Lingering Among the Shadows of Trust

Anomalous 5

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PART V
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WE WALKED BACK TO OUR campus with dead silence brewing between us. It's a bit awkward. Odd. I met this guy like a few hours ago, and yet people assumed we were close friends. It's understandable, but there was this bitter atmosphere around the other girls whenever we walk past them. They have like this sullen look whenever they see us. I could even see their mouths muttering from the corner of my eye. What did I do? I couldn't make up my mind.

As a way to ease their tempered mind and irritation, I stared at the distant Milandoo Houses, acting like we were strangers. Honestly, there's nothing to show anymore. Scott has shown me almost everything in the school other than the campuses. I assume he's upset, but I wasn't planning to visit the other campuses anyway.

The silence continued to brew into a black coffee. Bitter as it is. However, he turned his head to me and busted the silence, adding in a little bit of milk and sugar. The conversation lasted throughout the rest of the walk. He asked a few questions about me, like my interests and my old school, to which I responded accordingly. He then spoke a lot about his school, his close friends, his family, and the place he used to live in. He also told a few facts about himself as well. It was like a proper introduction, similar to what I did back in English class. Although my ears were muffled for the most part, some things caught my attention. Scott also lives in Ruskin Firs Street, but not as a permanent resident. His family works in a rental business in Riverstone, a distant town from the city and a beautiful place as my aunt told me about. My aunt also mentioned a school in Riverstone, which got my head tilted to my side. Why did he enroll here? He continued talking about his experience, however, denigrating Milandoo Houses. There wasn't much I could ponder about, the rest of the information did not answer my question.

     After a while, he asked about my personal stuff. Without giving too much detail, I shared about my aunt and uncle, and the bookshop they're managing. I didn't mention anything about my mom or dad. He sort of wondered, but he never asked about it. He had this sort of tensed looked after I talked about my aunt and uncle. He looked away and quickly changed the topic. It didn't need much detail, but he understood quite fast. After a few moments, we arrived at our building and found myself eavesdropping at the four girls' chat.

"That looks amazing!" said the blondie.

"Aww! Thanks!" she replied, holding the necklace coated in silver-like color.

"I really want to buy one now!" replied another girl with a short hair, pointing at her necklace. I wasn't sure which one I should heed, because there were only three of them. That same girl stood behind them with her hair covering her face. Instead of usual ignorance, I noticed a small part of face uncovered by her messy hair. I tried picking through the slits, in case I can see her face, but Scott spoke to me, losing my focus.

"Too bad we weren't able to visit the other campuses," he said. The three girls walked away from the lockers, and so did the girl. "Do you wanna visit them someday? I could ask permission from Ms. Poppy."

"I don't think that's important," I replied glancing at him. "Besides, are we even allowed to enter?"

"Of course! But-" he coughed, "I'm not exactly sure. Though I'll try to find a way to convince her if she refuses."

     "You think she'll let you? What are you, the President?" I replied. He stared at me with a grin, his eyes gleaming with confidence. He appeared as if it was a challenge. I shook my head in utter shock. "Wait don't tell me you're..."