Chapter 6
Whisk. Whisk.
I squinted, feeling something cold touching my face. At first, I couldn’t point out what it was exactly. I was still half in dreamland and hearing something else at the same time.
“You’re not getting up?” Finn asked. He was the same old boy I remembered him to be. He still got that well-known smile he always carried before and those blue eyes that were as clear as I could recall. His teeth were still crooked, and he was just that boy. And just like the old times, it was only the two of us.
“Five minutes,” I said to him.
Whisk. Whisk.
“Okay, I’m heading out now,” Finn said in a very peculiar tone.
I paused, thinking. It took me a moment to realize that the Finn in my dreams wasn’t actually saying anything. He was only smiling at me.
“Finn?” I said his name, confused.
In a while, Mom came and took his hand. They were laughing about something as I turned my gaze away. I looked around to see who was talking to me. No one was in sight. I looked back to where Finn and Mom were, only to see that they had already left.
Okay, so it wasn’t that pleasing to be left alone in the middle of nowhere. But aside from that, who was talking to me a moment ago?
Whisk. Whisk.
“I give up. Don’t blame me if you get late again,” said the voice.
My eyelids flew open, and I immediately got up from bed. Turning to my left, I saw that KN, who was already wearing his uniform, was standing by my bedside. As I squinted once more, staggered by the morning sunshine that came into our room when the breeze swayed the curtains, I felt something dripping down my face. Wiping it, I looked at what KN was holding. With all due shock, it was a water sprayer.
“Did you just water me?” I asked with complete astonishment. I couldn’t believe that he thought I was part of the native flora of this room. He meticulously held that smirk in place, not in the least apologetic for my soaked face and almost drenched shirt. I already knew that he was strange and not your typical Mr. Nice Guy. What I couldn’t comprehend was that he had already taken his animosity to a different level.
“I was watering my plant and thought that this might be the best way to wake you up. No touching done. So we’re both okay, right?”
“But...”
“Oh, come on, I did you a favor,” KN pointed out. Handing me back my alarm clock, he added, “I gave it two minutes. That’s the limit of my patience. I think it’s better if you buy a louder one, probably one that can wake you up.”
“Two minutes? That’s it?”
“That’s long,” KN said with utmost conviction.
I usually got up after five snoozes. It worked for the last few days, because KN wasn’t around when my alarm clock started ringing and snoozing for the entire length of fifteen minutes.
“You could have called me,” I said back, as I was heading down my bed. Seeing the clock, I blurted, “Oh, shit!”
“Yup, you’re late. I’ll be heading out first,” he said, putting down the sprayer beside his plant, and walking towards the door.
“Wait! Can I come along with you? I don’t know where the new room—”
And the door shut close.
Why should I be surprised by that? KN never waited for me, anyway. Even though we had the same classes, he never really bothered. I was used to getting lost as I tried finding the classrooms if ever I wasn’t able to go with someone. And if only our teacher and room for the first period hadn’t changed, I wouldn’t bother asking him of all people.
Snagging a towel, I wiped away the remaining droplets of water on my face. Grabbing my clothes, I headed towards the bathroom, still disbelieving that KN used a water sprayer to wake me up. I closed the bathroom door and hurriedly changed my clothes. The uniform fitted me well, even if it felt odd. The schools I went to before didn’t require uniforms. In fact, Corner Stone was the only one around the city who required their students to wear a uniform.
Before, when Paige and I were still drooling over these guys, I thought that their uniform was so cool. They were different, but in an entirely good way. However, right now, it wasn’t. Three layers of clothes when you were running late?
Not good.
Sliding into the dark brown upper garment, I quickly combed my hair and brushed my teeth. Forgetting about taking a quick shower or anything of the like, I hurriedly picked up my bag. It was almost eight o’clock, and I was still in the dorm.
My stomach agreed with the time. It grumbled along. KN didn’t even have the tiniest bit of heart to wake me up for breakfast. Instead, he had taken the liberty of shutting off my alarm and letting me sleep in. He surely grabbed one. He never missed it.
Yesterday, I’d found out that his aunt was working in the canteen, so he got to have his meals at his convenience. Sometimes, I saw him eating in our room. But mostly, he ate somewhere else. Wherever that was, I didn’t know anymore. Not that I should care.
KN was the epitome of the word weirdness. He even had a plant that he was diligently taking care of. No other guy in this school had the hobby of taking care of plants. I had confirmed that with Jayden. Maybe it was his outlet for his ‘motherly’—monsterly—instinct. Yeah, whichever way worked.
Monster, mostly.
I held the water sprayer, thinking of over watering his plant. Shaking my head and restraining myself from harming an innocent plant, I put it down. Instead, I just grabbed the piece of bread that he didn’t finish last night before heading out of the room. This was a good enough revenge, and I prevented the bread from catching molds.
Rushing out of the door, I saw nothing but an empty hall. No one was running around while chewing bread, late like I was. Everyone must probably be in the classroom right now. KN was also likely sitting in his chair, legs-crossed, and laughing secretly to himself.
Pressing the elevator button, I waited for the doors to close right away. It didn’t. It very much took its normal and now seemingly slow toll.
“Please close now. No one is around here anymore,” I pleaded, still pressing the Close Door button. After a moment, the doors finally started closing. However, it stopped when a hand appeared in between the sensor.
Oh, great. I had to wait again.
But despite my building resentment, my worries instantly faded away when I saw that it was no other than suspect no. 1—Grayson Phillips.
“Yo,” I greeted Grayson, holding back that cutesy ‘hi’. I was still honing my boyish manners, but I was cautious now, especially around Grayson. He was already suspicious of me, and there was no need to strengthen his hunches.
Grayson didn’t respond, like the usual, but only pressed the elevator button repeatedly. He looked like he just got out of bed, like me. In an all-boys school, I’d discovered that no one really paid attention to their hair. Bed hairs were the usual style you’d see around.
The more I saw Grayson in class, the more I imagined him to be my missing brother. He had the same strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I wasn’t the only one on the boat. I called Dad last night, and he also believed that Grayson could be Finn.
But because of some unfathomable reason, the similarity only ended up with that. I was waiting for that sibling recognition to kick in because I hadn’t felt it at all.
I held on to the straps of my bag more tightly, not knowing what else to do in this confined space. Suddenly feeling that I wanted to just go home and end this torture, I thought about blurting out the magic question to Grayson, but I held it back.
I couldn’t act without thinking. I couldn’t give up now, either. Not when I was already in the school. Not when I finally had a list. And not when my prime suspect was currently inside the elevator with me.
I just resolved to stalk him some more for now.
The elevator opened, and we got out. Grayson hurried his steps, because obviously, we were both late. Since his legs were longer, I ended up walking several footfalls behind him. And halfway through the semi-walk and semi-run that we did, I noticed him slowing a bit and letting me catch up.
I initially felt surprised. KN had such a great impact on me I’d forgotten all about the normality of being treated in a nice, or at least civil, manner.
“Hurry,” Grayson told me. I was already at my limits. I was far from being the athletic type of person.
“Sorry. You can go ahead.” I offered, but of course I didn’t mean it all the way. I could really use some help with the directions.
“Man, you sound so much like a girl. Come on,” he said, taking me by the arm and dragging me around the empty hall.
That intense attraction came creeping in as we ran around the hall. I felt like a heroine in a movie, and the lead guy was taking me by the hand. Okay, he wasn’t holding my hand. Yes, he was dragging me with a bit of force, but I let myself imagine he was holding my hand instead. And then, everything around us started sparkling. I saw flower petals falling around everywhere. The romantic music played along, taking us both to another dimension far away from reality.
“Jules!” Grayson called out.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” I replied. Realizing that I was having delusional thoughts again, I shook my head furiously. I cursed my tendency to get attracted to nerdy guys. I couldn’t fall in love with Grayson, especially if he would later on be Finn.
“We’re here,” he pointed out to me, breathing in and out.
The bell rang exactly as we were standing in front of the classroom, both of us catching our breaths. Everyone looked at us, and even KN threw me that familiar stare of amusement.
The one nearest to us offered the water bottle he was drinking. “Water?”
I felt tempted to take it, but then the door on the other side of the room opened, and the new teacher entered. The class straightened their seats and looked up front. I followed Grayson inside, taking a seat beside Jayden.
“Forgot to alarm?” Jayden asked.
“No,” I said with resentment, quickly glancing at KN, who was still looking at me. He was only a few seats away, so I purposely made him hear me when I said, “Someone turned it off without waking me up.”
“Oh,” Jayden noted, realizing whom I was talking about. With a hushed voice, he added, “I feel sorry for you, man.”
I just nodded. Everyone who had overheard us got that same apologetic look on their faces. This was what I got for sticking with my decision about not changing rooms. It wasn’t like I deserved it or anything, but they all looked sincerely sympathetic about my state.
“You could always transfer to my room,” Daniel said behind me, hushing his voice so that the teacher wouldn’t hear us. Despite flaunting my rocking hair and sporting this charming uniform, my inner instincts quivered at his notion. He was being nice by giving me another option, but I couldn’t help but feel goosebumps crept in whenever I imagined Daniel climbing up to my bed while sleep walking. And I’d never forget what his ex-roommate said before—he also snuggled!
Shudder.
Comments (0)
See all