FAWN 🍂 24
 
   After my interaction with Lucas, I feel kind of drained for the rest of the afternoon. I loathe my biological dad, yes. But that doesn't mean I don't love him.
 
   I love him as a daughter, but not as a woman.
 
   He cheated, and my fraternal twin, Asher, chose to stay with him, with our dad's mistress, and live in the same house. I don't understand why people get married and then one of them cheats and ends up in divorce. 
 
   As the afternoon class goes on and my mind wanders, you know, sorting out my life and the ‘what ifs’ in my head. Where do I even begin if Zevadiah leaves? Am I going to wait for him in the future? Or will I no longer be alive in the future?
 
   I want to ask him about what the future looks like, but somehow I don't want to spoil it out of curiosity. What if he leaves one day and the real Zevadiah from this original timeline shows up? Will there be two Zevadiahs in the future? I have so many questions, but I can't answer any of them.
 
   I jolt in my seat when a voice calls my name. I turn my face to look at the person beside me.
 
   "Hey, is something bothering you? Are you alright?" I see the concern on his face as he whispers.
 
   "No," is my curt reply to his question. With him, I don't need to hide. I'm slowly... well, I'm trying not to tell white lies. I can still hear our teacher lecturing in front of us, and it's already dark outside. I glance at the wall clock hanging above the whiteboard; it's 7:20 p.m. I sigh and continue to write down important notes for Mrs. Creus' class when a hand rests on the top of my free hand on my lap. It's Zevadiah. I try to pull my hand away, but he intertwines our fingers and tightens his grip. What the heck is he trying to do?
 
   Using his writing hand, he writes down words on his notes and places it on my desk...
 
   'Don't make a scene, Liebsti,' my brow furrows when I read it in my head. I don't try to pull my hand away anymore and start writing on his notes.
 
   'Why are you holding my hand? You're the one making a scene, not me,' I put the note on his desk.
 
   He writes something down before putting it back on my desk. 'I love holding your hand. I know you love it too. Don't ask any more questions.'
 
   This man's confidence is something I can't break because he knows exactly what he's doing.
 
   I write down again, 'We're inside the classroom for god's sake, Rizal. Mrs. Creus and our classmates can see it, so let go of my hand and be ashamed for at least once,' I put the note back on his desk, and again he writes something down, but a smirk appears on the corner of his lips before he puts the note back on my desk.
 
   I'm sure Mrs. Creus is going to catch us any second now, noticing we're not listening to her lecture.
 
   'What if I don't want to let go? What are you going to do? I want to see what you're going to plan to make me let go of your hand. Try at least, Liebsti,' those are the words he wrote.
 
   Calm down, Fawn. He's just teasing you, and you shouldn't get affected by it. I don't reply anymore when Mrs. Creus finally notices what we're doing. Crap. We are Busted.
   She stares at us, like a deadly stare. Pregnant women are really scary. At least Mom isn't that scary for me, though.
 
   "De Los Santos and Rizal, don't you two know that what you're doing in my class right now is incredibly rude and disrespectful? See me in my office after class, and stop flirting. This is a classroom. I'm your teacher, and show some respect while I'm teaching. Do you understand?"
 
   I swallow nervously because of Mrs. Creus' intense stare. This is Zevadiah's fault, and obviously mine too.
 
   "Yes, Mrs. Creus," Zevadiah and I say together, but he doesn't let go of my hand.
 
   "Good. Now let's start a long quiz since you two didn't pay attention to my class. Everyone, get a paper, we'll start now."
 
   I'm stunned. Damn it, I didn't even listen to her lecture earlier. This is infuriating.
 
   "Eh?! Mrs. Creus, that's not fair."
 
   "Yeah, Mrs. Creus, why are we being dragged into this?"
 
   "It's not fair. We're the ones who are listening properly. Why should we be punished because Zevadiah and Fawn weren't paying attention in your class, Mrs. Creus?"
 
   My classmates start complaining one after another. I'm surprised when Zevadiah releases his grip on my hand and stands up. What is he thinking?
 
   "I take the blame, Mrs. Creus. Fawn is innocent, and my classmates are right. I'll take the fall for this and take the long quiz instead. Don't involve anyone else." What?
 
   I'm speechless when he stands up for me and his classmates. I also want to take the blame, but when he glances at me, his expression is serious, giving me a ‘don't you dare say a word’ warning look.
 
   As Mrs. Creus makes her decision, I can't blame my classmates. I know it's our fault that Zevadiah and I weren't paying attention, but he's taking the fall instead of us taking a long quiz. It's also my fault, but why does he have to take the blame?
 
   "Okay, you have sixty questions. If you score fifty-seven or above, that means no long quiz for all of you. But if your score is below fifty-seven, all of you will take that long quiz. You have thirty minutes to answer all the questions."
 
   This is absurd. Zevadiah can't answer sixty questions in thirty minutes! I want to protest, but I don't want to make the situation worse. Mrs. Creus picks up a test paper; God, she's even ready. She walks towards Zevadiah and places the test paper on his desk.
 
   "Good luck, Rizal." A sly smile forms on Mrs. Creus' lips before she looks at us. "All of you stay away from Rizal, stay in the back, and no talking."
 
   I look at Zevadiah, but his attention is focused on the test paper. I sigh and go to the back of the room with my classmates, except for him. Felly comes up to me.
 
   "Your time starts now, Rizal," she says. Zevadiah sits back down and immediately starts answering the questions while all of us are in the back of the room, far away from him.
   We stay silent, but my full attention is on his back facing us. If I had known that this would be the consequence of not paying attention to Mrs. Creus' lecture earlier, I wouldn't have answered his questions in the first place. I feel bad for him, but I have to trust him on this one.
 
   When thirty minutes pass, I get even more nervous, and Mrs. Creus calls me.
 
   "De Los Santos, you have to check Rizal's answers."
 
   What? I don't even know the real answers, so why am I checking them instead of her? She's the teacher, not me. Eventually, I approach Mrs. Creus, and she gives me a paper with the written answers. I almost have a heart attack. I'm hoping, well, I hope Zevadiah answered the questions correctly.
 
   Zevadiah stands up before handing me his test paper. I sit back down and go through each of his answers. Damn, there are no multiple-choice questions. How did he even know the right answers? Impressive.
 
   I remain composed and relaxed, but my heart is beating faster with every passing second. When I'm done, I silently count up his score. I have to admit this is much scarier than watching horror movies.
 
   I write down his final score on the test paper before handing it to Mrs. Creus.
 
   I approach Zevadiah, stand next to him, and look at him. "How did you know the right answers? No offense, but I'm not trying to undermine you or your knowledge, but some of the questions were from last year," I whisper to him, making sure no one else can hear us.
 
   He winks at me, but I'm serious about my question. "No offense taken, Liebsti. Don't worry, the last school I attended was advanced in lectures. I also have a great memory, so yeah," he says.
 
   I gradually start to smile at his response. "You're a smart one," that's a fact about him.
 
   "You love it, do you?" There it is, his proud smile as he looks at me.
 
   "I don't know," I say.
 
   "Oh come on, Liebsti. I know you love it," he says.
 
   "Kinda," I say, shrugging.
 
   "Kinda? Liebsti, that's not even an answer," he says.
 
   I chuckle a bit. When Mrs. Creus announces the scores, I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
 
   "Zevadiah Braun Rizal scores fifty-nine out of sixty questions."
 
   Well, I guess we won't be taking the long quiz after all. Zevadiah took the fall and nailed it. What a smart ass.