.
.
Alison was silent and her mouth dropped into an ‘o’ shape.
I decided to let them be at that point so I walked out of the room in order to clear my head. I tried to be reasonable and see things from Alison’s perspective but she had no right to treat me that way. Lisa was free to tell her secrets to whoever she saw fit and if Alison had a problem with that, I wasn’t the one to take it out on.
I’d walked as far as the regular student hangout when I decided to turn back or head in the direction of the library. I still had some time to kill so I could put it to good use. I was about to head in a different direction when my eyes stuck fast to the scene ahead of me. A couple was entwined in what I felt was a blatant display of PDA. The guy was none other than Ryan which I found highly disgusting but the girl was very familiar. I squinted at her features and gasped when I realized it was the same girl I saw at the restaurant earlier with Ryan’s hulk of a friend.
Wait, could it be? I thought. Could she possibly be two-timing both of them? Two cultists for crying out loud?
I made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction. She was so doomed.
****
The first semester exams were fast approaching and half the population of students were a nervous wreck. It was then that a level of seriousness could be seen that was unlike anything during the semester. The time I spent hiding away in the library was converted into time for studying and I didn’t research as much on THE REDS as I wanted to. I figured there wasn’t much Ryan could do to me that he hadn’t already done.
From what I’d seen a few days ago, he was doing pretty well with himself in the aspect of the female company and Lord knows I didn’t want his eyes or hands anywhere near me. He might make my life a living hell but as long as he wasn’t interested in me romantically, I didn’t care what he did with his life.
There was still some tension between Alison and Stacy but I decided not to get into that. Lisa was practically glowing these days and her smiles were as infectious as ever since the news that her test results were negative.
“That’s it, I’m giving up.” Becca threw her notebook across the table, startling the rest of us. I’d agreed to join a study group organized by some of my course mates.
It was our third day of tutorials and I’d made some progress, even found some new friends among them.
“It’s not rocket science Becca, just binomial distribution.”
Victor sighed. He’d joined us in the MTH102 tutorials and I was glad he did because he was a math genius. We’d be lost without him.
“At this rate, rocket science would be much easier.” She grumbled.
He tossed her an irritated look but underneath, there was something I couldn’t quite define. Maybe it was affection. I smiled secretly to myself, thinking this was why he’d told me earlier not to worry about any unwanted attention
from him.
“Let’s just start over again.” Maya, the chubby girl from MTH102 that always made googol eyes at Mr. David spoke up.
When we finally called it a day, I was about to head to the library when I got a call from Lisa.
“What’s up?” I asked as I gathered my books into my bag and swung it over my shoulder.
“Are you busy right now?”
“No, I just finished tutorials.”
“Could you do me a favor, please?”
“Sure, what do you need?”
“I’m stuck running some errands and I need to pick up my cousin who’s visiting today. Please, could you help me sign him in?”
“Um, when are you expecting him?”
“In less than thirty minutes, he’s already on his way.”
“Okay sure.” She described him to me and said she’ll send a picture too just in case. I had some minutes to spare so I took my time in getting to the university gate where most visitors usually stayed in the reception. I was about ten minutes early so I put in my earphones and listened to some music. My
phone beeped with a message from Lisa and my mouth fell open in surprise when I saw the image and his name. I looked up from my phone screen to find
him standing before me.
“Charles?” His name slipped out of my mouth.
“Monica?” He said with a grin.
I quickly stood and walked towards him.
“You’re Lisa’s cousin?” I asked. I’d thought I’d most likely never see him again after the incident that happened during the field trip.
“Yes, and you’re the friend she asked to pick me
up.” He said as we shook hands. I glanced down and nodded towards his leg, almost forgetting that my hand was still in his.
“Does your leg still hurt?” I asked.
“You remember that?”
“Of course.”
“It’s much better now and I hope you haven’t been running into any deadly reptiles lately.”
“Not recently, no.” I laughed. “Thanks again for saving my life that day.”
“Don’t mention it.” He shrugged it off. As I looked
at him, something about him suggested that he was rough around the edges and that gave me a hint that he’d dealt with
creatures that were more deadly.
“So..” I was interrupted when my phone beeped with another message from Lisa.
He should be here by now.
“It’s Lisa,” I said. I sent a reply that I’d seen him.
Great, thanks! I’ll meet you guys in front of the cafeteria in few minutes.
.
.
.
...