Chapter 30: Breaktime

(Michelle POV)

After the bell rang, our English professor dismissed us, and everyone started getting ready to leave.

My heart was beating a mile a second, but I need to somehow talk to Anthony. At least thank him for what he did earlier.

'Michelle, come on! You can do this! You need to show him that you're not some ingrateful girl.' I told myself.

"Ah… Anthony, thank you very much for earlier." I began.

Anthony faced me after placing all his materials inside his bag, he shook his head as he smiled, "No problem. Anyway, do you have a class after this one?" he asked.

'Was he really asking me that question? Why? Would he ask me to join him for his break? Spend time together? Was this it? The beginning of my blooming campus romance?'

"For today, this class is my last one… How about you?" I replied slowly, careful not to stutter.

"I have another one in about…" then he looked at his watch before looking back at me again, "…8 minutes. So, I guess I need to go ahead. See you on Wednesday." He said still smiling as he stood up from his seat.

His smile just took my breath away. "Yes, s-see you. Goodbye." I replied, then he walked away.

When he finally left, I cupped my heated cheeks with my hands. Okay, so maybe he asked just for the sake of asking and not because he wanted to spend time together. But still! He actually asked about my schedule. Oh, my girly heart, please get a hold of yourself!

Anyhow, after calming down, since I did not have any class left for the day, I called my driver to pick me near my school building so that I won't have to walk to the parking area.

--

The day was Tuesday, and our economics professor was discussing the concept of diminishing marginal utility. Like from the previous timeline, he asked for a volunteer to test the theory and one of our classmates, Jomar, volunteered himself.

Our professor brought out a bunch of chocolate flavored cakes and gave one for Jomar to eat. Then he asked, "How happy are you after eating that? Let's say from a scale of 1-10"

Jomar smiled and said, "7/10, sir. The cake was too small, and it did not satiate my appetite."

My classmates all laughed, and I smiled. Our professor wrote on the whiteboard to record his response.

"Alright, if that were the case, then let me give you another one."

Jomar received it and ate it again. This time he rated it a 9/10 as he said that he was still not full.

Our professor wrote his response again, and then gave him a third one.

Jomar ate it and this time, he gave a 10/10.

My classmates thought that it was over, and I can see Vitto's gluttonous face wanting to volunteer to have a piece of the chocolate cakes. I almost wanted to laugh. I knew what was going to happen next, but I did enjoy listening to the lecture and learning everything again when it comes to this subject.

Our prof gave Jomar another piece to eat and he still rated it a 10/10.

Then, he gave him another one, and everyone can see that Jomar was already having some difficulty swallowing. Everyone laughed seeing his expression.

Our prof gave him water then asked, how he would rate the chocolate now.

Jomar rated it a 5/10.

Our prof smiled as he asked him to take his seat, then he started explaining, "As you saw in our practical example earlier, the utility, again, in economics, the term utility is a measure of pleasure or happiness, so I should say, the happiness Jomar derived from eating the chocolate cakes did not remain constant. This is in line with the law of diminishing marginal utility. That all else equal, as consumption increases, the marginal utility derived from each additional unit declines. In fact, if we asked Jomar to eat more of the chocolate cakes, I believe that the rating he would give to the next unit might even be a negative. Right Jomar?"

"Yes, Sir." Jomar replied.

Then our professor began drawing a graph based on the numbers Jomar gave and continued with the lecture.

I jotted down everything he's said and all the examples he gave. When I became a professor myself, I was not even half as good as him. Anyway, the class continued, until the bell rang without me even noticing the time.

"Alright, next meeting, we will have a short quiz on what we have discussed today. Thank you and see you all on Thursday." He announced.

--

"Ah! Sir Ciel is so amazing, of all our profs, I like him best." Camille who was sitting beside me expressed.

"Me too!" joanie seconded.

As my blockmates started conversing with each other, I felt my cellphone vibrate. I took it out of my bag and saw that there's 1 message in my inbox.

[Is your class over?] – Andy

I typed my reply, 'Yes, just finished. Why?'

[Just checking. Have you bought the supplies for our ES lab on Thursday?]

I smiled, was he using this excuse to spend time with me? Really, buying seeds and pots together? Well, I did say that I will keep my options open. Hehe. So, I replied with 'Not yet. How about you?' Even though the supplies have been sitting in my room since Saturday.

[Not yet either. Haha. Anyway, since our schedule match and we have a 4 and a half hour break today, Lara's asking if you want to join us in heading to the mall to hang out and buy those.]

I read the message again. Ok, so maybe I have been assuming too much. 'Ok, sure.' I replied.

"Michelle, let's go. We're heading to the canteen to grab lunch." Camille called as my other blockmates looked at me waiting.

"You guys go ahead. I'm meeting with some friends." I replied.

Then suddenly, I heard someone snicker. When I turned to face who it was, I saw Angie doing an eyeroll. Huh? What was her problem?

--

TBC