Because He's My Crush

09 - Three Seconds

"Time's up children." The teacher declared after staring at the clock for the last five minutes. We had been given a test paper yet again to answer within an hour and a half, thirty minutes less than the time we'd get at the actual exam. This was to make our time management better as Mrs. Moore said but not every student liked it and Charles was one of them.

"Please teacher just five more minutes!" He pleaded, still having a few questions left to answer.

"Okay fine but five minutes only." The teacher said with a sigh and looked around the room to see if the other students needed more time too but only Charles had failed to complete in time.

After the extra time was also over she told everyone to take a red pen and mark the papers ourselves without cheating, as it was easier for her to discuss the questions on the whiteboard once without having to mark all the students' papers by herself.

"Summer, how did you solve the fourteenth question?" She turned to me yet again for the answer, just like she had done for the past thirteen questions.

"By using trigonometry and pythagorean theorem." I said the method the teacher had wanted to hear and focused on the board while she explained further to the other students. Even though I saw Kate leaning in to whisper something to Anna's ear I ignored it without thinking much.

While keeping my attention to the teacher I caught something else as well. Miles who was sitting one seat diagonally in front of me was looking back in my direction with just the corner of his eyes. I didn't miss how his fist clenched into a ball, making me confused on what was going through his mind.

"Summer? Are you listening??"

"Huh? Yes- yes teacher I am." I answered Mrs. Moore hastily, realizing I had spaced out because of the boy in the front row.

"Then tell me your answer for the fifteenth question and what method you used to solve it." She repeated the words that she might've said while I wasn't listening to her properly.

"I got 78 using arithmetic sequence formula." I replied to the woman after looking at my answer sheet to confirm myself.

"That's absolutely correct again." Mrs. Moore declared happily before turning to the board to explain further on how to solve that particular question, before revealing a secret hack to do the calculations faster as well.

However I couldn't keep my focus full on her this time either, specially after seeing the tall fair boy scoff at something with a smile that I didn't like much. Though his face wasn't visible to me fully, the way his eyes kept sneakily coming back at my direction holding a kind of gaze that was able to send shivers down my spine got on my nerves. This kept on going until the last few minutes of the class, making me wanting more and more to ask him what was going on for him to do that. Even after the teacher dismissed the class he didn't say a word to me but kept his mouth shut while stuffing his bag with his stuff, his jaw clenched tightly during the whole time.

"We're off Miles, see you next week." Charles and Alex waved goodbye to their friend only to get a mutter of 'yeah see you' as a reply. They exchanged brief glances before Alex and Charles left.

I saw Kate whispering to Anna yet again at the back of the class while Anna just smiled awkwardly, occasionally looking my way. Somehow I felt uneasy about the situation and wanted to get out of the room and go into the balcony hoping to get some fresh air and leave the suffocating place as quickly as possible. I almost succeeded in reaching the door if not for the hand that grabbed my wrist tightly, whirling me around to face the person.

Miles Klinton.

But it wasn't the Miles I was used to seeing all this time because the one I knew never had such a dark aura or a stern frown on his face with a death glare that I doubted anyone could hold for long. He looked down at me and then at the two girls in the corner of the room before dragging me to that side as well, stopping his steps once we were a few feet away from them.

"Apologize." He said making me stare at him at the single demanding word. I realized the order wasn't meant for me but for Kate, considering how he was looking at her with laser shooting eyes. Anna stepped away from her friend probably sensing how things are going to turn out, or most probably why things are going to turn out the way they were about to.

Seems like I'm the only one clueless.

"Why would I apologize?" Kate talked back to the boy in an equal demanding tone. I heard him scoff at it.

"What's going on here?" I asked from no one in particular.

"I guess you didn't see how this girl here was mocking the way you answered the teacher earlier." Miles deadpanned.

What? Was that why she was whispering to Anna the whole time? So during the class Miles wasn't looking and clenching his fists at me.

It was at Kate.

I stared at the girl in disbelief.

"Why did you do that?" Kate scoffed at my words and crossed her arms.

"Why do you think I did that? Everyone knows you're nothing but a brat that likes to show off anㅡ"

"Three seconds." Miles cut her off harshly, not letting her complete her sentence. "I'll give you three seconds to say sorry. One... Two..."

My eyes were fixated upon Kate who didn't seem to budge with anything at first. She didn't seem sorry at all. But she did seem scared of Miles' surprisingly dark demeanour.

"Okay okay I'm sorry." She said.

"Are you doing me a favor by saying sorry? Can't you be a little sincere? I swear if you were a guy I would'veㅡ" Miles let go of my hand, narrowing his eyes dangerously and I immediately stepped in between them, not at all liking the way things were turning out.

"Miles stop! It's done just let it go."

"I'm warning you Kate, this is not the first time you've done it but it better be the last." He said sternly looking straight at Kate who seemed defeated before the powerful aura of the guy.

"Kate my mom's here we gotta go." Anna announced quietly and dragged a frowning Kate out of the classroom and down the stairs into a red car that was parked at the side of the road. I watched as it disappeared at the bend ahead, silence taking over my surroundings.

I stole a glance at Miles just when he ran a hand through his hair out of visible frustration. Though I avoided his gaze immediately, he caught me staring at him but chose not to say anything. I went outside to the balcony to get some fresh air and feel the cold breeze that would hopefully give me some peace of mind after the little incident. Miles joined me a few moments later leaning on the handrail of the balcony, facing the road below us.

[A/N]
Started watching Squid Game cuz literally everyone is talking about it and I realized insta had spoiled the whole thing for me already😭