CHAPTER 1
Judith POV
The bell rang loudly as the class ended, startling me. I didn’t realize that two hours had passed because I was too focused on him. Who? You might ask. It was my crush, Elijah Penn.
I watched him as he picked up his handbags from the floor near his chair. Steve, his best friend, draped one arm over Elijah’s shoulders as they walked out together from the class. Both of them were popular among the girls in this school, but Elijah is the one that owned my heart since day one. It was still fresh in the back of my mind. That day when I saw him playing on a basketball field. I instantly knew that he was my prince charming. The one that would take me on the first date and steal my first kiss. If only it could be that easy. Apparently, I am not the only one who wants him.
I had to compete with many other girls, which were way prettier than me. I am not ugly. But I am not that fashionable kind of woman who could grab anyone’s attention.
I had never been this obsessed with boys before. I mostly never cared about them because I was too busy studying to get a good grades. But Elijah Penn is different.
He had dark brown hair that looked soft to touch, a captivating pair of grey eyes, and a tall masculine body type. It was still a mystery how come he was still single until now.
I’ve always picked the same seat every day. The one just a few rows behind Elijah. It gave me a perfect view of him. I sighed deeply as his back disappeared from my sight. My feelings for him had grown stronger by now. Should I tell him about my feelings? I took out a small pink envelope from inside my bag. It was a love letter that I personally wrote for him last night. This might sound cheesy, but this is the first time I’ve written this kind of letter. Well, maybe not. I slipped the letter inside my book and walked out of the empty class.
“Ms. Jones?..” I stopped in my way as Mr. Kent, my math teacher, called me. “Yes, Mr. Kent?” I said in reply. “I noticed that you’ve been spacing out a lot lately in my class. What happened to you?” He asked. He looked deeply concerned with me. “I—“ My brain couldn’t think of any good reason to defend myself.
“Ms. Jones…” He said, cutting me. “You’re one of the best students in my class. I don’t want to see you fail in this subject.” I lowered my face. He was right. I used to be good at math, but today I don’t even have any idea what subject he was talking about in class. He patted my shoulder. “You have to focus more on your study. We will have an exam next week. I want you to do your best.” He said, smiling at me.
“Yes, Mr. Kent. I’m sorry.” I said in reply. He then took his books and briefcase before he went out of the classroom. I looked at the clock, and I just realized that I was almost late for my chemistry class.
“Oh s**t—“ I cursed out loud and hurriedly ran towards another building. Why do they have to build such a big school? Oh, have I told you that Elijah is the son of our school principal? His family owned this place.
By the time I got into the class, I was running out of breath. “Hey, Jones…You dropped something.” I could recognize that voice. It was Steve. Damn it. What did he want from me this time? To be honest, I never liked him. He always thinks lowly of women. I turned around, throwing a glare at him.
As I saw my letter in his hand, I went panicked. “Hey, give it back to me!” I quickly snatched the letter from him and shoved them back inside my bag. It must be slipped out from my book when I was running.
“Chill out, woman!.. It’s not like I am going to tell Elijah about it.” My mouth went ajar. He saw it. Steve had seen Elijah’s name in front of the envelope. He must’ve known that it was a love letter.
Damn, this is a game over for me. What should I do now?
“It’s not like you think—“ I said. I was about to reason with him, but Elijah suddenly came from behind. “What’s the matter, Steve?” Elijah asked, staring alternately at us.
Oh, My God. That deep voice. Both of my feet felt like jelly right now. This was the first time he looked at me. But I didn’t have the courage to look back at him in his eyes.
“Nothing…” Steve said. I felt relieved he didn’t tell Elijah about the letter. “Where have you been? You’re taking too long on the toilet.” Steve asked him back.
This time I looked up at Elijah, and I swear I saw a blush crept onto his cheek. He fell silent for a moment. “I think I’ve eaten something wrong this morning,” Elijah said casually, then walked past me. I tried to hold my laughter, but I failed. I shouldn’t be laughing at him. But the image of Elijah sitting in a closet because of diarrhea seemed pretty amusing to me.
“Judith!..” Kelly waived her hand, inviting me to sit with her. I always sat with her in chemistry class because she was really good at it. If I want to pass this class, I need to team up with the one who excels at this. For that sole reason, this is the only class that I sat on the different side from him, far away from Elijah, because Kelly likes to sit in the front. I put down my bag and books on top of the table.
“You’re almost late.” She said, fixing the position of her glasses. “I know… Mr. Kent wanted to talk to me after the class.” I told her.
Kelly nodded at me. She must be thinking that Mr. Kent asked me to be his assistant again or something like that. I didn’t want her to know that it was the other way around.
I looked to the right side, and I was surprised to find Elijah sitting on the different rows. He’s only a row away from my seat. My heart nearly fell out from my chest as our eyes met for a few seconds. I quickly looked away. I grabbed the book and pretended to read it.
It felt a bit awkward to me until Mrs. Davis, our chemistry teacher, came in and started the class.
