The Boyfriend Checklist

16

Gemma was smiling from ear to ear. It wasn't fake. It was something different this time.

"Something good happened to you and Harvey?" Elisa eyed her friend as they made their way to their fourth class.

"No." Gemma answered, biting her lower lip to prevent herself from giggling. Her eyes were on her phone, ears were on her friend's question, while half of her attention focused on the text message she was reading.

Elisa glanced at Gemma's phone. "Suspicious."

"The what?"

"I don't remember you looking at your phone for more than two minutes—not unless it's Harvey you're talking to," she glanced again to have a better look at what she was doing. "Or it could be someone way important than Harvey."

Aaron: You can tell Elisa even if she didn't ask you.

Gemma: I don't think it's needed

Aaron: She'll find out, eventually.

Gemma: IF you tell her, she obviously will

Aaron: Trust me, she'll find out. Especially when she sees that blush on your cheeks.

Gemma: EEEXCUSE ME BOI. Since when did I blush??

Aaron: If I remember it correctly, it was when I first told you how beautiful you are. You ran away after that.

Aaron's message got Gemma blushing. Her phone almost melted because of his words. Suddenly, she felt conscious of her appearance. Had he been studying her face all this time? Was he able to see her huge pores and some pimple scars that could be seen by a magnifying glass?

"So there's a rumor goin' around," Elisa's sly smile was growing. "Last night, a guard saw a couple escaping from the middle school's open field. Sneaky, right?"

"Really?" Gemma answered in a dry tone. She didn't look interested.

"How come you don't know this? It's everywhere around the corners of the building."

She shrugged. "I went straight to the SC room."

"Hmm. . . Anyway, so boyfriend got what he wanted."

"Uhuh." Gemma drawled, still focused on her phone.

"So did you guys do it?"

"Uhuh."

"Knew it!" Elisa smacked her fist on her palm, a huge grin was emerging on her lips. "Aaron will die a happy man."

"Uh—wait, what?" Gemma snapped her head to glare at her companion.

Elisa laughed, watching her friend's eyebrows turn into one.

"That wasn't us." Gemma's brows furrowed.

"Don't play dumb. I know he followed you somewhere. Where'd you go by the way?"

"Somewhere."

"Hey there, Gemmy!" Marya greeted, her features looked as radiant as Gemma's.

In response, Gemma faked a smile. She couldn't believe this woman's consistency in pretending to be kind to her. However, she might've been wrong all this time. Marya could be genuinely kind to her and maybe she was just assuming she was fake.

Something in the way this girl looked at Gemma made her uneasy.

When the last subject for the day had ended, every single student was as excited as the mayor's daughter. She couldn't wait to exit the building and head to the parking lot where it would lead her to someone—instead of somewhere. . .