Chelsea and Ethan

I stood up and opened the door when I heard knocks

"We were just going to ask if you saw Jace?" Caspian asked while scratching the back of his head

"He left with Lavalee earlier," I said and he nodded

"Oh, thanks," Elijah said and they left

I looked at Ethan questioningly when he didn't move from where he was standing and he smiled awkwardly

"Uh, are you busy?" he asked and I looked at Jess and Irene from my shoulder

Irene has her headphones on and Jess is busy with her iPad again.

"I guess not as of the moment, why?" I answered and he placed his hand in his pocket

"So, uh, can I invite you to stroll around with me?" he asked

"Yeah, you can," I replied

"I'll just ask permission from Mrs. Conchia," he said

"Uh, okay," I replied a bit unsure

He only asked if he can invite me, he didn't exactly invite me... did he?

Or am I overanalyzing things?

"I'll tell Jess and Irene too. So, let's just, uh, meet at the front door?" I said

"Uh, sure, yeah, front door," he said awkwardly and smiled

Well, that was a bit awkward...

I closed the door and sat on the bed.

"What do they need?" Irene asked and removed her headphones

"They asked if we saw Jace," I answered and took a small sling bag and placed my phone and wallet in it.

I combed my hair in front of the mirror and applied a little lip tint. I saw Jess and Irene looking at me in the mirror.

"Where are you going?" Jess asked with a raised brow

"Um, I'm going out," I said and I saw Irene looking at me with narrow eyes

"With?" Irene asked so I faced them and placed the comb down.

"Ethan asked me – out on a date? Right now?" Jess asked and sat with her legs crossed

"What, no," I immediately shook my head

Why... why would they think that?

"We'll just go around to familiarize ourselves with the place," I said and Jess crossed her arms over her chest

"How naive and numb could you be, Chelsea?" Jess asked me, which made me confused

"We're just hanging out as friends, it doesn't mean anything," I said

"Let her be, Jess, if Chelsea said they're friends, they're just friends." Irene shrugged her shoulders before wearing her headphones again

"Hmm, as you say so," I went out of the room after Jess said that

Their tones say the opposite of what they said though.

I met Ethan at the front door and we went out.

We just decided to walk around the village.

Some students and professors are looking at us probably wondering who we are and if they recognized me as one of the delegates they might be wondering why I'm with a guy.

"How are you?" he asked me while we were walking

"All right, they are always playing around and having fun," I answered

"You?" I asked back

"All right as well, although the lessons are really hard. Jace is the only one who came to class these past few days. " He said

Of course, why would they go to school when they're already working?

That's exactly the reason why they went to school, to guard us.

I just nodded, later he pulled me closer to the street vendors.

There are a lot of patrons... I mean, customers.

"What do you want?" he asked

"Will you buy it for me?" I asked back

"Yes," He answered so I looked at the stall

I'm not really familiar with their names but I've tasted them before because Ravien used to bring us those kinds of foods all the way from here to Japatrein, New Jadecry, or Breakore.

He and Bloom are the ones making it though so I don't know how it would taste when it's sold in the streets.

There's not much difference, right?

"Uh, the white one like fried cotton and the orange one," I said and I heard him laugh softly

I knew it. It's embarrassing that I don't really know its names.

"Sir, two five fish balls and two kwek-kwek." He told the vendor

When I got a plastic cup from the salesman, he gave me a stick and Ethan took it for me.

"The one you said was like fried cotton -" He suddenly laughed so I slapped him on the shoulder.

I admit that I'm naive about street foods, that's because we've never eaten outside.

"Ethan," I complained to him

"Go ahead. This is it, seriously. This is the fish ball and then the orange is called kwek-kwek, okay? " he explained and I nodded

"The kwek kwek is the egg coated in flour, right?" I asked and he nodded

We kept on walking around while eating, after we finished our food, we threw it into the nearest garbage bin and continued to tour around until we encountered a group of girls.

"Hi, brother," they greeted Ethan

"Uh, hello?" Ethan said as if confused

"Are you a player too?" the one who obviously ignored that the person they were talking to was with someone asked

"Yes, he's a delegate and your opponent," I said seriously, which embarrassed the girls and made them leave.

"Thank you," He said after the women left

"Uh, that's nothing," I said and looked at him.

"Come on, maybe they're looking for us." He said smiling and holding out his hand

"O... okay," I said and held his hand.

I averted my gaze and I can feel my face heating up. We continued to walk and I pretended to be busy looking around, when in fact I'm just avoiding him, which is quite ironic since I'm holding his hands.

"Uh, Chelsea," He called, taking my attention

"Are those Lavalee and Jace?" he asked and pointed to the people under the tree.

I narrowed my eyes and I realized it is indeed Lavalee and Jace with Mnemosyne on their lap.

"Yes," I answered and we continued walking.

We kept on talking about random things, well our favorites mostly, as we walked toward the tree where Jace and Lavalee are.

"Sweet," I said making Lavalee sit down and pick up Mnemosyne.

Lavalee's head was on Jace's lap and Mnemosyne is on Lavalee's stomach so when Lavalee sat up, Mnemosyne rolled down.

"What are you two doing here?" Lavalee asked as Mnemosyne played on her lap

"Touring around. How about you and Jace, what are you two doing here? " I said

"While holding hands?" Jace asked and that's when I remembered I was holding Ethan's hand

I felt my face flush, so I let go of Ethan's hand but he kept on holding mine.

"Stop teasing them, Dreice," Lavalee scolded and placed Mnemosyne on Jace's lap

"We're going back to the villa," Ethan said so I looked at him

"Okay, we'll stay here for a while," Lavalee replied so I nodded before Ethan and I walked away from there.

"You're really shy." He said as we walked

"Huh?" I asked in confusion

"Aren't you used to it?" he asked making my forehead furrow even more

"Used to what?" I asked

"Holding hands," he said and I shook my head

"I'm not," I said and I heard him laugh softly

"Let me help you get used to it then," he said and tightened his grip on my hand even more

When we arrived at the villa, we separated ways, I helped Mrs. Conchia cook, while he left to go to Caspian and Elijah.

"I saw that," Jaxith said while leaning on the counter

"See which one?" I asked a little confused

"You're holding hands with Ethan." He said and I felt my face flushed

"Ayiee ~ You and him, huh?" I glared at Jaxith when he started teasing me

"Aw you're no longer our baby," Jess said while leaning on the table

"Stop it," I said and called the others to eat.

Jace and Lavalee had just arrived when I was about to go to the dining room.

"Let's eat," I invited them and they followed me to the kitchen

"Ittadakemasu," Lavalee said with clasped hands.

We ate while Mrs. Conchia continued to remind us what we'll be doing.

Tomorrow, we'll be having many soccer matches to win and then in the evening, Lavalee and Jaxith will be participating in the Mr. And Ms. Intrams Pageant.

We'll be tired, that's for sure but I doubt that I'd hear Lavalee complain.