Checkmate (Varsity Series #2)

Chapter 7

"You may now take your seat at the back," her adviser said to the guy who was wearing his uniform. He was new to everyone's eyes, of course, he was a transferee.

Serenity was inside her classroom attending to her first class.

"Can I sit here?" He asked Serenity who was alone at the back. Yes, she wanted to be isolated inside their classroom. She didn't have a friend, tho, that's why.

Even if he didn't want to, he just nodded. "Sure."

"Thank you." Then the transferee smiled at him. "I'm Ivan," he introduced. "Constello. Ivan Constello," he added.

"Yeah, I heard your introduction earlier," she answered in monotone.

Ivan just shook his head a little and then sat down next to him. He placed his small black bag on his back.

"You look sad. Don't let that eat you up," he said. "You're beautiful, it's a shame you're frowning," he whispered, which Serenity heard.

She faced the man painfully. She didn't want what he was saying.

Her eyebrow raised. "What?!" she answered in a whisper.

Ivan just laughed. "There is no repetition for a deaf." He said that as if he and Serenity had known each other for a long time.

"Shut up!"

He chuckled. "I said you're beautiful so don't frown at that."

Serenity ignored him. What he said had a strong impact. Serenity knew she was beautiful but she only heard it from other people once.

She's really not that friendly, but she found it cute. Someone just told her she was beautiful.

She completed four consecutive morning classes well. She listened to the lectures. That's what Andrew wants so that's what she did. She really wants to be noticed by the man she likes.

She stood up from her seat. She was about to go out when the man he just met called him.

"Hey!"

She looked at him and gave him a 'what' look.

"Ahm. I'm new so I don't know the ins and outs of it yet."

"Get straight to the point," Serenity said.

"Can I come with you to the canteen? I might get lost, eh."

Serenity shrugged her shoulders. How ironic! She can handle Andrew but she's not good at socializing so she doesn't know how she should approach Ivan now.

"A-Alright," she agreed. She also did not want to embarrass the man. She knew how it felt.

Ivan beamed a smile. "Thank you. . ." He could not say the name of the other person.

"Serenity."

"Alright. Thank you, Serenity."

She did not speak anymore. She started walking while Ivan followed him.

They went straight to the canteen and ordered food. When Serenity saw Andrew at his usual spot, she went straight to it and sat at the table. Ivan followed him.

"Hi babe!" she greeted energetically to the man who seemed to hear nothing.

Ivan witnessed what happened. He decided not to follow Serenity and just find an empty table and eat there.

However, he did not lose sight of the two.

"Weird," he muttered.

He wondered why Andrew treated him like that. Serenity called him babe but he didn't give a damn. He thinks that he's Serenity's boyfriend but he couldn't explain the situation.

Of course, he didn't know a thing.

"Maybe that's why he was frowning earlier. Maybe they have an LQ." He just shrugged his shoulders at the thought and finished his meal. Another thing is that he should not care because he is not involved in whatever the two have.

He didn't wait for Serenity anymore and went back to their classroom first. He tried to put out of his mind what he witnessed earlier and he did it.

He lost his mind on Serenity who was currently following the walking Andrew.

"Wait for me, baby!"

She quickly caught up with Andrew and then approached him and wrapped his left hand around his arm. At that time, Andrew did not remove his hand but he stopped walking.

He looked at her. "When will you stop?"

"Stop what?" she asked like she didn't have an idea.

"Stop flirting. Aren't you shy?"

"Why would I be shy?"

Andrew heaved a deep sigh. Then he removed Serenity's hand from his arm again. He started walking while Serenity just pouted and watched Andrew slowly disappear.

Shoulder down, she went to her classroom. She sat down on her designated place where Ivan was sitting, too.

Suddenly, the scene earlier flashed in her mind. The scene where she finally got Andrew's attention. That unforgettable scene early in the morning.

"Would you please stop what you are doing?" Andrew asked in a monotone.

She smiled, seems like she won because she got his attention.

"Why?" he just shrugged his shoulders and pretended he wasn't doing anything wrong. "I'm just dancing. Is there something wrong, babe?"

"I can see that. That's why I am telling you to stop."

"Why? Is it because you can't focus on the game? You have to learn to focus on playing, Andrew."

"I know that already."

"But you are out of focus and you seem to be bothered because of me."

Andrew looked straight at her eyes.

"It's because of your malicious acts."

But Serenity did not defeat him.

"What if it's like that in the game? You're out of focus. Tsk!"

"There's nothing like that."

"There is," she insisted.

"Nothing. There's no girl I can play with so that won't happen." Andrew couldn't stop answering. He also did not understand why he was arguing with the woman in front of him.

"What if there is?"

"There's none. And if there is, it's not flirting they're after, but winning."

Serenity didn't answer when Andrew moved to the table. While arguing earlier, he was able to finish what he was playing.

After sitting down, he looked at Serenity who was frowning again.

"Play with me. . . and the next time you do something like that, I won't hesitate to drag you outside this room. You weren't sent here to play flirty things. Keep that in mind."