Garden Lights

Garden Lights - Chapter 9

She scratched her head as she gritted her teeth in frustration. She circled the question number in her book.

“This one is also wrong,” she muttered aloud.

Vivian, with her annoyed amber eyes, stared hard at the questions. She shook the green mechanical pencil, after giving a big sigh. In a simple violet dress that went to her knees, the girl was sitting in the garden with her back against the tree and her long bare legs spread on the grass. There was no wind and it was bit hotter. But still, for her, it was better than her room.

Unaware, a tall mysterious figure was behind the tree, gazing down at her. She was too engrossed in the books to notice her surroundings. She scribbled in her textbook which was against her knees.

“Why are you studying here?” the person suddenly asked.

She only jumped at the query. She heart raced in surprise as she looked back in caution.

“Victor!” she cried out.

On his tall body, he was wearing a short-sleeved light gray collared T-shirt with a white inner shirt as she noticed sine his two buttons open. Without it, you could probably see some of his chest. He was wearing the same jeans he usually likes to wear. He ran a hand through his messy black hair. There was a book in his hand.

“Why are you studying here?” he asked again

“Because I can get some peace and quiet here.”

“Why not study with your friends in your room?” He questioned further, being openly curious. “Peer studying is better.” He then sat down on her left side, his back also against the tree. His elbow rested on one of his legs which he raised up.

She sighed. “Yeah. We were actually studying together, but….”

She looked away, not really wanting to say it. Victor followed her eyes, wanting to know.

He raised his eyebrow. “But?”

“Well….” She decided to tell him, and told him of the events that took place an hour ago.

The three girls were in Vivian’s room. They were studying on the floor. They’re books, textbooks and stationary lay on the floor. They didn’t mind sitting on the cold hard floor. They were quietly scribbling on their notebooks.

“Man, I’m so tired!” Charlotte stretched her arms.

“We’ve only been studying for ten minutes,” Cindy retorted.

“But this is so boring! Let’s do something else!”

“No, we have to study,” Vivian interrupted. “We need good grades and slacking off won’t help.”

Cindy nodded in agreement. “She’s right. And you need to study more since you have horrible grades!”

Charlotte complained but couldn’t win against two. Vivian was content that Cindy was on her side, however, her mind changed about her after five more minutes passed.

“Oh God!” she screamed, flipping her books.

The other two flinched. “What!?”

“I can’t take it anymore!” She put her hands on her head. “My head will explode if I do anymore!”

“I say we forget this!” Charlotte yelled.

“Absolutely not!” Vivian protested and peeked into Charlotte’s book. “You only did only one question this entire time!?” She was baffled.

“It was hard, okay?” she retorted, “I tried to do it on my own!” She looked as if she was going to cry in defeat and shame, “But I’m an idiot.”