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Miranda was sitting on the computer chair in the living room, waiting for Ranleigh. They had resolved last night that they would go to school together today. It was for Miranda’s sake, so she would know the way to school and back. But judging from the way they argued during that brawly episode a while ago, she was not sure if she would be able to endure even just another minute with him.
After a couple more turns on her chair, Ranleigh emerged from the bedroom looking utterly handsome in his dark ensemble, which was AIM High’s male set of clothes. The top was an ivory buttoned shirt along with a crimson tie bearing the school’s emblem in little golden prints. He had a gray coat over, which was a couple of shades lighter than his pants. He moved about, walking towards the footwear rack by the door, and grabbed a pair of black shoes.
Miranda watched him in awe as he dropped the shoes on the floor with a thump and put them on. She had never thought the boys’ uniform could actually look this good on somebody. Before, she would catch a glimpse of AIM High male students in the many contests that she had participated in. But every time, whom she would be seeing would be the plump and geeky ones. And if she was to give her honest opinion, she would be sorry to say that the poor clothing did not seem to suit them. But it was never like she despised them. She definitely had nothing against their physical appearance or anything. It was simply a fleeting impression, which she never gave any particular thought.
As she pondered on these things, her wandering gaze fell on her watch, which made her realize the time and jump in her chair in alarm. “Only ten minutes left before first period? We’re gonna be late!”
“You just noticed?” Ranleigh asked indifferently as he stood up straight to have a feel of his shoes.
“What do you mean you just noticed?” Miranda asked back, panic evident in her voice. “You were the one who told me to sleep early since class starts at eight. And yet, you were the one who kinda overslept, if you haven’t noticed that.”
“That’s right, class starts at eight. But not my class,” He pointed out coolly, grabbing his schoolbag, which was beside the computer. He opened the door and was about to leave, “Are you coming or what?” he asked, glancing back.
“Of course, I am!” Miranda quickly stood up from her chair and ran towards the door, with another argument pending in her already irritated mind. As they went down the stairs, into the lobby and out of Cassel, she was doing her best not to explode due to frustration and start an all-out word war against him, for it might delay them even more.
“We’ll get there in no time, don’t worry.” Ranleigh muttered so as to calm her. They crossed the street, walked a couple of blocks, and arrived at the nearest bus stop.
“But my class starts at eight.” Miranda stood next to him impatiently as they waited for a bus to turn up. “You should’ve told me you won’t be having your first period. That way, I could’ve gone ahead.”
“Oh, really?” Ranleigh raised an eyebrow at her. “Can you do that without getting lost?” he added with a smirk.
Darnit! Miranda cursed in her thoughts, knowing that he had scored another annoying banter on her. He’s right. I do not know the way. She stood there, a smug on her face.
“Actually, I was informed just this morning. Jaron called while you were in the shower. Something came up so the teacher couldn’t come, he said.” He explained, quite oblivious of the fuming girl standing next to him. “So I went back to sleep.”
“And how would he know?” she asked, quickly calming down. Getting angry is dangerous to health. Jaron? The one from last night?
“He knows everything,” he shrugged. Then, glancing sideways at her, he noticed that she still seemed uneasy, obviously because of her fear of being late on the first day of school. Not really an impression anyone would want to give the teacher, “Honestly, do you even look at your schedule?” he asked all of a sudden.
“Huh?” Taken aback, Miranda looked at him in puzzle, “What’s that supposed to mean? Of course, I look at my schedule. In fact, I’ve checked it a dozen times already. I’ve memorized the room assignments, the teachers, the…”
Ranleigh cut her short. “How about the school’s schedule?”
This time, Miranda froze, not knowing what to answer, “What about it?”
“Well, have you seen it?” he raised an eyebrow at her once again, another smirk playing on his lips.
“No…I haven’t,” she shook her head gently, still oblivious of what Ranleigh was hinting, “Why?”
Unbuckling the front flap of his bag, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to her. “Here. You can have it.” Miranda skimmed through the sheet, which looked like a calendar of activities. Just then, a bus pulled over. “There will be an orientation program for freshmen at 9 am.” Ranleigh grabbed the vehicle’s door handle and was ready to hop on. “It’ll probably end at around lunchtime so technically, your class doesn’t start until 1 pm. Come on, let’s go.” Miranda was so busy examining the paper to notice the bus’ arrival that Ranleigh had to step back down and drag her onto the vehicle. “What are you doing? I thought you don’t wanna be late for school.”
“Where’d you get this?” Miranda asked in interest, as she trailed behind him along the aisle, unaware of the stares being darted towards them from the moment they got on.
The public vehicle was already close to being jam-packed but fortunately for them, there were still three empty seats at the back. “From Jaron.” He replied. “He gave each of us a copy.”
“Are you sure I can have it?” she asked again, this time to make sure she heard him right a while ago.
“Yeah, I can always ask for another one, anyway.” He shrugged, as he took a seat and looked out of the window, with Miranda taking the space beside him.
Finally, Miranda lifted her gaze from the paper and scanned her surroundings. “Wow, there’re sure lots of AIM High students taking this bus, aren’t there?” she was practically gaping in amazement as she looked around. Almost every other seat in the bus was occupied by a student wearing the same uniform as they were.
“Stop acting like an idiot, will ya?” Ranleigh sighed, irritated by the look of ignorance plastered on her face, which she was currently unaware of. He was certain she was marveling the other students on board.
“I’m not an idiot.” Miranda answered defensively as she shot him a heated glare.
“I know. That’s why I told you to stop acting like one.” He repeated himself. “Don’t look at them as if it’s your first time seeing them.”
“But it is my first time seeing them.” She pointed out.
“Whatever.” Ranleigh heaved a sigh and slouched in his seat in defeat. She’s hopeless…
“Hey, Ranleigh, why are they all looking at us?” Miranda asked another rather innocent question. Especially those in uniform. She had finally noticed that all eyes were set on them, particularly her.
I knew it. We shouldn’t have taken the backseats. Ranleigh thought. But there were no empty seats in front. And taking the remaining ones in the middle would be worse even.
“Ranleigh…Ranleigh? Are you listening?” Miranda asked as she waved a hand in front of his blank expression. “Do you know these people?”
Ranleigh snapped out of his reverie at her question. “No, I don’t.” he replied. “I probably see them around at school but no, I don’t know them.” But I’m pretty sure they know me.
“So tell me, do you have any idea why they’re looking at us?” she asked again, retreating in her seat as she felt a bit embarrassed.
“I don’t know.” Ranleigh muttered apathetically.
“They look kinda weird to me.” Miranda mumbled in her seat as she fumbled with one of the buttons of her uniform. She had a gray blazer on over a beige blouse. Its dark collar, which matched the color of her skirt, resembled that of a sailor with a single red stripe at the edge, indicating the year level she was in. To complete the sailor image, a crimson bow veiled the base of the neckline in a trim knot. And just like Ranleigh, she wore black shoes that toned with the print around the top of her gray boot socks.
You’re the one who’s weird. Raising an eyebrow, Ranleigh glimpsed at her as if to say “Look who’s talking?”
“Do Jaron and the others take this bus as well?” she went on.
“No.”
“How come? Where do they live?”
“None of your business.”
“Are you gonna meet up with them at school?”
“Probably.”
“Oh, I wanna see them, too!”
“…”
“You know, even though I wasn’t able to see a clear view of their faces last night, I think they all look handsome…” she smiled to herself.
“…” Ranleigh simply kept staring outside.
“Just like you.” she added nonchalantly, making Ranleigh blink his annoyance and boredom away. But he just kept still, pretending to have not heard anything, until Miranda continued on with her small talk. “But I must say you are the grumpiest of them all.”
With this, Ranleigh turned away from the window to face her, rage glinting in his eyes. “And how would you know about that?”
Knowing that she had hit a nerve, Miranda felt herself shrinking in her seat as she watched her seatmate glower at her in anger. Being quick-witted as she was, she had decided that since she was the one who started it all, it would not seem right if she would simply allow herself to be overpowered by him. Besides, she knew for a fact that she was right. “Your face says so.” She sneered at him, pointing at the scowl on his face, “See?”
Narrowing his eyes at her, he realized that he was being childish, which simply proved her impression about him. And so he opted to just drop the subject. “Shut up, you little bundle of misery.” He grunted as he sat back, closing his eyes in composure.
“What?!” It was Miranda’s turn to fly into a rage. But as she was about to strangle him, she saw from the window that the bus had finally come to a halt. She looked around and saw that everyone was getting ready to leave. “We’re here?” she asked in a calmer voice. That was fast.
“Yes, come on.” Ranleigh rose from his seat as he helped Miranda get up as well since she seemed that she was a having a hard time getting on her feet because of the crowd. “Clumsy.”
“Save those brilliant words for later, pal.” Miranda lashed out sarcastically as they squeezed their way through the swarm of commuters and off the bus.
“Not to worry. I’ve got loads of them.” Ranleigh countered with equal sarcasm as he fumbled with her hair for a while, shuffling it into a mess, before turning on his heel.
Miranda was left dumbstruck in her place as she watched Ranleigh enter the school grounds with a death glare. “WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR, YOU SMUG??!!!” she yelled at him in fury. But he simply walked off, waving his hand at her in a see-you-later manner. Damn! I had a really hard time doing my hair this morning. She thought irritably, trying her best to put all the stray hair back into place. When will he ever stop picking on me?
The bus had left and Miranda found herself standing amid the flock of noisy students entering the school gate. Miranda, this is it. You’re just a dozen steps away from your dream school. You totally rock, girl! She pounded her chest with her fist, pride and confidence boosting up her spirit. But just as she was about to take a step forward, she felt somebody’s eyes on her and noticed a group of students busily chatting with one another while hanging out by the school gate. One of them, a girl in the middle, looked away when she realized that Miranda had seen them. The others, however, just kept on talking. Ignoring their presence, she continued walking and in no time, she finally got her feet on the very soil of AIM High.
