Maze

4

Monday, September 2011.

A large yawn dawned out of my mouth as I stretched out my arms, loosening my cramped muscles.

Even before school began, my eyes have been so droopy from last night's studies. Now they refuse to open up more than they should have. My brain was already fried halfway through the school, so lunch break was basically a blessing where I could finally gobble up Mom's pasta.

"How's the biology exam?" asked Naomi as she plopped her lunch tray beside me.

She hovered over Aly, who was gobbling multiple french fries at the same time. Her wavy hair running through her shoulders had been more tousled than usual, and her star-shaped hair clip was a little out of place. Even after swallowing all her previous food, Aly simply responded by taking a huge chomp of her burger. Well, I guess that's her answer.

"Not as h-hard as I thought." I decided to take part. "All the questions are in the sl-"

"You call that not hard?!" Aly interrupted—she literally finished her burger in seconds—me, gawking at me as if I had grown some demon horns. "That teacher literally asked us to name and explain all the stupid DNA shit..." she groaned. "Argh, he's fucked up in the head!"

"Jesus Christ, calm your ass down," Samantha laughed as she playfully nudged her. Her other hand held the romance novel she had borrowed for the umpteenth time. "You act like he killed your family or something."

"He killed my mind, Sam." She shot a glare at her friend. "And I considered that as murder."

Although I decided to give no further comments, I couldn't help but to chuckle. Regardless of who taught biology, this always happened after every exam, and I would always massage her back while her soul died inside. Honestly, watching Aly freaking out over the teacher never failed to amuse everyone, even me. I can somehow understand her, though.

"So... where's Mark?" Aly murmured under her hefty breath. "I thought he's gonna be here."

"Ah, he told me his track team needed him," said Naomi as she waved her fork. "Well, he's gonna be competing with-"

"Ayo, guess what?! Our basketball team beat Woodlands' ass last game!!"

Someone sitting a couple tables away roared throughout the cafeteria. Nearly everyone spun their heads towards the group of boys who had begun emerging from the doors. Some of the guys wooed and clapped as hard as they could, rushed over and gave them shoulder pats as well as high fives. The others screamed their congratulations from across the vicinity and Aly cringed, shutting her ears with her hands.

"God, they're so damn loud..." she complained.

And when Edward appeared from behind the group, I immediately stopped chewing. Even with his gaze fixed to the floor, I could still see his frown etched in his expression; the complete opposite of his other teammates.

While they were all cheering their victory, he never seemed to acknowledge all the compliments thrown in his way. He retained his perpetual stoicism while on the other hand, Sebastian—who had been staying with him—received all kinds of fist bumps. His golden blond hair had grown much longer; his bangs had completely protected his damaged eye instead of a patch. As much as he tried keeping his poker face, I could tell he didn't want anyone to talk to him.

Nevertheless, my gaze drifted to him as his team settled down at a large table adjacent to us. A thin smile crept into my lips as I watched him slump down to his seat. He still looks so cool... if I can, I can look up to him all day long.

And quite unfortunately, he looked up and his gaze quickly locked upon me. With my stomach bursting with tons of butterflies, I immediately turned away, focusing more on twirling my fork and devouring my pasta. Yikes...