I can't say I do without you

Miss Janna

Someone clutching my shoulder stunned me, making me even more terrified. "Newbie," said the man with long hair, who appeared out of nowhere. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," I replied, gasping for air.

"You sure?"

I didn't wait for him to finish and ran away, farther and farther, until I reached the gate. I want to get out of the gate, to run away, to return home. Squeeze Mama, squeeze Allerick, and tease Blythe. But I can't, even if I wanted to.

"Where are you going?" the guard queried.

"Umm... ah, I'm going back." I stumbled.

I first took a walk around campus to be calm and not to think about what happened earlier. I arrived at the old building. I did hear a beautiful tune at the building's entrance, so I followed the sound and was led to the far end of the building, where there's a large door. I saw one guy as I peered through the entrance that was filled with numerous instruments. That's why the sound was familiar to me because he was playing the violin, and as a result of that sound, I became calmer.

At the time I started hearing somebody approaching, I moved away from the door. When I realized who it was, I jumped for excitement. "Miss Janna!" I called out.

"Mendoza?" Miss Janna glared at me to make sure she was not hallucinating. "How come you are here?"

"I'm delighted to see you." I wrapped my arms around her. "Thank you, miss. You're here."

Miss removed my hand from hers. "Can you explain why you're here in Borstal?" she asked, surprised.

"All right," I said, nodding.

We entered the room where I saw the man playing the violin. "So you left Amarillo because of Bortal's offer?"

"Yes." Miss Janna nodded.

"Well, it's better to go to a well-known high-paying school than a low-paying one," I added.

"How's Adie, by the way?" She changed the subject by asking how her ex was doing.

"Who? Miss, your boyfriend?" I said teasingly. "Same as his brother, flirting with Amarillo students."

"Ex-boyfriend." she corrected. "That cheater hasn't changed. Why haven't those two brothers been expelled from Amarillo yet?"

Mr. Adie's ex-girlfriend, Ms. Janna Reyes, used to teach in Amarillo. She is our favorite teacher, the most genuine of all Amarillo teachers. Miss taught me music. With her, I learned more about the violin; she and mama used to be in the same school. Mama is her junior; they once played violin together. However, mama doesn't remember.

"By the way, Gemma, this is Wyatt." Miss pointed to the guy playing the violin earlier.

"It's Tal."

"Tal, right." Miss chuckled. "This is Gemma, Tal." She made a gesture towards me. "She was a former student of mine in Amarillo, and she also plays the violin."

"You must be the girl everyone is talking about," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"You're probably aware why. You are Borstal's first female student." He paused for a moment. "I'm curious why you choose to study here because Borstal is obviously a man's school."

"Um ... well ..."

"Tal, you're making her uncomfortable. Could you, please, leave us first?"

"All right, sure."

"I'll see you after class," Miss said, waving her hand in the air.

"All right, all right." Tal walked out the door with a smirk on his face.