He's Yellow

Chapter 3:Lemonade

"What the freaking heck was that exam? How was I supposed to draw the entire process of making laboratory diamonds?"

Martina's voice immediately filled the hallway the moment she stepped out of the exam room.

She looked like she had just survived a battle instead of a 1 and a half-hour-long chemistry exam. Her hair was slightly messy, her brows were furrowed, and the way she held her pen made it look like she was personally offended by every question Mr. Jameson had given us.

"Seriously, who wakes up and thinks, 'Today, I want to make students suffer by asking them to draw the whole process of making laboratory diamonds?'"

I couldn't help but laugh a little.

That was Martina.

The type of person who would complain for ten minutes straight but would somehow still end up getting one of the highest scores.

At exactly 10 earlier, Mr. Jameson entered the room with his usual smile, carrying a stack of papers in his hand.

That smile.

The kind of smile that always made us nervous because it usually meant either a surprise quiz, a difficult activity, or him saying something that would somehow make our workload heavier.

"The exam was definitely easy for everyone, right?" he asked.

The entire room went silent.

Not because we agreed.

But because we were too tired to argue.

That was something we definitely could not agree with him about.

Of course, it was easy for him to say. He wasn't the one staring at complicated diagrams while trying to remember every single step of a process we barely had time to review.

After collecting our papers, Mr. Jameson immediately moved on to another topic.

"Also, a reminder about your thesis. Please start putting up a schedule for your final defense. We are already nearing the end of the academic year."

The moment he mentioned our thesis, the room instantly filled with exhausted groans.

Everyone looked like they had just remembered another problem waiting for them.

Our proposals were delayed. Some experiments were still unfinished. Some of us were still fixing things that should have been done weeks ago.

And now we were slowly approaching the final stretch of our university life.

Two months.

Just two months left.

It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

The exam was supposed to last for an hour and a half.

But I finished after an hour because my head was already aching so badly that I knew I couldn't focus anymore.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said my brain was practically begging for my daily dose of passion fruit lemonade.

It was my little reward after surviving anything stressful.

The moment I submitted my paper, I grabbed my things and walked out of the room.

Well, walked was an understatement.

I practically half-ran toward the cafeteria, hoping Miss Martha still had some left.

The hallway was already noisy with students talking about the exam, some laughing about their answers while others looked like they wanted to disappear.

Typical exam day.

Everyone either acted confident or completely defeated.

There was never an in-between.

"Done with your exam, Eli?" Miss Martha asked as soon as I reached the counter.

She already knew my order.

She scooped a generous amount of extra passion fruit into my cup, probably because she noticed how exhausted I looked.

"Kinda. I went out early because my head was aching," I answered.

"Poor thing. Here’s your lemonade. Would you want anything else?"

I shook my head.

"No, this is enough. Thank you."

I held the cold cup in my hand and immediately felt slightly better.

Small things really did help sometimes.

I walked back toward the building where we held our exam because I still needed to wait for Martina and Jonah because Mr. Jameson asked for them to stay.

And honestly, I thought that was already the worst part of my day.

Until I saw Michael.

Walking toward me.

While I was drinking my lemonade.

"Gosh, for goodness' sake."

My first instinct was to look away.

Maybe if I pretended not to notice him, he would also pretend not to notice me.

I tried walking a little faster.

I tried looking busy.

I even took another sip of my lemonade like it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

But apparently, fate really enjoyed making things difficult.

"Eli!"

I kept walking.

"Eli!"

I stopped.

Slowly, I turned around.

"Hi," I said, forcing a smile.

I hated how obvious my awkwardness was.

Because I still remembered last summer.

I still remembered how I told him I didn't want him talking to me anymore.

And now here we are.

Standing in the middle of a hallway like nothing happened.

"Class done?" he asked.

He was slightly out of breath.

He must have actually run toward me.

"Uhm, exam done," I replied, nodding.

The silence between us felt heavier than it should have.

"Uh... will you be there later?" he asked.

I looked at him.

"I asked Martina about you last night, and she said you were out studying."

He scratched the back of his head, looking strangely nervous.

"Uh, yeah. I was actually studying in my room. I stayed up all night."

"Oh."

He looked like he wanted to continue the conversation.

Maybe he wanted to say something.

Maybe not.

I didn't know.

But before anything else happened, a familiar voice suddenly echoed through the hallway.

"ELISIA! YOU LEFT ME!"

I immediately closed my eyes.

Of course.

Martina.

People turned their heads toward her.

Not that it was unusual.

Martina was part of our college's student council, and everyone already knew her dramatic entrances.

Especially when my name was involved.

She rushed toward us, completely ignoring the fact that she had just become the center of attention.

"Oh, Michael bro! How are you?"

She immediately wrapped her arm around my shoulders.

Then she started nudging me.

I looked at her.

Her eyebrows were moving. She had that annoying little smirk.

She was definitely teasing me.

"Oh, I was just asking Eli if she will be there later," Michael explained.

"Oh!"

The way Martina reacted made me instantly suspicious.

"She will be."

She looked at me.

"We're also bringing Jonah tonight. We’re celebrating because we survived our first set of exams."

"Cool. Uh, I got to go. See you all later."

Michael quickly left after noticing his block mates waiting for him.

The moment he was gone, Martina turned to me.

"Uhh... what was that?"

"Nothing."

She raised her eyebrows.Then she grinned.

That grin alone already told me she was going to annoy me about this.

This girl never missed an opportunity.

"How was the exam?" I asked, trying to distract her.

Her smile disappeared instantly.

"What was that exam?"

There it was.

The disappointment.

"I was so confident I would ace it if only we had a multiple-choice exam. But no! Mr. Jameson decided to test our actual knowledge."

I looked at her smugly.

"I told you to study more."

She rolled her eyes.

"Seniors told us the final exams are the hardest ones."

"Exactly."

She only groaned before pulling me toward the cafeteria.

My lemonade was still in my hand, and I was about to take another sip when Martina suddenly grabbed it.

I didn't even react.

Because honestly?

That was normal.

I had known Martina since we were six years old, back when we started Grade 1.

She was my neighbor, or at least someone who lived close enough that we always ended up seeing each other.

But we only became friends after I punched her bully during recess.

After that, she never left.

She said I was her hero.

A weird kid.

After that incident in 2010, my grandfather decided I should stop learning martial arts because, apparently, I was becoming too comfortable using my skills whenever someone annoyed me.

Not that those boys didn't deserve it.

They were annoying.

"I kind of want to go home already. I miss my bed," Martina complained as we walked outside the hall.

"Let's stay for a minute. Jonah hasn't come out yet."

She rolled her eyes but stopped anyway.

She was always easily irritated with Jonah because that guy never stopped teasing her and giving her lectures about staying out late before exams.

We stood in the laboratory halls at the basement, surrounded by the quiet hum of students leaving classrooms and the occasional sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor.

A few minutes later, Jonah finally appeared.

Walking down the stairs.

With some girls.

Of course.

"How does it feel to be surrounded by hot babes, Mr. Hot Guy?" Martina said sarcastically.

Jonah only rolled his eyes.

He ignored her and walked toward me instead, asking how the exam went.

I honestly never understood those two.

One day, they were just suddenly arguing like they had been doing it their entire lives.

And the next day, they were acting like nothing happened.

Whatever was going on between them, I decided not to interfere.

Some things were better left unknown.

And honestly?

Their weird friendship was already entertaining enough to watch from the side.