♫ Lemon ♫
Kellen and I went to the school earlier than usual as we need to find Roj. We have to inform him that I won’t be able to make it to our gig this coming weekend.
My mom’s attending a black and white party and I have to be there with her. Since it’s just the two of us, I always make sure that I accompany her to events like this.
That’s why although I want to make it to the gig, as it is my first outside the school as the new vocalist, I won’t be able to make it. I just have to wait for the next event.
We easily spotted them at the cafeteria but even before we got to the group, someone tripped me. “Ouch!” I exclaimed as my hand hit the nearby table when I almost fell.
“Oops! Sorry…” then Tanya walked away. She has only taken a couple of steps when Kale pulled the strap of her shoulder bag.
“Why?” my friend asked but Tanya just raised a brow at him. My forehead creased as I look at the two of them, back and forth.
“What do you mean why?” she sneered.
“You tripped her on purpose, I saw it. Why?” Kale making things clear.
“Tripped her on purpose? Why would I even do that? It’s not my fault she isn’t looking at where she’s going,” mocked the villain who even smiled viciously at me. “So if you'll excuse us, we still have a class to attend,” then she turned her back on us.
Kale was about to reach out to her again when I grabbed his arm. “Let her go! Our whole day will be ruined if you give in to her,” and thankfully, he listened.
We headed to the table where Roj and Homme are sitting. Without wasting any time, I told them the reason why I’m looking for them.
“Really? Bad news indeed!” Roj blurted out before facing Homme as if asking for help.
“We can probably find someone to replace her,” Kellen suggested.
“What about Nico?” Homme chimed and Roj’s face suddenly brightened.
If I remembered correctly, Nico is his crush and according to the group, she hasn’t paid any attention to her until now. Well not literally, the girl just doesn't want him to court her.
“Exactly! Why didn’t I think of that?” asked himself as he scratched on his nape. “I’ll talk to her later and see if she can replace you,” and I sighed, relieved.
We bade them goodbye as we head to our classroom. They’re still waiting for Kevz and Drew, while Kip’s already upstairs.
When we reached the second floor, we were greeted by a commotion along the corridor. There are students everywhere as if watching some film shooting.
“Are you dating that girl?” a kind of familiar voice asked. I inched closer to peek and I was right, it was Tanya and she was talking to Rawbin.
I can’t tell how she looks. Meanwhile, Rawbin is just standing straight, looking down on her with his face that’s void of emotions. It's as if he's listening to some total nonsense.
“Why aren’t you answering? Are you replacing me with her?” she yelled.
‘Was she his ex?’
Well, it will be weird if she’s making such a scene if they weren’t together in the past. I saw Rawbin leaning forward with just a few inches between their faces.
“Tanya… I didn’t replace you with anyone,” Rawbin’s voice was rather sweet, I somewhat feel annoyed. ‘What does he mean by that?!’ “Because you were never my girlfriend in the first place,” then he smiled at her, it was insulting.
Something heavy left my chest after hearing what he said. Then again, blood rushed to my head when she slapped him, hard.
His face turned red immediately and a hand mark is clearly visible on his cheek. I can hear some girls behind me cursing at Tanya but I wanted to do more than that.
“You asshole! After everything, you just lead me on?” she hissed as tears streamed down her face.
I saw Rawbin’s reaction change several times. From uninterested to mocking, hurt and I’m pretty sure, he’s now angry.
“No one gave you false hopes,” his voice is louder this time. “You lead yourself on your own.”
Tanya slapped her for the second time. I saw Rawbin lift his hand and I felt the need to intervene. I’m scared that he might hit her.
“Babe!” I yelled and thankfully, that caught his attention. Who knows if he would really slap her back.
Rawbin only started courting me two weeks ago, but the hell I care. There’s no reason to drag this courtship stage longer since we get along anyway.
We're enjoying each other's company and I guess that's all that should matter. Otherwise, we’ll run out of things to learn about each other.
I quickly grab the hand he raised at Tanya, “Let’s go!” then I pull him away from their heartbreaking scene.
I looked at Kale and Kellen who nods at me so I pulled Rawbin downstairs. When we reached the ground floor, I realized that I had nowhere to take him so we stopped near the girls’ restroom.
“Are you ok?” I asked but when I turned to him, I was shocked and my forehead automatically creased.
I was expecting he’d look annoyed or in pain after what happened, but he looked like he just won the lottery. “Hey!” I called and it seems like it was only then that he heard me.
“What did you call me back there?” he asked, smile still painted on his handsome face.
“God Rob, you've been slapped! Twice! And you’re still thinking about what I called you?” I asked irritated. He held both my shoulders to make me face him properly.
“I don't really care how many times I've been slapped. All I care about right now is the fact that you called me ‘babe’ in front of those students back there.”
I creased my forehead as an idea came to me. “I did?” feigning ignorance, I pretended I had no idea what he was talking about and his smile slowly faded away. “Sorry, I can't remember calling you ‘babe’. I did yell ‘behave’ cause I thought you were going to hit her. You must have misheard it.”
His hands slowly let go of my shoulders and without saying a word, he walked past me. I tried calling him but he didn’t even bother looking back.
I know I'm guilty of something. But instead of regretting what I did, I wanted to laugh at him because of his reaction.
I shooked my head and turned on my heel to go upstairs and back to our classroom. Everyone settled down when I got in. “How is he?” Kale asked as soon as I sat down.
“He's fine, I guess,” then I shrugged.
After a couple of minutes, our adviser arrived. Everyone remained quiet for the entire period but it suddenly turn into chaos after class.
“So it’s true? You’re the one Rawbin replaced me with!” Tanya shouted as she approached my seat.
I can see Kevz creasing his forehead as he looks at the vicious girl. The same goes for Drew who’s sitting in front of us.
I paid no attention to her. I didn’t even look at her though I know the veins on her neck are about to pop out of anger.
Someone then pinch my shoulder but I didn’t bother looking. That could be Kellen or Kale, but I'm too lazy to check.
Tanya keeps spouting nasty things but I focused on picking my nails. But then she said something that made me mind her. “You’re a bitch!”
I looked around before facing her. “There's no bitch here. You should face a mirror and say that again,” I told her sarcastically.
It's really fun teasing furious people. They’re like rotten tomatoes. The more you squeeze, the more disgusting they become.
“Don’t go sarcastic on me!” she yelled as she charged. If I was slower, she could have grabbed my hair. But I'm no idiot to let her touch me.
I quickly grab her wrist and twisted her arm backward. She screamed in pain as I pull her arm further back. She was begging for me to let her go but I'm too pissed to do so.
“Next time, before you charge onto someone, make sure you can handle yourself ok?” then I pushed her away as I let go.
Her face turned crimson as she massage her arm. She then grabbed her bag and marched out of the room.
Kale and Kellen approached me, asking if I’m ok though they know I wasn’t hurt. Still, I answer their questions.
“What happened?” Kevz asked. From the look on his face, he doesn’t have any idea how it all started. Then again, Kale was generous enough to tell him everything.
“By the way, why did you call him babe earlier?” Kellen asked after narrating everything to Kevz.
I creased my forehead before facing her, still firm on trying to play ignorant. “I didn't call him babe, I said behave to stop him from slapping Tanya. Period!”
‘Phew, that was close. Really close!’