My High School Lovers

Chapter 2

When I arrived in front of the classroom, the first thing I noticed instantly filled me with relief—the teacher hadn’t arrived yet.

A huge weight seemed to lift from my chest.

For the past few minutes, it had felt as if an invisible stone had been pressing down on me, but now that pressure slowly faded away. I quietly exhaled, trying to calm my nerves.

Slowly, I stepped inside the classroom.

The room was already buzzing with noise.

Some students were laughing with their friends, some were chatting excitedly, and others were pretending to study as they flipped through their books.

I glanced around the classroom.

Almost every seat was taken.

My heart sank a little.

Great… where am I supposed to sit now?

Just when I was starting to panic, I noticed two girls sitting together on a bench near the front. There was a small empty space beside them.

Taking a deep breath, I walked toward them.

In a soft voice, I asked,

“Um… can I sit here?”

Both of them looked up at me.

One of the girls smiled warmly and said,

“Yes, yes, of course! Go ahead.”

Her friendly smile immediately eased the tension inside me.

I let out a small sigh of relief and sat down beside them.

It felt like I had just survived a small battle.

After sitting quietly for a moment, curiosity got the better of me.

“Are you new here?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

The girl who had welcomed me answered kindly.

“We were in a different section last grade, so that’s probably why you didn’t notice us.”

She looked incredibly gentle and approachable. Just by looking at her, anyone could tell she had a warm personality.

She extended her hand toward me.

“My name is Nerissa. What’s yours?”

For someone as introverted as me, being asked my name always felt like a challenge.

My throat suddenly felt dry.

After hesitating for a moment, I managed to reply,

“My name is Priana Reyes… but you can just call me Priana.”

Nerissa smiled brightly and gestured toward the girl sitting beside her.

“And this is Elisa.”

The moment I looked at Elisa, I almost forgot how to breathe.

She was unbelievably beautiful.

Her long hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, and her flawless face carried a natural elegance.

But there was also something else in her gaze—a faint trace of arrogance, as if she was fully aware of how stunning she looked.

Elisa looked directly at me and asked,

“How are you? Do you not have any friends here?”

I felt slightly embarrassed.

“Not really… I mean… I don’t have many friends.”

Before I could say anything else, Nerissa suddenly exclaimed,

“Then from today, the four of us will be your friends!”

I blinked in surprise.

“Four? Who are the other two?”

Nerissa pointed toward the bench behind us.

Two girls were sitting there—Sandra and Ifa.

Sandra looked quiet, but the sharp sparkle in her eyes suggested she was quite intelligent.

And Ifa?

She looked completely different from the others—energetic, playful, and a little mischievous. Her eyes were filled with restless excitement.

Both of them greeted me with cheerful smiles.

At that moment, a strange warmth filled my chest.

Maybe… just maybe… I won’t be alone in this school anymore.

Just then, the teacher walked into the classroom.

One look at his serious face was enough to tell me the next hour would be painfully boring.

The entire classroom instantly fell silent.

Time seemed to crawl forward at an unbearable pace.

But somehow, the class finally ended.

The moment the teacher left the room, Nerissa suddenly said,

“Let’s go stand in the corridor for a bit.”

The five of us walked out into the corridor together.

As soon as I looked down toward the field, my heart skipped a beat.

The boy I had bumped into earlier that morning was there.

He was playing football with his friends.

Suddenly, I noticed something strange.

My new friends seemed to change instantly.

They began staring at the boys on the field with unusual excitement.

Then they started shouting loudly—cheering, teasing, and calling out about who would score the next goal.

I watched them with wide eyes.

It was painfully obvious what they were trying to do.

They were desperately trying to get the boys’ attention.

But the boys didn’t even bother to look up once.

Suddenly, Ifa nudged me hard with her elbow.

“Hey! You should shout too! Why are you so quiet?”

I stared at her, completely confused.

Seriously…?

Why would I start yelling like that for no reason?

But I didn’t want to ruin my brand-new friendship.

So, even though I felt extremely awkward, I reluctantly joined them and started shouting too.

Honestly, I felt a little ridiculous.

A moment later, I noticed something.

The same boy I had bumped into earlier had moved closer to the goalpost—right in front of the corridor where we were standing.

Their behavior made it look as if they were ignoring us completely.

But somehow, it also seemed like they were secretly enjoying the attention.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked Ifa,

“By the way… who are they?”

Ifa looked at me as if I had just said something unbelievable.

“Wait… you seriously don’t know who they are? Do you even study in this school?”

I felt embarrassed.

“I enrolled last year, but my life has mostly been just home and studying. I never really paid attention to things like this.”

Ifa suddenly looked excited.

“Well, they’re the infamous Bad Boy Gang from Grade Ten!”

She continued dramatically,

“There are seven of them in the group.

They’re ridiculously handsome and insanely rich—but their personalities are terrible. They’re total troublemakers!

They don’t care about any teacher. In fact, the boys and girls in their grade even have separate classrooms.”

Then she pointed toward the football field.

“See the one standing near the goalpost?

The one everyone calls Anrio Castillo?”

“He’s the president of the gang.”

“The only son of a powerful billionaire.

He has a terrible temper and an unbelievable amount of arrogance.

He doesn’t think twice before speaking to anyone.”

The moment I heard the name Anrio Castillo, my entire body went cold.

Oh… my… God.

That was the exact same boy I had bumped into that morning.

And now I was standing here… shouting like a crazy person right in front of him.

He must definitely think I’m insane.

Embarrassment and panic flooded my mind.

I wanted to disappear into the ground.

But Ifa still wasn’t finished.

She pointed toward another boy.

“And the one standing next to him is Oscar Cruz—Anrio’s right hand and best friend.

He’s also extremely rich and handsome.”

“However, he has a brother named Warren Cruz who’s the complete opposite.

Quiet, calm, and totally focused on studying.”

I slowly looked toward Anrio again.

Under the harsh afternoon sunlight, the sweat on his face made his sharp features appear even more striking.

His rough voice from the morning…

His cold, indifferent gaze now…

Putting everything together, one terrifying thought crossed my mind.

Priana…

Your school life is probably not going to be peaceful anymore.

Suddenly, their ball skidded across the ground and came to a halt right at my feet. In that instant, my heart rate shot up.

Out of nowhere, one of the boys from their team shouted, “Hey, give us the ball!”

I noticed my four friends staring at me intensely. The boy called out again with authority, “Pick up the ball and bring it over here!”

Trembling, I slowly picked up the football and walked toward them with hesitant steps, my heart heavy with fear.

As I approached, Anrio stepped forward and stood directly in front of me. He looked at me with a peculiar gaze, an enigmatic smile playing on his lips.

“Hi,” he said unexpectedly.

At that moment, I felt as if I had forgotten how to breathe.

My heart pounded violently against my chest. Terrified, I whispered a shaky, “Hello.”

He looked at me intently and asked, “Aren’t you the one I bumped into this morning?”

I stood there, unable to respond. Fearfully, I managed a small, “Yes.”

He let out a short breath and said, “First you collide with me in the morning, and now you’re screaming like a maniac. Do you honestly think I don’t know how to play?”

I was speechless; my hands and feet turned ice-cold under the pressure of his presence.

“No, no… I don’t think that at all,” I stammered.

“Then why were you shouting like that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

I lowered my head and confessed, “Actually, they told me to shout. They are my new friends, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

Hearing this, he began to laugh. Then he gently placed his hand on my head and whispered, “You really are quite naive.”

With those words, he took the football from my hands and walked away.

As he was taking the ball from my hands, his gaze remained fixed on my eyes. It felt as if everything around us had suddenly fallen silent, and within that quiet moment, only his gaze and my restless heartbeat remained.

I couldn’t understand why he was looking at me like that. There was no anger in his eyes, yet they were not completely indifferent either. Instead, there was a strange curiosity in them, as if he was trying to understand me in a new way.

As he took the ball, for a brief moment our fingers lightly brushed against each other.

The touch was extremely brief—so small that perhaps no one else would have even noticed it. Yet that tiny contact sent a faint shiver through my body.

It felt as if time had stopped for a moment.

Then he slowly took the ball and stepped away, as if the whole incident meant nothing to him. But for me, that small moment had somehow grown into something much bigger.

I stood there completely frozen.

The sounds around me slowly returned—the boys shouting on the field, the sound of the ball being kicked, the whispers of my friends—everything became normal again. Yet I still felt as if I was standing in that same moment.

My heart was still beating rapidly.

I tried to take a deep breath, but the uneasiness inside my chest refused to calm down.

And I couldn’t quite understand the reason why...

I tried to convince myself that it was probably just fear. Maybe it was his behavior, his gaze, or the sudden situation that had just happened—perhaps all of it together was the reason I still couldn’t return to normal.

But my heart seemed to be telling a different story.

The strange warmth of that brief moment simply refused to fade away.