Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Athena’s P.O.V.

With what happened last night, my heart and my mind were battling because I didn’t know how I would deal with Cristoff today. I even asked myself if I was already falling in love with him when I didn’t even know the meaning of the word itself.

We were almost together the whole day yesterday, but when he said goodbye, that was when humiliation struck me again—wrapping me from head to toe. He was already leaving, but why does he have to remind me of my red undergarments that he inadvertently saw?

I was about to enter our classroom, but at the same time, something was holding me back. My heart was hammering so loud like it wanted to come out of my chest. I was torn between cutting classes again or going to the clinic, falling into a deep slumber, and pretending to be sick.

Eventually, I made my decision while swallowing the lumps on my throat and feeling the eccentric shrill into my nerves.

Stepping backwards, I turned around to run away from our classroom as fast as I could. But even before I could move my feet, someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked my way. Our distance was almost an inch, and I must admit that he barely kissed the bridge of my nose when we collided. As a result, my heart leaped again.

“Oops, how I wished that we had the same height so that my lips could go straight there,” he said while pointing at my lips with his pouty lips. He was taller by two inches.

Feeling the sudden heat on my cheeks, I knew that I was blushing again. How many times do I have to feel like this?

If this was what they called an exhilarating feeling when you were in love, then I didn’t know how I would be able to explain this. At some point, this would be my first time, and I was afraid to deal with this odd feeling. With what he said, I ended up dumbfounded not to speak, and I wasn’t like this. The real Athena always had words to say, and all my life, I had never been tight-lipped.

Why does everything feel different every time I was with him? It was as if I always wanted to see him, and I was clueless about when it all started…

It was already too far from the day we had first met. And I must admit that this strange feeling also made me feel scared—scared enough because I might get used to it. That in the end, I would never want to be away from him.

I promised myself not to be friends with anyone here, most especially to him, but what is happening to me now?

“But where do you think you’re going, Helena?” he asked before glancing at his wristwatch with light wrinkles on his forehead. “In just fifteen minutes, Mrs. Cheng will arrive.”

I cleared my throat. “I—I’m going to the clinic… hmm, I have to ask for some medicines. I only forced myself to report to school today because I didn’t want to miss more of our classes, but the truth is I’m still not feeling well. My head still hurts,” I lied. Of course, I had to make an effective alibi.

But little did he know that I was completely fine since last night, and I guessed, he contributed well to my speedy recovery. He made me glow like nobody else could, without even doing anything.

“Is that so? Okay, I have to accompany you to the clinic then. Let’s go, and I’ll be the one to carry your things,” he offered some help.

I was hesitant to give him my bag because it was too girly, but things went too fast. I just realized that my red shoulder bag was already attached to his left shoulder, and he was even holding my glittery folders too.

In the end, I smiled awkwardly. “Hmm, wait—I’ve already changed my mind, Cristoff. I can still attend our class. I mean, I will go to the clinic maybe later. Can I have my bag now? It was kind of embarrassing in front of those who can see us here. I don’t want them to get the wrong idea when it comes to us. They might think of anything else, you know—” I wasn’t yet finished when he succinctly cut me off.

“So what, Helena? Do you think I care about them? We are not doing anything wrong here. And will it be their first time to see something like this?” He almost announced it to everyone that made me tensely wander my eyes around. “Anyway, I will still go with you later to the clinic, okay? Who knows, some feigning sick guys were loitering there aside from the nurse on duty. Come on, let’s get inside our room.”

Almost all students in the hallway were staring straight at the two of us. I even saw how his ex-girlfriend enviously peeked her head at the door of our adjacent room with her menacing eyes stuck at us before Cristoff gave me back my folders and softly turned me around.

He placed both of his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me towards the direction of our classroom. It was as if being electrified by his touch. Shivers immediately ran throughout my spine as fast as the speed of light. But I must admit that I loved the feeling to the point that I wanted to close my eyes.

However, I couldn’t help but think that he was only doing this to make his ex-girlfriend jealous of me, and I didn’t want to be used by him. I didn’t want to get involved in their stupid love quarrel that I might be labeled as the third party in the end.

After Vanessa moved to the other section, Cristoff doesn’t have someone to sit beside him on his right side. I remained sitting at his back, and I had no intention of moving into his ex-girlfriend’s seat. Who knows? There were lots of viruses prowling there that could make me even sicker. I guessed her previous area badly needed thorough sanitation.

As we entered our classroom, we were greeted by a similar scene earlier in the hallway. There was no question that all pairs of eyes were also staring at the two of us here.

Most of them were even busy doing different stuff, yet their world seemed to stop upon seeing us enter the room. Some were looking at us with a tease, a few were giving a vague impression on their faces and others seemed to be doubting—as if something wrong was going on between me and Cristoff.

Then, I realized that it might be because of my shoulder bag that he was carrying. That urged me to hurriedly grab my bag away from Cristoff and went to my chair, but I wasn’t yet able to sit down when I saw a white rose on my desk.

“Boo… sorry, Brent! You only have a white rose, but Dave came first in carrying her bag. It’s already done, guys… I guessed someone has won over Helena’s heart!”

I heard one of our classmates, Jack, teased Brent. If they only knew that Cristoff was even in our house yesterday and we were together most of the day, they would tease us even more. Not to mention that he saw me with my transparent clothes and ate with us during dinner.

“Hey, can you please shut your mouth!” Brent rebuked Jack.

Why did I get so disappointed upon learning the truth that this rose came from Brent? Am I expecting someone to give this to me? But instead of white, I want red. I picked the white rose while dismissing my impossible thoughts.

The reason why I loved roses was that they resembled me. And he, who would dare to love me must grasp my thorns as well. There was no way to hold something beautiful without cuddling its intricate consequences.

Staring intently at its beautiful thorns, I was not born yesterday not to know what this means. Obviously, Brent was trying to confess his secret feelings for me by giving me this.

For three months that I had been studying here at St. Augustine’s Academy, I was able to know the names of my classmates. And I knew that Brent Martin Wright was one of those who were also running for honors.

We experienced being in the same group several times already and I could say that he had the capabilities of being a good leader. He was half-Filipino and half-American who stood at around five feet and ten inches. He was having light brown hair and blue-gray eyes, but he was clearly not my type.

I looked at Brent, and he waved at me with a blush on his cheeks. He was all-out smiling while others were still teasing him. I came closer to them and his eyes scintillated as he smiled even more, but all of a sudden…