Stars Between Us

Chapter 1

Alarm Rings

Hi, my name is Icka Torres. I live in 0325 Gangnam Street. My Mom's name is Vicky Torres and my Dad's name is James Torres. I have an older brother, he is Ian Torres and he is in 11th grade. I am in 9th grade and I go to Hanlim School of Performing Arts, and classes starts at 9:00 am and it is already 8:00 am!

I went to the bathroom and took a bath, fixed myself and went to our dining area to pick a delicious rice cake that my Mom made. My parents and Ian are staring at me.

"Bye Mom, Bye Dad!", I said.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!", Ian exclaimed.

"Why are you wearing your school uniform?! Today is Sunday!", Mom said.

I went back to my room and checked my calendar and guess what? IT IS SUNDAY! I looked at my watch and the day is Monday. I heard Ian laughing so hard, so that means he pulled a prank on me AGAIN. When we were kids, we were so close to each other. I don't really know why he changed. Sometimes he would go inside my classroom just to tell me he pooped at the boys restroom. I know! He is insane! I went back to my room and changed my clothes. I opened my laptop to watch some TV series until the sun went down. I didn't notice the time! I looked at my watch and it is already 9:00 pm. I went to bed and locked my door because Ian might change the time and date of my watch.

Alarm Rings

30 minutes before 9:00 am, I went to our garage to get my bike. When I went out, there are a lot of boys waiting for someone. They are not waiting for me, but they are waiting for Lourelle Reyes. Lourelle is the most beautiful girl in our school. A lot of boys are crazy for her. The annoying thing is we live at the same street and we are classmates. In our school, I am just a normal average girl who doesn't study well. I am ugly and I don't know how to dress properly. I am not confident by my looks but I am confident by my talents. 

I arrived at school early and went straight to our room. I saw my friends, Patricia Enriquez and Nicole Paran. We were talking about our idols and one of our classmates shouted,

"Gelo Aguila is already here!"

We went to the door and I saw him walking at the hallway. He is so handsome and all of the girls in our school likes him, including Lourelle. I had a crush on him since 7th grade. Luckily, he is my classmate.

Break Time

I went to my locker alone to get my books. I carried all of them so it is heavy. When I turned my back, I accidentally hit someone and then the books flew away.

"Look at your way! Do you have eyes?!", I screamed angrily as I pick up the books.

When I stood up, it is Red Villafranco.

"What did you say?", he asked.

"N-No, nothing. I-It is my fault. I'm sorry.", I answered.

"I don't want to forgive you", he said.

"I will do anything you want! Please don't hurt me.", I said.

Then he answered and said, "Okay, fine. Let's be friends."

I have to accept it even if I don't want to, "O-Okay.", I said.

I ran back to our room and sat. I AM DOOMED. If Gelo is the angelic boy in our school, Red is the opposite. He is the bad boy of the school. He breaks rules and often get into fights.

Everyday he is bothering me and I don't like it. I tried to avoid him but he keeps on following me. Sometimes he would let me do all of his homeworks. He would also ask me to buy him lunch with my own money. He is so cruel.

One day, he told me to go at the soccer field during our Math class, and if I didn't go he will kill me. I have to go there because I am afraid that he might hurt me. When I get there, he was sitting and listening to music. I heard the song and I was shocked.

"D-Do you like this song too?", I asked.

"Yeah. Why?", he answered. 

"Nothing.", I said.

"Come with me.", he said.

"Where? Are you going to take me out of the school?! No! I don't want to go with you!", I shouted. He stared at me angrily, "Okay fine!", I said.

We jumped out of the wall of our school and we went for a walk. I was very worried because we might get caught. While we were walking, a group of boys from Haneul Sports University are looking at us. One of them is holding a baseball bat.

"Hey Red! Its been awhile.", he said.

Red was not responding and he looks like he is angry. I thought they were friends until the boy said, "We waited a long time to beat you up again." I was scared when I heard that. I hid at Red's back and told him that I was scared. The boy saw me and he asked Red, "Is that your girlfriend?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle this. I'll count to three, run okay?", Red told me.

"But I should not leave you.", I said.

"1...... 2...... 3.......", he said. I have to run because the boys might hurt me. I hid behind a car and  watched them fought. I was sorry to Red that time and I was scared. After the fight I ran to Red and he has a lot of bruises on his face. 

"I should cure it.", I said. "Don't", he said.

He walked me home and said, "I'm sorry if I caused a trouble. It wasn't your fault."

I don't know what to say to him that time. "Go inside, it is already late.", he said.

When I was about to go inside, I told him I don't want to. He asked me why.

"The boys from Haneul might stalk you and beat you up again.", I said.

He laughed at me and asked me, "Are you sure?". "Yeah.", I said.

We went to school that night. He showed me their tambayan which is the rooftop. He let me use the sofa so that I could sleep comfortably and he used a banig.  After a few minutes, I still can't sleep and I was just staring at the stars. Then he suddenly spoke, "Can't sleep?". "Uh-huh.", I said. Then he rise up and looked at me. His face was so near to mine and I started thinking of perverted things that he might do to me. I was so nervous that time and I can't move. 

"Move and sit.", he said. We were sitting beside each other on the sofa while looking at the stars and he suddenly spoke, "Can you keep a secret?". "Yeah, I can.", I said.

"I like Lourelle.", "But she likes Gelo", he said.

"I like Gelo since 7th grade.", I said. He looked at me with a surprised face and then he became quiet. He suddenly shouted, "I have an idea!!!" "Why don't we help each other? I will court Lourelle so that she can like me and you will do things for Gelo that will make him like you back!". 

"I don't want to!", I said. 

"Come oooon!", he said.

"I'll think about it! Just shut up, you jerk!", I said angrily.