Too many foolish people try to come between us

None of them seem to matter when I look into your eyes

Now I know why I belong here

In your arms, I found the answer

Somehow, nothing would seem so wrong here

If they'd only realize that

'Born for You' by David Pomeranz

-----

Earlier that same morning.

Leon gave Oddey a ride to school with his chauffeur driving the car, and they sat together at the back. He noticed that she had been quiet since they left their house, "anything on your mind, Mochie pie?" he asked her.

"Uhm... just school stuff," she replied although she was lying and her father knew that. "And Monday sucks."

"Don't stress yourself too much about that."

"Yes, Dad."

"About... their son, I have nothing against him," he told her, Oddey gazed at him when he said that.

"You don't?"

"A child should not pay for their parents' wrongdoing, right?" After that, Leon looked at his daughter straight in the eyes. "But I only ask you one thing and one thing only."

"Okay..."

"Never fall for him," he demanded her. Oddey felt like she was poured by cold water. "Nothing good could go to be with a child born from... them."

"Yes, Dad."

Back in the present.

Oddey was the only one in the classroom. She was replaying her father's requests in her head to not have strong feelings for Gage, although it already happened, especially when he considered her as his friend. "What am I gonna do?"

"Hey!" Rita appeared and startled her. "Ugh... Monday. Again."

"Yeah, I know, right?"

"So how is my bestie after you know last Friday?"

"I'm alright now. My Dad even got home when he heard what happened."

"Well, that was no joke, I mean, being trapped inside an elevator after a lightning strike. Plus, you had an asthma attack."

"But I'm fine now."

"Of course, you are, especially when you were stuck with... Gage," Rita teased by tickling her tummy.

"Stop," Oddey whined and lightly slapped her hand away.

"It seems like you two are okay now with one another, so tell me, what happened inside?"

Oddey got all choked up because she couldn't tell her best friend about Gage and his family to her. "Uhm..." she gulped. "He uhm... sort of took care of me when I got scared."

"Aww..." Rita giddied. "And then?"

Oddey remembered how he was so kind throughout those times, "we talked, and we kinda cleared things up," she added. "After that, the next thing I knew, I... was sleeping on his lap."

Rita screamed in euphoria that it was so high that only dogs could hear it, and she was shaking Oddey too. "That happened!? AAAHHHH!! You slept on his lap?"

"Say it louder. I don't think the class next door could hear you."

"Please, it's still early in the morning, but seriously, that really happened?"

"Yes."

"Oh my dear," Rita gasped. "So you like him again?"

"I... uhm... don't dislike him, and beside me, I'm not... into him... anymore, remember?"

"What? Why?" Rita gasped. "Is this still about the double date thing?"

"No, I'm over that. I'm just saying that maybe he and I are just not meant to be."

"You don't know that."

"Uhm... I do," Oddey insisted. All of a sudden, her phone buzzed, so she checked it to see what was on the screen. It was an Instagram notification from none other than Gage because he followed her.

Rita happened to peak on the screen from Oddey's phone, "Ooo speaking of the devil. See. He likes you," she giggled.

"Yeah, let's assume every guy follows me on Instagram likes me," Oddey mocked.

"Whatever. Come on, let's see his photos."

"Maybe later."

Rita just could not help but notice her best friend's demeanor. "What's up with you? Why are you so... in denial right now?"

Oddey glanced at her best friend and then looked down and cracked her knuckles, "It's... complicated," she said.

"Complicated how?"

"You won't believe me even if I told you."

"So try me," her best friend insisted.

"Okay, just promise me that this is just between the two of us," Oddey told her in a serious tone.

"This sounds serious. Just tell me."

"I like Gage, but..."

"But what?"

"But I can't."

Rita looked confused. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I can't... fall for him," Oddey revealed. "I actually shouldn't be seeing him either."

"What?!" her best friend reacted in disbelief. "Says who?"

"My Dad."

-----

Meanwhile, Gage and Courtney were still waiting for their professor to come through the door. "The audition is next week, so you should practice your lines more, okay?" Courtney reminded him, but he wasn't listening because he got a notification from Oddey that she followed him back. "Gage? Gage!"

"What?" he got back from reality and looked at Courtney's disappointed expression.

"Were you listening to me at all?" she interrogated.

"Oh, no, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said that you should practice your lines more because the audition is next week. We have to nail it. Both of us."

"Okay, I will." Gage then went back from looking at his phone, which already pissed Courtney off.

"What are you looking at?" She snatched his phone from his hand.

"Hey! What are you doing? Give that back!" he exclaimed.

"What the fuck?" Courtney was shaken that the guy he liked was checking out Oddey's Instagram account.

Gage grabbed his phone back from her. "Dude, what's your problem?"

"You followed her on Instagram?"

"Yeah... anyway, I swear I will rehearse when I can."

"Alright then, let's win this son of a bitch next week."

"You sound confident."

"Of course, there's four of each, my only competition is Marcy Grett, she is good the other three are amateurs so. I know I have my chance but you, you need to up your game."

"I'll try," Gage exasperated but Courtney did not like his tone because it sounded like he was just telling her what she wanted to hear.

"You better."

Later in the boys' dorm room, the young architect major began building his diorama. Felix came in and saw what his roommate was doing, "cool," he complimented.

"Thanks," Gage said as he admired his work. "It's for the exhibit. I can't wait to show it."

"I think you're gonna impress those architects." Felix opened the mini-fridge and took the last two microwavable food packets. "Now that you have a car, I think we need to go grocery shopping."

"No problem, I can go tomorrow. Just give me a list."

"Got it."

"Oh, can you also heat my teriyaki chicken? I'm getting hungry, too."

"Sure thing. By the way, shouldn't you be practicing your lines?" Felix asked. "The audition is next week. Right?"

"Ugh... don't remind me," Gage grumbled. "Courtney is already hounding me about it."

"Sorry," Felix chuckled. "I don't get you. You don't want to be in the play. Why are you pushing yourself to do this? Just to prove to Courtney that you support her?"

"Well... yeah. Courtney has done so much for me in the past."

His friend just nodded in acknowledgment when he understood his point and decided not to ask any more questions. "Mmmkay."

Gage paused to take a break and checked his phone for a bit to check his Instagram. He was just scrolling, liking some posted pictures. That was when he came across Oddey's posts again that he had already seen. "By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Okay, shoot."

"How well do you know Oddey?" he asked.

Felix was stumped that she was mentioned from his friend's mouth. "Oddey? she's been my art room neighbor since the start of the school year. I think she's cool and nice because she lets me borrow her art stuff for my projects and her study notes. And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have met Rita. Why'd you ask?"

"No reason." Gage's face got bright red and pretended to scratch his head to cover his face.

"Okay... Seriously, what really happened in the elevator? You two kissed and made up or something?" his roommate joked while he heated the two meals in their microwave.

Gage chuckled. "Not really. It's more like an asthma attack, panic, and sleeping."

Felix snickered. "Got it. And from there, you guys talked it out while you guys were trapped?"

"Yeah, we cleared things up."

"Well, I did tell her that I kinda forced you to go on the double date."

"Still. I have to admit, I kinda felt bad that I made her go through that," the architect major sighed as he looked back at what he did.

"Look. It's over. Let's just forget about it," Felix replied. "Next time, maybe I should've asked Jerry."

"Yeah... wait, what?" Gage choked because somehow he was not thrilled to hear another guy's name in the conversation. "Jerry?"

"Because I think he likes Oddey."

"Really?" the flustered guy replied.

Suddenly, their food was ready. Felix took a cloth to avoid getting his hand burned from the hot sides of the container and placed one of them on his roommate's table. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Gage just gave him a small smile, then it slowly disappeared, and looked down on his meal while he waited for it to cool off.

"No problem." When Felix turned around to get his food and secretly smirked, he was satisfied, noticing Gage's reaction at the thought that Oddey could go out with someone else.

----

The next day, there was a rehearsal session for the theatre club, Oddey was doing some exercises with the other volunteer and Gage was practicing his lines with Courtney but as usual, she was not impressed with his progress.

"Geez, Gage, can we at least have some improvement here?" Courtney groaned, and Oddey heard it.

"Sorry, Court..." The poor guy apologized.

"Come on, let's do it again."

Madame Vestia approached and watched how the ambitious theatre major gave her partner a hard time. "Ms. Jude," she called him out. "Please. The more you push, the more your Romeo won't be able to properly play his part."

"I understand, Madame Vestia," Courtney replied and didn't even bother hiding her attitude.

After that, she darted to her other one. "And Gage, just relax. Alright?"

"Yes, Madame Vestia," he said to her.

Once the professor walked away to check on the other pair who were auditioning. The two turned to each other, "Let's take a break," the frustrated actress said. "I need to go to the bathroom anyway."

"Okay," Gage said back. Not only did he want a break, but he wished to bolt out.

Oddey could see that the poor guy was struggling with his part, and Courtney would give him an earful about it right after. However, she was not the only one seeing those two were at it.

Next, the club coordinator talked to Oddey, "So how's the design going?" she asked.

"I got nothing so far. Sorry," the young artist answered, and Gage happened to pry as well.

"Well, don't hesitate to ask any of our members for help, alright?" the professor reminded her.

"Sure thing, Madame Vestia."

"Thank you, you can go back to your exercises now."