Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [5]

Chapter 5

Christmas break ended. It was time to go back to school. Jae groaned. Time moved too fast. She already set her alarm clock to wake her up at 5 in the morning so she could catch the second trip of a bus to school.

Unfortunately for her, she woke up at 5:30. She hadn't been woken up by her alarm clock. She groaned in her hands for a couple more seconds when she realized this. Then she proceeded to shower and get dressed as fast as she could.

When she went downstairs, her brother was the only person in the house with her, who was lazily eating out of his cereal bowl. He hadn't greeted her a good morning for he was too busy rubbing his face in his phone.

Jae groaned loudly, trying to catch his attention. She failed. Jae rolled her eyes at her brother and grabbed a bowl for herself and poured cereal and milk onto it. As she settled down on her seat, she tried to make noises as she grumpily mixed her cereal. Nope, it still wasn't working. Jae sighed loudly.

Adams finally gave her an annoyed glance. "What are you doing?"

Jae tried to hide her smile. "I missed the bus," she answered flatly as she kept her gaze on her cereal, a hand on her cheek.

"Hurry up, then. I'll drive you to school," Adams said and he returned his attention to his phone.

Jae cheered silently when her plan worked and ate the cereal. "Thanks, bro!"

"It's not like the professors would come to class on the first day after Christmas break," Adams said pointedly. "You're going to likely flirt with that transferee."

Jae's cheeks reddened. "He was the one who approached me first!"

There was a new student who enrolled in their class this school year. He was undeniably good-looking, and all her girl classmates knew it. But he was aloof and quiet most of the time. He liked the color black, Jae could tell. Especially since all he wore were dark clothing. Shirts, sweaters, jackets and even his pants were always the darker color.

His hair was trimmed on both sides, while the middle section was slowly swept upward. It gave him an edgy kind of vibe and when Jae talked to him for the first time, it would seem to be true.

On the first day of class, the new transferee was introduced. He was placed between Jae and another female student. They didn't speak at all but the other girl tried to make small talk to him. This made the new guy extremely annoyed with her and wouldn't even glance her way. The girl was equally irritated and by the end of the first class, the girl made everyone dislike the new guy just because he didn't talk to her.

Of course, this made Jae feel bad for him. And when lunch came and she saw him eating alone in the cafeteria, she didn't hesitate to sit with him.

The new guy barely even looked at her when she plopped her tray down on the table. Jae cleared her throat and pretended to ignore him while she started eating her lunch.

Unluckily for them, the girl who sat beside the new guy from the first class passed by and stopped by their table. She was with a whole group of friends and made sure she had an audience while she spat drama after drama. "What are you doing?" the girl asked Jae.

Jae knew her. She was considered as one of the popular kids in school. So it made sense that it offended her that the new, cute guy didn't even spare her a glance. "I'm eating?" Jae answered the stupid question with a raised eyebrow.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, what an i***t," she said loudly. Her group of friends started snickering. Jae tried her hardest not to let anger slip away from her hands. "I meant, what are you doing with him?" She glared at the new guy, who was totally ignoring the conversation that was even happening.

Jae was a quiet girl, most of the time. And she doesn't want to start a fight with other people. She always preferred a peaceful and non-violent bubble. But there were times when her mouth got her in trouble. And this was one of those times. "Well, unfortunately for you, he doesn't like annoying, big-mouthed girls," Jae murmured. But it was loud enough that she heard, her friends heard and that the new guy heard.

The new guy finally lifted his head, as if what Jae said finally caught his attention. Amusement lit up his eyes as he quietly watched the rest of the conversation.

Her friends started laughing but it wasn't at Jae, it was with Jae. Jae tried not to laugh as hard as she can while the girl seethed in anger. "b***h," the girl said as she turned and walked away from them. Her friends followed, some of them looking at Jae in delight.

Afterward, the silence became awkward and Jae resumed eating her lunch.

"How rude of you to sit with a stranger and not even offer your name," the new guy finally spoke. Jae almost choked from her food as she met his eyes. He does speak. Technically, he did speak when he introduced himself from the first class. His name was Samael if she remembered correctly.

"I'm Camilla Jae, but you can call me Jae," she introduced herself. "I'm sorry that I was rude," a small smile curled her lips, "but I thought you wanted some quiet company."

Samael's smile widened. "Call me Sam. Nice to meet you, Jae."

"Pleasure's mine, Sam."

And that was the day the two of them became friends. Sort of. Both of them favored the quiet. So when they're alone, instead of chattering endlessly about their lives, they stayed quiet with each other's presence. And Sam preferred nobody else's company except hers.

"I'm pretty sure you approached him first," Adams said to her sister across the table.

"I did not!" Jae exclaimed. She looked at the clock and then stood up. "Hurry up or I'm gonna be late!"

Adams slightly flinched as he looked at his phone. "Fine. Let's go."

The two of them drove in quiet. Jae arrived at their school after 15 minutes of travel. "Thanks for the ride, Adams."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't bother the new kid too much, alright?" Adams teased.

Jae shot him a glare before closing the car door too hard on purpose. Adams honked his horn as a sign of annoyance and Jae only stuck her tongue at him before he drove away.

She walked along the campus sidewalk as she tried to shake off the Christmas vibe that still lingered. The school hadn't taken off the Christmas lights yet. Although they did take the tree down.

Jae looked at the watch on her wrist and her heart immediately swelled. It was the same watch she'd given Santa Claus for Christmas, although hers was much smaller and more feminine. Yeah, she didn't dare mention to Santa that she gave him a watch for couples.

But it's not like he would know. He doesn't live around here. And she only sees him on Christmas, so there was no way he would know. Plus, the watch was really cute.

And then her eyes wandered to the bracelet she wore on the same wrist. The one Santa gave her. She ignored the butterflies on her stomach. The bracelet itself looked worn out but one of the charms was brand new. It was the Christmas hat the Santa added to the bracelet on their second meeting.

A smile broke on Jae's face. Two charms. Two meetings. If they ever met again for the third time, she'd personally want to buy the charm to go with it.

"What are you smiling at?"

An all-too sudden voice made her jump as she stared at Sam right in front of her. On impulse, she quickly hid her hands behind her back. "Hey Sam, how's your Christmas?" Smooth, Jae. Sam was wearing a dark grey turtleneck, probably because it was still too cold to wear shirts.

Sam lifted one of his thick yet groomed eyebrows. "It was fine..."

Jae started walking again. "So, would the professors even come to class today?"

Sam walked alongside her. "I heard Mr. Caine wouldn't go to our first class."

Sweet. Free time. "Really? Where should we go?"

"You want me to go somewhere... with you?" he said flatly.

Jae huffed. "What an asshole," she muttered.

Sam chuckled as amusement danced in his eyes. "I haven't had breakfast yet so..."

"Ok, to the cafeteria it is."

They both silently walked to the cafeteria which was half-full with students. Probably because no professors would be coming in this early. Sam ordered a coffee and two sandwiches. When they sat down at their usual table, he slid one of the sandwiches to Jae.

Jae looked at him in disbelief. "Did you just buy me a sandwich?"

A light smile appeared on his face. "Well, if one sandwich doesn't satisfy you, you can have mine."

Jae shot him a glare. "Asshole." And then she slowly grabbed the sandwich and added quietly, "Thanks."

From far away, a voice shouted, "Cam!" Only her not-so-close 'friends' called her that. The two of them immediately groaned in unison as a classmate bounced to their table. "Hey, Camilla!" Then she eyed Sam, "Hi Sam."

"Hi Mitch," Jae dully greeted as the girl sat down beside her.

"How was your Christmas?" Mitch asked. Mitch was one of Jae's old friends whom she parted with after a few years. But when Mitch realized Jae started hanging out with a cute, new guy, she started hanging out with her again. "If you ask me, I had the most boring Christmas ever!" She started yapping about how she spent her Christmas while Jae and Sam tuned her out.

Sam, apparently, couldn't take it anymore as he glared at the annoying girl and walked out. Jae was silently screaming. Mitch stopped talking. "Wow, how rude was that?" Mitch said.

"Sam's usually like that," Jae said. Sam, you traitor!

Mitch rolled her eyes. "Still, he shouldn't have left when I wasn't done speaking!"

Jae tried not to furrow her eyebrows and stayed neutral. "You weren't talking to him."

Mitch huffed. "Yes, I was. I was talking to the two of you!"

"He's picky about whose company he wants," Jae reasoned. Although, she'd prefer to walk away from her as well.

Mitch looked at her incredulously, batting her extension lashes. "You're telling me he wants you instead of me."

"That's not what I meant," Jae said. But it was exactly what she meant.

"Oh my god, Camilla. You've changed." She stood up. "Just because a hot guy started hanging out with you, doesn't mean you're cool, Cam."

"That's not..." Jae frowned when Mitch flipped her off.

"Yeah, don't talk to me ever again." Mitch flipped her hair and walked away. Jae sat in silence as she processed what happened. The girl had the nerve to come here and flirt her way through Sam's unexplainable bubble and then get mad at her because he won't even acknowledge her presence? Ok, Jae's getting tired of this.

After a couple more minutes, she stood up and exited the cafeteria. There was only one place where Sam would go. It was the parking lot. The parking lot has that one big tree at the corner and a few people know of that place. Sam knew about it first and then we started hanging out at that place when we needed some peace and quiet.

When she reached the tree, she found Sam already perched on top of one of the branches and was asleep. Jae doesn't have any experience in climbing trees but started learning when they would go to this place often. She climbed up next to the nearest branch where Sam was.

"You left me," Jae said.

"It was that or I say some very nasty things," Sam said quietly.

Jae couldn't help it. She laughed. "It was obvious she was into you."

"I know," he said rather smugly. "But I don't like her."

"And why not?" Jae asked, softly swinging her legs. "She's pretty and popular. And maybe if you just told her to, she'd be quiet as a mouse. A perfect company for you."

Sam visibly cringed. "I'd rather have a cat than her. And you shouldn't be talking about a perfect company for me." He opened one of his eyes to look at Jae and a minute of silence passed.

"I'm the only perfect company for me," he finally said and closed his eyes.

Jae scoffed. "Rude bastard!"

Sam chuckled. "Why? You butthurt or something? Were you assuming it was you?"

"Shut up or I'll kick you."

"Give it your best shot," he said as a challenge.

Jae's mouth was agape. Oh, she was not backing out. She prepared to kick his a*s as hard as she can and then swung her left foot. She miscalculated how far he would be and missed him by an inch and she almost fell off the tree.

Sam laughed out loud. "That was your best shot?"

Jae leaped off the tree as her face was flustered with embarrassment. "I am not talking to you again, Sam," she said roughly as she walked away from the tree. She could still hear Sam laughing in the distance.

And in an irritated daze, she almost didn't notice that she was about to bump into a guy in front of her. And it was too late. She bumped face-first against his rock-hard back and almost fell on her butt. But the guy had quick reflexes and managed to turn around and grabbed her arm to steady her and save her from a bad fall.

They locked eyes for a moment. And Jae instantly recognized who he was.

"I-it's you!?"