Chances of Fate

VI- Who's Owen?

Amirah's Point Of View

I couldn't sleep last night. I didn't even eat dinner and breakfast after all that's happened.

I'm not fond of this current situation. It truly was the calm before the storm.

Showing up in the middle of the school year and acting like he doesn't know me? How dare he! This wasn't the worst thing that has happened for the past day, oh no. Laura suddenly stopped showing up after I pushed her away!

I wanted to apologize to her this morning but I couldn't find her. I thought she went to school early but no! She's not here! Ah! I'm suddenly feeling guilty.

I opened the classroom door, yawning, and lazily eyed the crowd of people on so-called Owen's desk. They've been bothering him ever since he sat on his seat. It was an annoying sight to see.

Is it just me or has my eyesight gotten more blurry? I mean, I am wearing glasses but... it feels weird.

Instead of sitting on my own seat which was just in front of him, I sat on Everleigh's desk after bumping into a few chairs on my way. She's still not here and I'm sure that she won't mind.

Even though it was an hour early, half of the class were already here and I know with no doubt that they just wanted to befriend this Owen.

I dramatically exhaled and rested my head on the desk. I can't believe this is happening. He's here and I look—

"Wow, you look like shit."

He's not wrong. Even though the maids tidied me up because I was too lazy to move this morning, I still look horrible.

"Oh my God, Luke, shut up." I lazily replied, trying to cover my face because of his presence. "I'm having a terrible headache." I gritted my teeth. Why are these pain showing up all of a sudden? It's kind of scaring me now.

On the other hand, this is such a bad timing. Luke's in the mood for teasing and that's never good. I'd tease back if only I wasn't in this kind of state.

Luke seemed to notice my bad mood and zipped his mouth. A few seconds later, I heard him drag a chair and placed it across mine.

"Geez, what's your problem today?" He asked in a more cautious tone. "You look a lot paler than usual."

I look up to see him staring at me with a curious face. He was sitting in front of me with the chair in the opposite direction. Luke's so cool sometimes and it bothers me a lot.

"Can't you tell?" I replied with a frown. "Things aren't going my way." Also, my head hurts like crazy.

"And why do you say that?" He lifted a brow. "You've been acting like this since yesterday. It's not normal for us anymore."

I listened to him ramble about me and my new attitude and only one sentence made my eye light up.

"You being depressed all of a sudden and this new Owen guy appearing out of nowhere all happening at the same time is making us a bit concerned."

Now, I'm in the mood to tease this guy. "You don't have to lie, Luke. I know you guys are concerned about me." I smiled.

"I hate your fake smile."

I groaned and faced my desk again. "You're so mean."

This guy's no fun! I was just trying to lighten the mood. He's taking this way too seriously. Maybe he is worried about me.

I want to tell him that I'm fine but I can't just say that if I look like a dead girl who rose from the dead!

"Oh, Amirah!"

My head flung towards the new voice and released a smile.

Thank God she's here. Laura isn't here yet and I'm dying to tell them what's going on with me.

"So Everleigh was the one you needed." I can feel Luke frowning beside me with his arms beside his waist.

"Did I hear someone needing Everleigh?" Another familiar voice entered the room carrying a potential weapon. He halted in his tracks when he realized that we were the people talking. "Oh, it's just you guys."

I stared at him nonchalantly. "Ash, put the sword the down."

"It's seven in the morning. What are you doing carrying a sword around the halls? Are you trying to embarrass the student council or—" Luke got cut off when Ash abruptly replied.

"Shut up. I'm helping the theater club with moving their props."

"Whatever."

Everleigh faked a cough, making us silent for a few seconds. "Darling, I thought you you were gonna take a break today?" She asked, intently staring at me. "You looked so sick yesterday."

I peeked at Ash who frowned at the endearment that he just heard. They're starting to make my day again.

"I'm fine." I simply replied, thinking if this was the right time to tell them. "There's just something going on my mind."

"Is it about Owen? The first thing you did yesterday was freak out in the middle of his introduction." Luke raised a brow.

Why is he suddenly getting pushy?

I crossed my arms. "I was gonna mention that but I don't think this is the right time."

Ash nodded in acknowledgement. "We'll talk during lunch, then."

"Agh, fine." We heard Luke grumble as he stood up to arrange the chair back.

I stared at Everleigh who fell silent all of a sudden. She may be worried about me and the secrets that I've told her before. I don't blame her, I'm anxious as well.

"I should get going and return this to the theater club. I'll be back." Ash broke the silence, slightly raising the prop from his hand.

We bid him goodbye as he exited the room.

"Leigh, can I sit here until the teacher comes?"

I saw her smile. "You can sit there for as long as you like." she replied and placed her bag on the desk. "I'll grab a drink at the cafeteria. Wanna come? Or do you want me to grab something for you too?"

I politely declined her invitation and just remained in her seat for the past minutes, watching Luke who was back playing in his gaming console.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled as I rested both of my arms and head on the desk, still eyeing Luke. Maybe I should distract myself a bit with him. "You never told me what games you play."

"You never asked."

Wha—am I supposed to feel bad about it? I tried my best not to show a glare.

"Well, we never really got the chance to talk about it."

I heard him scoff. "Because all you guys talk about are crushes, relationships, and cookies."

"That's not true! We talk about all sorts of things!"

"In fact, my clubmates know me more than you guys do. I feel like an outsider sometimes whenever I talk to the three of you."

Every word that he blurted out was like an arrow hitting my heart. It hurts! So is he saying that we've been abandoning him this whole time? I never thought that he'd think that way.

"Hey—" I halted when I realized that I didn't know what to say. Am I gonna apologize? Scold him for thinking such way? Joke around?

He changed his sitting position into a 4-figure and lets out a small smirk. "I'm just teasing." He stopped to take a peek at me. "I play different sorts of games."

I then started to talk about the types of games that I play too. It's kind of a secret but it's not bad if I tell him one, right?

"Amirah, the teacher's coming." Everleigh arrived with her box of milk.

Her sudden arrival plus the announcement made me startled a little so I accidentally stood up too fast.

I felt nauseous and sensed something like the room was dancing. This feeling... what was it called again?

"Amirah!"

---

I opened my eyes to see a familiar ceiling above me. It was colored in light cerulean with a flickering light hanging on it.

I feel lightheaded...

"Did I just die?" I mumbled, looking around only to see Everleigh drop a cup when she saw me move.

Wha—I sounded like an old woman.

My throat hurt. It felt like I haven't drank anything for days. I rubbed my eyes, realizing that I'm not wearing my glasses.

The loud crash of the mug didn't mind her and replied, "You're awake...I'm so glad." she let out a smile. "We were so worried about you."

I thought this place looked familiar. We're in the clinic.

We turn around to see Luke enter the room with his earphones off of him.

Well, that's an unusual sight to see.

Wait—what happened?

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"You've been out for ten days."

"What?!"

"Stop teasing her." I saw Everleigh pinch him on the arm. "It's only been 2 hours, Mirah."

She gave me a glass of water while Luke was the one who cleaned up her mess.

This feeling is so new. I have never fainted in my whole life. I feel tired and nauseated. I just want to sleep but I don't think I can after all of this. My head still hurts—

"Did I crash on the floor earlier? I feel like my head's starting to fall off." I inquired in the middle of giving back the cup.

Everleigh shook her head. "Luckily, Luke caught you before the cold floor did."

Luke did an expression that I can't quite recognize when I squinted at him. "You're welcome."

How did he—? Wasn't he—? I mean, that doesn't matter anymore since he saved my head from breaking.

"Oh, u-um—thank you. By the way, where are my glasses? I can barely see your faces."

Everleigh happily got it out from my eyewear case and handed it to me. "I removed it from your face as soon as you were carried to the nurse's office. We know you don't like replacing your glasses all the time. I cleaned it for you so I hope you didn't mind." As I wore my glasses, she continued, "Ash wanted to wear it while you remained unconscious but I didn't let him have it."

Somehow, Ash got obsessed with wanting to wear my glasses after Leigh complimented him for wearing my glasses once. I let him wear it from time to time because he thinks it's cool to wear glasses and to also entertain Everleigh. Asher, you poor boy. If only you knew...

"Thank you, Leigh." I stopped to look at the people in the room. There was only Leigh and Luke. "Speaking of Ash, where is he?"

"Oh, right! Ash is giving pointers to Owen for our test this Friday and that reminds me... Owen told me that he'd like to meet you after school."

I almost collapsed in the bed when she mentioned that guy. Ash is with Owen?! Right now?! H-how—this can't be! What if Owen tells Ash about me being an heiress and I'd be completely exposed?!

That can't happen! My life would be ruined—actually, no. My life would be perfectly marvelous! But that's not what my parents want!

"I have to go!" I jumped from my bed and rushed through the door but my butt ended up on the floor when Luke pulled my hair.

"Are you out of your mind? You just fainted!"

"You didn't have to pull my hair, you sadist." I pouted as he helped me get back up.

"Reece, I'll break your leg if Amirah wants me to." Standing in the doorway was non other than my personal assistant with her butterscotch eyes already piercing through Luke's.

I yelled her name and immediately tackled her to a hug. "Where have you been?! I thought you hated me!"

"My lady, you're kind of breaking my character." She whispered, making me realize that we weren't the only ones in the room.

"Care to explain why our miss ice princess is here?" Luke crossed his arms.

This is so unfair. Laura gets to have a cool nickname from our class and I just get "Miss Representative" that's so lame!

I faced him and introduced Laura to him. "She's Laura Linden from our class and she's my friend."

Of course, I wasn't gonna spill it just because I made a mistake. There's no way I'm letting the others find out about my secret.

"We're friends too." Everleigh smiled as she waved at Laura who nodded back.

"Okay." With his unsure reply, Luke rolled his eyes.

I excused myself from the two and made Laura follow me to a stairwell where no other people walking around.

"I could never bring myself to hate you, my lady." was the first thing that came out of her mouth when we arrived at the place and I wanted to cry.

"You never left me alone and I just—waaah!" I whined, letting myself get buried into Laura's hug.

"I wanted to give my lady some space and while letting you cool off, I decided to investigate this Owen that startled you yesterday." She calmly explained, making me let out a small gasp.

I quickly freed myself from her and gave her a pout. "No fair! I wanted to tell you all about him without you finding out first!"

"But my lady, I don't know what your relationship is with that man."

Oh, so.... well, yeah. I did tell her once about him but it turns out that his identification was a red herring. I sighed out of relief.

"Hmm..." I contemplated for a bit and then snapped my fingers. "Okay, since you and Leigh are the only ones who knows my secret, I'm going to be telling you guys the truth while I tell a white lie on the others!"

A white lie? Who am I kidding, of course I was gonna lie to them!—a little bit...

"Before all of that, why don't you eat first, my lady? I've heard that you fainted because of dehydration and Dizziness which was the cause from not enough eating. Also, you haven't slept."

"Wha—"

"Even if you couldn't see my shadow, I was still looking after you, my lady."

"Waaah! Laura!" I screeched, tackling her again.

---

"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" Asher asked as he dragged his chair towards us.

Me, Everleigh, Luke, Laura, and Asher were having lunch inside the classroom with the chairs positioned like a circle.

I leaned in to make sure that nobody else outside our group would hear us. "I mean, you guys already know who I'm talking about and I wanted to tell you guys what he is to me."

Wait, that came out wrong. Would they misunderstand this?

Luke lifted an eyebrow. "So, are you guys a thing?"

"Oh my God, no! I—Never in a million years." I crossed my arms and furrowed my brows. Why would he ask such question? That's just stupid!

"Alright? I was just asking." He mumbled as he looked away.

Before continuing, I took a deep breath to exhale the bad vibes that Luke's already giving me. "Anyway, I met him at a park once and we became friends quickly because uh—h-he liked the book that I read! Then that jerk insulted me and I slapped him in the face and I ran away from the part—from the park!" Laura, please help me.

Lying to them just drained my energy so I laid down on Laura's desk for a bit as I munched on my sandwich. She caressed my hair a few seconds later, trying to calm me down.

Everleigh and Laura already knew what really happened because I told them first before the two other idiots with us.

"And why are you so tense about it?" Luke inquired.

Everleigh hummed. "Maybe Amirah's just shocked because someone she met who's a jerk in her life just appeared out of nowhere." She smiled as she played along.

"Yes, that's exactly it!" Ash agreed, nodding his head so fast that it looked like his head was about to fall off.

"I'm sorry I made such a fuss. I even forgot to take care of myself because of this." I sighed. "I was being too dramatic."

"We already know you're dramatic but what happened to you was really weird." I ignored Luke's comment and just munched on my sandwich.

Ash kept staring at Laura like he was suspicious of her or something. I mean, I did drag her in our group all of a sudden.

"Oh, Amirah! I remembered something!" Everleigh beamed. "Me and the cooking club are baking cupcakes today! Since you've been experiencing bad things, I decided to make you the taste tester!"

"A taste tester?"

But... I'm still full.

"Yep! You can even eat as many cupcakes as you want."

Wait, then why am I called a taste tester if I'm allowed to eat the whole cupcake?

I can't say no. I can't deny her because I've already troubled them for this stupid Owen!

"Sure, whatever makes you happy, Leigh." I tried my best to be as cheerful as possible and I think it worked because Everleigh smiled to her fullest as a reply.

---

Even though I was still full and recently just ate four sandwiches because I was that hungry, I followed Leigh to her club after class.

Of course, Ash was already there cleaning up the club's mess because Everleigh told her so.

It was just the three of us but there were so many cupcakes that I couldn't even keep my eyes in a single direction. There were even cookies and donuts! How did they even—?

"So, where do you want to start, Mirah?" Leigh's voice made me jump a little because why the heck is she saying that behind my back?!

I feel sick just by looking at the desserts.

"O-oh, um..." I paused, not sure if I really want to continue this. "How many did you make?"

"A hundred and three." The two answered in unison making me stare at them with my eyes almost dropping out.

I ended up finishing half of all the sweets and I can't really take it anymore. My stomach's contracting so violently that I feel like any moment now I'm gonna—

"Amirah? Are you okay?"

"Blergh!"

---

Again, I exited the clinic while Ash and Everleigh followed me with their guilt clinging on them.

They really didn't have to bring me to the clinic but they dragged me there anyway.

"We're sorry, Amirah." Everleigh sniffed.

"Yeah, please forgive us." Ash added.

I sighed and gave them a tired smile. "I already told you guys, it's fine. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was already full from the start." I'm not really in the mood for another drama.

"No, we're the ones who're supposed to apologize! We never considered your thoughts and just forced you to—"

"Are you guys done?" A voice interrupted.

"Laura!" I squealed, quickly hiding behind her. How did she even find me? Well, that doesn't matter because she's here to save me again!

"I'm really sorry, Amirah." I can still see Everleigh's frown.

I waved her off. Now that I'm feeling better because Laura's now here, I can genuinely tell them that I'm alright! "It's okay! I'll say no if I don't want to next time!"

"You say that all the time." Ash glared, making me flinch a little. He's scary when he's like that.

"Ash, stop scaring her." Everleigh smiled as if she was about to hit him in the head. "Thank you for accepting our apologies. We'll see you tomorrow!"

Me and Laura then watched the two disappear in the halls. I was about to walk back to our classroom when Laura grabbed my arm to stop me.

"You're still supposed to meet Owen after school right?"