Chapter 13: An Unwanted Encounter

Isabella wasn't going to place James in any hard situation. After all, she was the one who came to him. She was the one who always fancied being with him, so she wouldn't let him fall prey to anything of that sort. 

She stood up quickly and raised her hand. “Please, I have something to say. Class representative,” she said and made sure to emphasize the "class representative" part as she turned around, her name being Lily.

“What do you want to say?” she questioned.

“The truth. You are claiming that he scolded two students who just came in. But did he not scold me? Well, he did not just scold me but he gave me community service. Do you understand? You guys all had luck and he's only saying that because he doesn't want you guys to know that he has slowly begun to punish you for coming late,” she said boldly as James smiled at her. 

Lily quickly turned back to James with a frown. “Why would she be getting community service, Professor? Yes, she was late, but that is too much. You can scold her in our presence; that is better than any of these things,” Lily said, supporting Isabella as she smiled before sitting down.

“That is her punishment and she has to bear it. I noticed she did not have any excuse as to why she came late. So don't intervene,” James said and turned around as he tried his best to hold in his laugh. In his mind, he could not help but praise Isabella's method. She came and saved him from that awkward situation so quickly. 

Isabella turned to Rachel with a smirk before bringing out her book. Rachel felt angry. “I don't know why you are making it seem like we are enemies just because of this. The only thing I am trying to do is tell you the truth and the truth still remains the same. You would regret this,” Rachel said as Isabella stood up and packed all her books.

“So you don't want me beside you anymore? I'm going to move. I don't even know why I'm still clinging to you this way. If only my only friend, the only one who cares about me, is Tricia. Then you won't be doing this to me. I cannot wait for Tricia to come back. Already you are making life so unbearable for me. You make it seem as if we aren't students and we are not free to have fun,” Isabella said to Rachel angrily as Rachel shook her head again, something she was very fond of doing. 

“You don't understand. Fine. You are a student enjoying your life. What about Alex? What about Alex? That you are going to see his mom? Think about him; put yourself in his shoes. I know you are enjoying whatever you are doing, but please be very cautious because if you lose Alex, I don't know what else you would gain from all this,” Rachel said.

Isabella did not even bother to respond to her as she quickly changed seats. Even though she was jotting down everything that James was writing on the board, she still seemed so lost in thoughts, like she could not understand why Rachel was making it seem as though it was a huge scene. Patricia could do it with ease; every other girl could do it with ease, but when it came to her tone, Rachel would not let her rest. But she decided to shake that off.

It was soon evening, and Alex was waiting in front of her hostel with his car. He called her number only to see her just arriving at the hostel with Rachel, and in her hand was a bag which was the dress she planned on wearing. 

“I am so sorry, Alex. I'm sorry I was late. Our lectures got longer than expected,” she said as Rachel waved to Alex before walking away.

“You have to be fast, okay? You know how far my house is from this place and I don't want to be late for dinner. I don't want mom to give me any excuses to complain,” he said as Isabella nodded and ran upstairs to change without wasting any time. She did not take up to 10 minutes to dress up as she packed up all her makeup equipment and entered the car.

As Alex drove off, he noticed she was doing her makeup. “Why do you have to put on so much makeup? I told you I prefer you naturally the way you are. Just stop this already,” Alex pleaded as she turned.

“I need to look the best for your mom. You might not like makeup, but I need to look presentable, so don't question what I want,” she said. Normally, she would never try to argue with Alex and instead would just oblige to what he wanted. But now it seemed as though she had grown wings and wanted to do everything she ever wanted.

“I think you are not that easy to control anymore,” Alex stated as she laughed.

“What do you mean by I'm not that easy to control anymore? I am still your girlfriend and you can tell me what to do, but this is important. You cannot force me to not look good in front of your mom. What if your mom nags me because I don't look good?” she tried to explain, but Alex waved it off as they got to a filling station.

“It's okay; we don't have to argue about this. Aren't you going to get her anything? At least as an appreciation? You are just going there empty-handed,” Alex said to Isabella, who covered her mouth in shock.

“Oh my God! I cannot believe I forgot something as important as that,” she yelled. Just then, she turned her attention to the supermarket. “Please, can you tell me things your mom likes? Let me even get some of them in the supermarket here before I go,” she pleaded as Alex rolled his eyes.

“I don't know what she likes anymore. I haven't lived with her for quite a while, so I don't know; maybe what she likes has changed. Just try to get her things you know she can fancy; that's all,” he said to her as Isabella nodded and stepped out of the car as she ran into the supermarket.

Just then, James parked his car to refill his tank as Alex immediately recognized him as the professor from Isabella's lecture. He decided to stay low and watch him refill his tank. At the same time, Isabella's phone began to ring. It was James.

“Where are you? I haven't seen you after lectures. You said you would come to me tonight,” James reminded Isabella, who slammed her hand on her forehead.

“Have you forgotten I had plans? I changed everything. But no worry, you would see me tomorrow and you'd have as much time as you want with me. But for now, that cannot be possible. Please,” Isabella pleaded as she strolled through the supermarket and was back at the front door when she saw Alex coming out of the car. 

To her greatest surprise, she also saw James who was refilling his tank while on a call with her. James attracted Alex's attention as he slowly walked towards him. 

All the things Isabella had bought fell to the ground. She did not want Alex and James to face each other ever. This can't be happening now.