—💌—

chapter 2o.
(o4/1o)
my secret reason !

preview:

—💌—

Would red suit me or pink?

I was in the process of visualizing my recent dream; the year-end ball had taken away my breath, as a good dream should, but what knocked the air out of my lungs and forced my heart to run a marathon was the sight of him in a blue suit, complete with a light blue vest and a pastel emerald cravat.

He looked so darn tall and was handsome as hell. When those chocolate-brown orbs bore into mine, my chest was on fire.

"Serena! Oh-my-gosh! Are you daydreaming?" Somebody shook me by my shoulder, and I was yanked back to the reality.

"Huh?"

It was Lisia, standing before me with her hands on her hips. "Did Mr Perfect kiss you?"

"Uh?!" I blabbered, cursing my blood vessels for allowing me to blush easier than anyone should. When I regained my senses enough to comprehend what she was on about, I screamed. "WHAT?!"

And instantly regretted it.

The whole class is looking at you, you idiot.

"You need to calm down!" Lisia spoke, gently guiding me to my seat. In my embarrassment, I hadn't noticed that I had managed to knock the letter down along with my unfortunate pencil pouch. I did not bother picking it up this time. Shauna graciously swooped it from the floor and placed it on the desk after Lisia plopped down beside me.

Not wanting to talk to anybody, I buried myself in my diary, letting my blond hair cover my flushed face. "This girl is a blushie!" I heard Lisia tell Shauna, eliciting laughter from the her.

"Give her a break, Lisia."

Lisia shrugged. "You girls are no fun!" She finger-gunned, and continued as I struggled to calm my racing heart. "We have a play at the auditorium. Apparently, our seniors are putting up their last foot in acting here. I'll see y'all there!"

And she was gone. Good riddance, for a while at least.

Before I could coherently finish the thought, Shauna nudged my ribs.

"I sure have to tell you something, though, Serena. When you had your panic attack, your boy looked at you with arched eyebrows and brown eyes filled with worry. He still cares about you, eh? Well, you got the hint, and Lisia has done a great job."

The next period started with the signal of the bell. As we made our way to the auditorium, I could not help but listen in on what May and Dawn were talking to each other, a few steps ahead of us, as they walked with Ash's group.

"Yeah, I hope the meeting ends real quick. I just wanna go home!" Dawn whined. Meeting? As in a prefect meeting?

"Hey! Serena, Shauna!"

We turned around to find Calem jogging to catch up with us. "Calem? Are you okay?" I asked as we stopped to let him breathe. He nodded, and straightened, signalling for us to walk.

"Serena, there's a grade leader meeting today. We get to bunk Math!" He grinned, spreading the infectious, ephemeral happiness over.

"Really?! Oh boy. You guys are lucky!" Shauna protested, punching the boy's shoulder as I high-fived him. Calem and I were the grade leaders for our section, while Dawn and Drew were the pioneers for the next class. Each class consisted of two grade leaders, and one vice leader. Oh, wait a second.

"Is Misty tagging along?" I voiced out my concern, falling into a step beside him. Calem looked at me strangely, before shrugging.

"As far as I know, negative. It's been called for by our senior student council head, Aria. I don't think she accounts for vices as planners, if anything."

That's good. Wouldn't wanna get into another beef with that girl.

"Serena, if you don't mind me asking —" Calem started, but was interrupted when somebody pushed past him: Ash... "Hey mate! Watch where you're going!"

My eyes turned to the retreating boy, who nodded an apology, but did nothing else than going back to class. Odd.

"Right, I wouldn't wanna get into a fight with that one. He's crazy at soccer, ya know? And I'm just not athletic enough. Or a strategist, for that matter," Calem stated, looking sheepish. I laughed it off, and egged him to continue. I only noticed that Shauna had left us to join Trevor and Tierno when he looked around.

"Geez, Shauna ran out on me!"

Calem gave a short chuckle, but did not comment. "Right. If you don't mind me asking, what's up with you and Misty?"

Sensitive topic alert, girl!

"Er–"

"It's okay if you'd rather not say!"

"Nothing like that," I interjected, pulling on the loose strands of my hair. "I don't know, but ever since the grade leaders elections happened, she's been ignoring us. And it only worsened when Ash and I cut ties."

Calem looked wistful, almost wanting to prod more. Nevertheless, he did not, and we reached the auditorium. "C'mon. We'll find a seat among Tierno and the others. It'll be better that way."

I nodded in agreement, and soon, was sitting between Shauna and Trevor. The auditorium was abuzz with curious mayhem. When I glanced around, I found Ash and his friends seated a row below us. For some reason, it unnerved me.

"Yo guys! Y'all are here sooner than I am! Doesn't matter. Even if I'm late, I enter with style!" Lisia popped up from behind us, and plopped down on the seat beside Calem. I noticed a pink tinge at the edges of his ears, and chuckled to myself. Those two ought to be together, oh my gosh!

The show was delayed by ten minutes, and so conversations spiked across the pavilion and the seats. Shauna was informing about the end-of-year ball and the road trip that followed.

"I wonder what color would suit me?" I asked when Shauna mentioned the dresses. "Not that I wish to attend, though." That caused an uproar from the entire gang.

"What?! Why won't you?" Tierno exclaimed. May, Dawn and Gary wheeled around in their seats to give us funny expressions. I waved them off with a nervous smile.

"Is it for the color of the dress?" Shauna inquired.

"I think yellow would suit you well. Bring out your eyes, I mean," Calem put in. Tierno, Trevor and Lisia piped in with their opinions too. Just great.

"Or blue?"

"Or a bright orange?"

"Teal, like me?"

I shook my head violently. It wasn't even the matter of dress color. "No! That's not the thing. I'm sure I could get one at an apparel store, but you require a date for the ball," I pointed out. Shauna interjected quickly.

"That's all? I can arrange for that! What about we go as a group of friends? You can go with Tierno, Lisia could go with Calem, and I could go with Trevor." Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the teal-haired girl turn beet. Cute!

"That's not the thing, and I mean no offence to you, Tierno. You're great!" I added, seeing Tierno's wistful look.

"Then you could go with any of us?" Trevor asked, pointing between himself and Calem. I sighed. Saying no is always the hardest part.

"I'm really sorry! It's just that..." I glanced at Ash, who looked unusually anxious, saying by the way his shoulders were tense. Shauna seemed to have understood me, for she shrugged the matter off.

"That's okay. It's everyone's free will, right?"

Thankfully, Calem and Trevor nodded in understanding. Lisia looked doubtful, but joined in when Tierno smiled. Looking at Ash, I could not help but wonder: was he listening in?

—💌—

Hey guys!
I'm thinking of posting Ash's PoV in a story/diary like format next! There are blanks within this story, which cannot be filled from Serena's eyes lest we lose the protagonist focus. Should I do that? Let me know!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x