My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 17

The next day, their lives began to change.

It was the week before his final exams. A few more weeks then he would graduate from high school. It was also during that time that most of the colleges and universities have been sending letters of acceptance. Alden was proud to say that he got in three universities. Now he had to figure out which of those schools he would enroll for college. But before that, he needed to pass his finals.

So he found himself once again with his friends in a study group with some of their other classmates at Mark's house.

The study group was well underway and going fine, but Alden kept on looking at his watch. Eric noticed and approached him.

"Alden," he called. "You seemed distracted."

"Sorry," Alden answered. "I promised Maine I'll drop by. I don't really want to visit her so late. She had a relapse yesterday."

"What?" Jeff exclaimed. "What happened?"

He stopped and worry shown on his face when Alden said Maine was sick again. Mark stopped what he was doing as well and looked at Alden with concern. Eversince they've found out about Maine, they've been asking Alden about her progress. Cheering her on silently when Alden tells them of her improvements. This new development made Alden really worried, it showed on his face.

Alden began to explain Maine's situation as how he had understood from Dr. Vega's explanation. He told them about the bike rides and how it had affected her.

His three friends saw the worry on his face and worried for him. Even when they haven't met Maine, the subtle changes in Alden made them like her. Alden was happier, and full of energy that they wanted to keep that.

"Is she feeling better now?" Mark asked.

"She said there was still some pain in her chest when we talked last night," Alden answered with a sigh. "But she said she was fine. She's on bed rest for the week."

"Hey Carl!" Mark suddenly shouted. "Aside from Physics, what are we still reviewing for this session?"

"That's it," their classmate named Carl answered. "Physics is our last for the day."

"Really?" Mark remarked. "So I guess we're done for the day!"

"You sound like you're kicking us out of your house, Mark," another classmate said with a laugh.

"In a way," he replied with a smirk. "I am. So that our good friend Alden here could go visit his lady love."

Mark gave Alden a pat on the back which Alden shrugged off. Alden pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose, nervously anticipating the questions that would soon follow. And his classmates did not disappoint.

"Woah...wait. Alden has a girlfriend?"

"How did that happened?"

"When did that happened?"

"Good job, dude! We actually thought you were gay!"

"When are we going to meet her?"

The barrage of questions continued but Alden just rolled his eyes and laughed. They kept asking him questions but all he could say was, "not yet. But we'll get there."

When the teasing died down, everyone decided to call it a day and they hurriedly packed up their things to head home. One by one their classmates left Mark's house and the four friends were left to clean up Mark's den. Even when Mark insisted that he head home, Alden stayed to help out. When everything was back in order, they finally decided to head home.

"Tell Maine to get well soon for us," Mark stated while he accompanied his friends outside his house. "We hope you could invite us to your house one day and finally introduce us to her."

"Yeah," Jeff added. "Tell her not to pressure herself too much. Take it slow and steady."

"Thanks," Alden replied. "Maybe after the exams, I'll invite you at our house so guys could meet her."

New batch of teasing followed as they playfully shoved Alden around and joked around while they were walking down the street of Mark's subdivision. They were having fun and laughs that they didn't notice an oncoming SUV headed their way and was heading at Eric's path. Alden saw this the last second and shoved his friend aside.

"Eric! Watch out!" He yelled and pushed but he wasn't fast enough to clear the path.

"ALDEN!!!