Unusually Normal Afternoon

She suddenly hugged me as though we were meeting after a long time. Taken aback, I was about to hug her back when she pulled away, squealing.

"Eek! Finally, I get to see you!" I laughed at her silliness.

"You literally just saw me in the morning," I exclaimed as she beamed at me as if she just got out of the prison.

"Well, yes, but AP Chemistry felt like a lifetime today. Ugh! I missed one class, and it was like another planet!" She gagged and fanned herself with both her hands, being a diva, but I didn't really blame her because it was how she described it. And the same case was with other classes, so she had work cut out for her.

Thankfully, I had all my notes completed which was why Rose kept begging me to tutor her for her missed day, all the way to the English class. She got an infection in her throat and couldn't really speak for two days. Her medicine made her sleep most of the day, so she missed school on Friday and felt like an alien after the weekend.

I gave in to her offer and decided that if she wanted my tutoring session, she's going to drop off shopping for another day.

"But... aren't you going to come with me? You need a dress for that!" She arched an eyebrow as I gave her a flat look. She had invited me to go along with her to the dinner. And I had thought about what I would wear already. I didn't need to buy new clothes for it. When I told her that, her shoulders slumped as she sighed before getting along with it.

"You never let me dress you up." She grumbled and gave me an innocent face when I glared.

Sitting in our English class, we all were waiting for our teacher, Mr. Daniel Jones. Meanwhile, we were multitasking, like talking or scribbling, and, in my case, doodling. Then there came, as they liked to call themselves, ‘Arch Angels’: the prettiest and most popular girls of our school Aqua High, home of the Dolphins, champions of swimming. It was sort of obvious, considering the pride of this school. Our competing neighbor, Cetus High, was another leading champion of swimmers. They had a Whale as their mascot—referring to Greek mythology—and were quite impressive. It was hard to take the trophy from them, but it made the competition all the more worth it.

Back to the girls, their name actually suited them, considering their mischievous ways. They had a reputation of being closed off and incredibly picky. They weren't quite friendly, but they were civil. And being playfully wicked was their second nature. It wasn't always pleasant to see them work their magic, but they kept the school entertainingly interesting.

Once, they had gone through the whole night of setting up a domino plan. So that when Principal Turner entered his office, a large bucket of lukewarm melted cheese would fall on his head. No one could figure out how they did it, but the hilarity made that question disappear. That was a tough week. It smelled awful.

I shuddered at the memory—Rose suddenly asking what was wrong—when the Angels came towards us, greeted Rose and me, and proceeded to sit behind us. Our desks could hold three students, so we were also waiting for our third neighbor. I went back to my doodling while Rose rambled about her weekend, telling me—and the whole class due to her loud voice—how she made her parents understand her gestures when she couldn't speak.

"One must know sign language, I tell you." She declared as I hastily nodded, trying to keep up. It wasn't that I was ignoring her. It was just that I didn't feel the need to keep eye contact when doodles were occupying my attention.

Finally, after what felt like nth minutes, but weren't, Mr. Jones came in, right after Gabriella Williams, our third neighbor. We all submitted our home assignments as he started today's topic.

Daniel Jones was also a young man teaching just for passion for English, like me—I asked him about it—so that made him way more attractive to those who found him that way, like most of the girls in this class. Even guys looked up to him, to his perfectly fit physique, his naturally set brown hair, his demanding dark brown eyes, and basically, everything. His stature demanded respect, and his throaty voice caught everyone's attention.

It was why his class was overloaded. The management had to stop granting students to transfer to this class because the lecture taught by his rival, Mr. Hanson, had almost zero students. It wasn't that he didn't teach well. It was just that students liked to aid their eyes with a dashing personality when they went through the lecture. No one could blame them, really. Mr. Jones was a fit man. But it was his passion for the subject that made me sign up for his class. It was clear from the way he taught us. He never minded the lack of knowledge, questions, or mistakes. He loved letting us know about stuff. He would give us pointers on how it helped with the exams. But unlike me and some others, most girls visibly drooled over the man. He tried not to show his discomfort, but how long could he even hide it before calling them out?

The class ended as Mr. Jones told us about the project of a story made from scratch. It could be of any genre as long as it was original. He said he would check for plagiarism, and it was due by the start of the upcoming week. The whole week we'd discuss it if there was any help needed. It would've been great had it not been for almost ten thousand words. Well, to be exact, nine thousand was the extreme limit. Otherwise, the minimum words were eight thousand and five hundred. Yes, it was that long, but I was happy because creating stories was my specialty, and I would always be up for a challenge like this. Mr. Jones also called it a challenge as he liked to push us by labelling it. He also soothed us. Saying that it was okay if we made mistakes, but I also knew what would happen if one actually did make them.

Rose and I were just walking out the door when one of the Angels stopped me. I faced them, taken aback as the other two continued to walk away. This wasn't normal.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, calming down my brain, which shot up in weird possibilities leading from this encounter.

"I knew I could trust you." The brunette of the group replied, astonishing me with her sudden confession of trust.

"Aren't you like really... really... really, really early for trusting me?" I half-heartedly laughed, cautious of telling her my opinion.

"Here comes the request for favors." I saw Rose roll her eyes as she muttered in disdain. Smiling at her, I looked back at the brunette who must’ve heard Rose because she had a deadpanned look on her face.

"Well, Rose isn't wrong… I really do need you for a favor. But I'll tell you all about it at lunch. Please come? Okay? Thank you. You're the best." She blew a kiss in my direction while she sped towards the other Angels as my gaze followed her in surprise. I couldn't help but shrug, mumbling an okay even though she couldn't see it.

Albeit, Rose was fuming. She hated that when they needed something, then and only then they reached others, and at times, it wouldn't end well. Of course, students thirsty for popularity would lay down like a carpet for them, but that wasn't really my case. I was friends with anyone I knew, and I didn't mind that. I was happy in my place, and it came with an expense that I had already paid. Trusting was hard for me, but that never stopped me from having a good time with others or giving people the benefit of the doubt. They all deserved at least one chance anyway.

I nudged Rose, silently asking her to let go of the Angels' situation. That was so she would be her chirpy self again. We greeted Gabriella properly when we reached our lockers, Charles already on his. My wish came true when we noticed Gabriella's appearance, and Rose decided to call her out on it.

"Hey, Gabby, why are you so flustered, and what’s up with your hair?" That's all it took for Gabriella to go rosy. She hastily looked in the locker mirror and started to fix her hair. Charles sneaked a look at Gabriella too, which was caught by Rose. She just loved to tease them both.

Everyone, who heard, chuckled or snickered at this as the couple's blush deepened. I hit Rose's shoulder as punishment for doing it, but she just laughed in response, saying it was only for fun.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll leave them at ogling each other." Everyone laughed at this as they hid behind their locker doors. Apparently, the couple had decided never to be lovey-dovey in public or even act like those who were a couple which ended up in them being awkward around each other. I couldn't quite understand the reason. But then again, it was why they were the most adored couple. Besides, none of us ever laughed like we were making fun of them. Though technically we were, it never meant bad.

However, suddenly, Charles shut his locker door with a bang and went behind Gabriella, wrapping his arms around her. A wave of awes sounded in the hallway, which made the couple smile.

"Yeah, Rosalyn, you should leave us alone and stop being nosy." Charles retorted, smirking at Rose's glare. A wave of ‘ooh’s sounded.

"Hey, don't call me that, Charleston!" Another wave of ‘ooh’s—this time louder—sounded.

"I don't understand why you both don't like your full name, guys. In my opinion, they're pretty awesome." I said, hoping to diminish the situation, but it didn’t exactly go as planned.

"Nobody cares for your opinion!" They both yelled at me in unison as I put my hands up in defense and started laughing at their similitude. Even Gabriella was laughing as her emerald eyes glistened in joy. Her eyes... They reminded me of the one I saw today. Not like I really forgot them. They were all I was doodling on the back of my books.

After the locker moment, I took out the textbooks I needed for the next class. Impatient, I walked towards it without waiting for anyone else, eager to draw those eyes again, hoping to find them one more time. At least to know who they belonged to because clearly, the person didn't go here; otherwise, I would've known him. Maybe he went to Cetus High? It could be, or it couldn’t.

I walked towards our newly appointed class as the usual one was having some light issues. Opening the door, I found Mason Smith, the childhood buddy of my brother. He was of my age, but he was always closer to Max than he was with me. He was describing something to my brother, which I guessed was from the lecture they just attended. I greeted him before informing him of the schedule change so they would leave. He gave me a high five before walking out with Max, who made a face—receiving one as well. It was fun here now that there wasn't any bullying, but that didn't mean I liked waking up in the morning. I put my routines on an off mode during the weekends, so I kind of knew the drug of laziness.

As the class progressed, I kept thinking about the oak green orbs I had the privilege of seeing. The surprise they held in them was something that piqued my curiosity. What was it that made the owner of those eyes feel that he had found something he was searching for? I wanted to know the answer. It wasn't normal for a stranger to hold that look.

But who knew that those answers would find me instead and turn my life upside down?