right. This was a hundred times worse than being bored in Mr Wallace's class.

I was never good at mathematics, thirty minutes is certainly not enough for me. I flipped through the pages of the textbook, trying to memorise the formulas, but as always, we have a strong repulsion. Groaning, I laid my head on the table as I gave up on studying. As I was about to drift into a daydream, a paper ball landed on my head.

I didn't have to look around to see who had thrown it. Uncrumpling the paper, I read the message written on it.

Don't worry. I'll study with you if you ever need it :)

Turning my head to the side, I smiled gratefully at Ethan who was trying to cheer me up. Thanks, I mouthed to him silently.

"Ok, time's up. Put your textbooks away," Mr Smith's voice boomed. We did as we were told and Mr Smith passed down a stack of test papers. After taking a piece, I passed down the stack and wrote my name on mine.

"Ok, you have an hour, you can start," Mr Smith announced. I froze when I saw the questions on the first page. I have no idea how to do them. Picking up my pen, I tried my best to write out some workings and continued with the rest of the paper, which were not as difficult as the first few questions, but still posed a difficulty to me.

"Time's up, pass down your papers," Mr Smith told us when the bell signalling the end of the lesson rang. After all of us handed our papers, we were allowed to leave for break.

"How's the paper?" Ethan asked as we walked along the corridors to get to the cafeteria. Ethan had his arms around me and was carrying my backpack, we were garnering lots of attention from the students, but I tried my best to ignore their stares. "It was hard, but I tried writing something. My brain's so fried," I sighed. "Don't worry, the test is over. For now, let's try to get your brain into its normal working condition with some food," he told me with a small smile as he patted my head. My heart started pounding harder when he did that. Aah...I'm having all sorts of reactions to him now.

"The subject of today's headlines are finally here!" Ava cheered when she saw Ethan and I walking towards our table. "What headlines?" I asked curiously and Zoey whipped out her handphone and showed me a post on our school's gossip site. "The Girl Who Snatched Mr Popular's Heart". I shook my head upon seeing that and returned Zoey's phone back to her.

"When did this happen?" "When were you gonna let us know?" Ava and Zoey ask at the same time. I scratched the back of neck sheepishly, preparing myself for the inevitable barrage of questions as Ethan chuckled to himself beside me. "I'll go get you some food and then leave you girls alone to talk," Ethan whispered to me as he tried to hold back his smile, leaving me alone to answer my friends. That traitor.

"Calm down, I'll answer your questions one by one," I held both my palms out as my friends approached me in what seemed like a dangerous manner.

I spent the whole of the lunch break explaining to my friends what happened between Ethan and I as they giggled to themselves. "I knew this was going to happen," Ava smiled triumphantly as I shrugged. "So did you all kiss?" Ava asked with a goofy smile and I bit my lip. Is it a good idea to discuss this with my friends in the school cafeteria?

"Actually..." I started to say but was cut off by the ringing of the school bell. Yes! I cheered to myself silently as I gave my friends a fake grin. "Girls...I would love to answer your questions, but I'm gonna be late for class, so...see you guys later!" I shouted as I jogged out of the cafeteria, leaving my friends protesting behind me. I laughed silently to myself before making my way to the classroom for my History class.

*

Time passed pretty quickly that day and soon, I was attending my last lesson for the day, Literature.

I was jotting down notes when suddenly I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

Taking out my phone, I checked my message under my table and saw that it was Xavier texting me.

Xavier: Hey Xael, can I meet you after school today?

My eyebrows quirked up. What's up suddenly? It had been some time since I saw Xavier and I almost forgot that I was supposed to help Maddie take her revenge. I should let her know that I am not able to help her anymore. With that, I made a mental note to text her after school.

Me: What's up? :o

Xavier: I need to talk to you. It'll only take awhile.

Me: Ok. Where should I meet you?

Xavier: In the school carpark?

Me: Okay.

After that, I continued with my note taking until the remaining thirty minutes of lesson was up.

When the bell rang, I packed up my bag and went to the carpark to meet up with Xavier but not before sending a text to Ethan who was having his swim practice today.

Me: Good luck with practice, I'll make my way home myself today <3

Ethan: Ok, be careful <3

"Xael!" I heard Xavier's voice and I looked up to see his head sticking out from his car's windows. I waved back and brisk walked over.

"Get in, I'll have that talk as I send you home," Xavier gave me a small smile and I nodded as I thanked him.

As I got into the passenger's side of the car, I wondered what Xavier wanted to talk about all of a sudden.