Morning had come, and the day started playing out like nothing special was accustomed to it already.
Valentine didn't want to tell her father that she was back at school, but his persistency overshadowed her resort.
Palemo had put up enough with his drama. His curiousity was felling off the tip of his lips.
"Wow that's great! Val! I would like to meet um—"
"Jemima" Valentine pushed in.
"Jemima. I would like to meet him, and thank him well enough."
"I already did. No need"
"Gratitude is never enough and has no limit. Val?"
"Yes?" Valentine put a stop clutch to her hurry.
"Hope you apologized to him?"
Valentine's face was crowned with confusion immediately. "Apologize? As in?"
"You know how you were doing yesterday? Pouring your anger at him?"
Valentine clutched her lips and with the nodding of her head, said "He is a good man, he had forgotten about it. We are cool, trust me…" she smiled.
Palemo had missed that smile so much, but he had been pushing his daughter away from him, and he obviously didn't care to think about the repercussions.
"I thought you said there wasn't any lectures this time?"
Valentine sighed and rolled her eyes. "Lectures, lectures, lectures. There should be one today or whatever. Today better be a good one. I have missed a lot."
"Ah okay then, so—"
Valentine rushed to the door. "No, Mr Keftedakia. I'm off to school. See you when I see you!" And she closed the door after her. Palemo sighed and lumped to the chair with thoughts devouring his mind.
****
Lina would be the first person Valentine would look for immediately she went to school, and it was becoming more of a habit than a causal intentional act.
They had met not long after Valentine arrived, and they both sought after the lecture halls where lectures were supposed to hold place.
But they were unsuccessful, not because that they didn't find the hall, but because there was actually no lectures for the rest of the week.
"I'm sure that I was told that there was no lectures anymore…" said Valentine, sitting down together with Lina at the school dining hall.
"True. I'm also sure that they asked us to come today" Lina protested.
"Welll, as you have seen, the lecture halls are empty. No lecturers, hardly any school staff, just students wandering about"
"Or I heard wrong" Lina fell her shoulders.
"Is okay. We have each other anyway, we can do whatever we want…" Valentine said, prompting a smile from Lina.
"As long as we don't do anything out of the books" Lina's smile died out.
"You are funny, you know"
"Huh?"
"No, no not funny. You are unbelievable!" Lina exclaimed.
"Wah- wah- what did I do now?" Valentine stammered.
"You didn't even bother to take your exams"
"My exams?" Valentine expressed confusion.
"Yup, always doing like she doesn't know anything" Lina scoffed.
"Oh My! …" She gulped. "I- I um what am I going to do now?!" She became troubled, and heated up.
Lina's amusement stopped her to wonder what was so amusing about it.
"Seriously Lina…"
"What?" She chuckled. "Do you want me to cry with you or what? No girl."
"No, seriously this isn't funny. How am I going to cope? I certainly can't take more years here with multiple carry overs" Valentine said standing up and running her hands through her hair, she could Jack it out if she could.
"Wha- what are you doing?" Lina questioned
Valentine started stepping away from her troubledly. "I need to do something about it, Lina. Sorry"
Lina chuckled, fumbled to confusion. "Gosh, you are actually sweating…" she stood up and walked close to Valentine, holding her hand.
"Hey calm down… right now" Valentine sighed, tried steering to her advice.
"Very good" Lina said with a smile.
"Now what?" Valentine rolled her eyes and still had the issue planted in her mind, looking for a way out.
Her eyes trolled about, and in that moment, some unorganised noises were heard.
Students chatters and exasperations filled the halls, and curiousity grew in Valentine and Lina's mind. Her heart throbbed looking forward to the worst.
"What's going on?" She asked as some students started running into another corner away from the hall.
"Where are they going?" Valentine motioned to see what was up and lina followed closely beside her.
"I think they are going to the other student's center"
"Students center?" Valentine asked.
"Yes, like the dining… I wonder what's all about?"
"Lady Ganja!" Screams of Joy from the students, and Valentine gave Lina the "Gotta be something serious!" Look.
Lina grabbed her hands without further ado and they hurried toward the students center.
All the students around were present, curiousity crowned everyone's face with touches of great expectations.
They went through student's clatter holding hands until they were released to what seemed to be the front, and there was Lady Ganja posing like the president's wife with a type of ballot box. She smiled once her eyes met Valentine.
Valentine smiled back cheekly, raising her hand for a wave. Lady Ganja cleared her throat and faced the students.
"First of all, I'm so happy to see everyone…"
"We are happy to see you too!" The students chorus. Valentine wandered around with her head wondering why the were all acting like secondary school students.
Maybe it was just because they were all rich and spoiled, but it was awesome, it made them unique and one of kind.
"My heart is gladdened…" she said with a chuckle, flashing the ring on her finger around.
"Is she married?" Valentine whispered to Lina, moving her eyes with the ring.
"No, I don't know. She is just adored with jewelleries" Lina whispered back with a shrug.
"As you all know, the semester exams has been concluded…"
Valentine felt down and helpless again to be reminded of it. But Lina's assuring clasp was enough to hold her up.
She smiled and wondered if she was a magical creature that calms people just by being close to them and holding their hands.
"And I'm sure that most of you know what is about to happen?" She said with a huge smile.
Valentine had no idea what was going to happen, and glancing over the student's face, a lot of them were happy and looked ready for whatever the event was.
Her heart throbbed with the wish of being something she could handle. Then, gasps were uttered followed by admiration and as students paved way for who Valentine purged to see, whose presence gave her a reason to feel tensed.
Lady Ganja smiled as The Big Bad Boy and the Four Devil Doves walked to the front, and sat down while everyone else stood.
"Wow" was what came out from Lina's mouth. Valentine stared at Josef and couldn't stop admiring how handsome he looked, how good he smelled and his elegance.
But still, a jerk is jerk, she tried to knock him off her mind, and he looked at her side, with a blank face. Valentine steered her face away immediately and faced her front, but her rear view caught Josef still staring at her with a half cut smile, which kind of put her under pressure.
"Why is that jerk smiling!? That's an evil smile obviously! I feel like punching his face!" She yelled through her mind, clenching her fists.
"Perfect timing. Welcome Josef " Lady Ganja acknowledged him, and He nodded his head with a smile.
"Oh, actually I have a meeting to attend. I won't waste your time, so we will get straight to it…" she said, opening the ballot box.
Josef had an idea what it was, but he wasn't expecting the kind of turn out that was about to burst.
Lady Ganja unwrapped the box and opened it. It was made of a transparent glass and it's contents were small red paper folds.
There were screams and claps. Now, everyone knew what it was. The 4DD's smiled, as if it was a great thing for them. Well, why wouldn't it be? It was the…
"Ladies and gentlemen, this year's Dating Games is here!" Lady Ganja exclaimed. And there were shouts of Joy accompanied with claps. Valentine still was out of it. But not Lina, she was excited too.
"Oh, I guess I'm the only newcomer here" she muttered.
"There is a rule though, you have got to pick whichever one that's in front of you… " Lady Ganja said glancing at their faces.
Valentine looked at the box, and it had two papers placed at the top as if it had been specially made.
"This time, I will call out two people to pick first, and after that, we would have the next round where everyone else picks. Have fun"
"Yay!" Students chorused.
"Josef Bond…" she looked at Josef and he got up to stand before the box. "Pick… the one in front of you" she added.
Josef relented for a while and with a suspicious intuition, he looked at Lady Ganja. "Why must it be the one in front of me?" He wondered.
Taking his hand inside, he picked up a paper and went back to sit down.
Lady Ganja smiled and motioned at him to open it, while the girls gritted to know who the lucky girl would be. But Josef didn't want to open it at once, for some reasons, he treated it like it was something that would harm him.
"Valentine Perez…"
"Huh? … me- me?" Valentine stammered.
"Please, step forward and make a pick"
Lina pushed her a bit and she bounced off. She took hers and fell back.
"That would be the first round. Now everyone else can pick. Have fun! Remember to open your papers to see who are pairing with" she said with a smile and brisked away.
"What's these all about?" Valentine asked Lina.
"Oh, you will date whoever you are paired with for seven days. Come on, I'm curious to know…" students started rushing toward it, while some looked forward to know Josef lucky girl.
"Oh, I should get mine. I'm coming, let the surprise wait for me" Lina pulled out to get hers.
Josef slowly had his paper unfold… his eyes widened with surprise and he turned to look at Valentine, who looked back at him.
His eyes were fuming with anger. She denied prolonged eyes contact with him and stared into the paper. But Josef gravely gaze was becoming unbearable, one which was broken by Achilles.
"Josef, what have you got, man?"
Josef chuckled "Can you believe this?" He opened it to Achilles. Achilles grinned with amazement.
"Oh dear, that's awesome."
"Awesome my foot" he growled and angrily fledged out. Valentine noticed that something was up, and she might be the reason when she caught Achilles looking at her.
"What's with that look?" She muttered.
Lina came back with an excitedly quivering body, holding her own paper in her hands. "I'm back! I'm back!" She exclaimed.
"Oh, who are you pairing with?"
"I don't know, yet. Let me check it… have you opened yours?" Valentine looked at the paper in her hands and started unfolding it.
She gasped at once a name was visualized, though not complete she knew what it could be.
"What did you say this is about again?" She asked Lina in a steady and low toned voice.
"Is the dating game, done once in two years. You date whoever is written in your paper for seven days, and there are also rules to follow"
"No. No"
"What?"
"There is no way I'm dating Josef for seven days"