Chapter 3

**WARNING: USE OF COARSE LANGUAGE**

Their eyes met. Zayn's mouth was trembling, speechless and anxious. Her eyes, big and round, were fixated on him.

"Come on, Amilia. Why are you standing there?" The girl next to her, presumably Hana, poked her.

Zayn quickly averted his eyes away from her and awkwardly sat down, looking down on the floor. The four of them, Zayn, Amilia, Kim and Hana, settled down at their seats in no time. Zayn sat closest to the back door of the classroom, while Amilia seats diagonally in front of him. They took out their materials for the next lesson, Mathematics, while Kim started another conversation with Zayn.

Kim took out his pencil case, as he asked, "Hey, Zayn. Have you watched that new Shinkai movie?" I know it was released last September, but I thought you might not have watched it."

"Uhh... I think I did? Not too sure..." Zayn dismissed him as he continued to worry himself over Amilia. Under his breath, he said, "Well, hopefully, she does nothing about it."

"Alright, class!" Ms June called for attention, " There is still some time to spare, so I think you guys can talk among your groups of four. Introduce yourselves to one another; I understand that some of you may be from different classes."

Zayn sighed in despair. He turned away from facing Ms June to the two girls in front. They were talking amongst themselves, the train girl and probably about a former classmate, her friend. That left Zayn thinking that both of them were in the same class last year.

A loud screeched could be heard as Kim suddenly jumped out of his chair. Zayn and students near Kim flinched and cringed over that screech and out-of-the-blue action Kim did.

"Sup guys! I'm Kim and this guy next to me is Zayn!" Kim cheerfully introduced them to the girls, as he aggressively wrapped his arms around Zayn.

"Ouch- Dude- Stopped it-" Zayn struggled to set himself free. Hana chuckled looking at the clumsy duo, while Amilia hesitated before she eventually gave a polite smile. Zayn was finally free from Kim.

Both Hana and Amilia introduced themselves before Zayn finally managed to introduce himself too.

"Erm, well I guess I like music and stuff like that." Zayn humbly shared his interest and gave an awkward smile.

He shivered, sensing a glare from Amilia. Her straight face and glaring eyes told Zayn that she would like an answer as to why Zayn had been staring at her. Obviously, Amilia was not happy at the very least. Zayn was not daring to look at her straight in the eyes.

"Nice!" Kim gave a thumbs up which ridiculously resembled what a cartoon character would do. "Let's make a group chat between the four of us so we could share class works and help each other!"

Kim quickly took out his phone and prepared to get both the girls' phone numbers. Kim was surprisingly extroverted enough to easily initiate conversations and ideas like this. If it was Zayn, who was more timid and introverted, he would hesitate everything, getting someone else to initiate. Zayn sighed. The new school year, the tension between him and the elegant stranger who was now his classmate and much more overthinking coming from him, Zayn wished that his worries would go away.

***

The afternoon bell rang throughout the buildings in the school. The sound of chairs screeching and student chatting filled the classroom after approximately four hours of lessons. Zayn leaned back on his chair, relieved that lunch break was finally here; meanwhile, Kim quickly retrieved something in his bag.

"Yo, you go ahead for lunch; I need to meet my club president." Kim dashed out as soon as he zipped up his bag. Zayn was surprised by that sudden task Kim had to settle.

After watching Kim disappear into the corridors, he faced forward and was startled by Amilia, who was facing him. Zayn started feeling that guilt trip. A brief moment of silence between them followed, while other students in the class slowly walked out of class for their lunch.

"Do you... want to go for... lunch?" Zayn did not know what to say and randomly asked Amilia to go with him for lunch.

Amilia was surprised, but her reaction could not really be seen. Her eyes looked down on the floor before she coldly responded, "Sure." Zayn took the bottled drink he bought earlier and led the way.

They both sat on a bench in the school canteen after getting their dishes from the stalls. Zayn picked up the spoon and fork from the tray and mixed his rice with the curry that was served on it.

"So you're not gonna tell me?" Amilia tilt her head as she asked.

"Tell you...?" Zayn was honestly curious.

The both of them stared at each other, eye to eye. Amilia raised her eyebrows, while Zayn continued to look puzzled. Amilia gruntled softly.

"This morning." Amilia gave up and straightforwardly told the issue.

Zayn processed the words she articulated a little too long until realisation hit him.

"...oh... that." Zayn started to become flustered and dropped his utensils back on the tray. "I-It's not what you think. I just thought that I've never seen you in school before and was quite surprised to see you in uniform!" Zayn was flushed in embarrassment.

"So you're not a creep?"

"WHAT? NO!" Zayn freaked out.

Amilia stirred the soup with the spoon in her right hand. Zayn scratched his head, hoping that the situation wouldn't get any difficult for him.

"Well, then I guess I'm sorry... for putting my suspicions on you," Amilia giggled.

Zayn's voice trembled, "N-No, it's alright." How is he supposed to tell her he has been watching her for the past year after their weird encounter.

The both of them finally started eating their meals. The sound of students shouting and screaming during lunch was definitely normal in this school; students were rowdy and playful as always. He scooped some rice and a cut of a chicken fillet with his spoon before feeding it into his mouth. Zayn realised something.

"Amilia... where's Hana?" Zayn timidly asked... He was still anxious around her.

"Hana? Oh... She had to meet with the floorball captain. I think she is being eyed to be the next captain," Amilia answered as waved around her spoon.

"Captain, huh... that must be cool."

"Probably."

Silence followed. After finishing their meal, the two of them promptly returned their trays and headed back to class. Zayn climbed up ahead of Amilia, going up several flights of stairs. When they reached the stair landing of where their class's corridor was, they were joined by Kim and Hana, who were from a storey above.

"Yo!" Kim exclaimed. Hana waved to Amilia and Zayn.

"Did you guys eat lunch?" Zayn asked. The both of them had left the class straight for their errands and Zayn had hoped they at least had something to fill their stomachs.

"Well I did have some biscuits when meeting the president," Kim nodded.

"Somewhat the same for me, too," Hana added. Amilia smiled, happy that Hana had not missed her lunch.

The four of them continued to head back to their classroom for the rest of the lessons that day. Amilia and Hana started chatting as they did before. Zayn took a glance at Amilia. There was nothing to object to the fact that she, a beautiful and charming girl, was the exact same person he had been seeing in the train station. There it was; that same feeling.

The girls stepped into the classroom, but something pulled Zayn away from the doorway. "WOAH-"

He caught his balance, half squatting weirdly after he tried to not fall to the ground. In front of him was Kim, who seemed to be smirking. Zayn quickly stood upright and gave him a puzzled yet slightly irritated look. Kim excitedly raised an eyebrow, indicating something. Zayn gave an even more puzzled look, not sure of where Kim was getting at.

"Guess you really are one dense motherfucker," Kim insulted him.

"The fuck you want? Your stupid face isn't telling me anything, if you didn't know," Zayn cussed back at him.

"Chill, man," Kim scoffed. "How was lunch with her?" Kim nudged his elbow on Zayn. Zayn, on the other hand, was disappointed.

"All that to ask me how my lunch went with a classmate I barely knew?"

"Why not? We all know you're good looking guy here!"

"But I don't shit around, toying girls like some jerk, bro," Zayn smacked Kim. "Let's go. Don't make me mad for no reason." Kim just laughed it off and joined Zayn to enter the class.

Despite his visible reaction, deep inside, his heart raced, flustered by that day's series of events. It was only the first day of school. What else was he supposed to do other than tell Kim how awkward he felt when eating alone with a beautiful classmate he was head over heels for? All that poor Zayn could do was to hide his feelings and not create any waves for now. Who knew what could have happened if Kim, one with the big mouth, got to understand what Zayn was experiencing?