When Everything Fails (De Chavez #2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

GO, KEI! GO, KEI! GO, KEI!" The students had chanted mercilessly, shaking the whole gymnasium with the intensity and loudness of their chants to the man who was playing at the center of the court.

Close enough, I could see the beads of sweats forming across his forehead. Kei was a monster in the court; that was the reason why other schools were surreptitiously offering him a scholarship just so he'd picked them when he'll go to college but I guessed Kei wasn't really looking himself as a star in the court. Nga naman, he had tons of responsibility that await him in the future.

It was a miracle for me to be here though. Hindi ko nga rin alam kung bakit naririto ako ngayon. The class was suspended since the faculty has an urgent meeting. It was three in the afternoon and almost all of the students were here to watch a game of our school versus the other school nearby. It was a close game though. Kung hindi lang dahil kay Kei, our team would be handing their ass to our opponent. All thanks to the great Kei Alexander de Chavez who looks so good in his jersey. I swallowed hard when I felt a rapid thump of my heart against my chest. The slow realization settled within me when I got a clearer view of him—drenched with his own sweat, panting out of victory, muscles were taut, and arms were shinning with sweats. He was handsome and ridiculously attractive and it evoked something irksome through me. I balled my fist when I had to admit that all my judgment from the past was just based on my tasteless bitterness of him.

I was totally in awe right now while watching him. He was so skilled on this craft and I was still wondering if it was really his decision to decline all those full-scholarships offered to him. I watched him as he dribbled the ball, muscles strained but his eyes were as cold as his personality. If I were his opponent, I would have been intimidated by him. I, myself, cannot read what was twirling across his mind. When I saw his movement, I gasped when the guy guarding him surreptitiously made a dirty tactic, making Kei topple into the ground. A restraint snapped like a thin thread as I stood up first and hovered up my hand to the dirty player.

"You asshole! Dirty player!" I hissed, my voice reached its peak.

My body tensed as I felt the blood zips up to my face. Silence engulfed the gymnasium as if the noise had abandoned the area. Napatingin ang lahat ng tao sa akin. My face radiated a perfect glow of embarrassment as I trembled on my feet. When my eyes flitted to Kei, I saw him looking at me, mouth slightly parted. Kinagat ko ang aking labi at agad na umupo itago ang mukha gamit ang aking kamay. That was embarrassing and I didn't know why I did that. Fuck. That was embarrassing.

Embarrassment zapped through me. I ducked my head as I felt the eyes of everyone fixated on me. Bakit ko ba kasi ginawa 'yon? I thought that silence that I created will stay for a few minutes but the crowd went wild as the game resumed as if nothing happened. Biting my lower lip, I glanced down at Kei who was still looking at me. His face brightened when our eyes locked. I gulped as my chest constricted. Bakit ganito ang nararamdaman ko?

Natapos ang laro nang hindi ako nagsasalita. I was about to vacate the gymnasium when I saw Kei running for me. I stilled on my seat as I watched him running, his drenched hair was dangling over his sloppy forehead. His imaged loomed, the closer he gets the clearer I get from his perfect image. One of the things I hated about him was him, being perfect. In my years of being his rival and despising him to the core, never did I see any flaw to point out. Him being a snob? Or cold? Or heartless to any girls ready to worship beneath him? He had an explanation for that. A sigh silently slipped out of my lips as I glanced over my shoulder, only to see a group of girls murmuring something to each other. Uninterested as I was, I glanced back at Kei who was now standing just a meter or two from me, blocked by the barricade between the bleachers and court.