"I.. I.." Samantha was speechless. What was she supposed to say?Not receiving any response from her, Ezekiel just patted her head, "Come, I"ll drive you home," he said and smiled at her sadly. His eyes, containing a hint of pain.
Samantha felt a "pang" in her heart. Why was she in this kind of position? She didn"t understand her own self, and now she was hurting Ezekiel because she can"t figure out her own feelings.
"See you at school," Ezekiel handed Samantha her car keys and walked away. Samantha irritably scratched her head then turned around to go inside their house.
"Honey you"re back, how was your day?" her mom welcomed her.
"Don"t wanna talk about it mom," Samantha dragged herself up to her room and immediately threw herself at her bed. She punched her pillow frustratingly.
"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you Samantha? Ugh!" she tapped her head hardly, "Why don"t you even know yourself!" she placed a pillow on her face then screamed. Was this how being a teenager like? Confusing?
She threw her pillows across the room and jumped up and down her bed. When she got tired, she laid back down, "Who is it Sam? Why can"t you figure your own feelings?" she asked herself irritably. Why the heck am I like this?
The next day, once again, Samantha didn"t have enough sleep. She sighed in relief when she saw that there was no car parked in front of their house today. Oh well, good start of the day... maybe.
"Good morning," Ezekiel greeted as soon as Samantha arrived.
"Good morning," she greeted back awkwardly. She was still not over from what happened yesterday, she can"t remove Ezekiel"s melancholic face from her mind.
"Mhmm," Ezekiel answered her.
What is this? Why is he suddenly cold?
"Are you okay Ezekiel?" she asked him and he just nodded in response. How cold, did I do something wrong?
Not wanting to disturb Ezekiel further, Samantha just set her focus on today"s lessons. But no matter how she tried, her head won"t cooperate. The whole day, her mind was floating somewhere else. How frustrating!
At the end of cla.s.ses, Ezekiel left without saying anything to her, not even a single goodbye or wave. He didn"t even ask her to go to the pageant meeting together. Samantha grabbed her bag irritably then headed to the hall to attend the meeting.
"Aren"t you excited Caleb?" his partner clung onto his arm and wiggled.
"Get off me Bella! You"re irritating!" Caleb said then brushed the woman off, but she was holding him tightly.
As soon as Samantha entered the hall, she saw that woman and Caleb. Suddenly, she felt her blood boil a little. Acting rash, Samantha walked between them, "Excuse me." she said then walked straight to where Ezekiel was.
"Why didn"t you wait for me?" she asked Ezekiel irritably and crossed her arms.
"Sorry," he answered her plainly which made Samantha"s blood boil more.
"Do we have a problem Ezekiel? You"ve been treating me coldly since this morning!" she blurted her frustration out.
"I"m glad you"re affected," Ezekiel said in a low voice.
"What?" Samantha questioned.
"Nothing, I"m sorry I was just not in the mood this morning," then he smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.
Samantha stood there frozen.
"Let me go Bella! Hey you let go of her!" Caleb struggled to get himself out of his partner"s grip.
"Good afternoon everyone, today we will be going to discuss the new arrangements for this year"s Mr. and Ms. Callixus. To make the compet.i.tion a little bit exciting, the committee has decided to switch pairs. Breaking the old tradition, this year we will have the sections mixed up to promote interaction among students. In my hands is the list of the new pairing for the upcoming pageant," said the pageant organizer.
"What!? No!" Bella, Caleb"s partner blurted out, "You can"t separate me from my boo!" she said.
"I"m sorry miss, but this is the decision of the majority," answered the organizer.
"I guess we won"t be partners for this," Samantha turned her head and looked at Ezekiel.
"Yeah, what a shame. I really want to sing with you again," he answered her.
"Okay first off, Section D will switch their female partner with Section X. Section X will switch their male partner with Section K. Last but not the least, Section C, switch partners with Section A," the organizer read the contents of the paper.
"Wait what?" Samantha raised her voice. She"s partnering with who?
"Let go Bella! We"re not partners now!" Caleb already used force to remove the woman from his arms.
"I can"t accept this!" the woman stomped her foot on the floor repeatedly and cried.
"How unlucky! Can I quit?" Samantha vexed out.
"No, you can"t of course, I won"t let you," Caleb approached her, a big smile displayed on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Ezekiel stood up and walked in front of Caleb.
"Fetching my partner of course," Caleb smiled at him widely.
"Both of you stop, move away from each other now!" Samantha said in gritted teeth. She was already having enough of these two fighting every time they see each other.
"Let"s go?" Caleb offered his arm to her but Samantha just rolled her eyes at him and walked past him.
"Okay now that everybody is with their respective partners, please get to know each other more because you will be seeing each other often. Tomorrow will be the start of the pageant rehearsals, as per tradition. We will hold the Callixus cotillion before the event starts. Bring comfortable clothes with you everyday for the practices. That"s all for today, you may all go now,"
"So," Caleb turned to look at Samantha, "h.e.l.lo new partner," he winked at her.
"I"m leaving," Samantha rolled her eyes and walked away from him but he grabbed her by the wrist.
"Where are you going?" Caleb raised his brows.
"Away from you," she said.
"But why? Still jealous?" Caleb smiled at her playfully.
"Jealous what? Are you dreaming? What the heck are you talking about?" Samantha said, irritated.
"Earlier you suddenly walked between me and Bella, so I thought you were jealous,"
Samantha"s face heated up, "You w-were blocking the w-way!" she defended herself and pulled her arm from his grip, "I"m leaving," she said but Caleb blocked her way.
"Wait before you leave," Caleb stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek, "I like you so much," he whispered near her ear.
Samantha"s face immediately turned red. Her heart was also being abnormal. She covered her face then ran away from Caleb. She heard him laugh on her way out.
What the h.e.l.l was that for!?