Chapter One

Lunch is my favorite time of the day, for a few reasons. First, I could order my favorite cheese pizza which is served from the school cafeteria. Second, I got to eat it on my favorite spot, near the window, chilling and alo—

"—Patricia!" Oh. Nevermind. Erica walked to my table and sat on the seat in front of me. She brought out her lunchbox and placed her food on the table. "I told you to wait for me so WE could eat lunch TOGETHER!" she fumed. Her eyes were looking at me furiously.

"Why would I wait for you? I'm hungry!" I replied. "You are so unbelievable!" She blurted before beginning to eat her lunch.

So where was I? Oh, right. I am currently savouring the delicious dairy of the cheese pizza I just bought at our school cafeteria. This would be good for my lunch, on the other hand, Erica is devouring a huge plating of food. I snickered because of how monster she was when it comes to eating.

Erica is my closest friend in the school, she's as crazy as me and that's one reason why we started to get along. She may be a crazy woman, yet still a caring person.

I finished eating my lunch and I still have few more minutes to spare for reading a book. I searched my bag and pulled the book, Atomic Habits, and started reading.

"Patricia, hey..." Erica whispered. I looked at her in annoyance and asked her why. "He's here, Beckett!" she cautioned, her actions were vivid with uneasiness. Curious, I roamed my eyes around the room to find Beckett, who's currently walking towards a table behind Erica's.

I wondered how she would react if she finds out. "He's behind you," I declared. Her eyes widened and cheeks flushed in a cherry-shadow. She slowly turned her head behind to look; and apparently, Beckett was also looking at her and smiled.

Erica mumbled something before she faced me, startled as she speaks, "Why do I have you as my friend? That was embarrassing!" Her body was vividly nervous, and that's all because of Beckett, her crush for almost three years.

She sighed and glanced at me, "Do you have a crush on anyone?" I snorted because that was the dumbest question asked to me. "I don't have a crush and I am not planning to have one," I argued.

It's true. I don't plan to have a liking to anyone. Having a crush is just a waste of time. I ignored her and placed my attention towards the book I am reading.

"What if I show you different guys here in our school? Maybe you would possibly like them," she hinted.

I groaned, "There is no way I would like someone by just eyeing on them!" I looked at her sharply. She rolled her eyes before starting to look around and stopped as if she saw something. I followed the way where she's looking and saw a tall guy wearing glasses. "Him!" she giggled. I faced her and asked, "What about him?"

She glanced at me, "You're unbelievable. Look at him! Isn't he attractive?"

I nodded, "Yes he's attractive, and probably gay. The guy beside him? That's Joaquin, his boyfriend."

Erica frowned and started to growl in annoyance, "You're so picky!"

"As if I asked you to look for a man to love," I scoffed. She pouted and started to look again. Annoyed of what she's doing, I waited to see if she would stop.

"What about him? he's hot!" she crowed. I glanced at the direction she's looking and almost cough. "Erica, that's my cousin!" I gasped, laughing at her.

She also laughed and glanced at me in amusement. "Patricia, what if you're lwsbian?" she babbled.

My eyes widened and thrown a piece of tissue paper to her face. "I'm straight! Just shut up and let's get going to our next class!" I barked.

I stood, slinging my bag and carrying all my trash to throw in the garbage bin. Erica followed and still blabber about me possibly being lesbian.

"Patricia, wait for me!" she sniffled. I continued walking and went to my locker, rotated the combination lock and picked the books I would use for my next classes. I locked my locker and leaned on it, still waiting for Erica to come.

She went outside the washroom and glanced sharply at me before going to her locker a few space from mine. I went near her as she fix her things, "Let's go to our next class."

"Go on your own," she bawled. I snorted and stood still near her locker. "I'm sorry," I apologized.

"Get a crush and you're forgiven!" she teased before walking past me. I followed her as the bell started to ring. We went to our Literature class and sat together on the seats at the back of the room, near the window. As we wait for our teacher to come, we talked about our favorite book.

"Patricia!" Kurt shrieked. I glanced at him curiously, "What's up, girl?"

Kurt's another friend of ours who acts more of a girl than we do. He's a handsome guy and most girls in our class is attracted to him. However, he only likes boys.

He sat at the seat infront of us and knelt his elbow to the table, "Wanna know the latest tea?" Erica and I nodded curiously.

"There would be a prom date event on February 14, starting this month, we're allowed to invite or be invited as dates! You going?" he announced in amusement.

Erica gibed, "I would be 100 percent going! Patricia, we're going right?"

I shrugged. "I don't know yet, I'm not a party-person remember?" I confessed. Erica's face started to frown as if she didn't like what she heard. Seriously, one of the reasons why I won't attend the party was because I don't have any dates, not like I'm interested, but it would be embarrassing if ever.

I wasn't able to respond because our Literature Teacher arrived later on. Instead of being affected by Erica's silent treatment, I just focused on our lessons. I've been fond of literature since I was young and reading books became a hobby. It was then that I realized how I aspired myself of becoming a writer.

The bell rang after an hour as we end the class where I've learned about Sonnets. I carried my books and waited for Erica who remained silence still. I didn't bother her and followed silently.

Kurt went near me and we walked together while Erica is in front of us.

"She's sad because it's been your third time being indecisive if you would come to the event. She's always waiting and eager to see you there, but you didn't," He hinted. I am aware of it, but I seriously don't want to go for the prom night.

"I'll try," I lied while looking at Erica, clueless of what we're talking about. Kurt patted my shoulder before moving near Erica, he nodded as an invitation for me to follow, which I did.

"What club would you join this year?" Kurt asked. Erica said that she's joining the Glee club and Kurt would join the Journalism club. After talking, they glanced at me to know what club I would join.

"I would join the Literature club," I mumbled shyly. They smiled at me and we walked to the registration booth to apply for our club registrations. After filling up, clubroom numbers were given. Kurt And Erica were '12' and '7' while mine was '18'. We bid each other goodbye before going to our assigned room.

I climbed the stairs to the third floor and searched for the number which is designated in the end of the hallway. I knocked on the door before sliding it open.

"Hi, I am Patricia. I would like to join the Literature Club!" I introduced. They nodded as permission for me to enter, there were five people inside. They waved their hands and invited to sit with them. I sat near a girl with glasses, she smiled at me and offered a hand, "Hi, I'm Shine! The secretary of the club!"

I accepted her hands and smiled back. She released it and introduced me to other members. "The girl beside you is Patch, she's our Auditor.That guy beside her is Lhyl and the other one is Sky. The girl behind them is Angel, our Public Information Officer. Our president is Martini, he's outside and inviting students to join," she stated while pointing the other members who are interacting with each other.

"Are there only 7 of us?" I asked. She nodded shyly, "Only a small amount of students are interested in literature, some of us graduated which only left the six of us as official members. Gladly, you're our 7th member."

"Yea, I thought no one would join, if Martini graduated this year, our club would be disbanded due to lack of members," Patch explained.

They told me to feel free of reading the book collection displayed at the back, which I eagerly agreed. I went there and started to pick some books.

"You like that book?" Lhyl asked while adding more books in the shelves. I nodded, "I like horror, a lot."

"Try this," he suggested while giving me a book. I accepted it and smiled at him, "Thank you, Lhyl!"

"No prob—"

"—Guys, let's have a meeting!" Martini announced. Behind him are three students who joined the club. Shine asked me to come with them for the initiation.

I went in front and Martini started to commend each member. "Now that we're a member of 10, we would group into pairs. This would be our first activity and after this shall we start our introduction. Here are the pairs.." he announced the names of each pair, "Patricia and Lhyl."

Lhyl raised his hand to invite me of sitting beside him. I went to him and sat at the chair beside him. "So we're going to write about?" he asked. "About?" I questioned back.

He smiled. "Let's write about love!" I snorted, "No way! I don't like romance, I can't write about love!"

Lhyl patted my shoulder, "Everyone can write about love, because everyone have been inlo—"

"—not me. I haven't been in love and I don't even care about it," I growled. He seemed confused and excused himself. He went to Martini and whispered something. Martini nodded, "Patricia requested to change her partner. Giovanni, you would be her partner!"

A tall guy stood and nodded. He went to my spot and sat beside me. Shocked by the sudden change of event, I wasn't able to argue. Lhyl was weird to say I requested that to Martini. But I didn't bother at all, it was his decision.

"Hey, we're going to write about?" Giovanni asked. I faced him and saw his round, brown eyes staring at me. "What do you like to write about?"

I shrugged in disbelief, "How about you? What do you like to write about?"

He smiled and took his pen in his blue bag, "Somehow, I have interest to write about love."

I shaked my head in disagreement, "I can't write about love."

"Because you haven't experienced one?" he asked. I nodded yes. "Me either," he confessed. I glanced at him with confusion, "How can you write about something you haven't been able to experience?"

He stared at me and smiled a little, "Feelings and experience are different. I may not have experience love, but I felt it. This has become a factor why I could write about love—and it's all because I have emotions; and if I am able to write about love, you can also!"

I felt a sudden inspiration that made me agree with him, "Let's give it a try."

He nodded and starts writing on his paper, "I'll start, and you'll end it." I murmured okay as I waited for my turn to write.

While waiting, I started to brainstorm of possible sequence that I may write. To my surprise, I was able to give a lot of possible sequences. He's right, I could write about love because I felt it.

Few more minutes passed and he hands me his paper, "Now you finish it, just correct my grammar if there are errors." I nodded and started reading his piece.

"I am not a pony of tulips,

but I have lots of colors to give;

and of all this colors is rosy-like lips.

That speaks about love if you see.

The red tulips that spends new romantics,

in a vase, placed on a table where we date.

Inside our home, located in the attic—

this love is ours, mark the date."

I was mesmerized by the way he have written the poem. I glanced at him in amazement, "You're so good, I wanna punch you in the face!"

He laughed and shooed me so he could read as I write my part. Thinking of how to give a much vibrant aura in the poem. Few minutes passed, I started writing my thoughts on the paper Giovanni gave me. Surprisingly, I was thinking about him while I was writing the poem. After being done, I reread my part and search for its cohesiveness. When I felt comforted, I felt a little shaky as I called his name to read my part.

"You're done? Woah, it's like 10 minutes when I asked you to write," he said. I handed him the paper and he began to read it, "As the flowers we planted blossoms..."

"...it's the love formed by you and me.

The kisses and hugs I have fathomed,

why being with you—I felt glee.

For together, we could build forever;

and it would really be fun—

that in your arms I could feel slumber,

for I know that you've always been the one."

"Wow, that's a great poem!" Martini congratulated proudly, and the others agreed. I smiled genuinely and Giovanni said thanks. We sat back to our spot as we listened to the others.

"How long have you been writing?" he asked curiously.

"I just started last year, my best friend motivated me to write," I bragged. I glanced at him, "How about you?"

"Almost three years, I started when I was eleven. It was just a hobby, until it became my passion," he explained.

I nodded and didn't asked anymore, and it felt akward. Honestly, this was the first time I felt difficult socializing with someone. I've never been speechless. But why can't I think of anymore questions to ask?

"Pat—" "AAAAHHH!" I screeched because I felt someone grabbed my arm. Then, it has come to my senses that it was Giovanni who's been holding my arm. "You were zoning out, Are you okay?" he asked in concern.

"I was just thinking about something, I'm okay!" I cheered. He nodded before turning his gaze in front. What's happening to me? Why did I zone-out?

Martinis stood and went in front, "Okay, now that we finished our first activity. I would like to commend each of you for having great skills in creative writing." He moved towards us and smiled, "Patricia and Giovanni, you're a great pair. Keep it up!"

Everyone clapped their hands and the club meeting was adjourned. Giovanni and I went outside and walked downstairs.

Lhyl went near me, along with Sky and Angel. "That's a good poem. I knew you could do it!" he praised. "Yeah, you were great there!" Sky seconded. Angel just smiled at me. They waved goodbye and passed by us.

"They were praising me, but they didn't know you're the reason why I was able to write that!" I told him. I observed how silent he was earlier when Lhyl was beside me. "You were greater than me!"

He snickered and stroked his brush-up hair, "Thank you! We were a good match."

My eyes widened as I felt my stomach started to tingle a bit. What was that? I laughed nervously, feeling the droplets of sweat on my forehead. "You're right! We're a go—"

"—Patricia!" Erica broke-in. Why do you come in such a wrong-timing? She ran towards me while waving her hands. Her shirt was wet with her sweat, she auditioned for the Glee club. "You passed?" I greeted in excitement. She nodded and we hugged each other.

Kurt came along and hugged us too because he passed the journalism try-out. "So who's that guy behind you?" Erica begged in curiosity. "Is he your suitor?" she announced loudly, just as loud as Giovanni heard and he laughed.

"He's my partner," I complained. Erica and Kurt hugged each other and flustered. "Our Patricia has a partner now! My heart!" Erica jested. I am so done.

"Idiot. He's my partner in our club," I scowled. "Oh," they said in chorus. "Let's get going," Giovanni commanded. He walked past us as we followed him.

The bell rang for dismissal and we walked outside the school to go home. Erica and Kurt were in front of us, talking about Beckett. Giovanni and I were silently walking.

I can't handle the akward mood and started asking him, "Where do you live?"

"Near 7/11," he chatted. His eyes were focused on the road as he holds the tip of his uniform, as if he is feeling shy. "How about you?" he stammered. I glanced at him and he bowed his head down, yet that his face is visible with a rosy blush.

"Erica and I lived together at Centennial Garden. Her dad and my mom are currently live-in partners, so we're considering each other half-sisters," I vent on. I changed the position of my bag to my other arm.

"Ain't that akward?" he protested. I shaked my head in disagreement. "We're best friend ever since. It's not really that akward, or does it not really change our relationship with each other," I retorted. He nodded and remained his gaze on the road.

"What about your biological father? and Erica's mother?" He added.

I quipped and scratched the back of my head, "My dad left us when I was a newborn while Erica's mother died of cancer, our widowed parents seeks comfort with each other by that time and that's the start of rebuilding a new family."

He glanced at me in amazement and didn't ask any more questions. We reached 7/11 and he bid us goodbye.

We remained on the spot to see where he would go. He went inside a subdivision beside 7/11 and he slowly dissapeared out of sight.

Erica grabbed my arm and pulled me beside them. "So what did you talk about?" she squeeked.

"About our parents?" I hintes. "That's all?" Kurt whimpered in disapproval. Gosh, this people.

I pushed them away and continued walking, "What do you want to know?"

"EVERYTHING!" they chorused as they ran towards me, excited about my story. I told them everything, from the poem-writing up to how I zoned-out and how I became nervous of his words.

"I CAN'T! This is really happening!" Erica screamed as her cheeks blushed."You like him!" she marveled. Kurt offered his hand for a high-five and Erica clapped with it.

HOLD UP! I like him? "SERIOUSLY?!" I doubted.

"SERIOUSLY!" they barked back. Kurt walked in front of me, holding my arms. "You never experienced liking someone—it might be strange to you, but Erica's right, you have a crush on him!"

I annoyingly pushed them away and walked faster. They chased me until we reached home. I entered and went to my room as fast as I can, locking the doors so they couldn't come in.

I don't like anyone! It's not real that I have a crush on him! We just met earlier at the club meeting! How is that possible?

I changed my clothes and placed them in the laundry bin before resting on my bed. It's 5:37 PM on the afternoon, I could still take a nap.

I played some music before closing my eyes shut. But, a sudden thought come across, why did I think of his face?

He's quite handsome, his eyes are round and it also smiles along with his dimples. His hair is brush-up and he smells really good. He has a great and welcoming personality, it's not that bad to have a crush on him.

What am I even talking about? Do I really like him? But I've never have a crush on someone! How...

Someone knocked on the door. I don't have energy to stand-up so I ignored the knocking. "Open the door, Patricia; or I'll call Giovanni to come over!" Erica taunted.

I immediately stood and unlocked the door, only to see her smirking. "Got you. How would I call him if I don't know his number?" she scoffed. Annoyed, I slammed the door and took one of my books on the shelves and thrown it at her. "I don't like him! I don't have a crush on anyone!"

Erica rushed and calmed me. "You know, that's the same thing I felt the first time I had a crush on someone, It's normal and there's nothing bad about it!" she cheered.

I was still confused and sat on my bed, "But I only met him earlier? How could I possibly have a crush on him? We just talked for an hour or two!

Erica's eyebrows furrowed, "Why don't you ask mom about that?"

"Are you serious?" I said, looking at her in confusion. She raised her eyebrows. "Do I look like I'm joking? Tell mom, she's open minded. She'll understand it!" she adviced.

I glanced at her to see if she was serious, and not a single face of tease was seen. I nodded in defeat and came with her outside my room. We went to the kitchen only to see Mom, cooking and preparing for our dinner.

Erica shooed me so I could talk with my mom and so, I went to the kitchen and sat at the round seats in front of the counter-table—silently waiting for her to turn her back, and as she did, she was surprised with my presence. She smiled and waved her hands, signalling me to wait.

She stirred the stove in a high-warmth degree before gazing her attention towards me. She wiped her hands on her apron and sat on the seat beside me, "So, what could be your problem? It might be a confusing one because you came here to ask me."

"Err... how would you know if you have a crush to someone?" I asked shyly.

Her eyes widened and smiled amusingly, "Well, when I first met your step-father. I never cared because I was still mending my heart; but his existence, mends it quicker, and it confused me—how is that possible? I am heartbroken but I felt such warmth and comfort with him existing. It was then that I find out I had a crush on him, we became close friends until it grew deeper."

She stood and hugged me, "Maybe, the reason why you have a crush on that person, is because you're also seeking for validation towards a guy with such great quality, whom you weren't able to feel to your dad."

She went back to the stove and stirred the pot, she scooped some food and placed it in a bowl, then served it to me. "Your feelings are valid, Patricia. Don't repress that feeling, let it flow. Just love," she cheered. I nodded as she left the kitchen.

Oh, does it really felt good to have a mom like that. I ate the food she served and washed the dirty bowl I used. After, I went upstairs. Erica smiled at me when I showed her a thumbs-up sign.

I came inside my room and sat on my bed. Maybe, my mom's right. This guy is such a different person, there's really nothing bad if I have a crush on him. Gosh, is this for real?

I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes shut. I saw his face, and I felt the same emotions my mom felt when she saw our step-dad. Yea, this is strange. But maybe, really, I have a crush on a boy named Giovanni.