I pretended that I didn’t hear what he said but that thought has been bugging me since last night. Should I act as if nothing happened and treat him like I normally do? I was still agonizing about what to do when the bell rang.
“You can stick close to me this day if you don’t know how to face Daniel. Others wouldn’t notice since they know that we are close with each other.” Vladimir said while the teacher was discussing in front
“Thanks but I will think about it,” I said smiling
“Are you telling me that you don’t want to spend time with me? I am not making an offer anyway, I am mandating you to do it as your master,” he whispered
“Are you trying to use that so I will stick close to you? How could you?” I said trying to sound annoyed.
“You can consider it as a favor or an order from me. We can tell people that you lost in a bet that’s why you need to be with me. That is the easiest way out than explaining why you and Daniel are avoiding each other. What do you say?” he said proudly
“I don’t know what to say. Will you consider my suggestion if I say it?” I asked
“NO!” he said firmly
“There, you got your answer. I don’t have a say in this.” I said
“Just making things clear.” he winked
Is he for real? He already knows the answer but he is pretending to be a nice person by asking my opinion. I am not against what he said but I shouldn’t agree to it easily in case he feels superior.
“What is happening with you and Vladimir? Why are you acting like you are closer to him than to us?” May whispered to me during the break
“Yeah. Remember that we are your best friends so you better tell us what is happening. You have been leaving us in the dark these past days.” Jessica said
“He is my friend and he is also my seatmate so of course, I should be close with him. Why are you suddenly acting jealous?” I said
“That is not the closeness that we expected from the two of you.” Jessica glared at Vladimir who was smiling while staring at us
“Why are you fond of whispering that loud? If you call that whispering at all. He can hear you. He is sitting beside us.” I said
“We are watching you. You will deal with us if you hurt Althea.” Jessica warned Vladimir
“What did I do?” he asked flabbergasted.
“You know what you did. Remember that will deal with a lot of us if she cries. Me, Jessica, Jackson, Henry.. Uh, I will also add Allyson.” May smirked
“Uh what? I didn’t even do anything. Are you not gonna do anything about this?” he said to me
“Deal with it,” I said smiling
“You know that I can’t do anything to you in front of your friends so you are doing anything you can to get back to me,” he whispered to me when the class started
I looked back to Jessica’s seat and saw him throwing us a suspicious look. I faced Vladimir who gulped after catching Jessica staring unsatisfactorily.
“If you can deal with that for a whole month.” I shrugged my shoulders
“Are you trying to use your friends against me? Let us see what will happen if I tell them the reason why we are this close.” he smiled
“If you can.”
“Oh, you are daring but at the wrong time. I am the upper hand in our situation right now. I have the ace card which you don’t.” he said before throwing a glance at Daniel
“Fine. Don’t ever tell my friends that I made a bet with you and lost.”
“Then do not make me. Do your best to make them believe that nothing is going on between us and that we are only friends. I don’t want to hurt people who like me if the rumor came out that we are in a relationship.” he raised an eyebrow before turning his back.
“I’m sorry but I will not be able to walk home with you today since I have to accompany Vladimir to his practice. He asked a favor to take some photos and videos for him.” I explained to Jessica and May
“What?” they said looking at me with a scowl as if judging me.
“Nothing is going on. If there is something then I should have told you already. He is just a friend. You can say that he is the male version of you two.” I facepalmed
“Oh, a male best friend. You do remember that every relationship starts with being friends.” Jessica said smiling
“He is just a best friend so why would you mention a relationship. I don’t have time for that and we are still young. Stop those minds of yours.” I warned them
“Okay, if you say so. Go and watch your friends practice. We will see you next week.” May said before the two of them walked away.
I sighed as I turned around to go to the playing field when I bumped into Daniel who was standing behind me. He looked away before passing by me as if I were an air. I closed my eyes when I realized that was the reason why it was too easy for those two to agree. They didn’t even interrogate me which they would have done normally.
“Althea, come on! The practice is about to start.” Vladimir shouted
“I’m coming,” I said while holding myself from looking back at Daniel
“Here, hold my water and towel. Watch over my bag too,” he said throwing the towel in my face
“Can’t you at least do it nicely? I am near you so you don’t have to throw it. Will you stop trying to be a jerk? It doesn’t suit you.”
He winked at me before running away and joining their team in doing two laps in the oval since they need to exercise first. I started browsing some photos that I took on my phone.
“What are you doing here?” Henry who just came asked
“What do you think?” I answered without raising my head
“Your friends aren’t around so I don’t think you are here to watch the players practice,” he said looking around
“Right.”
“So what are you doing here? Are you having a simp on one of the players?” he asked again
“As if you don’t me. What is the use of asking that question?” I replied
“Then tell me why you are here? I can’t believe that you are acting rude when I am talking to you. Stop ignoring me.” he said snatching my phone
“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be running there?” I asked while pointing to the group of baseball players running.
“I am not going to attend the training today since I have some church activities. I was about to ask permission from the coach when I saw you sitting here alone.”
“Oh, then you better give back my phone and approach your coach,” I said
“Why are you being so cross today? Did something happen that I was not aware of?”
“What do you think?”
“Daniel is not here who was the reason why you are like that last year. Jackson and Allyson aren’t also here so why are you annoyed? I just got here thus I am sure that I am not the reason.” he said looking around before spotting Vladimir’s bag
I looked at him lazily as he pursed his lips to stop himself from laughing. I glared at him after he keeps looking at my face and the bag back and forth.
“Oh. I get it,” he said chuckling
“Birds of the same feather flocks together huh?” I said raising an eyebrow
“Enjoy your chore then. I need to go now,” he said winking at me
“And you are even abandoning me now? Really?” I said
“I’ll hang out with you some other time because I need to go now.” he winked and gave me a flying kiss
I sighed as I watched him run and asked permission from their coach. I was busy reading a book when I felt someone’s hand on my chin. I can already sense who was holding my chin because only one person has the nerve to do it.
“What do you want now? Aren’t you supposed to be on your way?” I said glaring
“I should say goodbye at least since we rarely see each other,” Henry said before kissing me on the cheeks.
“Ewww. Gross! What the heck are you doing? Is there someone whom you want to get jealous or avoid again?” I said quickly looking around
“I am just saying goodbye. I will see you around,” he said before giving me another kiss and running away.