When the third year comes

"Pres! Wait!" I hurried toward the classroom, practically running as I tried to get there before our class president locked the door. "Zara! You're late again!" I immediately looked at my best friend, Eliana Santos, who was already sitting comfortably in her seat. "I'm not late. I'm just... fashionably delayed," I defended myself as I dropped my bag onto my chair. She rolled her eyes. "You always say that. You barely even sleep, yet you still manage to come to school late." "Excuse me? I sleep perfectly fine." "You? Sleep?" Mia Celestine Navarro, another one of my closest friends, suddenly joined the conversation. "You literally look like you fought with your pillow all night." I glared at her. "Wow. My own friends are bullying me this early in the morning." Lia laughed. "We're just telling the truth." I sighed dramatically before fixing my hair. Honestly, I didn't understand why they kept worrying about my sleeping habits. I was perfectly fine. Besides, I had more important things to worry about. Like looking pretty. I was the type of girl who loved everything girly and feminine. Dresses, lip gloss, cute accessories—you name it, I probably had it. And, not to brag, but I was probably the prettiest girl in our section. Okay, maybe I was bragging. But it was the truth. Unfortunately, being pretty didn't automatically make me smart. Especially when it came to Math. I was an ABM student, yet numbers and I had never been friends. I only chose this strand because Lia and Mia were smart enough to help me whenever I got confused. Without them, I probably would've been crying over accounting problems every single day. "By the way," Lia suddenly said, leaning closer to us, "did you hear? We have a new classmate." "A new classmate?" Mia nodded excitedly. I simply shrugged. "So?" They both stared at me. "Aren't you curious?" "Not really." I honestly wasn't. New classmates came and went. As long as they didn't bother me, I didn't care. A few minutes later, our adviser finally entered the classroom. "Good morning, everyone." "Good morning, Ma'am!" She smiled before stepping aside. "And we have a new student joining our class today." A boy walked into the room. The moment I saw him, I couldn't help but stare for a second. He had dark hair, a quiet expression, and eyes that were difficult to read. He didn't look nervous at all despite having an entire classroom staring at him. "This is Aziel Nathaniel Monteverde. Please make him feel welcome." Aziel simply gave a small nod. Our adviser looked around the classroom. "Aziel, you can sit beside Zara." I blinked. Me? Seriously? He walked toward my seat and sat down beside me without saying a word. I glanced at him. He didn't even look at me. Okay. This was going to be interesting. I decided to be friendly anyway. "Hi." He finally looked at me. "Hi." That was it. I waited. Nothing. Okay, then. "So... how old are you?" "Fifteen." My eyes widened. "Oh. You're still young." He looked at me with a blank expression. "My birthday is tomorrow." I raised an eyebrow. "So?" "I'll be sixteen tomorrow." "Oh." I nodded. "So we're basically the same age." "Yes." I smiled. "Happy birthday in advance." "Thanks." There was another silence. Why was this guy so quiet? I was about to ask another question when he suddenly looked at me. "Come to my birthday." I froze. "Huh?" "My birthday." "I heard you." He stared at me calmly. "Come." I blinked several times. "Why?" I nearly dropped my pen. "Just the two of us?" He nodded. My notebooks slipped from my hands and landed on the floor. A few of our classmates immediately laughed. "Oh my gosh!" I quickly bent down to pick everything up, completely embarrassed. Before I could gather all my things, Aziel reached down and helped me. "Here." "Thanks." I took the notebooks from him. My face still felt warm from embarrassment. "Anyway," I said, trying to change the subject, "why did you transfer here?" "Family." I stared at him. "That's it?" "Yes." I sighed. This boy really knew how to give short answers. "What's your favorite subject?" "None." "Favorite food?" "None." "Favorite color?" "None." I slowly turned toward him. "Do you even have a favorite anything?" He looked at me. "You have so many questions." I frowned. "I'm just being friendly." "You're too friendly." I gasped. "Excuse me?" He looked away. I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're so rude." "I heard that." "Good." For the first time, the corner of his lips lifted slightly. It was barely noticeable. But he smiled. I stared at him. Wait. Did he just smile? Before I could say anything else, Lia suddenly leaned toward us. "Zara." I looked at her. "What?" She gave me a teasing smile. "You're already talking to the new guy?" Mia joined in. "And he even invited you to his birthday?" My eyes widened. "Don't make it sound weird!" Lia laughed. "I didn't say anything." "You didn't have to!" The two of them continued teasing me while Aziel remained beside me, quietly doing his own thing. I glanced at him. He was still unreadable. My first day became a lot more interesting because of the new student sitting beside me. Aziel Nathaniel Monteverde. Maybe having a new seatmate wasn't such a bad thing after all.