Chapter 24: What next?

“Tessa!!!” Mom's voice echoed from downstairs like an out of control police siren. “You're no longer here grounded , you have school”

“Coming mom” I screamed back from my room, standing in front of the mirror examining my new look carefully.

Black tennis skirt.

Pink basic top.

My hair fell loosely around my shoulders, and I pinned a small pink bow to the side. A little lip gloss made my lips look soft and shiny.

“That's perfect” I muttered to myself, grabbed my back pack and rushed into my black and white converse.

My feet pounded heavily as I ran down the stairs. “I'm ready bye” I yelled heading straight for the door.

“Hey!eat breakfast before you leave” mom called from the kitchen.

“I'll pass mom, I really want to catch the bus today”

She poked her head at the kitchen “but you don't like the bus”

“I do now!” I said reaching for the door knob “bye”

Mom was right, I never liked the bus not because it was dirty or clustered but mainly because of the judgemental stares.

You know those ones that made you remember how nerdy you look on Mondays with your oversized sweatpants, yeah those ones.

But today I felt confident. Those stares were the very least of my worries.

I spotted Maya at the school entrance waiting for me. I waved and looked closely, she was holding a cup of matcha and a medium sized burger.

“hey” I said smiling but her look was stern.

“My sources told me you skipped breakfast,” she said, handing the burger to me. “Girl, do you plan on competing with a mop stick for the skinniest human alive?”

“No” I said, she slightly tilted her head and gave me the stare “Well maybe I am”

“Eat this before i forcefully shove it down your throat”

I rolled my eyes and started munching on it gradually. It'd been a bit since I had burgers, I'd normalise eating so healthy these days that snacks looked like some green slimy stiff in my head.

But I would never look at burgers that way.

“Oh and maya” I said in between bites “Klaus kissed me and said he loves me”

She stopped “WHAT?!!” she screamed.

Every Head in the hallways turned towards us. I nearly choked on my burger.

“Shhhh!” I whispered harshly. “You’re going to make a scene!”

“Details. Now.” She commanded

I sighed dramatically and began explaining the entire night—the window, the confession, the kiss, everything.

“And honestly,” I finished proudly, “it was such a beautiful night that I plan to tell the story to my children… and their children… and their children for generations to come.”

Maya blinked dramatically , “that's a lot to unpack tessa” she folded Her arms “so are you two like dating or something now”

“Hmm” I said dramatically rubbing my chin “ we didn't really discuss that part…we kind of just skipped to the I love you stage”

“I'm going to hold your hands when I say this” she paued holding my greasy hands "you're both fools”

“Ouch”

“Word of advice, Make sure he comes to you first"

I scoffed “since when are you the love specialist”

“I’ve had my fair share of love and heartbreaks, thank you very much.”

I raised my hands in mock surrender “alright girl , yore the boss”

We both walked into our classroom discussing what shade of black a black mamba had.

I sighted Ethan and immediately I walked into the room, he stood by my usual desk tapping a finger on it like he'd been waiting for someone.

Me?

A little , oh fuck escaped my lips as I realised had not replied his texts.

“good luck on that one”Maya said before leaving for her seat.

I slowly walked over and gently slid into my chair.

“hey” I said with a clearly awkward smile.

It felt like I said hey, I kissed your twin brother last night and I'm probably in love with him as much as he is in love with me.

Stop it tesa.

“I’ve been trying to reach you all week,” he said, his voice filled with concern. “What happened?”

“I was grounded” I replied quickly, my gaze never meeting him.

“Oh” he looked relieved “I'm sorry”

“Oh it's not your fault I was tragically deprived of technology for a while seven days” I replied dramatically bringing Out my books and materials from my back pack “but it's all good now really”

“No,” he said softly. “I mean… I’m sorry for what happened the last time we spoke. I—”

“Oh that's perfectly fine too” I cut him off quickly.

Oh my god can this conversation end already??

“Actualky” He rubbed the back of his neck “there's something I need to tell you …. Tessa I–”

“Alright class!” Mr. Oliver’s voice beamed from the front of the room. “Let’s get into business.”

I heaved a sigh of relief.

Miracles do happen. Thank God. I really hoped he didn't see the relief on my face, he would've felt really bad.

Ethan sat down and faced forward.

The class went on as interactive as usual. Mr Oliver hinted to us a lot that he got a new girlfriend and he wasn't even trying hard to hide the fact that he was hopelessly in love with this lady.

Almost everyone in class protested. Telling him to stop saying things like. She makes me feel seen, I found the person I would burn the world for, I would find her in a thousand lives. I, on the other hand, found it very cute.

He was happy, that's what matters.

Through the entire class, I felt Ethan's eyes on me. I even caught him stealing Glances.

It felt like that predator-prey show we watched on wild animals channels and it was unsettling because I felt like the prey.

After class, Maya darted off, shouting something about college applications. I shook my head with a small smile, tucking my notebook into my backpack.

“I should put some of these in my locker” I muttered to myself and headed for the hallways.

As I was walking down, quietly humming the melody of one of my favourite k pop idols songs when I felt like something was following me.

I turned but it was just a bunch of students loitering around.i shrugged it off And continued walking to my locker.

Suddenly,a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind, yanking me into a shadowed corner.

I gasped, my heart hammering in my chest.

Who the fuck was that?