“They seem cool now” I remark looking at Tara and Oliver sitting on the seats right next to each other. The antic to divert bro’s attention off my face didn’t work and he continued giving me the stink eye. I'm at my wit's end. I decided to bring her skateboard to school on a wild hunch. She left it at my place last night. Now I'm worried she'll flip out on me 'cause she's all hush-hush, and I have no clue how she'll react when she sees me this morning.

I don't even know if she's gonna show up today, and what if she does and gives me the cold shoulder like always? Man, just thinking about that hurts. And to top it off, this dude, Leon, won't stop pestering me about the skateboard. I told him it's mine! He's practically monitoring my breathing pattern right now. I gotta get back at him for something!

I slap his hand off my shoulder. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Huh?" He utters silently scanning the list of his recent shenanigans.

"You did that, right?" I press.

"Maybe, but did what?" he asks, grinning.

I smack him again. "You gave out my number to those girls yesterday, didn't you?"

"Now that you mention it, I think you're onto something," he admits, grinning and running his hand through his hair.

He probably gave my number to some girls. My phone was blowing up yesterday because of that. I can't deal with him right now. “Why is the teacher late though? They should get fined for being late too! This system's so unfair” sighed Leon

" shut up you little-"

"oh I heard some girls talking about your replies," he fires back.

"How delusional. I didn't reply to any creep. I read their messages, gagged, and blocked them," I spit boldly.

"Uh-huh? Sounds just like you. Where's Tanaka though?" he questions me.

Squirming, I stare at the skateboard. “You worried about her?”

"Dude, you're the one who is. You've asked me three times already!" he snaps.

"Oh yeah. My bad."

"What's up with you? You never asked about her, and why are you all twisted up about her?" he demands.

Am I worried about her? I don't even know, but why is she late? "Uh, I just..."

"Oh my God?? Get out of my face! You're giving me the creeps! Why are you freezing up when I ask about her? Don't tell me-" bro starts to panic.

I lunge forward viciously covering his mouth "Shut it!"

Everyone in the class is staring at us. They keep staring as I half-strangle him after clamping my hand over his mouth.

"So that means it’s hers," he points to the skateboard panting later.

"What? I told you I just got it and wanted to show you," I try again.

"Uh-huh?" he jiggles his eyebrows at me. He knows me too well. 

Darn it.

"Yeah right. I know you know! I should've bought it with you, sent you pics of it all day, and kept it in my closet for a year before using it because it's still new!" Looking him in the eye I began rambling.

He raises an eyebrow, asking for more explanation. "It’s hers. Saw her skating at night," I admit helplessly. 

"And?" he raises his eyebrow.

"And... um... she kinda went with me to the convenience store," I confess, getting more anxious by the second. I have no idea how he's going to react this time.

"Oh yeah?"

"Because I'm scared of the dark, and you know it! Then she stayed at my place, we ordered food. The end," I blurt out, hoping he'll end the interrogation now.

"Hmm... doesn’t sound sketchy at all," he looks at me, lost in thought. "Tell me something?"

I gulp hard. He's going to ask something outrageous.

"Did she torture or blackmail you or maybe hurt you?" he asks, genuinely concerned. And he's right to ask.

Running a hand on my tummy where she kicked me, I reply, "Nah, man. She's pretty cool," I share the top-secret info with him.

"Like?" he asks, intrigued.

"...yeah…"

“What are you two talking about?” some girl from behind whispers.

Instantly we both crane our necks to look back and see the damn eavesdropper. At the sight, heat spreads on my face, and my heart flutters. Running a hand through my hair I settle them over my ears. As I stare at her I don't care if my head gets blown off or whatever. Whenever I see her eyes I drown. 

“Can I join you guys until the teacher comes? Neither Rois nor Tanaka is here and …I feel like a loner” she says, smiling, waiting for an answer. 

Leon chuckles and looks at me. How can one not fall for her too when she talks like this?

“Let me just bring my phone” Gleefully she spins around and her long hair in a ponytail flies.

“Dude, she just crashed our conversation, like, who does she think she is?” he whispers quickly.

Staring at him  I blink hoping she didn’t hear. 

“Seriously, she needs to mind her own beeswax,” jerk adds.

Unable to yell at him to stay zipped I simply stare at him.

“Bro,” Leon smirks leaning closer toward me “you’re totally smitten”

“Shut. up” I hiss.

 “ooh, you’re so whipped,” he jerks his head and throws himself back in his seat. I merely stopped myself from stomping his foot, even though I would not want to be tortured by his pitchy screams this early in the morning.

“What were you two whispering about?” she asks.  Her voice so sweet.

“Not your business” he mutters sternly looking ahead at the board. 

I smash my shoe on his show.

“You are gonna be traumatized if I tell you” he instantly adds, somehow holding back from groaning in pain.

“Ah. Okay”

 We ended up doing assignments together because my little rattlesnake wouldn’t agree to play any game. All the other times, he would have killed me to play some games, but now that she's here, he suddenly hates games and people despise those who play board games. Rattle. rattle.

The door slides open and the whole class jerks their heads with murderous intent to stare at the teacher who is about to take our free class, but all we see is instead a haggard and careworn Tanaka. Dragging her feet to her seat, she slumps down like a zombie. Everyone is gawking at her. Including me. 

“What the heck happened to her?” I mutter to myself.

“Seems like the worst 'Monday' ever,” and with that, Eva walked to her seat.

“You should know, you were the last-” Leon starts. I throw him a chocolate to keep his big mouth busy and go over to Tanaka.