Twice Upon A Time

Part 4- Friends

Aubrey's POV:

"Hey peeps, I'm Josh. I'm not American. That's all you will ever need to know." His deep, charming voice echoed through the classroom. And before Mr.Trueman could even open his mouth, Josh, as if reading his mind, as also the minds of all the 'peeps' present, said, "And please don't ask me about my British accent. And about my past. I'm tired of hearing the same question over and over again, as if in a Repeat Mode. May I please take my seat, Sir?" He finished.

"Yes, of course. But, no offense, Mr. Josh, you sounded a bit..." Mr. Trueman couldn't even complete his sentence before Josh said, "Rude? I know. However, what you mistake for rudeness, is actually obedience."

"Whatever the heck that means. Haha!! But you better stop this habit of finishing others' statements. I know reading minds is good, but it's not beneficial." The professor said politely.

"It isn't." Josh replied in his typically brisk manner.

"Alright, carry on. Mr. Stevenson, you're up next," said Mr. Trueman.

And so on, he picked people at random, asking them about themselves, before the class was over.

Hmmm, interesting. This guy Josh seems to have a mysterious past. Enigma is written all over him.

"Hey Josh, hey Aubrey, I'm Kelly. This is Ryan." said the girl sitting behind us. She had dirty-blonde hair, and was quite gorgeous with hazel eyes. She looked extremely girly and feminine and seemed to be quite close with Ryan, who was a rather short, albeit cute-looking guy.

As usual, Josh didn't bother to reply. Just a mere nod.

"Hey guys, I'm Aubrey. How do you know my name?"

"Well, who doesn't? After all, you're dating Pete Davies, the football team captain!"

"Well, not anymore."

"Oh, that's sad. But you're very pretty. I'm sure you'll find someone much better."

"Yeah, I mean look at you, damn! Guys should be lining up for you." said Ryan.

"Stop it, Ryan! Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?" Kelly rebuked him.

"So, are you two together or something?" I asked.

They burst out laughing.

"No, he's not my type." Kelly said. "So Josh, what's your story?" she asked.

"Nothing that would concern any of you." He sounds so sexy, when he rarely does speak that is.

"So basically you're happy not knowing anything about people?" Kelly asked in jest.

"Well, I didn't say that at all. I wasn't always like this. I used to be an upright extrovert. But that's none of your business. Anyway, you don't need to socialise yourself with people to get to know them better."

"So you know about people even before you speak with them? Like Sherlock? I'm pretty sure you can't find out anything about myself. Hahahaha!" She started laughing jovially. Ryan joined in too. They both looked cute.

"Well, did you tell them? Did you tell your friends?" Josh replied calmly.

"Tell them what?" Kelly seemed to be getting uncomfortable. Alright, this was getting interesting.

All of a sudden, Josh grabbed Kelly's wrist and blurted out, "Ever since I came in, you haven't stopped staring at the brunette sitting two benches away from you. You winked thrice at her. Made certain gestures too. Sent flying kisses to her too. You haven't eyed any guy, since I came in. You have only been checking out girls occasionally, including Aubrey here. But you are very much turned on by the brunette as you keep biting your lips when you check her out and think about her. Obviously she might be a friend. And you sent her flying kisses. But, three of them is a bit excessive, even for a friend. She isn't just a friend at all. Going by the familiarity and vibe I got from watching you two and also the fact that she's wearing a necklace that says "K" on top of a heart and you're wearing a bracelet that says "A" which must be her name, you have been in a relationship with her for about two years. You don't want anyone to find out. That's why you aren't sitting beside her. Perhaps family issues. Since you're wearing a cross on your neck, I assume you come from a devout Christian family. But you gotta speak up for yourself. You can't help whom you love. Or whom you're attracted to. Come out of the closet already." Josh's words were just shocking to say the least. Kelly was speechless.

"Well, I, ummm, I didn't.... think, didn't .. know" Kelly was blabbering.

"It's nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. Fight for yourself and for the people you love, no matter how harsh the world seems." Josh said. He got up and was about to leave.

"Where are you going? Next class begins in 5 minutes." Ryan asked Josh.

"Well, I chose English literature as my optional elective, other than Psychology and Behavioral Science. I'm basically having the four Science papers for Honours. See you later, Bree. You too, Kelly and Ryan." He stormed out of the class, with a bunch of girls ogling and giggling and trailing behind him, definitely desperate to catch up with him.

Well that kinda sucks. I will only have 3 subjects with him. Obviously my Honours papers are all different. But at least, I will share 3 subjects with him, meaning 15 periods per week!! Yep, even that will do. I grinned.

"You fancy him, don't you?" Ryan asked.

"Hell yeah, you're so crushing on him hard right now. It's evident. And who wouldn't? If I was straight, I would have fallen for him straight away too." Kelly said and yeah, blew a kiss to the brunette.

"So he was right?" I asked.

"Of course. About every damn thing. Including my family issues. That's why I am closeted. He's one intelligent guy. And well, she's my girlfriend. Her name's Anna. I call her Ann. We have been together for almost 11 months. Next month will be our anniversary."

[Author: Pic at the top depicts Kelly and Anna together]

I noticed Anna with greater detail then. She was athletic, had a goth-like appearance and had a devil-may-care look. That said, she was pretty enough to make the front cover of a magazine. She was sitting beside a guy too. The guy seemed desperate for her attention. He seemed to be conjuring up jokes and laughing at them himself. She was just not interested in guys at all. If only he knew how much time he's wasting.

"That's great." I said. If only I had been in love. Phew! Perhaps Josh is not interested at all. A guy like that? He can't be single. Besides, he's awesome. I don't stand a chance. Perhaps I have to join the cheerleading team or publish articles to win his heart. Or dunno, maybe get into films.

My train of thoughts about Josh were interrupted by the teacher entering the class for Political Science. He seemed too young to be a professor.

He introduced himself as Mr. Norman Harris and the rest of the period seemed to be meandering along, I didn't really pay too much attention, when Ryan whispered to me, "Did you see Josh actually called you Bree? And also said, 'see you later'. He didn't really say that to us. He used a cute nickname though." He smiled.

Indeed. I have never been called "Bree" my entire life. Abby, Abe, Aubs, what not.... I liked Bree the most. Josh was definitely a secretive man though. And getting him to open up will be no mean a task. His past.... It seems deliciously complicated. Hmmm, and so the class went on, leaving me to my thoughts.