Bubble Gum Kisses

**Kapittel 31** ***Vanessa***

**"Where's your book?"** I asked him, my teeth seething. I removed his arm around my shoulder, but he kept putting it back around me. I removed it again, and he dangled it around me again. It was like an unrepeated cycle of nuisance, and it was getting on my ticking nerves. God, help me overcome this temptation of smacking his face.

"Quit it," I told him before pushing his arm away from my shoulder one last time, then he placed it around my shoulder AGAIN. I huffed out a frustrated breath. No, Vanessa. You shouldn't be stressed out about this. Clear your mind. Focus. Just focus on the lesson and take notes. That's it. That's just two things. Listen to the lesson and take notes.

"That very moment, that she didn't give up her seat on the bus for a person..."

Highlight. Annotate. Breathe in. Breathe out. Ignore. Calm down. Count. Focu-

"Stop it, Friso!" I lashed out at Friso and pushed him away by the chest when I felt that he was too close that his nose was already on my cheek. He was taunting me, I knew it. "Do you not notice?" I asked, pointing my extended fingers at my highlighted book with scribbles made out of my handwriting.

"Notice what?" he asked, acting gullible and all.

"Argh!" All I could do was bite my lower lip in vexation. I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. "I know that you have some sort of animosity against me, but can we just have a temporary truce? Just for this lesson?" I offered, the corner of my lips stretching for a fake smile. I want to learn, so please leave me alo-

"No can do." He rejected my offer with the same goofy smile on his face, his eyes looking down at me as if he was thinking that he was never giving me the tranquility I needed. My anger was triggered and my boiling blood ticked within my veins. That's it.

I proceeded to pull on my last resort. I stomped on his foot. Hard.

"Holy-" Friso held onto his breath, bit his lower lip, and glared at me in heated contempt like I was the world's most loathsome thing while he suppressed his instinctive attempt to scream. His face was redder than cinnabar, his nose was flaring with smoke coming out like a speeding locomotive smokestack, and his veins were bulging out from his thick neck. He looked like he was tempted to raise his foot and caress it, but the desk was too short compared to his long legs, and it'd cause an unnecessary nuisance if he lifted his foot. He might even have a piece of Mr. Mosbey if he did try.

I only ignored him and his bull-like face and continued to listen to the lecture, but through my peripheral vision, I could see his hand reaching for me when the school bell suddenly blared its tintinnabulation noise in the entire area, not missing a single beat as it passed through everyone's ear. A relieved sigh escaped my lips. Saved by the bell!

"We'll continue more on our discussion at our next meeting. Class dismissed." As soon as Mr. Mosbey announced that class was adjourned, I hastily picked up my things and ran out of the classroom, ignoring Friso who was shouting for my name at the top of his lungs. Jeez, that guy has some nasty balls to pull up something embarrassing like that. Was his prefrontal cortex having trouble developing?

I descended downstairs and glanced briefly at my open tote, and sighed for the nth time. I wasn't able to note all the important things Mr. Mosbey was spouting because Friso was distracting me too much, and I was in a hurry to leave to write the last things I remembered him saying. Never mind, I'll just finish it during lunch break and write down as many things as I could remember. Hopefully, Friso wouldn't be in the cafeteria too though, or I had to find a place for myself where he could leave me alone. Assessing what happened during class, it was clear that he wasn't planning on leaving me alone anywhere on this campus.

Sigh. Should I just transfer schools? Wait, no! I shouldn't. Dad worked hard on this trust fund he arranged for me just to get into this school. I shouldn't waste it. Plus, this academy is one of those that have the highest passing rate to college, and with other prestigious credentials too. I shouldn't give up just for one guy. It's just half a school year. I should bear it for a while. He'll be out of my tail when we get into college anyway.

I proceeded to walk downstairs and sauntered the hall, looking at the printed copy of my schedule to see which class I was going next when I felt someone's shoulder bumped against mine. The colliding force felt negligible that it felt like a tickle or a brush instead of a bump.

"Oh, sorry," I immediately apologized and turned my eyes to the person whom I bumped into. Seriously, I've been bumping into people these days. I should start being watchful of where I'm going.

"O to the M to the G! It's you!" a girl's high-pitched screeching voice reciprocated my unfeigned apology. The voice was too loud and piercing that it resonated in the entire hall and echoed to the next building. Goodness, has this person heard herself for once?

"Uh, who?" I looked at the person I bumped into. It was a girl with beautiful light brown hair and round-shaped, cognac eyes. She looked prepossessing with her wispy bangs that measly covered her forehead, small nose, a luminous, crystal clear, spotless face that resembled the glass skin trend I've been seeing lately, moonlight-like skin that looks so bouncy and soft, and petite figure that emphasized her cuteness.

"Who are you talking to, Haley?" another girl emerged behind her, a beautiful, tall brunette with full breasts, long, bronze legs, and a killer figure. They said that there's no such thing as a standard in beauty since it is always in the eye of the beholder, but looks like I just met the standard. She had an unusual way of wearing her school uniform, the shirt's first two buttons were unbuttoned with the necktie nowhere to be found, and her skirt was raised a bit way to her hips that it showed which surprised me since I heard that the academy holds a strict protocol when it comes to uniforms. But I couldn't care less.

"Nice to see you too, Maddy. I'm just talking to Vanessa," the petite, brown-haired girl faced her friend, her orbs never stopped glowing in delight. Her statement made me raise a brow though, how come this girl knows me? I don't think I've met her before though, or maybe I did.

"Vanessa Hathern. Like the girl in middle schoo- oh right, you didn't go to the same middle school with us," the girl, who seems to go by the name Haley, babbled uncontrollably with her one hand flailing in the air while the other pats the other girl who I presumed to be named Maddy.

"Right," the brunette nonchalantly replied while unwrapping a piece of lollipop she took out of nowhere and popping it into her mouth. I could tell she was ogling me with the way her ocean-blue eyes brushed started with my head down to the top of my school shoes.

"Anyways!" the fun-sized girl's attention returned to me, "It's nice seeing you again, Vanessa! Don't you remember me?" she asked, looking at me with big puppy eyes that made me feel guilty for not remembering her.

"I'm sorry, but I can hardly remember you," I regrettably replied, to which her eyes changed into a melancholic gaze. Now I feel more sorry for not remembering her.

"It's me! Haley!" she pointed at herself repeatedly. "We used to take classes before, remember? I even asked you to tutor me in Math, and you'd give me head pats if I get things correct!" she said further which made me go through my memory archives.

Now that she mentioned it, I do remember giving someone I tutored head pats whenever she got correct answers. She had a slightly big forehead, a cute nose, and cognac, round-shaped eyes.

"Oh right, Haley!" I exclaimed when I finally remembered her. Although she looked quite different compared to how I remembered her, it's probably because of her bangs. "You look great!" that was all I could say afterward, a smile plastered on my face.

"Thanks! The skin care routines, makeup tutorials, and beauty hacks on TikTok helped!" she grinned at me widely. "So... did you get to see him, hm?" she asked out of the blue, like a correspondent asking a politician a bizarre question. "Him?" I raised a brow a second time because of her vague question.

"Girl, don't act so clueless about it!" she exclaimed, "You know, Friso!" she detailed. As soon as she mentioned his name, I saw the brunette behind her drop her lollipop upon Friso's name. Seems the guy's still famous as ever. "Uh..." it took me a moment of a bit of pondering before asking her: "What about him?"

"I just want to ask if it's true that he switched s-!"

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my works, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**