BACK AND FORTH

CHAPTER 2: A Rendezvous in McDonald's

“We’re here,”

Blake pulled over to the parking lot of McDonald's. All of them are busy unbuckling their seatbelts. One by one, they got out of the car and shut the door next to them.

“Oh, look at that. There are too many people inside. Do you think we can still look for a table?” Cam asked worried.

“There’s gotta be. Trust me. Come on,” Millie said.

With high hopes for a vacant table, the group went inside the food chain. A member of the crew immediately accommodated them and helped them look for a vacant booth.

Once they'd settled in a booth next to the large window, Blake initiated to order for them. He took their orders and left for the counter.

Before Millie could even strike up a conversation with Rachel and Cam, the two of them were already engrossed with some physics problem.

“Oh, so you gotta put this one on the right side to get its value?” Millie heard Rachel ask Cam.

“Yup. Since the given magnitude is a vector quantity. Hey, don’t forget to write the correct notations, alright? Gotta be careful with that in the exam later,” Cam carefully reminded Rachel.

If Millie and Blake have always been inseparable since birth, that’s also the same for Rachel and Cam. The four of them met back in elementary school. But Rachel and Cam have always been best friends since then. They’re like sisters. If Rachel or Cam had a problem, they would tell each other first. Then, they would open up to the rest of the gang.

A few minutes later, Blake returned to their table.

“It’s gonna take a while, but it’s fine. We still got time,” Blake told the girls.

“Blake, dude, I’m starving,” Rachel whined, pouting.

“We’re all starving here, Rachel. But do you see us complaining?” Millie scolded.

“No. But do I give a f**k? No.” Rachel remarked sarcastically.

“Guys, guys, would you mind taking that bickering outside? I’m trying not to fail here,” Cam scolded the two of them. She’s already frustrated by the physics problem, and annoyed by the constant bickering between the two.

“Sorry,” Millie and Rachel replied in unison.

“Oh, look, Mills,” Blake elbowed Millie. “Is that Leeroy?” he asked, craning his neck a bit to get a nice view.

“What? Who’s Leeroy?” Millie’s face scrunched.

“Remember that guy I introduced to you last intramurals? The basketball player from the ABM department?”

“What? He’s here? That guy you set me up with?!”

Millie’s voice rang around the place, which made a few people inside turn their heads on them, and that did not exempt a group of boys who were in a beeline at the counter.

“Thank you so much, Mills. Now they’re looking at us, and I have no choice but to say hi. Great. So great,” Blake murmured with gritted teeth.

“Oh my God, he’s looking at me,” Millie panicked, quickly putting her hand over her head as she ducked away from the gaze of that boy named Leeroy.

“Will you chill? You’re acting like an i***t, and we’re cousins, so don’t act like an i***t. Don’t be an i***t. I’ll just go and say hi,”

“Ugh! I hate you so much,”

Millie watches her cousin make his way to the group at the counter. While she's busy cursing him under her breath, one boy catches her attention.

Her eyes are immediately glued to this guy who isn't doing anything special. He's just standing there, adjusting his eyeglasses as he looks at the menu ahead.

"Holy s**t. Who's that guy? I've never seen him before in school," Millie gushes to Rachel and Cam, who are currently teaming up to solve a physics problem.

"Who?" Rachel curiously turns her head to look at the guy Millie is referring to, but instead, Rachel spots the enemy. Her eyes widen in recognition.

"Hey, Cam! Look who's here?" Rachel shook Cam's arm to divert her focus.

"Huh?" Cam turns her head, too. "Ugh, so annoying. What is he doing here?" she rants, clearly irritated by the presence of her academic rivals in STEM.

"Duh. To eat lunch with his friends, of course," Millie retorts. "Which one are you talking about?"

"That guy next to the guy with the glasses," Rachel replies.

"He looks fine, though. What's your deal with him?"

"Well, ever since he transferred to our school during Grade 11, Cam's rank dropped to second. Not that it's bad, or something. I'm really, really proud of you, Cam. But the thing is, his presence is threatening, especially to Cam's scholarship," Rachel reaches for Cam's hand.

Millie gasps. "No way!"

"It's true," Cam sighs. "I heard from one of the faculty that he's a strong candidate for valedictorian and might get a better scholarship than mine. I heard it's like a study abroad Ivy-league scholarship or something. I don't know,"

"Well, do you want that scholarship? Do you want to study abroad? Because if you want that scholarship, then we had better work for it, right?" Millie asks.

"We? What do you mean 'we'?" Cam's forehead creases, her eyebrows meeting in the middle of her forehead.

"I mean us. We can help you, or whatever. You know, maybe we can, uh, form a distraction for your rival. Does he have a girlfriend? Let's make them break up, and he'll feel awful about it. Hence, it'll make his grades drop,"

Cam and Rachel looked at each other, then at Millie.

"That's a bit..." Cam hesitated.

"Immature. Childish. Existential. I don't know, Millie. What the hell is wrong with you?" Rachel blurted out in utter annoyance.

"Hey, don't be too rough on her. She's just trying to help," Cam told Rachel. "But if there's one thing I must do, I should play this game fair and square. No dirty tricks. Alright?"

"What the f**k is he doing?" Millie suddenly cursed under her breath, her eyes panicking and apprehensive as she looked over Cam's shoulder.

"These are my friends, by the way. Uhm, you know Millie, right?" Blake, without any warning, started introducing them to the newcomers.

"Absolutely," nodded the guy in the middle whose name was Leeroy.

There was a glint of recognition and playfulness in his eyes as he stared at Millie.

"Millie is my cousin, too," Blake turned to the other boys at the back, to whom they all nodded.

"This is Camille, and Rachel. They're both in STEM,"

While Camille, Blake, and Millie were exchanging conversations with Leeroy, Rachel, on the other hand, felt a pair of eyes staring at her.

Her head gravitated towards that force, and her eyes landed on the guy she never wanted to look at right now.

He was Camille's academic rival from Class 1. He was Camille's bane of existence. If he could have stayed in Boston, Camille would still be the top of the class. Camille could have had that scholarship.

Just thinking of it all made Rachel's blood boil.

Rachel's eyes sharpened as she held Kael's gaze. All she wanted was for her dagger-like eyes to stab straight through Kael's chest right now.

She sighed as she rolled her eyes, then looked away.

By the time Rachel paid attention, it was Leeroy's turn to introduce his friends. The guy on his left wearing sophisticated-looking glasses that made him look more hot than nerdy was Charles of HUMSS. While the guy standing on his right was Camden of ABM. Without even telling, Camden screamed "Old money" rich kid with his Rolex watch that was way too expensive for an 18-year-old to use to keep track of time in school.

And the last one, the one who was raised in Boston, New York.

He was the type of guy who was carefree, laid-back, and innocent-looking but exuded the qualities of a rich, athletic, but super-academic achiever. The one that was fit as an Ivy League candidate—Kael Giovanni Razon. That navy blue jacket from Ralph Lauren seemed new.

Camden whispered something into Leeroy's ear.

"We should probably go. It's nice meeting you guys. See you at school," Leeroy said.

"Yeah, sure. See you around, guys," Blake replied.

As they started moving to leave, Kael stole one last glance toward Rachel before he lazily tore his eyes away. Millie, Blake, and Camille couldn't help but notice it, and snapped their heads behind them.

Rachel was standing frozen and flustered. Her cheeks were flushed red.

"What was that?" Millie gasped.

"I-I have no idea," Rachel answered, shaking her head.

Camille chuckled, "Oh my God, he's so obsessed with you," she said to Rachel, eyes sparkling.

"What are you talking about?"

"You think I didn't notice? He's been looking at you ever since Blake brought them to our table,"

"He did?!" Millie took her hands to her mouth as she dramatically gasped.

"Stop it, both of you. He's creeping me out!"

Chills crawled all over Rachel's skin. What the hell was his deal? Rachel couldn't help but feel more creeped out than feel butterflies in her stomach. She was having "goosebumps" right now.

"Oh, come on. You know what it means! He's definitely checking you out, Rach," Millie kept insisting.

"He's not my type, Mills. So, stop it. I don't want to entertain anyone right now,"

"Oooh…" Cam cooed. "Is that so, baby girl?"

"Ugh, seriously Cam?"

Millie and Camille erupted into comical laughter, both satisfied by their teasing.

"Guys, our order's here," Blake announced, disrupting the girls' conversation.

The group immediately drove back to school after finishing their meal. Rachel and Cam got off at the library to study, while Millie and Blake went to the Senior High building to park the car.

"Did you notice?" Cam said while they were walking on the front steps of the library.

"Notice what?"

"Blake. He's been awfully quiet ever since we got our order. I'm wondering what's gotten into him."

"Really?"

Cam thoughtfully nodded.

"Oh,"

Their physics teacher arrived 30 minutes late, so the test started at 1:30 p.m. As soon as the test papers were being distributed, everyone in the classroom groaned in frustration.

Rachel let out a sigh of disappointment. Right from that moment, she knew she was going to mess up.