I

Chapter I

"Deilan! Deilan, wait a minute!" I yelled lightly while running after the boy I consider to be the love of my life. I have been following him for almost 15 minutes trying to give him a box of cookies that I baked.

'I mean, they did say everyone loves good food.'

After those dreadful almost-running walks, he finally stopped and gave me a stern look. If I was the first year me, I would be pretty scared. But now, I just can't help but feel distracted. Chinky black eyes, fair skin, proudly tall nose, reddish lips.

'As expected, he's always so handsome.'

"Your stare is making me uncomfortable." he scolded, causing me to leave my mini reverie.

"What? O-oh, I mean cookies!" I smiled brightly to cover up my stammering. "It's for you."

So I extended my hand to give the box, but he didn't take it.

"Didn't I tell you to get away from me?" he asked. Still, he took the box from my hands, making me a bit hopeful. Though those hopes quickly vanish when he looked at it like it was so disgusting. "I don't accept gifts from strangers."

Then, he threw the box to the ground. Shocked, I didn't know what to say or do.

'Should I pick it up? The box is already ruined and some cookies already fell in the ground.'

I frowned and looked at him.

"Strangers? But we've been classmates for three consecutive years." I faintly answered.

"Then you should've known by now that I don't care." he said and walked away. I looked at his back while my sight became blurry.

'The tears, they're here again.'

As he gets further away from me, the louder the whispers became. The students in the hallways continued to talk about us while I also walk away, discreetly wiping my tears.

There weren't many students, but news like this travels fast. Especially since it's about me and him again.

I hate the whisperings, not only because I can still hear them, but because I know that it'll not make me look any better again.

So why not just forget him? I also wish I can. Every year, I tell myself that I'll stop pursuing him, and every year, I fail. I don't know why. Sometimes I think that I don't have feeling anymore, then I see him and realize that I was wrong.

'It's frustrating.'

"Mara, what happened?!" Margarette, one of my best friends exclaimed as she pulled me towards her. "Ew, don't cry, you look disgusting."

She took out some tissues from her bag and wiped my face.

"Is it him again?!" she angrily asked me. "I'll definitely punch him this time."

She even showed her fists.

"You can't do that." Althea, my other best friend, butted in. "Don't influence Mara with your wicked ways."

"Wicked?! He deserves it."

"Marga, stop shouting and please don't punch him." I tried to calm her down.

"Come on, let's go inside, class is about to start." Thea said.

"But why are you outside the room? Were you waiting for me?" I smirked and teased them as we entered the room.

"No, we just got here." Margarette denied and I just laughed at her.

We sat down and waited for our teacher to come. Thea was quietly reading our lesson while Margarette is talking with out other seat mate. After a while, Deilan with his three friends, Marx, Francis and Jino, also came in. They sat down in the back, also together. I heard Marga cough faintly and then she stopped talking. I chuckled quietly because I know why.

Marga likes Marx.

I looked at him, and I get why my friend developed a crush. He was the walking definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Well, he's not really that dark colored but compared to his friends, he's the darkest one.

Francis on the other hand, was the most pale. I think he's half british, but I'm not sure since I'm not really close with them and I just heard it from the rumors.

All of them have black hairs except for Jino. His hair is kind of orangey brown and he also looks like the most innocent one. We worked on a group project last year so I'm actually quite close with him, and he's also really easy to approach since he's talkative and funny.

While I was looking at him, I saw him look back and smile so I also smiled back and waved a little. At that moment, a pencil flew right in front of him. Thankfully, it didn't hit anyone.

I didn't see who threw it but I saw Marx and Francis snickering. A girl walk behind them and approached Deilan, I looked at them both. She tapped Deilan's shoulder but he didn't look, instead he was just glaring at me.

'The hell?'

I smiled at him but he didn't budge. Confused, I just looked in front because the teacher had already arrived.

Althea, as usual, was practically dominating our recitation. She was the smartest, not only in our class but also in the whole Grade 10.

Each grade has 5 sections. Section A as the highest and section E as the lowest. Thankfully, we're all in section A. So if you're the smartest in this section, you're also considered to be the smartest in the grade.

"By the way, what are you planning to wear for social night? Isn't July 5 next week already?" Margarette asked while munching her sandwich. We're currently in the canteen while eating for recess.

"Just something casual, maybe I'll wear pants." Althea boredly answered. I laughed, she has always been the one disinterested in dressing up. Margarette just rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"I'll obviously make myself really pretty so Marx would dance with me." she babbled and closed her eyes, seems like she's daydreaming. "What about you, Mara?"

"A dress? I'll just look for something in my closet."

"Deilan won't notice you again if you look ugly, remember that." she clicked her tongue.

"Social night is not for us, it's to welcome new students!" I scolded and pointed at her.

She lightly hit my hand and smirked.

"But you still want to be noticed by him, right?" she laughed.

'I thought you don't like him for me?'

Every year, there's an event called Social Night to welcome the new students here in our school but only high school students are allowed to go. It's not like parents would let their elementary children to be out from 6pm to 12 pm for just a party.

"I can't believe we're already in 10th grade." Thea murmured.

"Right?! We've been friends for 4 years, and next year we'll be in senior high school. I'll miss my uniform." Marga answered, hugging her self and her blue ID lace.

Elementary students, Junior High School students and Senior High School students have different uniforms. College students don't wear uniforms and just wear their own clothes. We also have different colored ID laces.

Elementary has orange ID laces. Green for 7th grade, yellow for 8th grade, red for 9th grade, blue for 10th grade like us, gray for 11th, and purple for 12th. College students would have orange ID laces again.

"You'll both still study here, right?" Marga asked, glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Of course." I answered.

"Well, if my scholarship won't get pulled out." said Thea.

"Okay, let's all study here and take the same strand." Margarette said happily. "Let's go, classes are about to start."

"But why do we need to take the same strand?" Althea asked while fixing her things.

"So we can still copy your answers and assignments." Marga answered, making us all laugh.

"You're the only one who copies everything, I only take ideas." I teased her.

"Uh, guys, you should go first." Thea suddenly stopped walking.

"Why? Did we offend you?" Marga asked, concern laced in her voice.

"No, of course not." Thea chuckled. "I just have to go to the bathroom.

"Oh, come on, we'll go with you." I smiled at her.

"No, it's alright, go in the room first." she answered. She quickly walked away, looking back she said, "I'll be quick!"

"Is she alright?" I looked at Marga worriedly.

"She's always going to the comfort room, she'll be fine." she shrugged. We just continued walking towards our room. "By the way, don't mind Deilan."

"What?"

"The incident earlier." she reminded me.

"Ohh, no, it's alright." I chuckled. "I've gotten used to it."

"If I just didn't understand how you felt, I would've literally pulled you away from him."

I laughed at her remark. Yeah, she's been infatuated for Marx for also three years like me to Deilan. But unlike Deilan, Marx is a bit more extreme.

I'm not sure if extreme would be the right word, but he's a womanizer. Marga and Marx had a past when we were in 7th grade and she still haven't moved on. Well they did have a relationship for 2 months, the longest Marx has ever been in so I guess that adds a bit more value?

Those were also the times where sometimes they'd hang out with us. That's where I got to know Deilan, he isn't as bad as what they claim him to be.

'Probably why I like him.'

"That's why you should've given me those cookies!" Marga said, annoyed.

"Don't worry, I'll bake again for you and Thea." I laughed at her. She sighed and tapped my back.

"If he only tasted your treats, he would fall in love, I'm sure!" she exclaimed. I just smiled at her, I know she's just trying to comfort me.

"Impossible." a deep voice from behind us emerged. We looked at him. Deilan looks so tall that it made me feel like a rabbit while he's a tiger. Marga rolled her eyes and whispered.

"Should I just kick him?"

"Or maybe I will fall in love." Deilan continued and looked at me. "But not with you."

My shoulders fell and I just sighed. I've never really been directly rejected like this by him. He just refuses to talk or accept the things that I give him, but this one hurts.

"I kn--"

My sentence got interrupted by the loud sound that Marga's hand did when it touched Deilan's face. I heard whispers and gasps, even my eyes became big. Deilan's pale cheek became red and Marga's handprint was still visible.

"Marga!" I exclaimed and pulled her away.

"You don't deserve Mara." she said. But instead of getting angry, Deilan just kept his poker face.

"Be careful, I like strong girls." he looked at Marga, still emotionless, then walked away.

__________

If someone's reading this, I'd love to read your opinions and reactions, so please comment! And while you're here, you might as well rate this only if you want.

-yany :)