6

“Who are you looking at, huh?” Aisha, who is sitting at my side, whispered into my ears. “Nobody!” I exclaimed, and that brought the attention of everyone at my table. Bravo, Claire, bravo! Looking at my flushed face, they must have guessed what is going on. “Looks like someone has a crush on our golden boy!” Cole teased me while I shook my head, indicating no. I know how people can make a big deal out of nothing, so I don’t want them in the near future thinking I like him. He is handsome and good to look at. I'm just admiring God’s creation; there isn’t anything wrong with that, right? “Don’t even think about it; he is never going to look at you. You are just like the rest of his crushes!” Becky said bitterly. I wonder what her problem is. “Becky, chill! Nobody is trying to steal your crush!” Oh, so that’s her problem. So just because she has a crush on him, I can’t look at him or what? For heaven's sake, he isn’t even her boyfriend. “What did I say wrong? I'm just warning her not to get her hopes high, or she will have her heart broken,” Becky stated with an innocent look on her face. Well, there is a saying that the devil has an innocent face. Not that I asked for advice, miss advisor. “You might want to keep the advice to yourself because he has been looking at her since he sat down.” Aisha came to my rescue. She obviously doesn’t like what Becky had said. As soon as she said that, we all turned and looked at the Avila’s table, and indeed, he is looking at me. Very intensely. I find that very strange. Maybe I look like someone he knows. He must have noticed us noticing him looking at him; he turned his attention back to his table, and we turned to ours too. “See?” Aisha sang-said while looking directly at Becky. “He was just looking in this direction; how sure are we that he is looking at her?” Becky fired back at her. “Okay, guys, stop it! Let’s just eat, okay!” Ashley echoed, and everyone kept quiet. I already lost my appetite, and before any of them could react, I stood up and left the cafeteria and went to the venue of our next class. After lunch was over, they all came back to class, but nobody talked to me. Maybe they thought I am angry at what happened. “Hey! I’m sorry for what Becky did at lunch; she can be childish sometimes.” Ashley, who is sitting beside me, whispered into my ears just before the teacher entered. “It’s fine! I am not angry.” I gave her a smile and turned my attention back to the board. *** It’s school closing time, and I am waiting for mom to come pick me up. That’s kind of embarrassing, I know. I really need to learn how to drive so that I can get my own car. Ashley had offered to give me a ride, but I already called mom, and she is on her way. Just then, I saw the Avila kids making their way towards the side of the car park where the expensive sports cars were parked. That’s how I know their name. Each of the cars has “Avila” as their plate number. Cool, I thought. As they passed by where I was standing, they all turned to look at me as if they were analyzing me. Well, all of them except the most handsome, aka my new crush. I can’t actually remember his name. After that, they kept on talking as they walked, and it was as if they were talking about me. But that can’t possibly be true. Can it? I'm a nobody to them. Twenty minutes later, mom came and picked me up, and as soon as I entered my room, I video called my friends in Australia. “And guess who remembered us today!” Joyce said as soon as she picked up the call. I rolled my eyes at her, “you can’t be serious! We talked the day before yesterday.” “Whatever, Joyce, how is Australia?” I asked her. “Australia is still the Australia you know!” She responded, and we continued chatting, waiting for the other girls to join the video call. “What's up, guys!” Elsa said as she joined the video call. Soon, Lily also joined, and we began to chat and catch up.