Being Watched

Chapter 9

“And that is how I ended up calling you at seven-thirty in the morning!” Andy finishes and I yawn as I switch the phone to my right ear.

It’s Monday morning and I’m as tired as a normal person can be on Monday. I smile at a few of my classmates when I enter the class and because I’m not fully awake, I almost forget that I’m on the phone with Andy. Almost.

“So basically you haven’t slept all night, you have a huge test in thirty minutes, and you decided to spend the little time you have talking to me?” I ask.

“I’m just so nervous!” He admits. “I thought talking to you will make me feel better.”

I smile slightly. “I have around ten minutes before I have to hand in my cell phone so I will sacrifice this time I could use to sleep just to talk to you and let you forget about that test for a bit, good?”

“Thank you! You’re the best,” he says, sounding a bit relieved.

“I know,” I reply arrogantly and he laughs.

“So how’s school? Still feeling like an outsider?” He asks.

“It’s better now,” I reply. “What I love the most is that my grades are much better than the ones I used to get at my old school. Their tests are so easy compared to the ones I used to have at my previous school!”

I sit on my desk and look around the classroom, my phone still pressed against my right ear.

“That’s good,” he says. “Any cute guys you like?”

At the same moment he says that, Jeremy appears in front of me. I smile at him and he smiles back.

“A few,” I say into the phone.

“Really? Who?” He asks.

“Is that jealousy I hear?” I tease him.

“No!” He says quickly. Then he mumbles, “Just curious.”

“Mmhmm,” I say, unconvinced. I’m actually just messing with him but it seems as if he does actually like me. I doubt it, though, because he’s older and he has all those college girls. Why would he pick me?

“Changing the topic,” he says making me snicker.

“There’s a girl that’s been staring at me ever since I called you. It’s getting creepy,” he tells me.

I chuckle. “Where are you? And what does she look like?”

“Who’s jealous now?” he mutters.

“Oh please, you just said she was being creepy,” I reply.

“But she’s hot,” he says.

“Oh really?” I say, smiling a bit.

“Yep you know with the whole bleach blond hair and fake orange tan and fake nose and fake boobs and bright pink dress and a ton of makeup. She’ll make a perfect Barbie and I’ll make a perfect Ken don’t you think?” He says with fake cheerfulness and I burst out laughing.

“I didn’t know you were a Barbie fan,” I say when I stop laughing.

“Pshh of course I am!” he replies sarcastically and the bell rings.

“Please don’t tell me you have to go now,” he says, obviously hearing the bell.

“I do,” I reply, biting my lip. “I have around one minute before the teacher comes in.”

He sighs from the other end and I feel bad for him.

“Go talk to Barbie, she might keep your mind off things,” I joke.

“I’d rather hyperventilate on my own,” he replies.

“Relax, Andy, you’ll do fine,” I try to reassure him.

“If I pass that test then I’ll take you out because you helped me from having a panic attack,” he says and I smile.

“Are you asking me on a date?” I tease him, smiling.

“Maybe,” he mumbles, sounding embarrassed.

“And what if I say no?” I ask.

“Come on Steph; let me have a reason to do great on that test!” He complains.

“I’ll go,” I say. “Only if you get at least a seventy five.”

“Seventy five? Are you crazy? That’s close to impossible!” He argues.

“Then you have to work hard,” I answer and he sighs. “I have to go now.”

“Okay,” he mumbles, sounding sad.

“I’ll text you when I’m out of here,” I say, trying to make his mood a bit better.

“I guess I’ll have to survive those eight hours without you,” he says dramatically and I roll my eyes.

“Good luck with that test,” I say.

“Thanks,” he replies.

“Bye!” I say and wait for his “Bye” before hanging up.

I quickly run to the wooden box and shove my phone into square number eleven before returning to my seat.

“Who was that?” Emma asks when the English teacher starts the lesson.

“Andy,” I say and when I see her confused expression I continue, “The boss’s son.”

“Oh!” She says, recognition flashing in her eyes and then she smirks. “So you’re going out with the boss’s son now?”

“Nope,” I reply but I do smile a bit as I replay in my head Andy’s way of asking me out. Turns out, he does like me. I didn’t directly say yes to him because I know I am in love with Jeremy but I didn’t really say no either because I like Andy and he might be what I need to get over my feelings for Jeremy because our relationship doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere.

Plus, how will he react when he knows that I’ve been spying on him for three years?

“I do believe that you said to him and I quote ‘are you asking me on a date?’” Emma says with a smug smile.

“Okay so he kind of asked me out,” I relent.

“And you said yes?” She asks excitedly.

“Not really,” I reply, grinning. “He’ll have to get at least a seventy five on his test today for me to accept.”

“A seventy five?” She asks. “That’s a lot for a college student.”

“I know,” I reply.

“So you don’t want to go out with him?” She asks confusedly.

I hesitate before saying, “It’s complicated.” And my gaze involuntarily travels to Jeremy for a second. I find him already looking our way so I make it look like I’m just looking away from Emma.

She rolls her eyes at my typical reply.

“I’ll think about it, though,” I add and she nods.

“Fair enough,” she says.

Our conversation ends and she faces the front again, listening to the teacher.

Not being able to resist, I glance at Jeremy and find him turning his head back to the front as well. I’m pretty sure he heard the whole thing.

Was it possible for him to be jealous? I know I would be if I knew that there was a girl interested in him. But he probably doesn’t even like me. He’s so confusing. One minute he’s so friendly, getting my hopes up, and the other he’s trying his best to avoid me.

I didn’t know what to believe.

The rest of the morning passed normally and I couldn’t find any trace of jealousy while talking to Jeremy which disappointed me.

He really doesn’t have any feelings for me.

During break time, the girls try to convince me that I should say yes to Andy. I’m still thinking about it, I tell them, trying to divert the topic because I don’t want them questioning why it’s so ‘complicated’.

“I don’t want to go to basketball practice,” Henry whines. I just got to my seat in class after break time and Henry was sitting on Jeremy’s desk while Jeremy was putting some books in his bag.

“It’s just a couple of hours,” Jeremy says.

“But it’s a couple of hours after eight hours at school,” Henry points out.

“You’re on the basketball team?” I ask Henry.

“Yeah, me and Jeremy,” he says.

“Jeremy, I know, but I didn’t know you were a part of the team too,” I say.

“How did you know that I was?” Jeremy asks, frowning at me.

Ah shit. I quickly try to remember if a conversation about basketball came up in the past month but I can’t think of a single thing.

“I heard someone talking about it, I think,” I blurt out. They both give me confused looks so I quickly try changing the topic slightly. “Plus, it shows,” I add, pinching Jeremy’s biceps.

“Hey! What do you mean?” Henry immediately says, pulling his shirt sleeve up and looking at his biceps.

“Nothing,” I reply innocently, relieved that the conversation took another turn.

“I have muscles too!” Henry argues.

“I didn’t say you don’t but there’s a difference,” I say, glancing at both of their biceps.

“Whatever,” Henry huffs. “I’m still hotter than him.”

“Whatever you say,” I reply, a smirk tugging at my lips. Sure Henry was good looking but he wasn’t as hot as Jeremy.

He narrows his eyes at me but before he can say anything else, Amelia’s voice tells him to ‘get his butt over here right now’. Looks like he’s in trouble, I think as he walks over to the other side of the class.

“So,” Jeremy starts, smirking slightly. “You think I’m hot?”

“I didn’t say that,” I reply, blushing.

“You clearly think that I’m hotter than Henry,” he points out.

“So? I never said Henry was hot in the first place,” I say.

Jeremy narrows his eyes at me. “Mmhmm,” he mutters and I roll my eyes.

Of course I think he’s hot! And he knows it! But I’m not going to admit it.

“Well I think you’re cute,” He says and my eyes quickly snap up to meet his.

I blush and his lips twitch. “Uh… Um t-thanks,” I stutter, still blushing.

He coughs, trying to hide his laughter and it makes me feel even more embarrassed. Any normal girl wouldn’t get flustered over something like that. If it were any other guy I wouldn’t have stuttered like that but it’s Jeremy…

“You okay, Stephy? You look a little red,” He says and I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Um I-I… Shut up!” I huff and he laughs.

When my cheeks return to their normal color, I look up at Jeremy. I find him looking at me, his blue eyes twinkling. Feeling a bit out of breath, I look away for second.

“Everyone loved you on Friday,” he suddenly says, leaning against his desk. I’m sitting on top of mine, facing him.

I smile at that. “They’re really nice,” I say.

After a few moments of silence, I glance at the door and see that the teacher wasn’t here yet. I look back at Jeremy and see him looking at me with his ‘thinking’ face on. I wish I could know what he’s thinking about.

“Why… Why do you pray so much? I mean don’t you have all those questions and stuff?” I ask.

He looks at me for a bit then looks away.

“I just found my answers sooner,” he says, shrugging.

“So you experienced what I am experiencing now?” I ask.

“Kind of,” he replies and I frown slightly. During all the three years that I watched Jeremy, he had always been religious so it probably happened before that time.

He opens his mouth to say something but then stops. I see the hesitant look in his eyes and I look at him expectantly.

“Never mind,” he finally says.

“What were you going to say?” I ask, curious.

“Nothing,” he says quickly and I sigh. I wish he could talk to me, trust me. I want to have serious conversations with him.

As if reading my thoughts he says, “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t want…” He trails off, looking away.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” I say, giving him a small smile.

“I want to tell you but it’s just,” his eyes connect with mine for a second before he finds the word he wants to say, “Difficult.”

I smile and jump down from my desk. I give him a hug and he doesn’t return it before three seconds. Yes, I counted.

 “What was that for?” He asks when I pull away.

“I don’t know what you wanted to say but it looked like you needed a hug,” I say, blushing slightly.

“So you’re the ‘hugging’ type of person,” he jokes and I laugh.

“Yeah, I’m the hug master!” I say and this time he’s the one laughing.

“The hug master?” He says, amusement shining in his blue eyes.

I chuckle, finding the name stupid. “Of course! I’m always ready to give out hugs to everyone!”

“Really?” He says, smirking. “So if I ask you for a hug any day, you’ll give me one?”

“Sure!” I chirp happily. “I love hugs. They always make me feel better.”

“They make others feel better too, hug master,” he teases and I laugh.

For a few seconds, our eyes meet and we’re both smiling. It’s like I can’t look away and right now I’m not sure that I want to look away. He looks so beautiful right now.

How would he react if I kiss him right now?

I didn’t have time to think it over because our moment was interrupted by our ugly Sociology teacher. He walks in and everyone stops talking and returns to their places.

I sit in my chair as well and for the rest of the day, all I can think of are Jeremy’s bright blue eyes.

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Hello! :)

I saw the Pope yesterday! He's so wise! :)

Anyway, sorry for the short chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer.

Happy Birthday to Vanessa Phua(from your friend --> VinsOffTheWall)  tamusa2010  and my little brother (who will probably never see this :P) ! I hope you all have a wonderful year! <3

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