September 18th

#Chapter5 September 18th

/"Catch it!/" Noah shouts.

Our school's varsity football team is already practicing for the upcoming competition next week. Anderson High will be competing against Western Valley High. It's Wednesday morning today. Amelia decided that she and I should eat here, outside the field, so she could get a glimpse of Noah.

/"It's so hot out here. Let's just go back inside, so we could also hear the bell ring,/" I told Amelia as I continue biting onto my sandwich that my mom made me. Ham and Cheese is a really great combination. Amelia cheers on Noah and giggles, which in my opinion, it makes me cringe by the sound of it.

/"Because I want to watch Noah and his friends' practice,/" Her excuse. She giggled once more when Noah glanced and smiled in our direction. Amelia starts slapping my arm as I wince in pain, making me rub my arm. /"Oh. My. Gosh!/"

Amelia says as she wiggles my arm that she slapped a few seconds ago. I looked at Amelia as I gave her a questioning look, /"He's smiling again!/"

/"He is not even smiling directly at you! Who knows? Maybe he is smiling at the both of us?/" I said as I rolled my eyes and made my point to shut her mouth but instead, it made her talk more. /"It still counts!/"

She objects. Amelia faced the football field once again and started cheering for Noah over and over again. I can really see that Amelia has a massive crush on Noah since it is pretty apparent that her affection has gone to the next level.

I stood up from the bench and started packing my stuff. Amelia looks at me, giving me a questioning look, /"What are you doing?/" She asks. I spare her an eye for a few seconds and continue packing up my stuff and lunch tray.

/"I am going back inside. I don't want to be late for class, you can stay here as long as you like and admire Noah for as long as you like, but I am not going to risk my grades just to sit here with you all day and admire your crush. With you./"

/"Oh, hey!/" I hear a familiar voice say. I turn my heels around and saw Logan from a distance as he jogs his way towards Amelia and me. He stops in his tracks, bent down as he tries to gather some air for him to inhale. He looks back up at me and smiles, /"What are you guys doing here?/"

/"We just ate our snacks, and I went here together with Amelia to watch Noah practice—Ow!/" I yelped when Amelia stepped on my foot and gave me a don't-you-dare-utter-a-single-word look as I gulp down the lump that was stuck in my throat. /"What I meant to say was, Amelia and I went here to watch Noah and you guys practice for your upcoming game next week./"

/"Oh. If I were you, I'd head back inside the school because it is so hot out here, and our coach might report you for skipping classes,/" I nodded my head without uttering any word at all.

/"Well, we best be going then!/" Amelia says as she grabs me by my wrist and starts dragging me away from the bench and the football field. Amelia and I stopped at our tracks as she turns her head back at Logan and says, /"Say 'hi' to Noah for me,/"

Amelia giggles again, making me want to slap her and put duct tape on her mouth. /"You're crazy!/" I told her.

/"Crazy in love with my Noah./"

I rolled my eyes at her response. Once we are about to walk away from our spot earlier, seeing the football field at this spot makes it greener and more transparent. I took one last glance at the football field and caught Noah's attention. He waved us goodbye, and I smiled at him, /"What is it?/" Amelia asks.

/"Nothing./"

/"Cayden, catch!/" A football player said, taking Cayden's attention. When I heard his name, my head turned, and we suddenly locked our eyes at each other. I feel like he can see something beyond my eyes that I can't see in his.

Cayden was able to catch the ball in a mile of seconds. He then turns his head back to focus on their practice instead of sending me angry looks as Amelia, and I continue to leave the football field.

/"That was such a cold stare,/" Amelia comments. I looked at her and furrowed my eyebrows, /"Yeah, I saw that. No need to ask./"

As soon as we stepped foot inside the school, the bell starts to ring, which means break time is over and it's time to go to our next class. Chemistry is my 4th period, following Ancient History, Literature, and then lunchtime.

I can't wait for this day to be over.

Cayden and I haven't spoken nor have bumped into each other for a few days, except the time when I saw him at Chemistry class the other day, which is a good thing that he and I don't exchange words anymore because what I least would want is to make things worse than horrible. Just seeing his face is enough to make my day go from best to worse.

But I do admit, even though I said this last time, I'll repeat it... He is gorgeous. Not gorgeously beautiful because I don't see that kind of gorgeously beautiful on his face that makes me also swoon, but gorgeously evil.

Not that it is also a problem to me that Cayden and I are not talking to each other, since everybody knows that he is the worst boy in this school, which makes all of the students back away from him but makes all the girls swoon all over him, praising him every time he does a single thing.

By just seeing him sip water from his water bottle, girls are already falling in love with him. He's like a magnet that grabs all of the girls' affection, except mine, though. Why would someone even find him attractive? But one thing I do know about Cayden is the fact that he is in love with his shoes—treats them like his own baby.

/"What happened between you and your best friend yesterday?/" Amelia asked.

/"Nothing much. He just texted me to go to our favorite coffee shop, and he told me that he and his girlfriend had an argument,/" I said as Amelia nods her head without uttering any word. We started to part ways, to go to our respective classrooms.

How I wish I could just skip this day and make it Friday already.

***

Finally, lunchtime has come around. My stomach has been so noisy ever since I stepped inside Literature class, and I lost track of what the substitute teacher was talking about for tomorrow's activity. This is what happens when I am hungry—I get lost, not just mentally, but I actually get lost in what I am doing. It's like being hungry is a distraction, which it really is.

Amelia was forcing me to eat outside the football field once again, but I declined since it is so hot in the afternoon. She decided to go eat with me inside as well, agreeing about what I told her earlier that she won't be able to finish her food if we just stare at Noah outside and die from the heat of the sun.

/"How was your Physics class?/" I asked.

/"It was so boring. I fell asleep,/" Amelia says as I laugh at her. /"And what happened earlier was I didn't get to witness Jeff hitting Mr. Muller being hit on his balls!/" She added with a pout.

/"Why did Jeff even hit Mr. Muller on his balls?/"

/"Because we—I mean, they were studying about the dynamic and kinematic viscosity, which I don't know what it really is about,/" Amelia says as she grabs a tray and waits in line for her turn next.

I grabbed myself a tray and followed after her, /"A quantity in which no force is involved?/" I questioned. Amelia blinks her eyes and points her index finger at me,

/"Exactly, and I don't even know what you are saying,/" She says, making me roll my eyes at her response.

After we got our lunch and paid for it at the cashier, Amelia is trying to engage me in a new conversation when suddenly, someone bumped into me, making the milk on my tray flying in the air. It was like watching a youtube video about a squirrel who was spinning on the bird feeder.

/"What the hell?!/" I hear a high-pitched voice scream. I looked over and saw Katie's shirt wet because of my milk. My eyes widen as Amelia tries to grab me away from the scene, but it was too late. Katie's eyes landed on me. /"You!/"

She pointed at me as she started walking towards me. All of the students inside the Cafeteria stops talking and are now looking at me and Katie, who has gone nuts about her shirt. /"You are such a bitch! You did this on purpose, didn't you?!/" She says.

Before I could speak, she starts grabbing my hair, making me drop my tray on the floor. Another wasted food. /"Ow! Stop it!/" I said as I try to grab away her hand from my head. Amelia tries to stop her, but before she could even lay a hand on Katie, Katie's friends started grabbing Amelia's hair as well.

/"You fucking slut! Seducing someone's man and trying to take an act of revenge on me?! Fucking whore!/" Katie says as she slaps my face. I was shocked, and I froze on my spot, touching my cheek because of the stinging pain from the impact of her hand.

I looked at her and gave her an angry look, /"What? Got something to say? Huh, bitch?/" She screams at my face. I slapped her back, and she was astounded by the way I hit her. /"You are really looking for some trouble. You'll regret this! You messed with the wrong bitch./"

Before she could hit me again, I closed my eyes shut and didn't want my other cheek to feel the same pain once again, making me look stupid. Instead of leaving the scene, I closed my eyes rather as if it would lessen the pain.

I waited for her to slap me or grab my hair, but she didn't. I opened my eyes slowly and saw a body blocking the view of Katie's face and body. I step aside and saw Katie's hand in the air being held by the guy who is standing in front of me, /"Cayden./"

Cayden? Cayden dropped Katie's hand aggressively, /"You could've let me slap her to give justice on what she was doing to you!/" Katie says as I gave her a disgusted look, furrowing my eyebrows at what she just said.

Justice on what I was doing to Cayden? All I did was have a conversation with the guy and did nothing (except when I accidentally bumped into him two times, leaving grease on his shirt and poured red paint on his clothes and shoes).

/"You shouldn't be hitting nor grabbing someone's hair just because you think that she is seducing me./"

/"b-b-but she started the fight!/" Katie lied.

/"What the heck? I did not!/" I said as I look at her angrily, and she looks at me with an annoyed look and looks back into Cayden's eyes.

/"Stop lying, Katie. You can't deny the fact that you are just jealous of Hailey,/" Cayden says as I can clearly tell that he was rolling his eyes at Katie.

/"M-me? Jealous of that bitch? Pfft!/" Katie rolls her eyes, /"I will never be jealous of that fucking slut!/" She looked at me, spitting venom onto my face.

Cayden suddenly grabs my wrist, /"Let's just go. I don't want to waste my time hearing your bullshit Katie,/" Cayden said as he drags me away from the scene. I turn my head back and stuck my tongue out at Katie, and she gave me one last angry look before Cayden, and I left the Cafeteria.

I looked at Cayden without uttering any word. He spares me a look, and once we are already outside the Cafeteria, he drops my hand, /"You should be careful next time./" He says, /"And don't waste your oxygen and saliva on girls like her,/" Cayden added.

He then starts walking towards the exit door of the school. I never even got to say 'Thank you for what he did to me earlier. Even though I find him wrong, maybe he has a heart after all. And perhaps the way I judge him might also change the way I look at him.

/"Thank you,/" I whisper to myself as I watch him leave.