The Rival's Agenda

032

APPLE IS ONE weird woman.

She claims to hate my guts whenever I'm not around, but then she speaks to me so civilly when it's just the two of us.

I shook my head and placed one earbud on my ear as I quickened my pace towards the meeting room. I didn't want to be late on my first meeting with the club coordinator.

The biology club was fairly new. It was established two years ago by another biology student, but after that, it wasn't maintained as it should be, so no new members joined the club. I mean, they probably think it's just another club for the nerds.

Which it is. But it's not a bad thing.

When I arrived, a few students were already settled. Some of them knew each other, so it was also a reunion of sorts.

I recognized Elijah, from the Psychology department. She was one of the first people outside of Bio that I became friends with after attending a seminar which she organized at that time.

I gave her a smile which she returned with a polite one and a wave.

Not wanting to be a bother, I decided to sit on the other side, where most chairs were vacant. It's not that I don't want to socialize, it's just that I hate small talk.

The club coordinator was still nowhere to be found, so I assumed she was late. And so was Apple.

I lifted my hand and glanced at my wristwatch. It was already a quarter past 4PM and we haven't even started yet.

And still no text from Apple.

When the club coordinator entered the room a few minutes after, I leaned my head down to send a quick text to the fruit, hoping that she'll see it immediately.

Coordinator is here. Saan ka na?

Despite her hostility towards me, I don't want her to miss whatever announcement the coordinator had to make that warranted a meeting.

Unless she wanted to, then be my guest.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Miss Lila. I know short notice na itong meeting, I apologize for that. This won't take long, but I need to discuss it as soon as possible." The club coordinator started.

When I received no reply from Apple, I raised my hand to catch her attention.

She stopped speaking and glanced towards me. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we are still missing one person. From the Debate Team. She said she'll be here but I haven't received a reply."

My instincts told me that she's a prompt person and wouldn't arrive 30 minutes late to a meeting for her team.

"Ah, is that Apple Andres? Kilala ko siya because she was my student in her freshman year. Alam mo ba kung nasaan siya? Maybe you can call her and tell her magsa-start na tayo."

I nodded and excused myself to call her. I placed my phone on my ear and waited for her to pick up. But after about 10 rings, my call remained unanswered.

If she went home, she would've told me. Or not. Who am I in her life anyway?

Against my better judgment, I pocketed my phone and headed towards the main school ground.

Science departments were adjacent to Arts and Lit, so I had to cross the huge field to get to the other side where the Business and other departments were located.

By the time I arrived, I was already out of breath. Shitty respiratory.

This is the reason why I was never allowed to join sports, not that I was interested in it anyway. Rafa and Jass were the ones with the athletic mindset and physique for it.