The 21 Days Theory [ON-GOING]

Prologue

12 years ago.

It's the first day of high school at The Pines Academy. Freshmen swarm the halls of the prestigious school. The loud chattering of young teens echoes across the corridor.

A faculty member steps forward and places the freshmen in their proper classroom sections. Each section is greeted by their class adviser. "Greetings, kids! I'm Ms. Vivienne and I'll be your class adviser for this section. To start your first day as a bonafide high schooler, I will be alternating your seat arrangement based on your gender and family name."

The students murmur. They already have their crushes in the classroom and with the planned seating arrangement, there's a chance that they will be seating beside a person they fancy.

The boys are quietly talking about a particular girl. "I hope I get seated beside her," whispered a student to his classmate. "Man, she's beautiful. Long hair. Brown skin. A small face. She's the perfect morena," the classmate replies. "I heard rumors that she aced the entrance exam. I think I'm in love," he added.

One student is silently standing at the corner. His back is laid against a wall. Both of his hands are in his pocket. His name is Damian Carlos Flores. He's tall and charming. He probably has the best hairstyle in the whole campus.

Damian isn't talking to anyone, but he's clearly gazing on the same girl that everyone is talking about. "Please have me seated beside her. Please have me seated beside her," he thought. He wants to sit beside her, too.

Ms. Fajardo starts calling the students one-by-one and place them in their permanent seats.

"My family name starts with an 'F'. I hope that her's starts with an 'F' or an 'E' or a 'G'," a hopeful Damian thought.

"Kristel Farron," Ms. Fajardo calls. "Have your seat here."

"Next. Damian Carlos Flores. Are you here?"

"Present, Ma'am," Damian confidently replies. He's curious who will be called next.

Ms. Fajardo calls out the next student, "Kenny Marie Hermosa."

After quickly glancing at the prettiest girl in the room, he realized that the girl isn't walking towards the chair beside him.

A girl suddenly blocked Damian's view which took him by surprise, "Hi, Damian. I'm Kenny. So, I'll be your seatmate for the rest of the year."

"Oh, hi. You surprised me. Sure," he replies.

"Cool! I've been actually hoping to sit beside you ever since our adviser told us about the seating arrangement," she excitingly says.

Kenny is also pretty and charming. However, for Damian, she's only second best compared to the girl he is eyeing for.

The adviser went on to call more of the students. The seats are being occupied one-by-one and are already getting farther from Damian.

The last student was called, "Audrey Nanachi Zolina. Have your seat here."

"Thank you, Ms. Fajardo. Please call me Nanachi," she smilingly says.

The boys start to murmur again. "Her nickname is Nanachi? How cute is that! She must have cool parents!"

"Damn, her smile is just so beautiful. I've never seen someone smile as beautiful as that," Damian thought.

His eyes followed Nanachi as she walked towards her chair. As he was staring, Nanachi takes a glance at Damian. He quickly looks away thinking it would lessen the suspicion of his interest in her.

"Shit, she caught me," Damian looked outside the window. After a few seconds, he slowly looks back to Nanachi. As he shifts his eyes to her, he's surprised to see that Nanachi is still looking at her.

Damian's eyes enlarge in shock because he got caught again. Nanachi giggles then proceeded to smile and wave at Damian. He waves and smiles back in an awkward fashion as if his charm and confidence are dwarfed by Nanachi's cheerful aura.

"Okay, class. Here is my full set of rules—," Ms. Fajardo has commenced the orientation for the freshmen. All the while Damian is lost in thought thinking of Nanachi's smile. It was at this moment that he knew that he's in love for the first time in his life.