Chapter 3 : When Past Meets Present
945 Words
AVALEIGH’S POV
I jolted awake in bed when my alarm went off. It was already 6:30 AM. I was so, so late. I rushed straight to the bathroom, took a shower, got dressed, and left right away.
I hurried onto the bus—I was running extremely late. The bus was moving so slowly, and I was getting more and more anxious.
When the bus stopped at the station, I sprinted toward the school gate and ran up to our classroom on the 4th floor. As soon as I arrived, I bumped into our teacher.
“Whoa, calm down—you’re all sweaty. You’re not late, by the way,” my teacher said after I greeted her.
I quickly sat down in my seat and let out a long sigh.
“Wow, were you that scared of being late, Ms. Clemento?” Knight greeted me first thing in the morning, teasing as usual. “Look at your hair—you didn’t even brush it properly.” He reached over and messed with my hair.
“What do you care?” I snapped, already irritated from being tired and now having to deal with him.
During class, I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes while resting my chin in my hand. I suddenly woke up when our teacher called my name.
“Ms. Clemento, are you paying attention?”
“Sir? Yes, sir!” I answered, wiping my eyes.
“Then explain what we were discussing.”
I couldn’t speak—I was nervous and couldn’t remember a thing. Still, I stood up.
“Electromagnetism,” Knight whispered. I immediately repeated it to the teacher, who simply nodded in acknowledgment.
When I sat back down, I looked at Knight. He was already looking at me and winked. I just looked away and focused on what the teacher was saying.
When break time came, I didn’t leave the classroom. I’d been thinking about it last night—did Alexander really message me? I checked my phone and saw that he had. I must have just seen it and then fallen asleep because I was so tired.
A few minutes passed, and I was alone in the room when I thought I heard someone calling my name. I looked outside, but no one was there, so I closed my eyes again. Suddenly, someone covered my eyes from behind.
“Guess who?” the voice whispered. I recognized it right away.
“Alexander?” I asked as he removed his hands from my eyes. He’d asked who Alexander was, but when I looked up, it was him—smiling and staring right at me, just as I was staring at him. He held out his hand as if to shake it.
“Call me Axel,” he said. “And you are?”
I shook his hand immediately. “Avaleigh Vienna.”
His reaction was almost like a quiet “wow”—I guess he liked my name.
“Want to get something to eat?” he asked. I just nodded and stood up.
This was the first time I’d ever eaten with a guy. I’d always avoided it before because I didn’t want people to spread rumors about me, but now I didn’t care. Besides, the guy I was with was handsome.
I was about to sit down when he said, “Wait,” and gently guided me into my seat—probably just being a gentleman.
“So what do you want?” he asked.
“You,” I said. He looked confused. “I mean, anything’s fine—you choose.”
“Ah, I thought you meant me,” he joked, grinning. I smiled back as he walked away from our table to get food.
Is this a sign that I should fall in love again? What if I end up liking Axel?
He came back and set down the food. “Is this okay, or do you want something else?” We stared at each other for a moment before he added, “Other than me.”
I chuckled. “Come on—you’re so bold, and we barely even know each other.”
“Then let’s get to know each other,” he said. I just rolled my eyes and started eating.
We had a great time eating and talking. I hadn’t felt like this in so long. After a while, someone approached our table.
“Hey, Axel,” the person said, placing a hand on Axel’s shoulder.
“Oh, what are you doing here?” Axel asked.
“I should be asking you that,” the person replied, glancing at me. I introduced myself right away.
“Oh, Avaleigh? As in Avaleigh Vienna Haku Clemento?” she said proudly. I was surprised she knew my full name.
“Do you know me?” I asked.
“Of course! My classmate talks about you—you were their high school classmate, right? They say you’re really good at art,” she praised me. I wondered who had been talking about me and was about to ask her directly when someone called her from behind.
“There she is,” Louella said. When I looked up, I saw a familiar face—it felt like I’d been transported back to high school. It was Sebastian Clyde Duarte. But my thoughts stopped when I saw the girl next to him take his hand.
They walked over to us and greeted us.
“Avaleigh, long time no see.”
“Ah… hi,” I replied. Wow—he’d really leveled up. The girl with him wasn’t just good at art; she was also the school president.
- Writer
