28 Chapter Twenty-Seven - How She Found Out...

*Apologies for the long chapter*

They all look at each other before looking out towards the road.

Suddenly, the sound of another bus.

Liam is the first to notice the large vehicle incoming. His eyes widen.

"Bus..." He says quietly, but yet, loud enough for others to hear him. With that, everyone turns around and spots it seconds before it turns into the bus stop and becomes stationary right before them all.

The doors open with passengers upon passengers exiting the vehicle.

But getting into the bus was not their main priority.

They all get closer to the bus, right by where all the luggage is stored.

"And how exactly do we open this?" Nadia asks.

"I am not too sure..." Ronan begins. "But I'll go and ask the driver...". With that, he goes into the bus and seconds later, he comes back out of the bus alongside a man with greying hair. The bus driver.

He opens up and helps them place all the luggage in the luggage compartment. After that, they all board the bus.

It's mostly empty, so there are a lot of empty spaces.

Briella sits down by the window seat, somewhere close to the front of the bus. She looks outside.

'I wonder how far this lakehouse that is owned by Liam's father is located...' Briella thinks to herself, suddenly her face goes deadpan. 'I hope it's somewhere close to home just in case I get homesick.'.

Then, her thoughts were interrupted by the ruffling beside her. Someone sat on the seat next to her.

Briella's eyes widen. 'C-could it be...'. She swallows whatever was in her mouth. 'Could it be Ryan?... Well, there is only one way to find out...'. She slowly turns around and faces the person beside her.

Her blush suddenly fades as her eyes remain open wide.

"Scarlett?" Briella questions. To which Scarlett replies with a soft chuckle.

She then goes on to say, "I hope you don't mind me sitting beside you...".

"And I'm here too..." Nadia comes in as she is sat on the aisle seat right behind them.

A soft smile breaks upon Briella's lips. "I don't mind one bit...". But it doesn't take long for that smile to go away. 'Where is Ryan then?' she asks herself before looking around them.

It doesn't take long for Briella to spot them a few rows behind them. Ronan and Cole are sat together as behind them Liam and Ryan sit one by the other.

"I was just a bit surprised..." Briella begins as she sits back down. "I would always see you with Ronan and all...".

"Well..." Scarlett begins. "I was going to sit beside him...".

Then a brief moment of silence. With that, a loud hush is let out and the bus is off.

"What happened, Scarlett?" Nadia asks, as both herself and Briella are looking at her closely.

"Well..." Scarlett begins once more, scratching the back of her head as his face expresses slight awkwardness. "Some days I'd spend my whole day with Ronan, while others, I'd be so scared that I might do something stupid in front of him, I guess that today is one of those days, you know?". Then, Scarlett goes on to add, "he also expressed his will of how he wants to sit with his friends on the bus. So here I am, sitting with mine!".

"Wait, you consider us as friends?" Briella blurts out but very quickly widens her eyes at how her sentence resulted in sounding like. "I-I am so sorry, I didn't mean it that way!".

"Mmmm, you did seem a bit surprised..." Scarlett replies as she raises her left brow ever so slightly.

Briella chuckles awkwardly. "I... I meant it in a way that I am surprised that you see us as friends since I am in the drama club. You are like the head of the drama club alongside Ronan, so I'd see you as like my teacher basically," Briella elaborates.

Seconds pass for Scarlett to respond. "Oh my, that is honestly an honour to hear, especially coming from you, Briella. Thank you so much! I have never been told that before.". Then she goes on to add, "but you don't have to look at me that way, Briella. I am a student, just like you, except I am in charge, alongside Ronan, in both the student council and the drama club. To be honest, I don't feel any hierarchy for being the head of the student council or in the drama club... okay, maybe I lied a bit there, but that's because people need someone to listen to, for activities like that. Maybe while in the Drama club, you can see me under such a light, but outside of the club, you can chill out and... you know... joke around with me and so on. You get the gist, don't you?".

Briella looks at Scarlett, her eyes widened ever so slightly. "A-are you sure?".

A big smile grows on Scarlett's lips. "Yes, of course!".

Then, Nadia comes into the conversation and says, "wow, Scarlett really is as nice as others say...". To which Scarlett replies with a sweet wave of laughter.

Straight after that, a brief few seconds of silence take over.

Then, Scarlett's smile recedes ever so slightly. Both Briella and Nadia notice this.

"Is everything okay?" Nadia asks Scarlett.

"Wait, is everything okay?" Briella has the same inquiry.

"Yes, just... Is it true that you actually have a crush on Ryan?" Scarlett asks.

Briella's eyes widen.

For the few seconds that followed, Briella couldn't say a single sentence. 'H-how!?!'.

"H-h-how?... Ummmm, how do you know?".

"Oh, well, Ronan. Well, he actually told me that you have a crush on Ryan as he was talking to me not so long ago," Scarlett says, as her awkward chuckles return. "And, I can reassure you a thousand per cent, it was an accident.".

Briella's face goes deadpan. 'Hmmmm, I knew I shouldn't have told him anything...'. "How did it happen?" she goes on to ask.

"Well..." Scarlett begins...

*About an hour ago*

Ronan and Scarlett are walking side by side as they go to pick up Liam before they all begin their way towards the rest of their friends.

Ronan breaks the silence between them. "Yesterday..." he begins.

Scarlett glances at him. "Yes?".

"Did Briella come to you yesterday?..." Ronan asks.

Scarlett doesn't need a second more to remember the very brief talk she had with Briella.

"Yes," she replies.

"Same..." Ronan replies before breaking into gentle chuckles. "And guess what she asked me? If you and I were together...". Ronan breaks into an even further wave of chuckles, awkward chuckles.

But Scarlett disregards them. "And what did you reply with?".

'I-I wonder what Scarlett would say if I was to tell her now, how I said that, I'd think, it would be nice to have her as a girlfriend...' Ronan thinks to himself. 'Mmmmm, it might end up like that one evening in the drama club when she slapped me...'. Subconsciously, he raises his hand to his left cheek, the cheek she slapped. His face suddenly goes deadpan. 'She can slap hard...'.

"So?" Scarlett interrupts Ronan's thoughts. "What did you reply with?".

"W-well, I just said how we are not together..." he replies, a chuckle or two followed that were filled with nervousness.

Then, Scarlett glares at him. "Are you sure that is all that you said?" she asks him in a deep, intimidating voice that, to a stranger walking by, would have come off as comedic. But not to Ronan. His eyes widened in a slight sense of fear.

"U-umm, no! That's all I said!".

Then, Scarlett's tone changes drastically back to her normal, bubbly voice. "Oh, same here..." she says. Then she lowers her gaze to the ground. A slight frown forms on her lips. 'H-how would he react if I told him that I was about to say to Briella of how, I think, it would be nice to be in a relationship with him. I mean, we do have our ups and downs, but I don't think I would imagine myself being with anyone else other than Ronan...' Scarlett thinks to herself. 'But... I think what is best, for now, is for me to burry what I just thought through somewhere deep, deep, deep, and excavate it only when the time is right...'.

Then, Scarlett looks over at Ronan. He has his eyes closed shut, he looks as if he is a bit angered. 'Definitely made a very good decision there, that is, of not telling him how I feel about him... just yet...' she thinks to herself.

Ronan has his eyes closed shut. 'How do I let her know about how I feel about her, but without her killing me?...'. Then, as if a lightbulb turned on above Ronan's head, he gets an idea. 'I can just keep on talking to her! It will show her that I enjoy her company, that is... when she is not annoying...' Ronan thinks to himself.

"And yeah..." He begins, opening his eyes back up before briefly looking at Scarlett.

She replies with a nod. "Yeah...". 'Wait, why are we saying 'yeah'?' she thinks to herself, with a smile still patched on her face.

"D-did she run away when she finished the conversation with you?" Ronan asks. 'Just keep talking...'.

"Yeah, she did.".

"Oh, same with me!" Ronan responds almost too quickly, straight after Scarlett. 'Keep on talking...' He tells himself. 'Just keep on going...'.

A second of silence descends upon them both.

"You know... she seemed almost flustered..." Ronan says. 'Communicate, boy, communicate...' he tells himself. "I saw the reddish colour on her cheeks...".

Scarlett widens her eyes ever so slightly.

"W-was it because you said something to her?" she asks.

Ronan furrows his brows. "W-wha... No!" he begins. "I am assuming she blushed because of how she told me she had a crush on Ryan...". When he realises what he has just said, his eyes open wide.

Scarlett suddenly stops in her tracks. "I-... I'm sorry?...".

"Crap... Crap! Crap!!" Ronan sighs out, his eyes close as his right-hand goes to his forehead, he facepalms himself. "She told me not to tell anyone. Please, don't tell anyone...". Then, his tone changes. "Especially not Ryan!".

"O-okay... but..." Scarlett starts.

"Yes?".

"Briella has a crush on Ryan??".

*Back to the present*

"And that's how it came about to be..." Scarlett says to both Briella and Nadia.

"Ahhhh... okay..." Briella says. "Well, now you too know that I have a crush on Ryan..." she adds quietly.

"And I promise, I'll tell no one. Your secret is safe with me," Scarlett replies.

"And me..." Nadia adds.

Next, the sound of the bus engine fills the air...

"So, tell me..." Nadia begins, referring to Scarlett.

"Yea?".

"Ronan just randomly blurted out that Briella has a crush on Ryan?..." Nadia inquires.

"... Basically, yes...".

Nadia replies with a nod. "But honestly..." she continues a few seconds later. "Why am I not surprised?".