Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Romance

                                                   Chapter 3 
          Chris managed to sneak into the classroom when the teacher wasn't in. His seatmate glared at him the moment he entered the room.
          "Eric!" Walking over to the boy, Chris called out to him as he flashed him a bright smile.
          "You are almost half a day late, you might as well have not come." Eric's sounded so serious, Chris thought for a moment that Eric wasn’t joking.
          "Aren't you glad I'm here? Didn't you always nag me for not coming and when I do come, you complain." Chris pulled a long face at him as he clumsily dropped into his seat. Finally able to release a breath of relief. He was exhausted from all the running he did this morning. 
          "I don’t recall myself ever saying that." Eric was unfazed by Chris's comment. He could tell that Chris was lying. 
           Eric is the very first friend Chris made since he transferred to this school. Even until today, he still has no idea how they became friends. Eric is 2nd in the entire school and Chris still very much struggles with his studies. They are polar opposites, yet they managed get along well.
          "Did you fight a bear on your way here?" Eric asked sacrasticly as he pulled a small leaf out of Chris' hair.           Chris laughed at Eric's joke and proceeded to fixing his attire. 
          "Why have you got to be so depressing? Aren't you happy to see your friend?" Chris asked jokingly, giving Eric a light slap on his shoulder.           
         Eric sighed. "Maybe I'll stop being so depressing when my friend can start coming to classes on time." Eric half-jokingly said. 
          "I know that deep down inside, you care about me, you just don't want to admit it!" Chris exclaimed, animatedly moving his hands in the air.
          Eric was slightly taken aback, he started laughing.
                     XXXXXXXXXX
          Chris couldn't concentrate on the lecture. Mr. Higgs was explaining physics and while Chris could hear his loud and crisp but monotonous voice in the background, his mind was playing through his encounter with John and the deal they had made. 
          Why was John so desperate to get Bea to join this event? Enough to even let him go free. This must mean that John has ran out of options and is willing to bet on anything. Surely, there must be other students who would be willing to take her place. Why is John so fixated on Bea? What even is this event?! 
          The more he thought about it, the more complicated it got. Frustrated because he knew he wouldn't be able to answer any of those questions, he pushed his confusion to the back  of his head and decided to focus on a different objective. 
          Chris slowly and carefully took out his phone from his pocket and put on a show he downloaded a few days ago. Leaving his phone on silent mode, he would read the subtitles as the show played. 
          He then placed his phone in his pencil bag that was on top of his table. Not only would this hide his phone away from view of the teacher, but Chris could act as though he was paying attention in class as both of his hands are on the table while in actuality, he was using his phone. 
          All he had to do was look up at the teacher occasionally, play it cool and not rouse suspicion by staring at his pencil box too intensely. It was the perfect cover up! 
          Not to mention, even if the teacher were to walk around class, he would just zip up his pencil bag. But, that was the least of his worries. Chris wasn’t afraid that he might get caught one bit. He knew he could get away with it as Mr. Higgs was a 65-year-old man that whenever the man starts lecturing, he gets so engrossed in the subject material, there may be a meteorite shower just happening outside the school and he wouldn’t notice. 
          “Are you watching that boring comedy romance again?” Eric asked, eying Chris.
          “This show is quite funny.” Chris said, unconvincingly. Hence, Eric found that statement hard to believe. Chris has been religiously watching an episode per week and Eric has yet to see Chris laugh once.
          “I never knew you liked to watch shows like these. I thought only girls were into those kinds of shows.” Eric said. 
          “That’s why you get no girls my dear friend.”  Chris nudged his best friend. “You can learn quite a lot from shows like these.”
          Eric really don’t know what to do about Chris’ extremely carefree attitude. Eric has nothing against comedy romance shows, it’s just that he remembers when asked about favourite movies, Chris told him that he likes action and mystery but hates romance. Does someone who would not watch a romance film watch a romance series?
          A whole hour flew by before Chris asked out of the blue, "What kind of girl is Bea Kath?" 
           Suddenly, Chris heard a pen hit the ground. He looked down to see Eric’s pen rolling over to his side of the table.
           “What happened? You dropped your pen.” Chris arched his body down to pick up the pen. But when he placed the pen on Eric’s table and looked up at Eric. Eric looked stunned.
           “Something the matter?” Chris asked out of concerned. He placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder. Eric snapped out of a daze the moment he felt Chris’ touch. 
          “……sorry about that.” Eric let out a nervous laugh as he apologized.           Chris realised that this was the first time he saw Eric this uncomposed and out of character. He was nervous and would not make eye contact with Chris.          
          "What's with the sudden interest?" Eric asked after he has composed himself. Chris was impressed rather than surprise at how fast Eric was able to switch moods. One moment he was panicking, the next he was calm and collected.
          "I made a deal with John, in exchange for sparring me from detention, I agreed to help him get Bea to join some upcoming event." Chris explained. 
          "Principal John?" Eric asked, frowning. 
          "Know of another John?" 
          "You were caught by him?" Eric couldn't help but laugh. 
          "Do you know what kind of girl she is?" Slightly embarrassed, Chris changed the topic, not that proud of his encounter with the principal.
          Eric stared at Chris as if he was searching for an answer for a few seconds too long, Chris was getting uncomfortable. 
           Slightly annoyed at the uncomfortable silence Chris asked, "What? Do I have another leaf stuck in my hair?"
          Eric broke his gaze from Chris. "Sorry I can’t help you on that. I don't know anything about her." Eric finally spoke. 
          Another long stretch of silence. Eric could feel Chris's stare on him.           Why isn't he saying anything? Eric wondered. He quickly brushed away that thought when he noticed that Chris simply went back to minding his own business.
          Another hour went by before Chris spoke.          "...... Then, I guess I have no choice but to do it how I usually do it." Chris nonchalantly said. 
          His words caught Eric by surprise. "What?!" Eric stopped writing in his notebook and turned to stare at Chris in disbelief.          But what he saw was an empty seat. The latter was already walking towards the door.
          Eric scrambled out of his seat and followed him out of the classroom.           "What do you mean by that?" Eric asked. 
          Looking back at Eric, Chris could see the concerned look on the boy.          "It's exactly what I said. I’m going to convince Bea to join the event." Chris said, slightly amused with Eric's reaction.
           "What about class?" 
           "About that……” Chris thought for a while before resuming, “……I don't think I'll be productive enough to pay attention in class. I guess I'm ditching again." Chris shot him an apologetic laugh, before taking off, leaving a dazed Eric standing by the door.
          Almost immediately after Chris disappeared out of sight, the bell rang. Eric almost jumped out of his feet in surprise. But it managed to bring him back to his senses.           It was lunch hour and as students flooded the halls, Eric walked back into the classroom.

All Rights Reserved © 2018 by Anne Teng
End of chapter 3~I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I loved writing it! I had so much fun, especially the scene where Chris was using his phone secretly. 😂Have any of you used that trick in class before? I also loved creating the image for this chapter! I think that it looks cool!Lastly, I would love to Thank all of those that left lovely comments on my previous post!😘 I greatly appreciate it!Chapter 4 will be released soon!
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