Aksel didn't bother to look at her as soon as she pulled out a seat beside him.

"Today just keeps getting worse don't you think?" She said with a sarcastic smile. She frowned when Askel ignored her like she didn't exist. "Hello? Loser?" She whispered in a sing song voice but still didn't get his attention. He was more engrossed in whatever he was reading.

"We are going to learn how to improve our communication skills in this class. Since this is the practical aspect, I paired you all because I want you to study your partner carefully, communicate more, spend time talking about different things, and by the end of the semester, you'll give me a note book full of things you found out and-" Mr Prism stopped when Kira raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Don't you think it's unfair that some of us are paired with familiar faces?" Kira asked him.

"I made sure to shuffle everyone, and if you are referring to your friends Vanessa and Liam, I know what I'm doing. Any other question?" He asked, raising his brow.

"Well yes, I mean," she shrugged. "I hardly know this guy sitting beside me, and he wouldn't even talk to me." She said not a bit bothered.

"That's because he's your accidental kisser." One of the Pinkly Gossips, Jay said, chuckling.

"Oh shut it Jay." Kira rolled her at Jay. "Pink flamingo." She clapped back, making other students ooh.

"That's enough." Mr Prism cautioned them and turned, "Aksel?" He called on Aksel's attention and everyone turned to him.

Aksel looked up at Mr Prism, "Sir?"

"I hope you and Kira can work together as a team, it's part of your assessment. Do you understand?" Prism said calmly.

"Yes sir." Aksel nodded and that when he caught Gwen staring, just like the rest of the student. She mouthed a hi and he flashed a quick acknowledging smile at her.

"Moving on!" He continued, "When we say communication skills, what do we mean...."
✳✳✳✳✳✳

Kira groaned aloud... "I'm beginning to hate that stupid transfer student." She said Immediately she walked out of the class with Nessa and Liam.

"Thought you already hated him." Liam said to her.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Kira shook her head.

"Mr smarty pants." Nessa joked. "Did you see the way he kept on answering and asking questions, like he actually knew what he was saying?"

Kira scoffed distastefully, "He's a showoff that's what."

Kira was irritated by the fact that Aksel knew so many things! He knew his history, Geography, chemistry, Biology, Physics and even, Math now?!

"He's dumb, I just know it." Kira added. She has always been the smartest in her class and no one tried competing.

Just then, the trio spotted Gwen and Aksel walking and talking along the hallway.

She rolled her eyes at them, "Losers." Then she stopped to turn to her ever helpful boyfriend. "Liam, I have an assignment for you." She said in a firm tone.

He furrowed his brows in confusion, "That would be..."

"Find out what you know about that loser, I mean everything." Kira instructed.

Nessa chuckled lightly, "That's funny, isn't it your job to do that? I mean you're his partner in... " Her voice faded as soon as her eyes met Kira's cold expression.

"Can you do it?" Kira asked him.

Liam scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to answer. "Kira that guy should be the least of your-"

"Oh my God Liam, can you do it? It's a simple yes or no." She had rudely cut him of, demanding for a straight answer.

Liam glanced at Nessa who only shrugged, "ye-yeah." He stuttered awkwardly.

"Good." Kira said, taking in a deep breath before sashying away.

Nessa and Liam stood, making eye signals to themselves.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Kira's voice boomed down the hall way, making heads turn to her.

"We're right behind you Kira." Nessa picked up her pace, going after Kira.
🌼🌼🌼

"Why have you been homeschooled all your life?" Gwen asked Aksel as they took their seat in the library.

"My parents, should I say are private people." Aksel answered opening his book.

She nodded slowly... "Cool. Are you into sports?" Aksel asked again.

"Not really, but plan on joining the swim team." He answered her.

"Sweet. But playing the piano is your thing." Gwen said and he nodded. "I play the guitar."

Aksel gave her a half smile... "That's nice."

"We should sign up for the musical fest, what do you think?" Gwen asked, flipping the pages of her book.

"Musical fest?" He chuckled. "I'm not sure." He saw Kira walk past with her books in her hands, he watched her take a seat at a close distance to read.

"She's pretty right?" Gwen said to him, taking his attention way from Kira.

He turned to Gwen, slightly frowning. "What?"

"That girl, the one you were staring at? Blue eyes, full lips, hot body, fake blond. Kira Aniston. She's just another spoilt brat and She's bad news." Gwen told him plainly.

"Right." Aksel fixed his eyes on his book.

Her phone vibrated beside her on the table. She glanced at the caller ID. "Dang it!" Gwen closed her book. "I gotta take this. I'll see you later?" She asked in a hopeful tone as she stood, picking up her bag.

"Yeah." He said, giving her an assuring nod.

"Great." Gwen beamed a smile at him before leaving.

Aksel flipped the pages of his book, preparing to read but then again, he found himself giving a quick glance over at Kira and to his surprise, she was actually serious. He noticed her jot and highlight a few things on her book.
..............................................................................

"Where are we going?" Kira asked Liam who was driving her somewhere.

"My place." He stated not taking his eyes off the road.

"Your place? As in your house?" Kira asked to be sure.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Okay." She turned back to look at Nessa who was occupied on her phone with a headset over her ears. "Are your parents home?" She turned to Liam.

"No." He glanced at her. "What's wrong?" He asked when he noticed she sighed.

"Nothing." She shrugged. "I'm just over thinking."

"What's on your mind?" Liam asked her.

"Nothing really. It's that transfer student guy." Kira sighed just thinking of how she was going to cope living under one roof with him. She really needed to sit her father down to talk to him about the issue.

He chuckled. "You know Kiki, if you want, I could arrange for the pip squeak to be taken care of." Liam suggested.

"What?! No! Oh God Liam no." Kira gasped, not expecting him to say that.

"What, he's bothering you isn't he? Let me take care of him like the way I did with Ruben." Liam smirked.

"Jesus... What?!" Kira's jaw fell open. "You beat up Ruben? It was you?" Kira's eyes widened at the revelation.

Ruben was their classmate, he was hitting on Kira for a while and oneday he stopped, avoiding her like a disease. He was beaten up badly and according to him, it was robbers who attacked him.

"Of course I did. He was all over you and I hated that you gave him the attention. I only taught him a lesson." He said shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

Kira could remember how disfigured Ruben looked after the whole thing. "You stupid psycho." She reached out to Liam, hitting him with her hands repeatedly. "Why'd you do that?! Why'd you do that?! You're such an idiot! Why'd you do that?!" She kept on assaulting him while he drove.

"Hey! Hey! Stop it! Kiki stop!" He tried to stop her from hitting him but he was driving.

"How could you do that?!" Kira kept on hitting him.

"We're gonna crash if you don't stop." He said. "Kiki, dammit!!" He tried to keep his balance on the road.

"Both of you stop this! Are you fucking serious?" Nessa glared at them but Kira didn't budge. "Kira what the hell? What's wrong with you?! Nessa frowned at Kira.

The car skidded almost hitting the guardrail before coming to a stop.

"Shit!" Nessa exclaimed terrified.

Just as the car came to a stop, Kira and Liam broke into bickering, raising their voices.

"Shut the fuck up you two!!" Nessa screamed on top of her voice. Kira and Liam stopped abruptly, turning to her. "You both are crazy, okay? Crazy. We... I mean I almost died because you two are acting like 6 year olds." She was fuming. "Kira what the hell is wrong with you?! You almost got us into an accident." Nessa glared slightly at Kira.

In realization, Kira pulled back. "I didn't mean for that to happen." She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Are you guys okay?" She asked, glancing at Liam who only rolled his eyes.

"I'm not okay." Nessa deadpanned.

Kira sighed again, "Okay, it's my fault. Anyway, Liam just confessed to beating up Ruben. Can you believe it?" She said, looking at Nessa.

"Yeah, so?" Nessa raised a brow at her.

Kira seemed a bit confused at Nessa's response. "Really Nessa? Did you see Ruben's face? How many stitches he had? Possibly broken bones? Didn't you see how horrible the impact was?" Kira asked, thinking maybe Nessa didn't understand what she was talking about.

"So that's the reason you almost killed all three of us? Unbelievable! Ruben had it coming for a long time. There's no big deal in that." Nessa answered nonchalantly.

"At least someone gets me." Liam thew his hands up in support.

"Wow. You're both horrible people." Kira shook her head in disbelief.

Nessa rolled her eyes... "We all are." She reminded Kira. "... But don't worry, you'll get over it."

Kira remained silent. "Can... Can you take me home? I wanna go home." Kira sighed. Her two friends had totally lost their mind.

"Maybe I should just take you home." Liam finally said to Kira after her prolonged silence.

Kira nodded in agreement. "Sorry for acting like a bitch." She glanced at Nessa and forced a smiled. "You're right he deserved it." She turned to Liam. "I'm sorry."

He gave her a warm smile and then nodded, "Let's get you home then." Liam said, leaning over to kiss her lips.
🌼🌼🌼🌼

"How was your day Mr Aksel?" Marie greeted him warmly as soon as she met him inside the house.

"Fine thank you for asking. And please, call me Aksel." He smiled at her.

"Mr Aniston requested that every guest must be treated the same as the family Mr Aksel." She told him.

He nodded... "I'll take my leave first." He said. He's about to leave when he hears a melodious sound made from a piano. He stopped to listen.

"Oh!" Marie seemed to see his interest. "That must be Miss Rhea." She said aloud.

"She... She plays?" He was surprised to know that someone played fine keys.

"Sure she does." Marie nodded.

"Good to know. I should probably go." He said before walking out.

Aksel walked up to his room, carefully listening to Rhea play. He was actually impressed at her skill. After he had his bath, he decided to check on her. He followed the sound which led him to a great hall. There, he saw her seated, playing the grand piano.

Rhea was playing the song that he wasn't familiar with but he stood at a close distance, watching her play with ease.

She turned to the door, abruptly stopping her hands from playing as soon as she saw Aksel.

"Oh no please." Aksel said aloud as his voice echoed through the hall. "Do continue. I'm... I'm sorry." He quickly apologized.

Rhea frowned. "For what?" She asked him.

"What?" Aksel furrowed his brows.

Rhea faced him fully. "You apologized just now." She said calmly.

"Oh. I thought I might have distracted you." He told her as he entered the hall.

"No. You didn't." She shook her head.

"Nice... Nice piece by the way. It was beautiful." Aksel commended her.

Rhea finally smiled at him, revealing her faint dimple on the left side of her cheek. "Was it?"

He walked up to her... "You were great. It's different, nothing I've heard before." He told her.

"Well that's because it is different." She stressed on the 'is'. "It's called Ikaw Ay Ayo, by Vehnee Saturno. Morissette and Klarisse De Guzman performed the song." Rhea stood up after arranging her musical manuscripts.

"Wow, that's different." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, I like different... Not the regular kind you hear often." Rhea nodded.

"Do you play often?" Aksel asked her, looking at her steadily. At least she looked friendlier to approach than her Sister.

"This is all me." Rhea gestured around the hall. "So yeah, I play all the time." She looked him up and down curiously. "Do you play?" Rhea asked.

"I do." Aksel nodded slowly.

"Oh! Please please, do play something for me." Rhea clasped her hands. She was excited and not afraid to show it.

"I should play?" Aksel fluttered his eyes in surprise.

"Yes, if you don't mind." She said politely, gesturing towards the chair.

"I-I-I probably shouldn't." Aksel shook his head, turning down the offer.

"Please?" Rhea begged.

Aksel glanced at the piano and back at Rhea. It was just to play right? No harm. "Okay fine. But only because you insist." Aksel said as he took his seat.

Rhea watched him run a finger on every key, briskly. Just immediately he started playing a classical piano piece and Rhea knew just what it was.

"Beethoven's Moonlight sonata." She said softly.

Aksel played the keys delicately, filling the whole hall with melody.
🕸🕸🕸

Kira got hold of her bag as soon as Liam parked in front of the two storey mansion. There was only two of them in the car.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Kira said, reaching for the door.

"Hey hey." Liam stopped her hand.

"Oh come on Liam, I need to go." Kira closed her eyes, placing a finger on her forehead.

"Hold on. Look, Kiki, I wanna apologize for earlier. Clearly you're still upset." Liam said casually.

She opened her eyes... "I'm not upset but tired." Kira shrugged.

Liam smiled, placing his hand on her cheek. "So about the party, should I come over-"

Kira interrupted him... "That's Saturday night, I'm still not sure I'm going."

"It'll be fun, I promise."

"Okay bye, I gotta go." She gave a weak smile.

"Bye." Liam smiled back. "I'll call you."

Kira got out of the car, slammed the door shut before walking into the house without sparing a glance back at her boyfriend. She was exhausted no doubt and as she walked inside, she could hear the piano play.

"What's this now?" Kira groaned in annoyance. She wasn't ready to listen to some annoying sound as she needed her peaceful beauty sleep.

Just on time, she saw Marie. "Oh Marie!" She called out to the caretaker.

Marie halted at the call of her name and turned to Kira. "Oh Miss Kira, you're back." Marie walked up to Kira immediately.

"Can you please tell whosoever playing that shit to stop? I just got home and I need to rest." Kira pulled her hair back.

Marie chuckled.. "Oh darling, it's your sister and she's-"

Kira frowned.. "Then shut the door to the hall." She said.

"It's a beautiful piece Miss Kira." Marie told her. "You won't believe Sir Aksel plays just as well as your sister." Marie chirped in.

Kira's eyes perked, "Aksel?"

"Oh yes, he's the one playing right now." Marie smiled.

"Really?" Kira exhaled. "No wonder it's noisy." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that you said?" Marie didn't hear her.

"Nothing. Please, do me a favour," She held out her bag to Marie. "Keep this in my room for me will you?" Kira said handing over her bag to Marie.

"Okay." Marie nodded with a big smile before walking out.

"Well someone has to shut him up before he starts to think he's part of the family." Kira said, strutting towards the hall room.

She got there and she saw Rhea standing beside Aksel while he played. She stared at both of them as she couldn't understand why her sister was smiling like a fool.

"A-hem." Kira coughed out loud enough for them to stop and look at her. "What do you think you're doing?" Kira asked arrogantly, looking at Aksel.

Aksel and Rhea glanced at themselves before turning to Kira.

Kira strutted to them. "Look, I'm going to make something clear to you, you're not a member of this family and so you can't go around being a nuisance to everyone." She pointed at the piano. "And that tune you're playing is going to damage the piano." Kira said without any trace of human emotions.

Rhea had to step in. "Um... Kira, Aksel wasn't doing anything wrong. I wanted him to play." She said calmly.

Kira looked at her sister. "Not doing anything wrong?" She scoffed, throwing her hands up. "Well, he's in my house when he's not supposed to be!" She said on top of her voice, letting it echo.

"But it's my piano." Rhea frowned at her sister. "Mom and dad said Aksel is a guest here and we should treat him as part of the family."

"Part of the family my foot." Kira clicked her tongue. "Whatevs!" She glanced at Aksel, "Loser." She finally said before strutting to leave.

There was a long silence as they watched Kira leave the hall.

Aksel cleared his throat while standing up. "I'll leave first." He said as he tried to leave but Rhea held his arm.

"No please wait, I have to apologize to you." Rhea said, unhanding him.

"Why? You did nothing wrong." He raised his brow.

"I have to apologize on Kira's behalf, she can be difficult at times." She said to him.

"There's no need for that." He said before taking his leave.