David’s P.O.V.

Woah, I don’t get her! What’s with that woman, and what was her act all about? Consistent top one student yet she is not even afraid to skip our class? I can’t believe her!

I cut my thoughts when I saw the green-eyed woman who seemed to occupy my mind entered the classroom. I could not believe that she had the guts to skip our afternoon class yesterday. I knew I should not care about it. It was even better for me knowing that my chance to beat her would be higher, but I just could not stop myself from overthinking.

Who does she think she is?

I intently looked at her for a moment. Every time she faced me, she was vicious. But when she was all alone, she looked so fragile and could not help herself but cry all along. She was simple, but I guessed she was only pretending. I did not know the reason why, but that was what I thought of her.

She was soon followed by Vanessa, who immediately sat right beside me. I then pretended to be busy by jotting down my notes.

Hmm, I wonder if she caught me looking at Helena a while ago? Oh, why would I even care about it? I’m not doing anything wrong here! I twisted my lips as I shook my head before looking at her.

“Hi, babe!” she greeted me with a smile that could reach her ears.

I simply nodded at her as I focused on my notes again. I didn’t know, but I was suddenly not in the mood to talk to her. Perhaps, it was because of what my eyes saw yesterday—the way how Drew’s and her face were almost touching together!

“Babe, are you mad at me? Why so peevish? Hmm… but whatever it is, let me take care of it. I’m going to make you smile at least,” she said.

Then, she playfully and consistently tickled my sides—even my forming abs—but it does not seem to affect my mood. I had no reactions at all. If I could only see myself in the mirror, it would be obvious that I was still wearing my neutral face all along.

She kept on doing that until she gave up knowing that I was too serious, and she could not make me happy. I had no time for jokes and her tease would no longer affect me. I could not even paint a fake grin on my lips.

“Okay! If you don’t want to, then fine!” She snapped at me before rolling her eyes. “Anyway,” she handed me a piece of paper, “that’s my new e-mail and password. My cheer mates will be sending our yesterday’s photos to that e-mail, or they had already sent them as we speak. So, you know what to do, okay?”

I was mesmerized by how her heart-shaped lips moved sexily as she continued what she was telling me. It was covered in scarlet red color that I wanted to ruin it in my imagination. Her actions were quite taunting me to kiss her for the first time, but I had to control myself since we were in the classroom.

“I know that you are not only great in terms of academics, you also have a superb talent when it comes to photography. I know you can do it, babe! We still have a practice today, so I’ll go ahead. Your cheerleader girlfriend doesn’t want to be late. I’ll see you tomorrow then, I love you!” She kissed my right cheek and turned around without even glancing back.

“Vanessa, wait—” I tried to chase her, but she just rushed through the door and left. She did not even lend time to face me even though I was certain that she heard me calling for her.

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I heaved a deep sigh. Alright, same scenario!

I had to enhance their photos to be more presentable before posting them into the school paper. As usual, she would ditch our class again just for their cheer dance practice. I should get used to it because it was nothing new. While she was practicing, I was running the Supreme Student Council.

Most of the time, she would ask me a favor of doing her stacked assignments. A few times, I experienced being a proxy while participating with her groupmates even though I also need to focus on my own group. And to make it worst, I even engaged in that so-called cheating because I secretly gave her answers during examinations.

Sometimes, I could not help but doubt what she thought of me and what was I to her. Am I really her boyfriend… or her slave? I thought while inserting the paper into my right pocket.

I loved Vanessa, but after I saw her yesterday with that Drew, I could not help myself that my heart got filled with doubts. It was as if I suddenly lost all my trust.

To keep myself entertained, I opened my bag, brought out my index cards, and played with geometric formulas. Soon after, our Physics teacher arrived, and I was quite surprised that she suddenly gave us an exam.

Shit, I wasn’t able to study in advance!

I was still cramming to answer the last item when Mrs. Gutierrez spoke, “Alright! Time’s up, everyone. Please exchange papers with your seatmates. David and Helena, since you don’t have seatmates, just exchange with each other.”

I did not have a choice but to stop myself from answering even though I already knew how to solve the last problem. I looked at Helena by impulse, and our eyes met.

Damn, those green eyes again!

After that, we exchanged our papers. Woah, I did not expect that she has beautiful handwriting though!

Then, Mrs. Gutierrez gave us the correct answers. I was already done checking her paper, but I still double-checked it a few times over. My eyes kept on blinking as my eyebrows furrowed because I just could not believe her score!

Were my eyes fooling me? Come on, why is she perfect? She doesn’t even get a single mistake? Fifty out of fifty? Really?

“Okay, class… kindly return the papers to the respective owners.”

Helena immediately gave me back my paper without even looking at me. I barely saw her reaction as she widened her eyes upon seeing her score. I could say that this girl could not believe that she was able to ace the exam with a perfect score… or maybe because she had an incredible talent when it came to guessing the answers.

Only God knows!

My defenses became weak when I looked at my paper and saw my score. I could not help but sigh out of frustration. I was already expecting it since I only got answers from my brain’s stocked knowledge. When you were grade-conscious, having a score of forty-five out of fifty was already a failure.

Our Physics exam only had ten items but with five points each. If only I finished solving the last problem, Helena and I would both top the exam. But I would just get back to her next time. I would make sure to always study in advance because I had to beat her!

I narrowed my eyes as a smirk popped out on my lips. I promise that you can no longer beat me, Helena. This will be the first and last time that you would exceed my score!

Hours went by in a blur, and it was already our break time again. It was a good thing that we would no longer have an afternoon subject. I did not go to the campus stage anymore because I did not want to see the same setup that I saw yesterday, and who knew what else I might see there.

Upon deciding not to go home yet, I went to the Computer Room and just kill some time to surf the internet. I also opened the new e-mail account provided by my girlfriend to get their raw photos that I had to edit.

While browsing the softcopies, there was one photo that suddenly made me feel even more annoyed. It caused me to abruptly roughen my stares on the screen of the computer.

From the photo, Vanessa and Drew’s faces were almost a centimeter apart. Drew seemed to be whispering something to her, and Vanessa looked like she was having a good time while feeling some butterflies in the stomach. Jealousy had crept my heart as she was even clinging to Drew’s left arm!

My face suddenly got heated up as my muscles stiffened. Anger stirred within me as rage pulsed throughout my veins. How could she do this when she already had a boyfriend? I certainly wanted to hit someone with my fist that it balled hard enough without me knowing.

I then found myself logging out from Vanessa’s e-mail, but I printed the picture first before sauntering out of the Computer Room. I would just go to the Music Room because I wanted to release all my fury and resentment by simply banging all the drums there!

Ready to get inside, I held the doorknob of the Music Room and was ready to twist it open when I overheard that someone was there based on the hums. Out of curiosity, I slowly opened the door and silently wandered my eyes across the lower-level area to see who it was.

It was Helena.

I did not realize that I was able to finally get inside because my eyes were fixated on her. I quickly hid at the back of the chair around the corner and secretly looked at her. She was holding a guitar, and I was assuming that once she strummed the strings, she would sing. I wasn’t wrong because that was what she did.

If I die young, bury me near you

Then give me something blue

Do not forget to visit my grave

Send me away with your kisses

I frowned. Her soft and captivating voice somewhat seemed familiar.

Hmm, wait… so, that means? She was the owner of the voice that I heard yesterday? She was the one who played the piano here? And she also knew how to play the guitar, huh? If I must say, she was quite talented!

But why is it that she used to sing only sad songs? Does she want to die already? No matter how hard and unfair life is, we must be grateful to live because other people were not given the opportunity to enjoy life for more years.

She unexpectedly stopped singing, and I got startled from what I was thinking when she spoke, “Hey, you don’t have to hide there!”