Chapter 25: Chapter 25

“That’s all for today! I’ll see you in our next class!”

As if she just heard the best line that ever existed in the world, Kendall let out a wide smile. She hurriedly packed her things, especially when she saw Grayson walking out of the classroom.

“Grayson, wait for me!” she yelled while running behind him.

The man completely ignored her. He continued walking towards Cady who was waiting for him in the hallway. He immediately wrapped his arms around her body as soon as he got close to her.

“How’s your class?” Cady asked as she hugged him back.

“It was fine. How about you? Do you still have a class later?”

Cady broke the hug. “Actually, my next class got canceled, so I’m free for the next three hours.”

“Good. I also have a three-hour break before my next class. Come on,” he said before pulling her away.

Kendall silently stared at the couple as they walked away. They completely forgot about her. Her gaze remained on Grayson, waiting for him to look back.

He didn’t.

Kendall released a sigh before trailing behind them.

“Uh, hello? Wait for me!” she yelled.

The two didn’t even look at her. It seemed like they were too absorbed in their own world. Kendall inwardly made a disgusted face. They looked like two random hormonal teenagers. Holding each other’s hands, talking to each other with those goofy smiles, and all that cringe romance stuff. Still, no one remembered Kendall.

The three of them entered the cafeteria. With a tray in her hands, Kendall started to grab some food.

“Miss, can I have two of these baked macs, please?”

She turned to Grayson and Cady who were also busy choosing food. She looked down and stared at her tray. She realized that she got so used to buying food for Grayson and her.

She turned to the cafeteria staff again. “Sorry, I’ll only have one baked mac.”

Kendall sat on the empty table next to Grayson and Cady. She quietly ate her food, glancing at Grayson from time to time in case he would ask her for something. That was what he would usually do during lunch. To buy him an extra drink. A tissue paper. A dessert. He would even ask her to change his utensils several times because of his meticulousness.

However, she was almost done eating but still didn’t hear anything from Grayson. She glanced at the two and saw them eating happily. Cady suddenly took out a tissue and wiped Grayson’s mouth. They also had drinks and desserts ready on the table.

‘This is suffocating me,’ Kendall thought. ‘Whatever.’

She continued to eat her baked mac in peace. She kept on shoving a spoonful of pasta in her mouth when she suddenly choked. She coughed loudly.

Grayson looked in her direction.

“What’s wrong?”

This was actually the first time Grayson had spoken to her since they arrived at UM.

“Nothing,” Kendall waved her hand dismissively. “I just choked on a stupid pasta.”

She drank the water and patted her chest repeatedly. She turned to Grayson. She deadpanned when she saw him happily talking to Cady again.

Kendall, Grayson, and Cady were sitting together at a long table inside the library. While Grayson and Cady sat beside each other, so close as if space didn’t exist in their vocabulary, Kendall sat in the far corner of the table next to them.

The couple was too occupied with what they were reading, while Kendall was just pretending to be interested in the book she was holding. She had a pen and paper ready beside her. Grayson would often ask for these whenever he would study.

‘Not today, I guess?’ she thought when Grayson continued to ignore her.

The couple talked to each other in low voices, discussing the books they had read. Cady also seemed like she wasn’t aware of Kendall’s presence.

“Hailey, can you find this book for me?” Grayson suddenly asked.

Kendall perked up, but Cady was already standing.

“I’ll do it for you, babe.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Fine.”

Kendall pursed her lips. She turned to Grayson who just continued to busy himself with the book he was reading. He didn’t even glance or talk to her, driving Kendall to frustration.

It didn’t take Kendall long before she felt sleepy. She lowered her head to the table and yawned. Suddenly, she felt someone tapping her shoulder. She looked up and saw the librarian glaring at her.

“Sleeping isn’t allowed here, Miss.”

Kendall quickly adjusted her seat. “Oh, sorry!” she replied in embarrassment.

After a while, the three of them decided to go out and stay under the big, old tree on the campus.

Cady and Grayson sat beside each other. Cady rested her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. Kendall, on the other hand, settled herself under a nearby tree.

She stared at the spot where Cady was sitting and realized that she would always sit there during her and Grayson’s free period.

The two were shamelessly flirting with each other again. Kendall looked away, almost grimacing at the sight in front of her.

She sighed and thought of what she could do to ease her boredom.

An idea flashed in her head. Kendall smiled as she took out some manga comics from her bag. She used to hide it in a textbook since Grayson would usually scold her, but she proudly opened the comics and read them.

‘No one’s gonna police me, now,” she evilly thought to herself.

Kendall raised the comic book, looking like a weird girl in that awkward position. But still, Grayson ignored her.

“Hailey, can you buy some water,” Grayson said after a long while.

Kendall hurriedly stood up.

“No need. I already have extra water with me,” Cady sweetly said and handed bottled water to Grayson.

Kendall rolled her eyes and returned to her seat. Not long after, she stood up and walked toward the two. Now, she wanted to test if Grayson could still keep his actions toward her.

“Can I borrow your iPad?” she asked him.

Without a word, Grayson grabbed his iPad and gave it to her. Kendall’s raised an eyebrow. Before, he would give her a long lecture as to why he preferred bringing an iPad to school instead of books before letting her use the gadget.

Kendall almost stomped her feet as she went back to her spot. She opened the Fruit Ninja game. Her eyes continued stealing glances at the kissing couple in front of her as she murdered the poor fruits on the iPad.

“Ah! I’m gonna rip you to death!”

...

Kendall parked the car in front of a restaurant near their campus. Grayson and Cady decided to eat dinner here. The couple climbed out of the car and entered the restaurant. She scoffed when she realized that Grayson didn’t even ask her to join them or if she was hungry.

She got out of the car and sat on the hood. After a few minutes, she felt thirsty. She saw a nearby fast food restaurant and went there. She was surprised when she bumped into Nancy.

“Hi, Hailey!” Nancy greeted.

“Hey!”

Kendall ordered a drink and decided that she would stay in the place for a while as she waited for Grayson. However, she immediately changed her mind when she saw a man talking to Nancy. He looked like her relative since it seemed like he was giving her some money.

‘Allowance?’ she thought and shrugged her shoulders.

She quietly sat on the hood of the car, watching the couple through the glass wall of the restaurant. She aggressively sucked on the straw as she looked at them. She didn’t even realize that she already crushed the paper cup. Kendall sighed in frustration and angrily threw the cup in the trash can.

...

Grayson instructed Kendall to drop Cady off at her house. Kendall scratched her neck as she waited for the couple outside to finish their decade-long goodbyes before she could finally go home.

Finally, a smiling Grayson went inside the car. He sat in the passenger seat but didn’t say anything to Kendall.

As soon as they arrived home, Kendall went straight to her room. She slammed the door shut and carelessly threw her bag on the floor. Her back hit the soft mattress of the bed, and her eyes were trained on the ceiling.

She suddenly rolled to her side. Then to the other side. She kept rolling around the bed for a while, trying to shake off the heavy feeling in her chest.

‘Maybe I’m just not used to him ignoring me?’

Kendall remained quiet for a long time. Several thoughts ran through her head as she sighed. She even forgot to change her clothes.

She removed her gaze at the ceiling when she heard a series of knocks on her bedroom door. Her eyebrows furrowed as she lazily stood up to see who it was.

A small gasp escaped her lips when she saw who it was.

Grayson was holding a tray filled with juice, sandwiches, and a red rose in a lovely vase.

“What’s that?” she asked in confusion.

“I made these for you,” he answered smiling.

Kendall looked at him in disbelief, unsure if she was just imagining things.

“For me?”

“Yes. I prepared this wholeheartedly. For you.”

Kendall smiled inwardly. It was as if all the heaviness she felt since earlier had been lifted off. She tried her best not to show her wide grin as she looked at Grayson.

“What happened to your brain that you suddenly decided to prepare some food for me?”

“I just want to cheer you up. You’d been very grumpy earlier.”

Kendall glanced at the food, the red rose, and Grayson’s smiling face.

“Smile, Hailey,” he told her.

“Come on,” he cooed.

Kendall kept her scowl. ‘How did he know that I was grumpy when he kept on ignoring me all day?’ she pondered and stared at him suspiciously.

After a long period of staring at each other, a smile slowly formed on Kendall’s lips.

“Is it so hard to smile? You think I put poison in this food?” Grayson exclaimed.

Kendall snatched the tray from him and turned around. A smile was already plastered on her face.

“Where are you going?”

Kendall turned around again and faced him with a blank look.

“In my room?”

“No way. I’ll watch you eat that food. I don’t know what you’ll do with it. I made an effort to make that, so I want to be sure it ends up in your stomach.”

“Don’t worry. I’m starving, so I’ll definitely eat this.”

“Eat it outside your room, then.”

Kendall sighed but still followed the man. They sat beside each other in the hallway, with the tray between them. They leaned their backs against the wall that connected their rooms.

Kendall started eating. Grayson’s eyes never left her since then. At first, he grimaced at the sight. But when he realized that his sandwich was delicious, he suddenly wanted to eat it.

“Hailey,”

Kendall glanced at him. “Huh?”

“You have some ketchup on your lip.”

Kendall raised her hand and was about to wipe her lip when Grayson stopped her.

“I’ll do it,” the man said before his fingers brushed her lips. His eyes were focused on hers.

“You missed me today, didn’t you?” he whispered.

Kendall gulped. She recalled everything that happened today. She couldn’t lie to him, so she nodded. She put the sandwich back on the tray and softly punched Grayson in the chest. Tears cascaded down her cheeks.

“You told me that you’ll lessen my duties! But you didn’t tell me that I would literally do nothing. I feel so useless!”

Grayson embraced her. “You’re not useless, Hailey. As long as you’re beside me, you have a purpose,” he replied before tightening his hug.

“Just stay with me. That’s more than enough.”

Grayson broke the hug and looked at Kendall. He wiped the tears on her face. “Staying by my side feels like you’ve already done the best thing in the world, Hailey.”

Kendall was pleased with Grayson’s statement. His words felt like music to her ears. She smiled at him and nodded her head. A wave of guilt suddenly crawled to her heart.

“I’m sorry for what I did today. I won’t have tantrums again. I promise. Maybe I’m just not used to having Cady around you, so…” she sadly confessed.

Grayson smiled when he felt the sincerity in Kendall’s voice. Both of them stared at each other, smiling like fools. Laughter suddenly escaped from their lips.

“At least you make a delicious sandwich,” Kendall teased before grabbing a piece and shoving it into Grayson’s mouth.