K A I R A

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Wednesdays have always been set aside for sports. Since resumption day, neither did the sports master nor any of the sports prefects say anything about doing our regular Wednesday aerobics within the school compound. It was yesterday that the prefects came to announce, in the middle of our Maths class, that we would be having aerobics exercises beginning with this Wednesday. Today.

The exercises were always done according to designated houses. Blue house this way. Emerald house that way. Red house this way. Yellow house that way.

Amara and I belonged to Red house. Now that there's this thing going on, I wondered if she would consider switching houses with anybody in Emerald house because that was Daniel's house.

I tapped my pencil on my forehead in deep thought, flipping through my Geography textbook with an absent mind.

If Amara ended up choosing to switch houses, I would end up being alone. If she didn't, then I would have company. The chances of Amara not switching houses were relatively low, considering how she and Daniel ditched me the day before yesterday. I wouldn't lie, the time I spent with Nathan was, well, not too bad. Maybe it's because he had a new face. A breath of fresh air compared with the faces I'd seen for years now. Of course that must be it.

And his character wasn't that bad either. He made me laugh even when I didn't want to.

Wait, wait, wait. Kaira, what are you thinking?

I dropped my pencil and gave my cheeks a little slap. I had to snap out of the nonsense. The novels I'd been reading must be having effects on me. But if I didn't read them, I'd be bored and when I was bored, I slept. And sleep is for the weak. Staying up late at night with your nose buried in a book other than a biology textbook is worth the eye damage.

"Good morning!"

My heart reached my throat, then it went back to it's place.

Nathan never shouts.

Caleb walked in, a broad smile on his face, wearing his yellow sportswear. Yeah, sounds just like him.

"Good morning, Caleb. And please, don't shout next time." I placed my hand on my chest. My heart was still pounding hard against my ribs.

I was about going back to my business when someone in a red sports wear appeared behind Caleb. Nathan.

Of course, my luck had to be great.

The short-sleeved sports wear exposed his arms and for a boy his age, his muscles looked impressive. Jesus. For real though, the dark blue joggers and the sports shirt suited him better than the uniform did. Is Lord.

My cheeks needed another slap. But doing it in front of those two, might make me look mad.

Nathan knocked Caleb's head lightly with an apologetic facial expression. "I warned him not to shout. But his jello brain couldn't process."

"Guy." Caleb whined, waking over to my desk and sat on Daniel's, which was directly in front. "Sorry for startling you, Kaira."

"Don't worry."

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked, already beside me. "You don't want me to pummel him?"

"No, I don't." I laughed, shaking my head.

"Bummer." He slumped into his chair with a sigh.

Caleb leaned closer. "What in the world does pummel even mean?"

"If you read, you'll know." Nathan gave me a knowing look. I had to smile a bit, remembering the conversation we had two days ago. "Right, Kaira?"

I nodded. "Right."