I gawked at the interior of Ryland's house. It was beautiful.

There might be a few clutter here and there but all that aside and it looked like it was picked straight out of a furniture catalogue magazine!

The inside looked just as modern as the outside.

The moment I stepped in, the first thing I saw was their living room. There was a big white sofa and another that was adjacent to it.

There were a few plotted plants that can be seen here and there.

In front of the big white sofa there was a huge concave Samsung TV that hung on the wall securely.

I've always dreamt of having that TV...

I let my eyes travel farther and saw their kitchen. They had countertops and high chairs. I saw a lot of cabinets on the wall as well as a big silver fridge. They had a stove with a gas range over it.

There was probably more things in the kitchen that I probably missed because of the countertop blocking the way.

"Oh! Hey, Ryland." A feminine voice chirped from the left.

I snapped my head to see Ryland's whole family already seated at the table.

Speaking of their dining room, it was quite simple with a glass table held up by metal stands on each corner and was surrounded with pristine white chairs.

There were also potted plants decorating the corners of the room.

It was all illuminated by the giant window beside it. I could see their neighbor's house and plants guarded by white fences from the window.

As I entered the dining room, I noticed it had a wall at its right side which I remembered from before. On it's opposite side, there was the stairs leading up to the second floor.

My blood ran colder as I neared the family. I was going to slip, aren't I?

No, of course not. I'm just being paranoid...right?

I tried to school my face into looking calm and let's hope that I didn't fail.

The table fitted 8 people - 2 at each of its length and 1 at each of its width.

A male and a female whom I assume to be Ryland's parents were seated at each end.

His father had the same warm smile that his mother had. They looked like really nice people which calmed me a bit.

There were two more people sitting across two empty seats. I don't really know who they are. One of them was a girl who looked older than Ryland and the other was a boy who looked younger than of them.

I'm going to take guess and say they're his siblings.

Ryland acted like a gentleman and pulled out the chair for me. He looked at me before I took a seat and winked. "Chivalry's not dead, baby."

I wanted to roll my eyes but couldn't under the scrutinising gaze of his family.

"Hi." I managed to squeak out. This seemed to snap everyone from whatever thoughts were having.

I sat across from whom I assume to be Ryland's sister with his mom on my right and Ryland himself on my left.

"Pleasure to meet you..... Venus?" The deep voice of Ryland's father said.

"Um, yeah. I'm Venus. Pleasure to meet you too!" My reply came out a bit shaky.

The man held out his palm. I realized he was going for a handshake.

I subtly wipe my sweaty palms on my dress before leaning forward to shake his hand.

His hand was so much bigger than mine. His fingers wrapped almost my entire hand.

He said, "Rick. Call me Rick. I'm Ryland's awesome father."

I saw Ryland roll his eyes in my peripheral.

I nodded my head and then pulled back to lean on my chair.

"Oh, and I'm Melissa, Ryland's mom," Ryland's mother, or rather Melissa, began to say, "Children! Introduce yourselves!"

Across from me, Ryland's siblings flinched from the stern tone of their mother.

The first to speak to me was the younger boy. "Hi! I'm André. That guy," he pointed to Ryland, "is my annoying older brother."

A cheeky grin blossomed on his face when he noticed Ryland scowl at him.

"I am not annoying," he muttered in a low and angry voice.

That made Andre laugh out loud. I felt a genuine smile grow on my face then.

"Yeah, right," the older sister of Ryland retorted. I might have looked at her curiously without me noticing because then, she faces me with a blank face and the coldest eyes.

"I'm Ryland's older sister," she said while barely moving her lips.

Ooh! I guessed it right, then.

Ryland nervously chuckles beside me. He nods her way. "That's Diana. She may be a little mean at first but trust me, she's the nicest person you'll ever meet."

Nicest person I'll ever meet, my foot! Whichever universe that is true though, I'd love to go there.

I glanced at Diana only to see her scowl as she glares at her brother. "Am not."

Ryland grins cheekily. "Are too."

"Ugh. I don't want to deal with this today," Diana hissed.

The parents butted in. Rick spoke first, "Alright, children. No fighting in front of our lovely guest. We're going to have our food now."

He glanced at his wife who caught on the message. Melissa stood up and walked to the kitchen, passing by my back.

She came back later with platters of food on her arms. She laid them out on the middle of the table.

The first plate which was the biggest held slices of scrumptious steak. I was practically drooling as I inhaled its delicious aroma.

On its left side there was a plate with a pile of rice on it while on its right side there was some rosemary roasted potatoes.

I just wanted to dig in but I restrained myself from doing so. I think the hosts should get to eat first...

There was just a second of silence before Ryland beside me commented, "Alright. No one seems to want to go first so I'll do it."

And just like that, the silence evaporated replaced with soft chuckles and laughter.

I eventually got over my anxiety and was able to stretch my arm to grab some food without feeling too embarrassed.

I was raising the spoon up to my mouth to start eating when Rick yelled, "WAIT! DON'T EAT YET. WE HAVE TO TOAST FIRST!"

I lowered my spoon to the plate as Rick rushed off to get the wine glasses from the kitchen.

He came back with 6 glasses in total and a pitcher of iced tea.

He poured some iced tea in each of our glasses. As he finished pouring in mine, I muttered shyly a "thank you".

Rick just grinned in return.

"To God above who gave us these blessings!"

We followed, raising our own glasses to the air.

In unison, we repeated what Rick said.

"To God above who gave us these blessings!"

-

My eyes watered as the Beauty and the Beast movie came to an end.

I heard some sniffling and turned to look at who it was. It was Melissa.

She was dabbing her eyes with a patterned handkerchief as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

I wiped my tears away when I felt they were already dripping.

"Hey. You holding up there?" Ryland asked me.

I scanned his face for a moment. I gasped in disbelief as I noticed something.

"You didn't cry!" I accused him. "How could you? This was such a beautiful movie."

His only reaction was a grin and a quirk of his brow. "I'm heartless, aren't I? MWAHAHAHAHA."

I pushed him off the couch.

He scrambled to his feet and said, "Hey! No pushing."

I stared at the rolling credits in front of me and felt the couch sink from Ryland's weight as he sat beside me.

Then, I heard the faint sound of crickets. Oh my gosh. What time was it? I had frickin' school tomorrow!

I pulled my arm in front of my face so quick that it hit me on the nose.

I rubbed my nose before positioning my arm properly in front of my face.

I gaped at my golden-rimmed and black-strapped Micky Mouse watch. IT WAS 9:12pm!

"Hey. What's wrong? You look like you just heard that your dog died."

I replied to Ryland. "Trust me, I wouldn't look like this if my dog died. I'll probably be all smiles and laughs. I don't particularly like dogs."

He gasped. "How could you not love dogs?!"

"I dunno." I shrugged. "Listen, it's already late at night so I gotta go."

He checked his watch. "Oh wow. I didn't know time flew this fast. Alright let's go. I'll drive you there...or rather, my driver will drive you there while I sit in the passenger seat."

I stood up to thank Melissa for having me over. She said, "You can come here anytime, Venus. We'd love to have you here."

"Yeahh!" André agreed. I smiled at them before waving goodbye.

Rick retired early so I wasn't able to bid farewell to him and as for Diana... She said the movie is trash and left the moment it started.

Oh well. I wasn't planning on saying goodbye to her anyway.

I was now in Ryland's car watching the lights blur into one and we whizzed away.

The smile on my face never left as well as the taste of the wonderful dessert they served me.

Hmmm, I love ice-cream.

-

"ANALIESE! STOP FLIRTING AND SIT NEXT TO VENUS!" Our Maths teacher, Ms. Blyth, boomed.

The cheerleader turned her head away from the guy, her face stricken with fear.

"Yes, Ms. Blyth." She ducked her head. Analiese proceeded to pack her stuff into her bag and walked slowly to the empty desk beside me.

Clad in her mini skirt and tight, mini, strapless, crop top, she was sure to turn heads her way.

I wonder how she deals with all that attention. Huh, it must be really overwhelming.

As she settled down beside me, Ms. Blyth continued to ramble on.

I faced her and whispered a "Hi." to her. She looked around her to see who I was talking to.

After seeing that no one else was looking my way, she pointed at herself and raised her brows in a questioning manner as if to say, "Me?"

I nodded.

She cheerfully replied, "Hi!"

Not really knowing what else to say to her, I just smiled.

Ms. Blyth turned around to face our direction. I froze. I crossed my fingers while chanting in my head, Please no detention, please no detention...

"Do you have something to say, Analiese?" She asked rhetorically in a stern voice. Nevertheless, Analiese replied.

"No, Ms. Blyth." Her surprisingly calm voice wrapped around the room like a blanket.

Our maths teacher just nodded her head in satisfaction and continued scribbling equations on the board. "Ah, that's what I thought."

The class resumed and everyone went back to trying to understand whatever Ms. Blyth was saying.

The lesson eventually came to an end and it was time for our seatwork. We were supposed to find a person to work with.

I desperately looked around for somebody I knew. Gabriel and Ryland weren't here since I was in a more advanced maths class.

Wait. Actually, there was one person I knew here. I debated whether to go and ask Diana if we should partner up.

I ended up not going. That girl probably thinks I'm not worthy enough of her attention.

"Hey, Venus!"

My head snapped to the source of the voice. "Huh?" I asked stupidly.

What could Analiese want from me?

"Wanna be my partner?" She asked with a bright smile that possibly blinded everyone in the room.

I agreed, of course. She seemed like a great person to hang out with and also, I didn't really have a better choice.

I scooted closer to her and pushed my table. I flipped open my textbook.

"Hm, why haven't I seen you in my other classes?" Analiese questioned me.

"Oh, that's because I'm a year younger than all of you. Basically, I'm just a sophomore who ended up being good enough at maths to attend advanced classes."

"I got a smart person to pair up with me? Nice."

-

I sensed two people standing in front of me as I ate my pizza alone. I looked up to see the two boys.

"Hey." I greeted them. They both spoke at the same time - Gabriel saying "Hi!" and Ryland saying "Yo!"

Gabriel began to take the seat across from me and Ryland on my left. As soon as they settled, Gabriel opened his mouth.

"Guys! It's autumn already! Just look at the trees's leaves! They're orange."

Ryland rolled his eyes. "Of course they are."

"C'mon! Can't you at least show a bit of excitement?" Gabriel whined.

I perked up. "I totally agree with Gabriel! Autumn comes only once a year...... And so does every other season. But still! We should totally celebrate the start of Autumn."

"But how?" Ryland asked, being the pessimist he was.

"Bas-" I got cut off by the new presence standing in front of our table.

I was dumbfounded. "Analiese?"