2 A friend

"Gabriella!" her mom shouted from outside her room. Gabriella woke up from the noise her mom made after banging her door. She was even annoyed because her dream about her being with Charles was interrupted. "You're already late for your morning classes! Get up already!"

When she realized she's already late, she immediately gets up, run to the bathroom, quickly washed her body and wears her school uniform. She took her school bag and some of her books, hug it using her left arm and the run towards their kitchen to get a sandwich her mom prepared. She ate it while running outside; she waited for a tricycle she could ride on while looking on her left and right and then on her wrist watch. A few minutes after waiting, a tricycle finally came, she hop on it and asked the driver if he could go faster as she's running late. Since there is no traffic, she arrived at their campus after a few minutes.

She was running as fast as she could when she bumps into some guy and her books fell. She hurriedly bends down to get all her books. The guy she bumps into helped her in picking her books up too.

"Gabriella?" a familiar voice called her name. Gabriella was in so much panic that she didn't notice who she bumps into. When she looks up to the guy holding her remaining books, she was shocked. Charles was wearing his P.E uniform while a sling bag was hanging on his left shoulder and his hand is holding his badminton equipment bag while his right hand was holding Gabriella's remaining books. Gabriella was about to take it when Charles pulled it. "Let me carry it for you." Charles said and wished Gabriella to give the remaining books to him but Gabriella refuses.

"No, I'm fine. I'm running late so can I have my books now?" nervousness was visible in Gabriella's face since she was assign to present some important details on their meeting. She couldn't afford to miss this meeting because it's about some important event that will be held in their campus.

"Is it about the meeting with the other student council? I heard they cancelled it." Charles said as if he knows everything about Gabriella's concern as well as her schedule.

"How did you know?" Gabriella asked as she gasped for breathe. She does not trust what Charles just said since he is not a member of student council. She even thought he was just tricking her so he could consume more of her time.

"I just heard from a friend whose also one of the student council." Charles answered. Gabriella still does not believe what Charles said so she took her phone out and check their group chat whether their schedule changed. And there she saw their president's announcement about the change in their schedule. She signs in relief. "Should we walk together?" Charles asked and Gabriella just nodded. Since Charles still insists on carrying Gabriella's book, she just handed it over him so they could continue on walking. Charles walks slowly to let Gabriella breathe since he can feel that Gabriella is exhausted from running.

It was still early so Gabriella decided to just stay on the library to read some topics in advance. When they finally arrived in front of the library, Charles gave the books back to Gabriella and bid his goodbye. Charles was about to leave when he remember something so she turned back to Gabriella.

"Let's eat lunch together." Charles said with a smile which also made Gabriella smile too. Gabriella nodded as a response and then entered the library. Charles walks away and headed to the gym where they would practice their badminton game. Since he is now on a fake relationship with Gabriella, he decided to come back and practice badminton again. But he stops walking when he remembers something, her turned walk towards the cafeteria to buy a bottle of apple juice.

While Gabriella was sitting on one of the chairs inside the library, with open book in front of her, her mind is busy fantasizing about what would happen to their lunch together. Gabriella flinched when a cold thing suddenly touched her cheeks. She turned around and saw Charles holding a bottle of juice.

"Don't overdo it." He said and puts the bottle of juice down on the table. Gabriella's cheeks flushed and an uncontrollable smile flashed on her lips. She almost screamed when Charles leaves but luckily she stopped herself because she was still in the library.

She was not able to focus on her book so she decided to leave and go to their classroom to wait for their first subject to start. One by one her friends came, and they were just talking while waiting for their lecturer.

Not long after their lecturer came and announce that they will have a quiz. It was a surprise quiz that made everyone groans but not Gabriella. Thinking that it was their major subject, Physics, and Gabriella was so calm made her friends questioned her.

"You did advance reading, didn't you?" her best friend, Olivia asked which made their other friends look at them too.

"About what?" clueless, she asked back. Her friends made an expression while she just shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't able to review or read about their upcoming lesson because she was unable to focus but she seem unbothered about it, she seem like she doesn't care whether she'll get a low grades or what which is unusual.

The quiz started and finish quickly since it was just a short quiz. Their lesson started and Gabriella still cannot focus and has been waiting patiently for all their morning classes to finish as she wants to wants to have lunch already, not because she's hungry but because she will be spending it with his crush slash fake boyfriend, Charles James Augustus.

And finally her long awaited moment came, their morning classes end. She was about to leave their room when her friends stopped her to ask for the score she got on their quiz, which she answered with a smile. Her friends were shocked to hear that she got low score because she was still smiling and not complaining. Olivia was ready to question her when she suddenly speaks.

"By the way, I will not eat with you guys." She said and took her bag and books. After Olivia saw how her long time best friend acts, she knew something is up. A goofy smile flashed on Olivia's lips when she realizes something. When their eyes met, she raised an eyebrow at her; Gabriella just shrugged her shoulders and giggles. She started walking away while her other friends was just there, standing and trying to process why their grade conscious friend didn't care after failing a quiz from a major subject. Olivia who knew something was just smiling while watching her friend walks away, she then pulled her friend out to eat their lunch.

Gabriella took her phone out from her bag and was about to send a text message to her 'fake' boyfriend when a text message arrived.

'Is your classes done?' Charles asked her from a text message. And she responded quickly. A minute after sending her response a familiar voice approached her.

"Let's go?" it was Charles. He laid his hands in front of Gabriella, asking for the books she was carrying. Gabriella handed her books to Charles and they starts to walk away together. They both decided to eat on the nearest fast food restaurant on their school since Gabriella has to attend a meeting with the student council.

Soon after, they got to the fast food restaurant where they decided to eat. Gabriella just ordered spaghetti while Charles ordered chicken burrito. They sat on a vacant chair and wait for their orders to be served. They sat at the far end of the restaurant where the noise was not too disturbing.

"You re-join in the practice of badminton?" Gabriella asked considering that she saw him carrying his badminton equipment bag a while ago.

"Yeah, we have an upcoming game with the Hustlers." Charles answered. He was pertaining to the badminton team from the other school on their town. They frequently held practice game like that so they could see whether they improved or not and to know what skills they need to build up more.

"How's the girl that has been pestering you?" Gabriella asked that made Charles stunned for a moment. He didn't answer and silence enveloped their surroundings. Gabriella was a bit confused as to why he can't answer a simple question when he was comfortable complaining about it yesterday. Luckily the waiter arrived carrying their orders. They started eating in silence.

"I told her about us." Charles said in the middle of their lunch meal. Gabriella stopped eating. She felt butterflies on her stomach.

'If you say it like that I might fall for you harder.' Gabriella said in her mind. The way Charles said those words is so serious that it doesn't seem like they are just pretending to be lovers. Gabriella resumes her meal while suppressing her smile. She even lowered her head so Charles wouldn't notice. But Charles saw it, he doesn't know the reason but the side of his lips rose up, forming a small smile.

They returned to their academy after finishing their lunch. Charles took Gabriella first to the room where the meeting she was scheduled to attend will be held before going back to his homeroom.

When Gabriella arrived, some the student council has already been there and was waiting for the meeting to start. As time went on, the student council's member gradually became more and more complete, so they quickly started discussing their agenda.

For the fact that they started their meeting quickly and they only have few things to tackle, they finish in no due time. Gabriella immediately went to her next classes after the meeting. They only have few subjects for the afternoon so she still has a lot of time left after classes.

She immediately came home after classes because she has a lot of activities and project to finish. She was in the midst of doing her lab report when her door opens. Her friend, Olivia, showed up wearing her nightgown while hugging two pillows, and carrying a laptop bag. Olivia throws her pillow on Gabriella's bed then come towards Gabriella's study table and placed her laptop bag above all Gabriella's paper works.

"Care to share what's currently happening to your life?" she asked while raising one of her eyebrows. Gabriella smiled and stands up to lock her doors. Then she started sharing her stories while they were both finishing their works. She told her friend about how she became her crush' fake girlfriend and her reason why she agreed on the deal. She even told her how much her feeling grew after a few days being close to him. They took a lot of hours to finish chatting because her friends always have a lot of comment to add in every stories she tell. Luckily they also finish half of their school works.

They come to campus super early since decided to finish their remaining activities at their campus library. They were in the midst of finishing their reports when a bottle of apple juice touched Gabriella's cheeks that made her flinched.

"Good Morning." said the guy holding the bottle. Gabriella turned around and saw Charles holding the bottle on his left arm while the other arm was holding his bag.

"Thank you." Gabriella said with wide smile and she took the bottle from Charles hand. Someone shouted Charles name from outside that made them look at the door. Charles bid goodbye and leave afterwards. When Gabriella turned around to continue on her school work, her friend's deceitful smiled flashed at her which made her giggle.

After a few moments they decided to go to their homeroom since their morning class will start in a few minutes. There are two different hall they could take when going to their homeroom. The first one was the shortest and easiest way and the second one was a bit farther. Gabriella suggested taking the later way which Olivia objected to.

"Just this once, Charles is at the gym right now." Gabriella begged. Olivia being supportive as always, agreed. If they would take this way they would pass at the campus gym where Charles and his team are training. When they were in front of the gym, Gabriella simply peeked through its open door and there she saw Charles standing while holding his badminton racket and talking to his teammates. Her heart skips a bit after seeing him and an indescribable smile flashed on his lips.

Just seeing him makes her day complete. She pretended not to notice him as she walk past the door of the campus gym and continue walking with her friend but all her attention was on him, out of the corner of her eyes. Though she wanted to enjoy the moment staring at him while pretending not to, she was stopped by her friend. Olivia pulled her arm aggressively because she has been walking so slowly and if they stay any longer they will be late to their classes. When they arrived all their friends were already there so they chat with each other while waiting for their lecturer. And in the few minutes their homeroom teacher arrived and started their classes.

Time goes by quickly and all their classes ends but since Gabriella has a group practice to attend, she stays at the campus and wait for her other group members to finish their other stuffs.

While she was sitting on one of the bench her friend, Chloe, approached her. "Gab, can you come with me at the gym?"

"Why?"

"I'm going to inform Vanessa about our practice, I think she forgot about it." Chloe answered, Gabriella stand up and they started walking towards the gym.

"By the way, what is she doing there?" Gabriella asked while they were walking.

"Didn't you know? She recently joins the badminton club to pursue her crush whom she met at the bar." Chloe answered and the continue complaining about her friend's reason in joining a school club when she has a pile of pending school works.

Gabriella remembered about the girl Charles told her. Her friend Vanessa didn't know about her, liking Charles since Vanessa recently became busy because of her curricular activities and Gabriella only told Olivia about her feelings for Charles so her other friends were clueless,

Gabriella's mind was occupied with that thought while practicing and also the reason why she made so many mistakes in her performance. She has been slowing the group down so she excuses herself and told them she'll just take some rest. She sat on the bench while watching her other members.

'If Vanessa likes Charles and Charles told her about us then she might hate me but I still hope she doesn't. And the fact that I also like the guy she likes is just-ugh I don't want to have any misunderstanding with a friend.'