The Worth of Taking a Risk

A/N: Hey everyone! I just want to advertise my newest book entitled 'An Idol's Love'. The book is still ongoing but I already published 30 chapters and it's completely free to read, so please give it a go. Thank you so much my dear readers~ https://www.starywriting.com/novel/yAtOy%2BQfBkhuSgTMIJVBgg%3D%3D.html PROLOGUE: “It’s time to let go,” My best friend Barbara told me over the phone while I am crying all the pain that I am feeling. “I told you, it is okay to love others but don’t forget to love yourself, don’t forget to leave some for yourself, but what have you done? You gave all that’s yours to him!” Barbara continues while I am still crying like a baby. Have you ever experience falling in love so hard, that you got surprised about how you fall deeper and deeper? Well, I, myself experienced it and I was so surprised about it, but at the same time, I was in so much pain because of that ‘love’. I wonder, “is loving truly this painful and hard?”                                                                                                               CHAPTER 1: THE INCEPTION This year will be my last year in high school. While I am walking inside our campus, I am reminiscing all the memories I made all thru out my high school life. The happiness, the sadness, the laughter, the pain, the days full of stress, but above of them are the achievements that I have obtained out of the endless hard works and sleepless nights I have endured. Eight months left and I will leave this school, and this place and will reside in the city. I let out a heavy sigh with that thought in my mind, and immediately shake it off to remove that thought. Geez! I need to enjoy these last eight months with my friends! I started walking again when I heard someone is calling my name, so I immediately looked behind me and saw that it was my best friend.    “Catalina!!!” Gus, my friend shouted my name while waving his hands. I saw that Luna and Barbara are with him, so I immediately run towards them so we can walk together to our classroom.   “Heyoo! Good morning!” I greeted them as I reached where they are.   “Good morning, Cat!” Luna said then hugged me. I looked at Barbara and she just nods at me. Wait? It seems that there is something wrong with Barbara because she is not the usual energetic Barbara.    “Hey, are you okay?” I asked but she just nods at me and looked away. Ah! I’m right there’s something wrong with her. I just stand beside her and hold her arms then we started walking again towards our classroom. I will just ask her later about her issue. While walking towards our classroom we are talking about the tasks we need to do this day. Geez! There is always a load of works for us since we are graduating students, and it somewhat frustrates me.   “Oh, we also need to make the Styrofoam cake for our major subject today,” I said and that’s when they remember we need Styrofoam and other decorating materials for our project. Geez! I almost forgot about that, thank goodness I remember if I didn’t remember our teacher in our major subject will surely be mad at us.   “s**t! Why did I forget about it? Hey, I think we need to go out again and buy the materials we needed.” Gus said sounded so frustrated. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it’s only 6:30 in the morning, we still have an hour and 30 minutes before our second subject starts. Thank goodness our teacher for our subject will not be around today.   “Ahm, we still have an hour and 30 minutes before our second class starts, why don’t we head to the nearest school supply shop?” I said and they started thinking about it.   “Wait? How did you know? Ms. Victoria didn’t message us in our group chat last night.” Luna said that made Barbara and Gus agreed with her.   “Ah, Ms. Victoria messaged me last night and she told me that I will handle our class for her time,” I said while scratching my head. Ah, I truly want to go with them because I know how fun to be with them even though we are only buying the materials we need.   “Then, you need to head towards our classroom. Ms. Victoria might get angry at you if you will not look after her.” Gus said. That’s what I love about them, we understand each other even if we didn’t speak out our minds.    “Thank you, guys,” I said then wave at them while they are heading back outside the campus. I started walking towards our classroom when somebody bumped me from behind that caused me to fall. Ah! Geez! Thank goodness I didn’t fall in the mud, but my face reached the ground. Ah! That hurts! I looked at the person who bumped me and saw that it was Stetson from section A and a former sub-member of the student council that I closed with and also my crush.    “Oh my goodness I’m sorry Cat-Cat. Are you hurt anywhere?” He asked while laying his hand in front of me, to help me stand up. I immediately grabbed his hand, and stand up from the floor. He is checking my whole body, checking if I am hurt anywhere. Thank goodness that fall is not fatal.   “Ah, no it’s fine and I am not hurt anywhere,” I said then smiled at him. He gets something from his pocket, and oh it was his handkerchief, and he handed it to me.   “Ahm? Why?” I asked but he didn’t answer, instead, he wipes my face using his handkerchief but the moment his handkerchief touched my face I flinched with the pain I felt.   “Oh, sorry you have a bruise on your face. I’m sorry.” He said while bowing at me. It seems that he is truly feeling guilty about what he has done.   “Ah no, no it’s fine. I will just put a piece of ice later.” I said then smiled at him to assure him that I am fine.   “Really? Then wait for me here I will buy a piece of ice for our cafeteria.” He said and was about to leave when I stopped him.   “Ah, no, no. It’s fine. Oh, by the way, you seem to be in a hurry earlier, maybe you should keep going.” I said but he just shakes his head and smiled at me, which made my heart skipped a beat. A little information for you guys, Stetson is my crush since last year. He is famous in the whole school because he is an MVP player in volleyball for two consecutive years, but he didn’t have the chance to play this year because he became a sub-member in the student council.   “Ah, I was in a hurry but since I am late already I will just enjoy this moment.” He said then smiled again. HAHAHA, he is truly a living smiling emoji, so cute!   “Oh, I’m sorry if I caused you trouble, you know we shouldn’t be late anymore because we need to have a good grade and pass the expectation of the head of this school,” I said then let out a heavy sigh when I remember that thing.   “Hahaha, it’s fine besides I am the one that caused you trouble. I don’t know how to make it up to you.” He said while scratching the back of his head that I found it so cute! I thought that Stetson is the serious type of guy, a guy that didn’t care about others that he didn’t know, but when he became a sub-member in the student council I got to know him better and my thought about him is wrong because he is a super nice and soft guy that cares a lot to others.   “Oh, there’s no need for that. By the way, I need to go it’s almost 7:00 am.” I said and was about to walk when he suddenly grabbed my arms.    “Oh, sorry did I startle you? Can I walk you to your room? Besides, my classroom is only a few blocks from yours.” He said so I just nod at him. We started walking towards my classroom, and while we are walking he is telling me about his plans for his college.   “Oh! So you will be a future architect! That’s so nice!” I said while looking at him and looked again on the way.   “Yes, it is truly my dream ever since, and finally I am a few steps away from that dream.” He said then smile.    “Oh, by the way, where will you continue your study? I know that there are only a few universities here that offer architecture courses, and they are all expensive universities.” I said   “Oh, I will study in the city, because my father told me that there’s a lot of universities there that offers architecture and the tuition fee is free, and not only that but also the quality of education is 100%.” He said sounded so excited. He is looking forward to that time. He is also the type of guy that has a plan for himself, and I am quite soft with that type of guy.   “So you’re also planning to study in the city,” I said then we started walking again. I saw him nod at me with a smile on his face. I super like it when he smiled like that now, I started to wonder if he didn’t feel tired of smiling, hehe joke.   “Yeah, it’s sad to say that I need to leave the province but it’s for the sake of my dream so it will be worth it. How about you?” He asked then looked at me.    “Oh, well, I am also planning to study in the city through the university that I will be attending is still not sure,” I said then shrugged my head.   “Really? What course will you be taking?” He asked    “I am still not decided about that, but my choice right now is computer science, who knows it will change someday,” I said then stopped in front of our classroom door.    “By the way, thank you for walking me here,” I said then smiled at him.   “No worries, it’s my pleasure. See you later then?” He asked so I just nod at him and waved him goodbye. As the moment he turned his back to me, I enter our classroom, and saw that they are all looking at me with a playful look on their faces.    “What?” I asked then the girls started to scream.   “Oh my goodness! Our baby Catalina is already a lady!” One of my female classmates shouted which was followed by the screaming of my classmates. What’s wrong with them? I just shake my head and head towards my seat.    “So, what’s the score between you and your crush?” Roseanne asked me with a smirked on her face. I just shrugged my head at her and get the notes from my bag.    “Good morning everyone!” I greeted them as I stand up in front of them. They all looked at me while waiting for what am I about to say.    “Okay, thank you for your attention. By the way, Ms. Victoria will not be around today so she left us an activity to do today, but we will pass it tomorrow on her time.” I said then started writing the activity on our board. After writing the activity, I started to explain about the activity.    “Is everything clear? You can ask me later if there’s anything unclear for you.” I said then head back to my chair. While answering my activity, I heard my phone beeps so I immediately get it from my pocket to check who messaged me. I immediately open it when I saw Gus’s name on my phone screen.    “What color do you want? We can’t pick here because we cannot decide so we decided to give the decision to you.” I read his message and I can’t help but giggle. Hahaha, I should’ve come with them! I immediately send my response to him because I know that they currently arguing about it, at this moment. After sending my message, I saw Liam in front of me while holding his paper in his right hand.    “Oh, is there something unclear for you?” I asked while looking at him.   “Ah, can I sit beside you?” He asked so I just nod at him and he immediately sat beside me.   “So, what’s your question?” I asked him while answering my paper.   “Ah, it’s about Stetson.” He said that made me looked at him.    “Oh, what’s wrong with Stetson?” I asked while looking at him. This is kind of rare, because he didn’t bring up Stetson before, and this is the first time.    “Ahm, is there something between you two? I heard that he walked you here earlier.” He said that made me giggle.   “Hahaha, you know that I like Stetson right?” I asked then he nod at me   “Yes, yes, I knew that and everyone knew that you like him. So I am just wondering if he also likes you.” He said while looking at me intensely. Geez! What’s wrong with him, this is the first time he ever looks at me like that, and it’s making me uncomfortable.   “No, no, there’s nothing between us and he didn’t like me. He is just nice, and maybe he reassuring if I am fine.” I said while stuttering. Geez!   “What do you mean by that?” He asked while looking at me using his gaze that I cannot explain.    “Ahm, well, earlier after I said goodbye to Gus and company he bumped onto me that caused me to fall on the floor. It seems fatal for him because my face reached the floor, but no I am perfectly fi---- ouch!” I was interrupted by him when he suddenly pokes my cheeks. Geez! That hurts!   “Not fatal? Really?” He said looking so annoyed and worried at the same time. He pokes again my cheeks and damns it truly hurts. He gets his phone from his pocket and it seems that he is capturing a photo of me, so I posed at the camera that made him laughed.   “Look, you have bruised from that accident, and yet you still told me that it’s nothing! Geez! Cat, stop acting strong and independent!” He said while showing me the photo he took, and yes I have bruised but it’s only small. Geez! His reaction is like I am about to die. I shrugged my head at him while giggling and just turn back my attention at the activity.    “You’re giggling?” He asked sounded so annoyed. I looked at him while holding back the laughter. He flicked my forehead using his finger.   “OUCH!” I shouted that made everyone looked at us. I just showed them the peace sign and they go back to their activity. I looked at Liam using my sharpest gaze and he just rolled his eyes on me then started doing his activity. Geez! I never thought we will be this close. I remember last year he didn’t even talk to me, not even once!