Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Isabella's pov;

While I was returning the book I borrowed from the library for the test, someone tapped on my shoulder and made me turn to take a look at them.

"Jeremy!"

"Came to return the book?"

"Yup! Already done with it."

"Wait for me at the door."

I gave a nod and came out of the library.

I looked here and there to check if Harry's around anywhere. Jeremy came and said, "Sorry for keeping you waiting for me."

"It's fine."

He started to walk so I tagged along with him.

"Um… about the concert, I can't go. I'm meeting my high school friends this weekend."

"It's fine. We can go next time."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't need to apologise for that. Anyways, are you meeting them after a long time?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"It's all on your face. You look excited."

"Yeah, it's been a long time since i saw and hung out with them."

"Enjoy the time with them. Since I moved here, I have lost all my friends. Even though I have friends here, they can't be like my school friends, right? So enjoy it well."

"Okay."

"I got a class to attend. See ya later."

"See ya."

I waved at him while he was leaving. I saw the expression on his face. He looked upset. I'm sorry.

While I was on my way to the class, someone covered my eyes from behind.

I touched their hands while asking, "W-Who's this?"

They took the hand and said, "It's me, Carlos."

I let out a relief sigh after seeing him.

"What happened? Did you get scared?" He teased me.

"Scared, my ass."

"Hey! I heard that someone threatened you. Who's that?"

"Where did you hear it?"

"From the sports club."

I have to find that person who's spreading that rumour when I have time.

"No one threatened me. Someone is spreading rumours about me behind my back."

"So it was just a rumour?"

"Yup!"

"Okay, are you coming this weekend?"

"Where?"

"To our place. Julian's coming."

"I can't go."

"Why?"

"I'm meeting my friends this weekend."

"What about us?"

"I'll join you guys next time. Tell Julian too."

"Okay."

Inside the class,

Tracy and Jose were talking to each other. I took my seat.

Tracy asked me, "Where did you go?"

"To return the book to the library."

Tracy went back to talk with Jose.

I took out my phone to check the place where the get-together was. There wasn't a single message mentioning about the place in the group.

I messaged Noah, "Where are we meeting tomorrow?"

He wasn't online. I put my phone back into my bag and dropped it on the desk to take a nap.

After a while, my phone vibrated. I sat straight and took the phone out of my bag and checked if it was from Noah. Like I guessed.

After opening his chatbox, I saw his message.

"The front room at Barnes road."

I had never heard of this place before. I looked it up online to see where it is and how it is.

The pictures of the front room looked like some old bars in cowboy times. The place looked good. I checked the time. It closes at 9 pm. Fine. I can go there.

I gave a thumbs up reply to Noah and put my phone back into my bag.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. It was Mike.

“You alright?” he asked.

I shrugged, looking at him. “Yeah why do you ask?”

He laughed. “Just wanted to make sure that you are okay.”

That caught me off guard and made me pause and asked, "What made you ask me?"

"The rumour that someone threatened you in the hallway."

I let out a sigh and asked him, "Who did you hear it from?"

"In the sports club."

My eyes scanned the room and saw that everyone had started talking and looking towards me.

Tracy gave me a look of pity which I tried to ignore. I looked back at her, her face filled with worry.

"You ok?" she asked softly.

I nodded, even though she couldn't see me.

"What's up?"

"I have to go somewhere."

I stood from my place and headed to the sports club.

“Good morning, mam!” I greeted as I entered the sports club meeting room.

"Come in." Ms Hilton invited me in and asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know if you know about this but there's been a rumour spreading around campus that I got threatened by someone. And, when I asked who they heard it from. Everyone said that they heard from the sports club. I'm not accusing people from sports clubs but can you please talk them out of it, please?"

"Okay. I'll take care of it. What about the rumour then? Is it a lie or did someone threaten you?"

"No, I didn't get threatened by anyone."

She gave a nod and said, "You can leave."

When I opened the door, Harry was standing in front of me.

Ms Hilton asked, "Did you get the things I asked you?"

Harry entered the room and answered her, "Yes, Ms Hilton. Everything's in here."

When I tried to leave the room, Ms Hilton called me and said, "His name is Harry. He's the one who's taking care of the first year students. You can talk to him about that."

Harry asked her, "What is it, Ms Hilton?"

"She's Isabella from business administration. There's been a rumour spreading in the campus that she got threatened and someone from the sports club did that. Take her to the freshers and talk about this with them."

I interrupted, "It's fine, Ms Hilton. I'll talk to them by myself."

"Go along with him. The students are kinda scared of him." And turned to Harry and said, "Take her with you."

"Yes, Ms Hilton."

Harry whispered to me, "Let's go."

We walked alongside on the playground.

He said, "Tell me what happened."

"Someone is spreading the news about you threatening me."

"There wasn't anyone while I was with you. Who might be that person?"

"Are you the one who spread the rumour?"

He gave a stare at me and said, "I didn't. What am I going to gain because of that rumour? I think someone saw us together. Maybe it's one of the juniors like Ms Hilton said. Maybe they spread this to tease me. Who did you hear it from?"

"Tracy, Mike, Carlos. When I asked them, they said they heard it from the sports club."

"Who are they?"

"Tracy and Mike are my classmates. Carlos is a friend from other faculty."

"Okay, come."

He led me to a group of students and made me stand along with him. A small crowd had gathered around us, everyone looked at each other and stared at me. I watched as he was talking to them, "Who spreaded the rumour that i threatened this girl? Come out before I found out the person on my own. If you step forward, the punishment will be lighter, otherwise you know how hard the punishments are…"

Sh*t! He sounded scary while he was talking to those freshers. No wonder they spread the news about him like that.

A girl stepped forward after Harry shouted at the crowd. She apologised to him and to me as well. He asked her to run five laps around the ground.

"It's fine. She doesn't have to run. She already apologised, right?"

Harry said, "This is not just for her to learn from the mistake. By seeing her run like that, others should be aware of making this mistake."

"Still, five laps is too much."

Harry turned to that girl and said, "Three laps."

She smiled at me and started running around the ground.

Harry asked everyone to leave and said to me, "If you heard another rumour like this, report it to me."

I gave a nod and tried to leave.

"Wait."

I stopped and turned.

"I'm not going to kidnap you so don't run like that and Stop getting scared of me. It makes me upset."

I gave a nod.

"What is your number?"

"Huh?"

"Your number. You changed it, right? What's your new number?"

After saying my number, I said, "I don't use my phone that much."

"It's fine."

He saved my number in his phone and said, "I'm sorry for behaving like that. I got mad after hearing it from you. I shouldn't have reacted like that. My mistake. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We're all humans here, we all do things we regret afterwards and try to fix them. And, thank you for resolving this issue."

He sighs in frustration, running a hand through his hair.

In the house,

"Why does your room look like this?" Rose got shocked after seeing the messed up room with clothes everywhere.

"I'm trying to find an outfit for tomorrow but i couldn't select anything."

"It's because you're nervous."

I dropped on the bed and asked her, "Please, help me out."

She let out a chuckle and asked, "Do you want to dress up in a particular colour?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, is there any theme for the get-together?"

"No. There's nothing like that."

"Do you want to dress up in any colour you wish?"

I stood up from the bed and said, "Actually, I'm thinking about something in light colour."

"Light colour… what about this one?"

She showed me a light blue top and denim pants.

"Nah! We'll go with… pink."

She showed me a pink crop top which Mr Martinez bought me last weekend when we went to the beach.

I shook my head and asked her to look for another outfit.

"Rose, Where's the denim pants you took before?"

She picked it up and gave it to me and asked, "What about the top?"

I smiled mischievously and showed her the top. A solid ribbed crop tank top.

"Does it match the denim pants?"

She nodded hurriedly and said, "Yup!"

"Thank you for helping me out."

"Just leave it as it is. I'll clean it tomorrow."

"It's fine. I'll stick them back into the wardrobe."

"Without folding?"

I scratched my head and said, "I don't want to bother you."

"I'll arrange it for you."

"Thank you again."

After she left, I took the clothes from the bed and placed it on the chair beside it and hung my outfit that I'm going to wear tomorrow.

The clothes were still very dusty but they didn't look like the kind of things that would get dirty easily when I touched them.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. When I returned to my room there was no light in the living area. I turned off the lights and climbed onto my bed. I pulled the blanket over me, burying myself into its warmth, inhaling the smell of cotton from my pillow as I did so.

It was almost three am when I finally allowed sleep to claim me for good.

The next day,

I looked at myself in the mirror to check how the outfit looked on me. Good. I still got it. I held my hair and asked myself, "Tied up or hair down?" Both looked good in this outfit.

I came downstairs and saw Mr Martinez talking to Big brother.

"Big brother?"

"Nice outfit."

"Yup!" I walked over to him and asked while holding my hair up together in my hands, "Should I tie my hair or should I leave it like this?"

Before Big brother answered, Mr Martinez said, "Hair down."

I asked Big brother again, "Hair up or hair down?"

"Leave it like this. It looks good on you. Are you leaving now?"

"Yes. They asked me to be there at 2 pm."

"Okay. When will you come back?"

"Before 8. Because the place closes at 9."

"Okay. Enjoy your time with your friends. And, ask them to come to the house someday."

"Okay. See ya."

I looked at Mr Martinez and said, "I'm leaving."

He gave a nod and went back to his work.

"What happened between you two again? Why aren't you looking each other in the eye?"

"Big brother, I gotta go. Bye."

In The Front Room,

I saw Sophia standing along with her girlfriend Carey. I hugged her when I saw her.

"How are you doing?"

She pinched my ears and said, "Why did you ditch us? Answer me first."

"Ack! Ack! It hurts."

Noah came and joined us.

I screamed out to him to help me but he said, "Pinch her ear harder for me too."

I stomped on Noah's feet and said, "Traitor!"

Evelyn, "Let go of her ear. It turned red already."

"What? Someone give me a mirror."

Carey gave me a mirror and I looked into it. My ear looked red hot and I was shocked.

Sophia asked me, "What's with this expression? It's not like for the first time I'm pinching you."

"It's not you. It's him. There's a guy who gets hyper when he sees a little bruise on me."

Noah asked, "Alexander?"

"Yup!"

Evelyn teased me, "Someone got a possessive boyfriend here."

Evelyn teased me, "Someone got a possessive boyfriend here."

I blushed slightly before replying in the same teasing manner. She just gave me an annoyed look in response, as I could hear her grumble under her breath. When she caught me looking at her, she stuck out her tongue at me, causing my cheeks to burn even more.

I asked Noah, "Where's Liam? Why isn't he here yet?"

"Didn't you see the message? He said he had some important stuff to do."

"Oh, okay."

Evelyn, "Let's go in."

We entered the Front Room. It's a little casual bar but looked cosy and warm once I stepped in. It looked as if I saw it in the pictures.

We took a table of five.

Noah, "Okay, let's start ordering the food. What would you like to have?"

I said, "I want to try fish tacos and calamari fritters."

Sophia said, "You did research on good foods served here, right?"

"Yup! Almost everyone suggested fish tacos so I want to have a taste of it."

Evelyn said, "What? I don't like that stuff."

"Well you don't need to eat it if it's not in your diet."

"I didn't say that, just that I don't like it."

"...Alright. Just know I'll do my best to convince the rest of you guys too."

Noah laughed and said to Evelyn, "Leave the fish tacos, what do you want to eat?"

She looked at the menu and said, "Meatloaf slider and draft beer."

I asked, "Are you going to drink?"

"Beer and meat goes well. Haven't you tried that before?"

I shook my head.

Carey said, "Yes, she's right. Beer and meat taste good. You should try it."

"Okay."

After the food we ordered came, we all dug in.

The fish tacos were fantastic and so good which made me want to order more of this.

Noah asked about the tacos.

I replied, "Outstanding. I love it."

Noah took a bite from my fish tacos and said, "Yummy. It's delicious. Evelyn, you should try this. It really tastes good."

One hand, Noah was feeding Evelyn with fish tacos and on another hand Carey and Sophia were eating their oysters happily. Once again, I felt like a third wheel again. But i didn't mind it since the fish tacos in front tasted more delicious than them. The calamari was tasty too. Should I try meat and wine? I'm living in a state where wine is popular. If I shouldn't have a drink, it's wrong, right?

I ordered a wine and meat slider to know how it tastes.

After a bite, I fell in love. This is the food of life. We ordered burgers since they suggested it as the special.

Eventually, I started drinking more wine. I walked to the counter. I'm not really the adventurous type to try out the new wines but I took the risk. The guy behind the counter said he does but it's special. So I got a beer and a bottle of white wine instead. I think I'll just stick with beer since this will probably be an early night, but who knows.

I shouldn't get drunk.

Noah tapped me, "Stop drinking." And took another shot of beer.

I've only been here five minutes and it's already starting to feel like too much of a big deal, just how many shots did i drink?

We came out of the bar being all drunk. I shook Sophia and asked, "Please, drop me at my place."

She mumbled something which I couldn't understand.

While I was stammering to my friends, I heard someone calling my name in the distance.

"Who's it?"

As they walked near me, I recognized their faces. Harry.

When I tried to walk, I stumbled on my steps and tried to fall down but he held me before that.

Harry asked, "Why did you get drunk?"

"It was Noah's idea. We were trying out the new drinks and in no time, we all got drunk. Hahaha."

Everyone laughed along with me.

Harry said to my friends, "I'll drop her at her place."

I said to him, "I can go by myself." And tried to fall again.

He got hold of me and said, "Let me come with you too."

He wrapped me with his jerkin and said, "Hold on it." And called a cab.

In the cab, I looked outside and counted the stars since it was fading away for every minute I took a look at them.

"Can you recognise me?"

"I'm not wasted. I can tell who you are."

"What is my name?"

"The bully."

"You dare to call me that."

"What will you do, huh?"

"You're drunk so I'll let you go this time."

"What if I'm not drunk?"

"I'll take you with me where Alexander wouldn't find you."

"You're threatening me again."

The car stopped moving. Harry took me out of the car. When I looked at the place, we're in front of Mr Martinez's house.

I said to Harry, "I can go from here. Leave."

"I'll come with you till the door."

"I'm fine. I can walk. Just go. If Mr Martinez sees you, he'll get mad so please leave."

I walked on the pathway steadily but fell here and there because of my heels.

Harry held me and took me to the door.

"Okay. Leave before he sees you."

Mr Martinez opened the door and looked at us together.

"Mr Martinez, I can explain."

Mr Martinez asked me, "Did you get drunk again?"

"A little."

"What is he doing here?"

"H-He came to…"

Harry said to Mr Martinez, "I came to drop her."

Mr Martinez asked me, "You said you're meeting your high school friends. Was he included too?"

Harry answered, "I met her in front of The Front Room after she came out with her friends."

Mr Martinez put my hand around his shoulder and took me in.

Harry asked, "Ask her to return my jerkin on Monday."

Mr Martinez stopped going into the house and removed the jerkin from me and threw it in my face and said, "Leave."

After coming into the house, I stood on my own by leaning onto the stair handle and said, "I can go to my room on my own. I don't need help."

Suddenly, Mr Martinez took me in his arms like a princess and said, "Wrap your hands over my shoulder."

I looked at him as he was carrying me upstairs and leaned on his chest and fainted.