Sweeter Than Romance

Chapter 2: Trace

*Lianne*

Me and my best friends are currently gathered in the school cafeteria. We sat in our usual spot which is in the right most table located at least 2 meters away from the crowd. Its not too far and just enough to avoid the loud students and have a good view of newcomers passing through.

“Ugh. I don't understand this thing.. Why does it have to be so confusing!" Ashley said as she dramatically tossed her notebook to the side.

“ For God sake, Ashley. That's only the basics of Chemistry and to think that its still the Third day of class. We're only having a review!" Jace protested.

“ Easy for you to say. You always ace these things Jace." I mentally laughed at Ashley's statement cuz it perfectly made a rhyme. “But what about us, the slow learners? Its kind of unfair. Right, Lianne?”

“ I hate to break it to you, Ashley. But Lianne is a hell lot of a fast learner than you.”

Well, Jace is right. Even though I'm not mentally gifted as him, I perform pretty well in class and can manage to score average in all my subjects.

“ Yeah, Jace is right. I'm sorry Ash but I'm siding on him this time. That is only the basics and its pretty easy." I replied with a chuckle. Ashley released a scoff and went on complaining.

“If you find it easy then why don't you teach me, Einsteins?”

Jace and I stopped laughing and we looked at each other like a deer caught in red lights. Damn, its pretty hard teaching Ashley especially when it involves almost all of the subjects related to School.

“ Umm.. Since you're both girls I guess you will be most compatible if you are the ones studying with each other.”

“ My god Jace. That is so sexist. And care to explain on what it has to do with anything? Cuz I fail to see your point." I replied back.

“ I can see that Ashley learns best with you. Its the most effective way." Stated Jace with a thoughtful expression.“Not only that, you also said that it was your dream to become a teacher. Now's your chance to test that out.”

“Whoever said I wanted to become a teacher?” I replied with a look that a person gives off whenever he or she is accused of something he or she didn't know. "Stop turning this against me, Jace. It's your turn this time." I can see that Jace is trying his best to contain his snickers.

“ New school year means New schedule so you first.”

“You are sooo unfair.”

If you're asking on what we are probably talking about, Jace and I have our teaching schedule. So basically, we take turns on teaching Ashley cuz that's what friends are for, right? Graduating together is friendship goals.

“Why are you tossing me around like I'm an object?" Ashley said with her arms crossed.

“Cuz you are. You"re the object of our insult." We replied in unison.

“God, why am I friends with you two?”

“ That's the same question we've been asking ourselves." And again, Me and Jace busted out in laughter while Ashley playfully smacked our heads.

Yeah I know. We look stupid but that's the nice thing of being with your friends. You can look stupid together but still look fine.

We continued our banter for a while and only stopped when we heard screaming and cheering from half of the student population. You know the feeling when you look as if you're the only one who can't relate to something? Well, that's exactly what we are feeling right now. Except maybe for Ashley cuz judging from the way she squirmed in her seat, she's also affected by the fan craze.

“And my quiet time is over." Said Jace as he leaned back on his chair. "It's them. Right, Lianne?”

“Duh. Who else? I replied as I fixed my hair.“ Who else could make Ashley more crazy than what she already is. That my friend is our cue.”

And I'm not talking about Trevor Styles this time. They are a lot more popular and there's three of them. Speaking of which, here they go.

“ Gosh, it's NIXON!”

“OMG, I think I'm gonna faint!”

“Move, you're blocking my view!”

“ How can someone be so hot?!”

“ Do they realize how childish they are acting right now?" Jace said, referring mostly to the female students.“They look like the ones from those Rom-com anime”

“ Can you blame them? They're popular so that's it.” I replied with a shrug. "Hey Ash, you okay?”

“ I-I-I'm Fa-Fa- Fine.” Ash said, stuttering in the process.

“ I'm surprised you're not reacting like Ashley." Jace gave a quick glance at Ashley before talking back at me. " If I have known better, I'll really think you don't prefer guys.. Or if you do, then you aren't affected cuz you already have an object of your affection which can possibly be ME.”

“ f**k you Jace. " I replied almost instantly which sent him laughing." No, to both your deductions. And excuse me.. How can you be so confident that I"m crushing on you? There's NO WAY it's gonna happen.”

“ Wanna see and test that out?" He ran a thumb at my palm sensually and I flinched at the touch while feigning a disgusted expression.

“ Ewww. Stop it. You suck at seducing people.”Jace stopped his actions and flashed me a cheeky grin.

Its not that I find him bad looking. In fact, he can be attractive if he wanted to and if I'll be honest, he's my ideal type cuz he got most of the qualities I'm yearning for. The only problem is that I don't see him in a romantic way and I only see him as my best friend s***h brother if ever I had one. I'm pretty sure Jace feels the same way so the feeling is mutual.

“My god, Lianne. Lend me your cellphone, Quick!” Ashley said in a frantic manner.

“ Why? I ask dumbfounded. It's quite hard hearing her voice amidst the screams surrounding us.

“ I gotta take a picture of Xavier! OMG its gonna be the clearest one I'm gonna have so far.”

With a sigh, I searched through my pockets and handed her my phone. Ashley excitedly accepted it as she took pictures here and there.

“ Kyaahh! I have my souvenirs. Hey, where's the zoom feature in this?”

“ Aaaand she never changes."Jace and I said in unison. Ashley has a huge crush on one of the NIXON members. It started in like, Forever? I guess? Well it began on our first year up to present and seeing that her crush together with his friends are popular as f**k, I can't understand why she need to go through all the hassle of capturing pictures and competing with the other students when she can freely search their social media accounts and save pictures from there.

“ When will they leave so this ruckus will end." Said Jace in a bored tone.

I didn't answer and just observed the commotion. It's quite funny watching the students go wild in the side lines. They are all gathered on both sides and the middle or center most lane is vacant save for the NIXON members casually walking on it.

They are ordering their meal while eyeing the dishes offered by the school chef. Every once in a while, one of them would nod his head and the others would disagree. I must say, they are taking a pretty good time picking on what to eat when they could just have separate orders. What a GENIUS.

On the left side stood Xavier Lucas. The one whom Ashley is crushing on. He is the captain of the football team and is your typical Boy-next-door type. He has raven hair like Jace but instead of being spiky it is shiny like silk. Out of the three, he is also the one to have the most outgoing personality and cheerfulness out there.

On the right side is Zion Strauss. The cool and mysterious member of the three. He has blonde, spiky hair and is the complete opposite of Xavier. He gives off the vibe of being a knight due to his chivalrous acts and this only adds to his popularity combined with the gentleman image he maintains. It is known that Zion is the heir of a company which specializes in weaponry which is quite ironic since the latter chose to participate in clubs requiring no physical stress like Sports.

And last but not the least. The ever so popular and admired Prince of the Campus.

Nicholas Dean Howard. Sounds familiar? Yeah, cuz he is the son of the founder and chairman of this school. Shiny, brownish hair similar to mine. Admired, chased, and Rich as f**k. What more can I say except those typical characteristics of popular males in the stories. The only difference? Nicholas is a living creature and he's like the 3D version of these fantasies.

Their group or fandom is called Nixon which was composed by the students by the way. It is a combination of their Names, Nicholas,Xavier,Zion and I think it's pretty cute and lame at the same time.

Nicholas seem to be checking something out as he hastily grabbed his phone and typed something.

- (POV Change) -

*Nicholas*

- I'll see you after class. ;) -

The text read as I prevented myself from grinning. The chef took forever to give our orders and isn't he already aware of our preferred meal? I specifically instructed him of our favorite dish and If I had a choice, I'll gladly hire another person to take his job. I'm not acting like a spoiled brat but I just hate it whenever someone is being incompetent.

“ I guess we just need to eat somewhere.” Zion said as he ran a hand through his hair. Xavier was too busy sending waves to the students so he isn't greatly distressed like we do.

“ I wanna hire another chef. His memory clearly isn't sharp because of old age.”

“ Then why won't you?" asked Zion with a raised brow.

“ Because...” I faced Zion and placed my phone away for a moment. " My dad, remember? He's the one basically controlling this school and no matter how badly we want to act like spoiled rich brats, we can't because he is strict.”

“ Yeah." Replied Zion with an amused chuckle. "Remember when we got a public lecture during 4th grade because we were acting like a badass? That's pretty much the definition of strict.”

True to Zion's words, my dad is a really strict and disciplined person. He follows rules closely and believes in principles regardless of the person's status. He believes in fairness and justice above all which is the main reason why we have fewer Privilege than expected. You must be thinking that we're living the life of a literal prince just because we are rich and that, right? Then No. We are just like any normal student in here.. Minus the extreme popularity of course. My dad ensured that me and my best friends attend normal classes unlike those seen in the movies where the rich heirs or heiress have an exclusive class only intended for them. I'm thankful above the hassle since it prevented us to turn into those annoying rich brats.

“ You could have requested that we have a separate cafeteria then. That way, we could have some peaceful time cuz seriously, even in classes we can't find solitude.”

“ If only it appears easy as it sounds, Zion.” I replied with a sigh.“ I could have a bet with you about that matter and I'll win over and over again.”

“Hey, sup. Is our food ready? Damn.. I'm starving." Xavier rubbed his stomach as he searched for the chef. " What's taking him so long to serve our food?”

“ He obviously forgot about our meal." Replied Zion.

“ Holy Cow. Is that even possible?" reacted Xavier in a dramatic way. " I need my guns to relieve me of this stress. You up for a shooting game after class, Zion?”

“ I'll ask permission from my parents about that first. We can't just use our company's weapons like that.”

“ Come on dude, chill.”Xavier patted Zion's shoulder.“ You're so uptight when you also have authority. You're gonna be the one managing your family's company in the future so its alright.”

“Whatever, Xavier." Replied Zion with a shrug. Xavier held up a peace sign and turned his attention on me.

“ What about you, Nick? Are you joining us?”

“ Nah. I think I'll pass guys." I said while glancing at my phone. “I have prior appointments... I need to attend.” On cue, my phone beeped as I received a message.

-Usual place later? –

I quickly sent a reply and hid my phone afterwards.

“ Damn, Nick. You're not telling us that you're hitting on some hot chick! Why are you leaving us behind? Introduce us to some girls too, alright?”

“It's nothing serious, guys. Now let's go before lunch time is over. We're wasting our time here." I walked away first and my friends followed behind.

*Lianne*

After the campus princes left, things went to normal and it's like a chaos never happened in the first place.

“Right. Before we forgot, Lianne will be teaching you, Ashley.”

“ No. Jace is because you both have the same class after lunch.”

“ You know what, Fine. I'll be teaching myself this time.”

“ You sure you can do that?" we both asked in a teasing tone.

“ I hate you both.”

-Time Skip (Café)-

Jace and I are cleaning the tables and from the corner of my eye, I'm carefully observing the hooded guy. Too bad. He is busy on his phone and I can't see his face since he is looking down below.

“Quit staring or the customer will melt.” Said Jace as he waved his hand in front of me. “If you're gonna do that then at least be discreet.”

“ Am I not?”

“ Yeah since I literally caught you." He replied and went on cleaning the other tables. I shrugged it off and before I knew it, the hooded guy was already approaching the door.

“ Damn it.” I silently cursed. I was thinking of following him but Jace stopped me from doing so.

“ I know what you're thinking. Just drop it off and be thankful." He collected the envelope and called for Ashley’s attention.

“One way or another, I will catch you. Just wait." I thought to myself.

Jace and Ashley went home ahead since I decided to have an over-time. I already finished all my schoolwork and I also don't have anything to do so why not? Its currently 10 P.M. and after Mike closed the Café, he gave me my bonus for the day.

“ Here you go, kid. Stay safe, all right?”

“ Don't worry, Mike. I can handle myself." I swing a few punches to prove my point.

“ Ha. You better be. I'll see you tomorrow."

We parted ways and I headed home. The Café is not that far from our house so whenever I had the time, I chose to walk my way towards home. I slipped on my jacket before leaving and adjusted my sling bag. The streets are not as crowded as before which gave me relief and time to collect my thoughts.

“Ah. The night breeze is amazing.” I'm a night person so I gladly savored the moment. I even hopped a few steps and danced from time to time. Yeah, I'm such a dork. I know that.

*(THUG!)*

“ Huh? What was that?”a sound which was presumably made by someone falling was heard from a distance. I'm pretty sure it came from an alley so I quietly made my way towards it. I made sure to hide but also have a good view of whoever was in that alley.

It was dark and all but I can clearly identify the silhouette of like two people. They seemed to be in a make-out session since they are engaged in a lip-lock.

“ Tsk. Horny people.”

I was about to leave but what caught my attention was the person dominating the other. As I tried harder to have a closer look, I recognized one of them to be the mysterious hooded guy. I knew because I memorized his posture and Duh the hood he was wearing.

“So Mr. Mysterious is a horny one. If I were the girl, I will report him for s****l assault. But it seems she is enjoying his company.”

The girl grabbed a piece of the man's clothing and the hood fell down in the process.

“Don't they need oxygen? Its been like 5 minutes already.”

On cue, the other person broke away from the Mysterious man's grip and the second it did, I was frozen on my spot.

“What The Actual f**k? Soccer-Face?" I thought with my jaw open.

-Chapter End-