ᴀ ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛꜱ

chapter three.

POV: Nevaeh

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As I walked into the room, I could hear the loud whispers of everyone talking about something very enthusiastically. They were all talking about a new transfer student that was apparently taking this same course with us. The girls were obsessing over the alleged 'new guy', whilst the guys wondered if he would be interested in the same sports teams. The new transfer student must've been some top tier guy; it wasn't normal for everyone to have this kind of reaction to a transfer student, especially since we didn't get many transfers, especially during the 3rd year of Uni. But I guess it could happen.

I went and sat down on an empty seat in the row second to the back. Just as the professor walked into the lecture room, I started getting ready for the lesson.

A few minutes into the lecture, a tall guy with black jeans, a beige jumper and a silver chain around his neck strutted into the widely open room.

Everyone had their eyes glued on him as he walked into the room and made his way up the stairs to find a seat. He took a quick glance around the lecture hall and made eye contact with me. He started walking in my direction and sat in the same row as me, just two seats away. He put down his bag, took his laptop out and started paying attention to the lecture. Confused with everything that was happening, I took a peek at his bag and saw a familiar blue mask hanging off the side of it. Suddenly it clicked. This was the guy from the bus this morning! I quickly looked away and hoped that he hadn't realised who I was. I put my face into my workbook, causing me to accidently bang my head on the table. I felt my heartbeat race as every student in the hall turned their head, from all different directions, looking for the cause of the sound, which was still echoing in the huge hall. I couldn't believe I had just embarrassed myself twice in one day. And what was worse? The boy I had unluckily run into this morning, had a stupid grin on his face, as if he was trying to hold back his laughter. Laughing at me on the bus and now during class as well? Is that why he sat next to me? What a jerk.

The lecture ended earlier than usual or maybe time had just gone by really fast. But as soon as it was over, all the girls came buzzing like a swarm of bees bursting through the door up to the row second to the back. They all had their phones handed out in front of them with wide smiles on their faces and puppy dog eyes. Looked like we had a new prince at the campus.

The new guy looked pretty overwhelmed at the amount of people that were around him. But soon, he was all smiles, greeting each and every one of them, handing out his number to all of them as if it was a golden ticket. Ha. He must've been full of himself getting all that attention.

I walked out of the classroom behind the herd and there I saw my friends waiting for me in the hallway. Danica and Ava. They've been my closest and only friends since senior year of high school. I loved them so much, they were always there for me even when things got rough.

"Hey girl, how you doing?" asked Ava.

"I'm alright. I went to see Theo a few weeks ago and a lot happened," I replied.

"Tell us on the way to the cafeteria or do you guys wanna go get snacks outside?" suggested Danica.

"Let's just stick to the cafeteria," said Ava.

"Well, I was at the graveyard and I don't remember much but I remember someone holding an umbrella for me," I muttered.

"It's okay girl, it's going to get better. We're here for you," Danica said softly as she rubbed circles on my back.

I continued the story and told them how I may have blurted my melodrama to a random guy that was at the graveyard, kind enough to hold out his umbrella for me and how I didn't remember any of it. I also told them about the bus incident that happened in the morning and the new guy. They seemed to be disappointed in me for behaving in such a way in front of someone like that. I mean, I get it, I was disappointed in myself too. I always am.

We went and bought our snacks from a nearby vending machine in the cafeteria and headed outside to sit on the stairs facing the garden. There we saw the new guy sitting on a bench with people all around him, wanting to get to know the new guy. His friends bellowed loudly as he softly chuckled here and there, occasionally stepping aside from the conversation to watch something on his phone.

I made Danica and Ava follow me to the other side of the school, so we could eat in peace without the loud noises around. Staring into the distance while munching on my packet of sour cream and onion chips, I listened to the water flow from the fountain. The sound somewhat comforted me . I kept thinking back to the night at the grave, 'who was that?' 'he acted as if he was close to me.'