My Words Are Law

Troubles Arise (3)

Amaryllis had a great time with Mia during the sleepover. Ivan seemed to miss her, too, as he skipped the hours he would usually spend cooped up in his room, doing advanced exercises for middle school students. When Mia heard of his usual routine, she was quite impressed, yet in the end, her admiration turned to a series of heavy scoldings, saying they should take a break occasionally. Otherwise, they'll be compromising their mental health. Later, she promised to bring the two out somewhere with real fresh air sometime during the holidays.

Amaryllis raised her hand and jokingly muttered how there's no such thing as fake fresh air in the first place, but her friend didn't look humored. They were scolded twice longer as she patiently sat with Ivan, who had looked at her with a frowning mouth at the latter end of Mia's speech. Nevertheless, the chicken curry was delicious, so the two siblings didn't bother complaining.

The sound of a ringing alarm clock pulled at Amaryllis' consciousness. A part of her wanted to ignore it, but the face of Mr. Rowland frowning as he muttered his growing disappointment emerged in her muddled head. Soon enough, her eyes were squinting towards her bedside table, groaning in complaint as she tried to reach for it but somehow couldn't gather the reflexes to do so. She groaned one last time, giving up on the idea of ever succeeding in shutting the thing off while lying down. She got off the bed, leaving Mia, who was moaning in annoyance as she pulled the blankets to cover her ears.

"Wake up. It's already 7:00 am. We have a class at nine, remember?" Amaryllis muttered groggily, shaking the figure under the blanket as soon as she was able to eliminate the loud, blaring sound of reality. It was the start of another new day. She sighed when Mia didn't give any indication of waking up from her efforts.

Amaryllis yawned as she walked towards the window and opened the curtains unceremoniously before ultimately pushing the two sliding framed glass panels to the center, beckoning the cold morning air to rush inside the room. She shivered, blinking at the sunlight as she took the ponytail she always kept on the window sill to tie her hair.

"Ugh..." Mia seemed to wake up finally. "I hate you..." Shivering, she sat up to glare at Amaryllis, who was now wide awake.

"Good morning, too," was Amaryllis' response as she went to tidy up in the bathroom.

"I was about to kiss my prince!" Mia shouted in agony before sobbing in a pool of misery.

The prince she was talking about was 99.99 percent probably non other than their mutual friend, Tobias Weiss, who's majoring in Civil Engineering at the same University. Their chemistry is as clear as day-- Even brighter than the sun, but one was in denial, and the other was as dense as a rock. It was frustrating just watching them talk. Amaryllis merely sighed as she shut the door behind her.

Once again, she prayed that they would finally realize their feelings together. Five years is already too long.

The morning flew by in the blink of an eye, and just like that, she found herself standing in front of the class as Mr. Rowland muttered a few words that were very similar to a punch landing straight to her stomach. She'd done her usual routine today. She woke up at seven. She washed. She clothed herself like a decent human being. She dropped off Ivan on the way to University and finished her morning classes in a breeze, but why..? When it suddenly came to Mr. Rowland's class, everything fell apart in a flash.

"Who among you has no partner yet? Miss Larson is yet to have one."

Amaryllis closed her eyes momentarily, trying to appear unbothered, like everything was normal. Hahaha... How could it be normal? It's like saying, "Here. Look at how pitiful she is. She doesn't have friends to pair with, so could you please, the person who doesn't have a partner ( who may or may not know that they're the only ones left with no partners but didn't want to come out and ask her because he despises a hermit like Amaryllis), come forward and act like you're relieved and interested to be her partner?"

She felt constipated for a moment as she turned to her professor when silence was the only answer. That should give him a clear idea that her classmates wanted non of her-

"It's me."

Who dared to lie? Amaryllis' eyes stared at the person in disbelief. And it wasn't only her. Samantha and Kace's eyes also seemed to have their eyes glued to his raised hand that had now flopped back on the desk.

"I figured it was Amaryllis who was missing a partner yesterday since she was the only person I didn't ask. I was going to tell her about it, but I couldn't find her then. I apologize for not noticing sooner."

Huh? Apologize..? What for??? And she'd been wondering about it, but when did their relationship permit him to call her on a first-name basis? The corners of Amaryllis' smile twitched uncomfortably. Already, Samantha's eyes were looking at her very, very sharply. She reckons her body is already dismembered in Samantha's imagination. Amaryllis noticed the other woman's mouth opening as if to retort. A hopeful feeling blossomed in her chest as she blinked at Samantha expectantly. Say it! Say you disagree with this nonesens-!

"Then Mr. Taylor it is. You'll be doing the project with Miss Larson."

What!? Amaryllis whipped her head to their professor before anxiously glancing back at Samantha, who suddenly doesn't seem that affected while skimming through her research and talking to Kayce. Meanwhile, Chryses who was sitting beside the two waved at her with his usual practiced gentle smile. What?

What is going on here..???

"You may now go back Miss Larson."

"Yes... Sir..." She replied, feeling her soul drift out of her body as she walked on autopilot before finally stiffly sitting on her chair.

Could this just be another coincidence..? Amaryllis gripped her pen, biting the cover repeatedly in an attempt to reduce the anxiety in her chest. It was not working.

Whatever this is... It's not good. Not good, at all...

***

A/N: I have once been paired with someone I don't want to pair with. Ha-ha. I always had this gut feeling that he was mocking me but it wasn't something that he was doing outright so I couldn't get raw evidence. The thrills of school life, nee~

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