Alorah Reagen

"Alorah, I have a question," I looked up from my group's business plan papers, making sure everything was in order before handing this over to Mrs. Cher, to see Layla with disgust written on her face.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure if you noticed, but someone is standing right behind you. He's been sticking to you the whole afternoon since you got here," Layla mentioned, which confused me. I turned around to see Julian smiling.

When did he?

"Hi," I smiled, remembering our talk last night.

"Hey," Julian responded, his eyes slowly trailing down to the documents I was holding. I followed his gaze and watched as he reached his hands out to grab it.

I moved to stand beside him after he took it from my grasp to continue scanning the papers. I could hear familiar murmurs ahead of us while we were both engrossed in our documents.

"Amelia, what are those two doing?" Layla asked, and I secretly looked up to see them staring at Julian and me, puzzled.

"What do you mean?" Amelia questioned.

"Don't you find something odd about these two?" Layla squinted her eyes at both of us.

"Besides being the diligent people they are, not at all," Amelia responded, not following through on Layla's skepticism.

Not satisfied with her response, Layla's lips tightened into a thin line as she turned to face Amelia, crossing her arms and resting them under her chest.

"How about when they greeted each other? It felt and sounded different than when they usually do it. I don't think they ever said hello to one another, right?" I felt pressure forming on my lips, prompting me to face away from the girls so that they wouldn't see the smile that was creeping up.

Julian's sleeve shifted slightly, and I looked up to see him smiling down at me. I raise my brows and smile back.

"Umm. I'm not sure about that. I never really noticed those kinds of details." Amelia said.

While the girls were having their moment, we were having ours. Julian raised the 40-page business plan to block our view of them so that we wouldn't be interrupted by their gaze once they had finished hypothesizing our situation.

"What are you doing?" He whispered.

"I didn't want them to notice that I was listening in on their conversation," I whispered back, "Was us saying hi to each other weird?"

"Umm. I'm not sure. Maybe a little since Layla felt like we were acting weird."

"Why were you standing behind me? I didn't realize you were following us until Layla pointed that out," I was perplexed as to why I hadn't noticed a presence behind me.

Julian didn't say anything and just stared at me. I noticed that the longer we stayed in this position, the more my mind went blank because all I could think about was him.

I tilted my head to the side to break our trance, and it seemed to work because Julian finally blinked.

"I couldn't stay away," he blurted out, then chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. A slight pinkish color formed on his cheek, transforming his image into a cuter version. It was a sight to behold, "I do have a question for you, though."

"What is it?"

"Um..." his gaze alternated between me and the papers that served as a barrier between us. I was a little worried because he appeared unsure whether to say it. It was not a feeling I would like to go through because it felt unpleasant.

"Is it bad?" I grimace. His eyes widened as they settled on me, and he shook his head vigorously in response to my thought.

"No, no. It's just... I'm doubting whether it's the right time to mention it to them since it hasn't been that long..." He bit his bottom lip with an uneasy expression on his face.

What hasn't been that long?

Oh.

"You mean," I raised my forefinger, pointing at him before switching it to me. I watched as he squeezed his eyes shut and then nodded at me painfully.

Now, I understand why he was acting that way. He was trying to be respectful to me by asking for my opinion on whether we should announce it. I suppose the painful part was whether we were ready to do it, given our current unsolved situation with his status in this school and what has been happening with him and his group of "friends."

Despite how excited we were to tell the people we love about our progress, there were still factors that we had to consider. However, that is the great thing about being in a relationship—it's a test to show how strong our bonds are.

"Julian," I looked him in the eyes and smiled at him before grabbing his free hand and clasping it in mine, "no matter what happens or what other people say about us, I want you to know I will not let it ruin what we started."

He gave me a hesitant look before breaking our gaze and shifting it to our interlocked hands. I gently squeezed his hand, a gesture to show him that I meant what I said and was willing to go to great lengths to make this work.

I guess he got the message when his eyes met mine again, a smile formed on his face, and a gentle squeeze returned to my hand.

"I'm ready when you are," Julian said softly.

As our wall gradually moved downward, I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for what I was going to tell the girls. If I do this, then there's no backing down. The news would spread like wildfire. In addition, given Julian's status in the school, it would take only a couple of minutes or the remaining school hour to reach the whole student population.

What's worse, we're doing this in the hallway, where a number of students were hanging out. The girls would be in disbelief, and Layla would yell out what I told them, earning the attention of the students passing by.

You can do this, Alorah. It's not a big deal. Only the whole student population would know that their dream guy was taken by an average senior high school girl.

Thank heaven, I only have a few months left before I say goodbye to this school. I don't want to be chewed on by my classmates and some lower-level students for the next few years.

My entire body tensed as my gaze locked on Layla and Amelia. They were puzzled, and I swear I saw Amelia glance at our interlocked hands.

I can't do it. I feel like I'm being strangled by some spirits or something. What would Mom do if she were in this situation? Would she chicken out and hide the news until the relationship ended up not working anymore?

"Alorah?" I heard Julian's voice calling my name, jolting me out of my trance. "We don't have to do this now if you're not ready. I'm sure Layla and Amelia will understand."

I love how considerate Julian was. It gave me a glimpse of what I will be experiencing as his girlfriend, and I hope it won't change for the worse.

When I noticed that my body had relaxed and my grip on his hand had loosened, I smiled internally. His words were all I needed to hear to calm down.

Feeling a surge of confidence wash over me, I turned my attention to the girls and gave them the biggest and happiest smile I could muster.

"Layla. Amelia. I have something to tell you," I said excitedly, raising our intertwined hands before continuing, "As of February 7, at 3 o'clock in the morning, Julian and I have made our relationship official."