3. His Choco-Chip Ice-Cream
BRANDON'S POV
There were two types of students you saw after spring break. First, the ones who were happy to be back to school and its hectic schedule and the hostel life. It did have a certain charm to it. I couldn't deny that. The others were, however, ones who wanted nothing more than to be out of this hellhole, desperately waiting for the semester to end. I always thought I was from the latter category. Swimming competitions being the only refuge I got in school. Though, today, I felt things change.
Never in my dreams had I thought that I'll be excited for an English lecture. Yet, here I was, striding towards the room to save a seat for Tyler.
"Where's the fire?" Liam draped his arm over my shoulder, slowing me down a notch.
I could have been embarrassed to say it aloud, but I wasn't. "Tyler and I have the same class. Gotta save a seat for her." With a wink, I shrugged off his hand and rounded up into the room. Spotting two empty seats towards the corner, I dumped my books on the inner side and sat adjacent to it, blocking it so no one else could claim it.
Liam shuffled in a moment later, meeting my eyes with an amused stare of his. "I have no words Brandon Sawyer. You're so whipped." He laughed, taking the seat behind me.
"Am I?" I turned back, resting my elbow on the desk. "Who's the one chasing behind Kiara Roux?"
"Was." He emphasized with his eyebrows.
I frowned. "Damn. She said no?"
"Brandon!" Tyler's voice interrupted our conversation. Not giving another second of attention to Liam, I snapped forward to where Tyler was. So. Fucking. Whipped. Without a thought, I stood up, waving her over. She was alone as she walked over to me. Her smile reached her ears and she raised her eyebrows, turning her head side to side. "We share the same class?"
I stared.
"Brandon?" The voice sounded dangerously close, and I blinked, watching Tyler wave her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"
"Hi," I said.
She laughed. "Is that seat for me?" Her finger pointed towards my right and I nodded.
"Wait." I grabbed her wrist.
Tyler paused mid-way, frowning. "What happened? The class is starting."
I could feel Liam's curious gaze on us. Tyler stood in an awkward position, unsure whether she was supposed to sit or not. She giggled hesitantly, looking between me and my hand, squirming her wrist to take her hand out of my hand. I stared at her face, unbelieving. There was definitely something different. I narrowed my eyes, and she copied my action, and we both assessed each other. My mouth opened, the words on the tip of my tongue, and in a rush I said them aloud, "Did you get a haircut?"
"Tyler Anderson!"
The voice of our teacher cut through the classroom, and I looked around to see everyone else was seated. Tyler took her hand out of my grasp in a hurry, and stared at the teacher with wide eyes. "Yes, sir?"
"We were just sitting!" I laughed, pulling Tyler down with me and dumping her on the seat. Waving my hand in front of my face, I gave him a reassuring smile. "No need for that."
"That's not why I called out Mr. Sawyer." The English teacher assembled his files and kept them on the corner of the table.
"Oh?"
"Miss Anderson, the principal wants to see you."
"Me?" Tyler stuttered, looking baffled and out-of-it. She gave me a side glance, and I tried to smile for her, but I was as confused as her. "Why?"
"Nothing to worry about." He reassured her. "Come back as soon as you're done."
"Okay." Tyler trailed off, and I saw her hesitate. I knew she didn't have good impressions of the teaching staff here, they were as cold-hearted and impersonal as Umbridge version 2.0, so her fumbling steps out of the room dug a pit of worry in my stomach.
Ten minutes passed. They turned into twenty. With only half an hour of lecture left, I was beginning to think Tyler had turned into the next Giulia and gone missing. Like where was she?
"Mr. Sawyer, do we have a problem?"
"Huh?" I said, snapping out of my thoughts. Everyone's attention was on me, particularly on a specific part of my body, and like a kid caught in action, I stilled the loud tapping of my foot. I didn't even realize I was doing it. Scratching my head, and earning a chuckle from Liam, I apologized, "Sorry, bad habit."
"Hmm." Mr. Denver grunted, adjusted his glasses and droned on again.
Few minutes later, I cleared my throat. "Excuse me, sir?" For the umpteenth (I felt) the teacher glared at me.
"Yes?"
I looked around at the disrupted class, and said in the meekest voice, "Can I go to the washroom?"
Rushing out of the room never felt so good. I took back what I said this morning. There was no way I was excited to be back at school. The classes had literally started half an hour ago, and I already wanted to pull the hair out of my head in frustration. This was the class I had been looking forward to. Why the hell that stupid, bald and leering principal had to call over Tyler now? He was ruining the mood. Just in case, someone was following me, I walked towards the washroom instead of the principal's room. The two of them were in opposite directions, but if Tyler did come out, I was sure to catch a glimpse of her from across the hallway.
Halfway to the washroom, the reality struck me. What the hell am I doing with my life? That sort of question seemed to pop up the most in the last year of high school. Was I really bunking the class because I wanted to see Tyler?
Stop making it overly dramatic, I chuckled, shaking my head. I would have bunked it otherwise too.
Five minutes passed. I knew taking longer than this would be pushing it. Ending up in detention or getting caught (rarely happened) wouldn't be the best way to end the day. It should end somewhere else... Smirking at the direction at which my thoughts were going, I felt someone tap my shoulder, and then a ghostly whisper in my ear, "Brandon."
"Holy shit!" I clutched my heart, and scrambled to the wall. Couldn't even wish it was Tyler instead...
"What are you doing here?" Leo tilted his head, looking around as if it was his territory, a lollipop wedged between his teeth.
"Washroom." I brushed off imaginary dust from my t-shirt and straightened it. "You?"
"The new teacher got pissed because I won't put down this." He took the lollipop out of his mouth, the cherry colored candy glistening under the white light and popped it back into his mouth. "So I just walked out of the class."
"You what?"
He shrugged. "Walked out of the class."
I sighed, placed my hands on his shoulders and bored my eyes into his eyes. "Leo."
"Yeah?"
"I'm proud of you." I nodded in a serious manner. "Lollipops over books. Always."
"Um..." Leo stalled, avoiding my eyes. "Oh, that's Tyler."
He pointed behind me and I turned. For a second I thought that it was his way of getting rid of. Then I did spot Tyler coming out of the principal's room. I took a quick breath in. The scene was straight out of a movie. The moisture in my throat dried and my heart sunk faster than it took RMS Lusitania. I rummaged my fingers through my hair, not able to make sense of the situation. Leo whistled low, resting his elbow on my shoulder and motioning towards them.
"Who's the dude?"
I didn't have an answer. My mouth opened as I saw Tyler laugh, her shy demeanor and twinkling eyes easily decipherable from the distance. The dude standing next to her extended his hand, and without hesitance, Tyler took it, shaking it with hers. A bout of something weird panged in my chest but I quickly let it go. My brows furrowed and chest heavy, I let Leo's arm drop from my shoulder. He mumble a few words but they faded into nothingness. Without a thought, I started walking forward.
"Brandon?" Leo called out, but I didn't turn.
The classroom was halfway to the principal's room. Tyler didn't notice me. Not giving her and the man another glance, I entered the classroom. The ghosts of their laughter and chatter haunted my ears, and despite myself I felt my mood turn sour. It was as if the whole class was the witness to my misery as I dragged my foot towards my seat. The empty one beside it just made me sigh.
For really, I was curious as hell. About who that man was.
***
A/N
Sorry it took me a while to upload! I was figuring out the direction I wanted this book to take and really needed some inspiration. I'm all set now ;)
Also, I want to clear up something! This WHOLE BOOK and its TIMELINE is BEFORE the EPILOGUE. In a way you know how it's gonna end up, but life is all about the journey, so hope you enjoy these. And upon much thinking, the whole book will be spread over the whole of final year instead of one month. I get to put much more interesting stuff then!
PS. Do you like the new cover?
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