The Hidden Truth

2: Touring

“So, this is the cafeteria where we eat our lunch. I'm sure you know that, why am I even telling you?” I chuckled nervously. Lamar and I have been exploring the school for twenty minutes and I've shown him the inside, just remaining the outside.

“You know, you're cute when you're awkward,” Lamar says and I immediately flush. How can he say that so easily? I took in a breath before rushing out the doors of the school. He saw the fountain at the front, he probably even saw earlier when coming to school but who cares. I was told to show him around the school.

At the back of the school, he saw the huge field and I explained everything he needed to know about it...blah blah blah.
Jeez, I really have become lazy but who cares...

As I was walking away thinking that Lamar is following close behind, I felt a hand grab my wrist. Confused, I turned around to see Lamar with his angelic smile and he was still holding onto me. I tried not to smile and asked him what he wanted.

“Can we just go sit on the benches and talk?” he asked and tilted his head, blinking two times. My heart just did a flip. He let go of my hand once I nodded and we made our way to the benches. There were some trees there which would provide shade so we couldn't get burned. He sat across from me and there was a table in between. The school arranged these here so students could study with ease during breaks and luckily for us, it was break so students were all around the school.

Just as Lamar was about to open his mouth, a familiar masculine voice piped in and I instantly smiled.

“Hey Elle. What's up?” the guy arrived and focused on me, not even paying attention to the boy across from me. I highly doubt he even noticed him. Sighing, I stood up and hugged the newcomer who hugged me back. As we pulled away, he took notice of the boy I was with earlier.

“Oh. Hey there, man,” he said and shook hands with Lamar who suddenly looked nervous. I held in a giggle when I noticed how Lamar tensed up when around the tall guy. He was probably calculating their height difference. Seriously, his eyes looked adorably wide when staring at the man and he looks like the size of a rat when compared to him.

The older one wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, eyeing the short boy who is in front of us. I almost laughed looking at the boy who was quiet and looked like a chicken that had been rained on. Poor boy...

“Y-You're her boyfriend?” Lamar stuttered. I glanced up at my friend who was looking straight at Lamar with a smirk on his face. Oh no...

“Maybe. Why? Do you like her?”

Here we go again...

“N-No...no I don't like her. I mean, we only met today and I can't like someone else's girlfriend. I'm not that kind of guy. I hate guys like that, y'know?” he chuckled nervously. Who knew he could ramble like that?

“You better not be playing games with my girl, understood?” Lamar aggressively nods and I give up. I remove his arm around my waist and glare at him before facing Lamar who looks like he's about to run away any second. I clasped my hands together and sighed.

“Now, Lamar don't listen to this dude over here,” I glare at my friend once again,“He's just being a little too overprotective of me and no, he's not my boyfriend just a friend. And I'd very much appreciate it if he introduces himself.”

Through the corner of my eye, I saw him roll his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. I smirked and turned to him, gesturing with my head to go on.

He clears his throat.“I'm Jake and I'm a senior in the twelfth grade. Nice to meet you.”

I smiled at him.

Jake, the best basketball player in our school (even better than Raymond). He's not much of a sporty person as Ray but when it comes to basketball, he's good. He's quite popular in the school but hates it. He hates the fame he has. He isn't like Ray where you'd find him talking to a few of the girls who chase after him. Nope. He never has the time and simply ignores them. That's why I like him, he doesn't care. He's got friends but not as much as Raymond. Let's just say, he hates too many people surrounding him. A few is enough. How did I get to know him?

I was one of the very few who got to talk to him without being ignored (with the help of Keisha of course) Apparently, they've been friends for a while and my bestie thought that it was great to introduce him to me. He was cold towards me at first but with time, he warmed up to me and I thought that maybe it was that way because any friend of Keisha's is a friend of mine. Maybe he chanted that in his head and accepted me. I don't know but he's cool now though he is quite overprotective of Keisha and I. You witnessed it now with Lamar and let me tell you, he's done worse.

Like a month ago, June, when I was walking to the music club, ready to go play the flute, a boy approached me. He claimed that he was lost and was looking for the art club. I didn't even know that Jake was around when he interrupted me while I was giving directions.

“Are you asking for her number?” he had asked. I looked at the back of his head as he stood in front of me.

“N-No. I was just ask-”

“Look, I don't know what's going on but you better not disturb my girl, understood?” the boy had nodded aggressively just like how Lamar did. “Now, Get lost.” And without a word, the boy had left (without directions to the art club). The whole day, I didn't talk to Jake.

He can be pretty annoying but he's fun.

-

The school bell rang and it was time to go home. I sighed in relief and packed my bag. Today was exhausting. Right after the encounter with Jake and Lamar, everything went by so fast. Lessons came, lessons went. Lunch came, lunch went. The last lesson came and went and now here we are, packing our bags and leaving.

The whole day I remained wondering what Lamar wanted to talk about. I mean if it weren't for Jake interrupting us, what would he have said?

Students began leaving the class until it was only Keisha, Lamar, Raymond and I. I slung the bag over my shoulder and approached Keisha who was done long ago. She smiled at me and I returned the gesture. I glanced at Lamar who finished packing and was already leaving the class. Raymond was behind us and nodded his head, signalling that he was ready to leave. With one last wave at the teacher, we left the room.

In the hallway, we found Jake there leaning against the lockers, staring at his phone. When he looked up and saw us, he shoved the phone into his pocket and approached us.

We walked out the doors together and stood outside, knowing we had to part ways. Raymond with Jake and Keisha with me.

I jumped on Jake and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. He wasn't taken aback, this is our way of saying goodbye each day. He patted my back and I snuggled in more. As we pulled away, he kissed my forehead and went to Keisha and did the same. I hugged Raymond and squeezed him tight to a point where he began whining. I laughed and he patted my head before they left.

Keisha turned towards me and smirked before leading the way.

“I saw the way Lamar was looking at you. He probably likes you,” she cooed.

“Yeah, I doubt that. He just joined the school today. How can he possibly like me when he doesn't even know me?”

She shrugs,“Love is difficult. Haven't you heard that people can love at first sight?”

“Okay, Now we're talking about love? Seriously?” I raised a brow at her.

She shrugged again. Love...Love..Love... Yuck.