Sweeter Than Romance

Chapter 10: Car Pressured

*Lianne*

The moment we arrived at the campus, we already attracted the attention of several students present in the area. Of course. The little princess just have to make a grand entrance instead of going through the back gates. I don’t know if he’s just egotistic and an attention-seeker or if he’s doing it on purpose this time. I’m pretty sure it’s a mix of both.

“Hey, can’t we enter through the back gates, instead?”

“ And why would I do that?”

“ Well. Just to remind you, Nicholas. You’re attracting the attention of the crowd here which will surely cause a ruckus!”

I pointed to the curious stares of students outside and tapped my finger through the car’s window. They might be wondering on why Nicholas still hasn’t stepped out from the vehicle.

“ It’s not like this is a rare occurrence. I’m used to this almost everyday.” Nicholas just shrugged his shoulders at his nonchalant answer and I resisted the urge to strangle him out of frustration.

“ Hoho. Well guess what? I’m NOT. So can we please enter through the back gate instead?”

“ And then what? Waste gas and time by turning back the car when the destination is still the same?”

“ Oh come on, Nicholas. Don’t go lecturing me about wasting gas since we all know that you are more than capable to pay for it.” I pointed back and forth to the two of us. “And excuse me but we could have avoided wasting your precious time if we turned back instead of sitting idly here!”

“Why are you so insistent about that?”

I groaned in frustration and mentally face-palmed.

“ Because i***t, I don’t wanna be seen hanging out with you! My quiet life in this campus will be f****d up once they saw me associating with you!”

“Oh?” Nicholas raised a brow and aimed a smirk at me. “ I’m pretty sure it was already f****d up the moment you stuck your nose to someone else’s business.”

“So I’m right.” I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes at him. “You are doing this on purpose.”

“ And suppose I am. What are you going to do about that?”

“ Get Lost.”

Nicholas just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

“If you sign the papers then I can guarantee you that you can still salvage your quiet campus life.”

“No thanks. Since it would only bring satisfaction to your sorry ass.”

“ Then expect hassle from now on because I’m not gonna stop pestering you until you agree to do so.” Said Nicholas with a fake smile as he went on opening the door.

“ I’m not gonna step out from this car if we aren’t entering through the back gate.” I used my ‘serious’ tone and stood strong in my conviction.

“Then don’t. Enjoy getting stuck in here.” He said in a sadistic tone before stepping outside and closing the door.

Is he serious? s**t. That annoying fox. How am I going to get out of this situation? I wish I had a mask right now since I can’t possibly hide using my bag to cover my face. Hmmm.. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Maybe I’ll just use my bag and run as fast as I can?. Nah. Even if I do that, I’m sure there are some students who can still manage to make out who I am. There are even weirdos who peeked through the car window earlier just to see the occupants inside. Like seriously? They’re dumb enough to not figure out it was tinted.

I looked outside and Nicholas was still standing beside the vehicle. He flashed a smirk at my direction which I can clearly see through the window. Damn. So he’s daring me to make a move? Childish i***t.

Glancing at my watch, I realized that I’m 5 minutes early for my first subject. Wow. Really Lianne? This means I have 5 more minutes before I get late and what’s worse is Nicholas isn’t planning on leaving unless I get out of his freaking car.

“f**k it.” I mumbled under my breath as I held on the door handle.

“ Miss, Do you need me to open the door for you?” asked the driver as he tilted his head to look at my direction.

“ No thanks.” Came my reply as I swiftly opened the door and made my way outside. Nicholas seemed amused that I got out of the vehicle and I rolled my eyes as I stood face to face with him.

“ I was thinking you’d never get out.”

“ Well what do you think? I have class, loser.”

I flipped my hair and adjusted my bag before I started walking away from him. Nicholas didn’t follow me and remained standing in his position. Guess this is goodbye then? Hah. Who am I kidding? I think a big weight was just lifted off from my chest and I should be celebrating.

On the negative side, students were whispering about me as expected. I think the rumour about Nicholas taking someone to school spread like a wildfire. Geez. Don’t these students have a life? Instead of making weird assumptions about the scene they witnessed, they should just concentrate on their own freaking life. I even overheard something about kissing and cuddling like WTF? I’m sure those weirdos who tried to peek through the window made up that one.

“ Yeah and she got out from the same vehicle as Nicholas’”

“ You think they’re dating?”

“ Maybe in secret but who knows?”

“ I can hear you, you know?” I said in a bored tone as I collected some notes from my locker. The two strangers flinched when they heard my statement and they awkwardly excused themselves from me.

“ They did a pretty good job being subtle in whispering.” I said in sarcasm before heading to my first subject.

--(TIME SKIP: LUNCH TIME)----

“O-M-G Lianne. You are surely the talk of the campus right now.”

“ Yeah. So much for living a peaceful campus life.”

“ Guys I came here to talk and all you’re gonna do is rub my predicament in my face?”

I shook my head and groaned in frustration. After I met up with my so called best friends, all they did was complain about my situation for the past minutes.

“ How do you expect us to act? Be all happy and say ‘ Wow, Lianne. Congrats on hitting it off with Nicholas- Ouch!”

“Stop saying it that way, stupid!” I slapped Jace’ arm and cut him off from talking. I secretly glanced at the nearby students from our table and gave off a sigh.

“ You’re making my situation worse.”

“ Geez. But honestly, Lianne. You got me and Ashley shocked from the news. You didn’t went home for one night and only for us to learn that you arrived at school together with Nicholas.” Said Jace and leaned on his chair. “ Which reminds me, where were you during that time? We were so close on calling the police on you.”

“ I just visited a couple places and acquaintances.”

Jace didn’t seemed convinced but he just decided to not question me any further.

“ Well. We have to cover up for you. You’re thankful that we didn’t snitch on you to your mother.”

“ Yeah yeah I know.” I said with a casual shrug of my shoulders. “ Remind me to repay you and Ashley next time.”

“ You better be.” Replied Jace with a smirk.

Wow. What a good friend. But yeah. I love these idiots like a real family. I glanced at my other friend who seemed to be concentrating on her thoughts. It’s pretty rare to see her that way cause she would avoid thinking way too hard since it would bring her headaches.

“ Hey, why are you suddenly quiet?”

“ I’m trying to figure out something.” Replied Ashley and resumed on her position. She placed a hand on her chin for support and bit her lower lip. A thing she always does whenever she is in deep thought.

Jace and I exchanged looks and feigned shock as we turned back to the cheerful blonde.

“ WHAT? Is the apocalypse near? Gosh. Ashley-freaking-Quinn is trying to figure out something!”

“ Are you sick? Do you need serious help? Phew. Don’t tell us you’re hiding a grave medical condition from us!”

“ Guys, Stop it!” whined Ashley as she pushed us away from her. “ I’m indeed trying to figure out something.”

“ And what would that be?” I retorted with a silly grin. I wasn’t expecting that my silly grin would be wiped off after Ashley’s next statement.

“On why you and Nicholas arrived together at school this morning.”

Holy sheez. How did Ashley figured that out before Jace? In all honesty, I expected that the inquisitive and know-it-all dude would realize that question and not the cheerful and overly enthusiastic friend of mine.

“ Great. How would I find my way out of that one?”

“ And I’m guessing that you still haven’t known.. but we discovered the identity of the Mysterious Hooded Guy when you were missing.”

I swallowed an imaginary lump in my throat and prayed that Ashley wouldn’t connect the dots. Guess this isn’t my lucky day.

“ Soooo?” Jace raised a brow as he waited for Ashley to prove her point.

“The Mysterious Guy is him.. and if he is him.......” Ashley came into realization and I mentally face-palmed at her discovery.

“ YOU FOLLOWED HIM HOME?!”

Several students started whispering among themselves and Ashley’s outburst just paved way to make the next week more interesting. Bohoo. Goodbye Quiet Life.

“What does it have to do with anything? I mean.. How does that make sense?”

Ashley shot Jace an ‘Are you serious?’ look and flopped down on her seat.

“ Jace. For being smart, you are also super dumb!”

“ Hey! What are you- “

“ So Lianne. Is it true? Did you follow him home? OMG. I can’t believe you’d do that.”

“ What? Why would you say that?”

I attempted one last time to fool Ashley. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?

“ Huh. Really, Lianne? Are you going to tell me all the details or are we gonna continue playing dumb here?” Ashley rolled her eyes and I had no choice but to give in and sigh in resignation.

“ Okay, alright. I’ll tell you once we arrive at the café. I don’t wanna fuel any more rumours here.”

Ashley squeeled in happiness and kept chanting ‘ I knew it! ‘ all the way. Jace, on the other hand, was still stuck and confused on the conversation.

“ I still don’t know how that relates to the issue.”

“ Oh shut up, Jace.”

*Nicholas*

“ So we heard some rumour going on that you arrived with a girl this morning.”

“ Oh. And who told you that? “

“ Wow dude. It’s literally the talk of the campus since morning.”

I grabbed a nearby book and sat down on the couch. We were hanging out on the headquarters and Xavier kept bothering me about the issue.

“So tell us. Who was that lucky girl? “

“ It doesn’t concern you.”

“ Ouch. That hurt, Nicholas.” Said Xavier as he feigned sadness and clutched his chest in pain. “ We’re your best friends and you can’t tell us about that?”

“ She’s just a random schoolmate so I don’t find any issue in that. And besides, why would I tell you about those things, if ever?”

“ She’s not a random schoolmate if you arrived with her this morning.” Said Zion as he joined the conversation.

“Well. Isn’t it possible that I just ran into her and decided to do a good deed by offering her a ride on the way to school?” came my reply without even looking up from the book I was reading.

“You would never do that.”

I become intrigued by Zion’s answer so I faced him and placed away my book.

“ And what makes you say that?”

“Being friends with you... for years. We know that you have a good heart.” Zion stopped in his speech and c****d an eyebrow. “ But you’re also conscious and wary of what you call, strangers.”

“ Nice thinking, Zion.”

I heaved a sigh and decided to tell a half-truth and half-lie.

“ Okay fine. She had a favor she needed to do so that’s how we met.”

“ Can we meet her? I mean, the more friends then the merrier right?” said Xavier in an overly-excited tone but I knew better on what his statement really meant.

“I know what you’re thinking, Xavier. And just to clarify, she is not my girlfriend.”

“And never in a million years.”

“ I thought she was the one you were secretly dating.”

“ Well you thought wrong.”

“ Anyways, will Zion and I get the chance to meet her? Like so we can know more about her?”

“Maybe.....” came my reply as I drifted off into my thoughts.

Know more about Lianne, eh? Guess I have to do that if I wanted to keep my secret safe in the future.

- Chapter End -