Chapter 3

After my father's death when I was 8, I remember standing there at the funeral, blaming myself from his death, my mum telling me it was not my fault, but we all know it was. It was never the same after that, my mum grew depressed and put herself even more in work, which was her way to cope with it. Which left me mostly alone with my babysitter, my mum hired. To be honest my sitter Mrs Kim was really kind and looked after me well but I wished sometimes it would've been my mum comforting me instead…

*Bell Rings* The weekend felt so fast, it was as if Friday was yesterday. Stella texted me this morning that she got sick and couldn't come. 'Sorry Celinaa, I got really sick T^T, can't come today.' I knew she wasn't really sick, she was just trying to skip the English test we had today, which was in the middle period after the first break. I did feel lonely without her in class, Terry was in another class, I saw James's seatmate was also not here, so I felt him, all lonely with no one to talk to. "Class today we're going to do an experiment, please partner up with your seatmate." How great. Today we had to have a partner, the day when Stella isn't here. James then raised his hands "Miss? My seatmate isn't here today." "Oh let me see who's seatmate is also not here." "Celina, Stella is not here today, you guys could partner up," adsskkndesajiof, how great I have to do a science experiment with JAMES? I wonder how this is going to go..

 Everybody already put on a lab coat, as James turned to me and asked "What size are you?" Why would he ask for my size? Is he going to buy me something? "Why:)?" "Um, so can I get you a lab coat? -_-" "Oh yeah, hehe small…" I FELT SO EMBARRASSED, I avoided looking at him as I took the coat from his hands. The whole session was so awkward, James did most of the work. He then asked me to pass him the blue liquid, but my blind eyes gave him green instead. When I gave him the tube he was looking at the paper while pouring and boom.

The liquid starting pouring out from the top, he quickly went to grab paper towels and I accidentally knocked over the bottle with the liquid and it quickly spread all over the table and was gonna drip to the floor, without thinking the liquid could be toxic I used my hand making sure it doesn't drip down, of course I got burnt and James came back and cleaned it up and then asked me "Are you okay?" I looked at my hands and he grabbed a paper towel and ran it over with cold water and pressed it on my burnt spot. The teacher then allowed us to go to the medbay. I was sitting on the bed when the doctor was putting some cream on my burnt spot. I flinched because it really stung. "You're really clumsy, you know." James said while looking outside the window. "I guess I was just born this way." Then silence filled the room, the doctor told me to rest here and told James to go back to class but he insisted on staying. The doctor then left the room, now only with me and James alone.

It was getting awkward so I asked him questions to break the silence. "So how come you move here?" "Family." "Family?" I said confusingly, wanting more details. "My parents live separately and since I lived with my mum, my dad wanted me to come here and live with him." "Oh..I see." "You're originally from here?" He asked me "No, I used to live somewhere further away, we moved here after an incident." "If you're comfortable with sharing, may I ask what happened?" I felt sad whenever I talked about my dad, I looked down. "You don't have to." "Maybe when we get close enough, I'll tell you." "Alright, let's get closer from now on then." 

If I got to be honest James made me feel comfortable around him already, he was understanding. After school I got my bike, but couldn't ride it because my hand still really stung. I walked home with my bike beside me, just after a couple minutes of walking I heard someone call my name. "Celine!" I saw it was James, he caught up to me and took over my bike and walked with me. "Hey you don't have to, my hands are strong enough to hold it." "I'm not doing it because of your injured hands, I just happen to walk this way home and want to get to know you better." Inside I knew he doesn't go this way. I never saw him, he always walks the opposite way, but I'm not complaining.

I also want to get to know him better. He walked me all the way to my house, it was already dark. He passed me my bike and told me to head inside first. "I'll watch you go first and I'll head inside." I said back, feeling bad that he walked me all the way to my house."It's cold out, head inside." He said insistently "Alright, get home safely." I headed inside and looked out the window as I saw him turning around and leaving. It felt nice to have a new friend.

The next morning my mum had already left for work, so I walked out my front door and collected my bike near the tree in the front yard. Just as I walked out of the gate and turned, James was there. "Were you waiting for me?" I asked confused, "No, I just seemed to pass by, remember? This is also my way from home." "Sure." We walked together to school, and when we got to the front school gate, Stella was there waiting for me with Terry.

"Ooo, who's this?" Terry said jokingly "My friend." "Just a friend?" James said and looked at me. "Kidding." Stella and Terry started giggling and I swear I wanted to stitch their mouths shut.

Class started and throughout the whole time, Stella kept annoying me. "You like him don't you?" "Are you guys secretly dating?" "I totally ship you guys together ;))" I just ignored her, I could tell James could probably hear everything because he said "Stella don't you think you talk a little too much?" And she just rolled her eyes and didn't talk, I was relieved.

As the bell went for the first break, we usually ate lunch for the first break so everybody gathered at the cafeteria ready with their trays. When Terry, Stella and I finished collecting our food we sat down at an empty table. "What a bummer no banana milk today." I complained to them. Just then, as if there's a genie, banana milk plot right next to me. James put his food tray down and sat next to me "Hi guys, you wouldn't mind if I sat with you guys, yeah!" "Sure, why not!" Stella replied as she and Terry looked at each other then me smiling. I knew what they were thinking.

I couldn't help but stare at them,"Why aren't you eating?" James asked as he opened the banana milk for me. "Here, drink up." He's making things more awkward, so I politely declined and slid it back to him and quickly finished my food. "I've finished eating, you guys enjoy your food." I couldn't have got up any faster and sprinted out of the cafeteria. This is going to be the most annoying term.