Laia & The Transferee - Chapter 47

THE NEXT MORNING THE GIRL’S MOTHER acted like the argument last night never existed.

Laia wanted to bring the topic back again, but her mother would always find a way to divert the topic to something else, even to the point that she’s once again bringing up the concept of who her daughter should date.

Annoyed, Laia ate as quickly as she could despite the risk of indigestion.

“Ugh,” The short-haired girl grunts as she slung her backpack behind her bag. “I hate Tuesdays,”

Parking her bicycle on where most of her other schoolmates left their bikes, Laia quickly made her way to where the flag ceremony was being held.

Fortunately, she wasn’t late. The whole area was still buzzing with noise as everyone talked with one another about most topics that Laia deemed irrelevant.

“Laia!”

Laia whipped her head to the side and saw a sheepish Brie waving her hand.

When she was finally in front of Laia, she immediately pulls her friend to a hug.

The short-haired girl fought the urge to yell at her friend for leaving her out of nowhere to take care of the asshat but instead opted to reluctantly hug her friend back.

“Don’t think I forgot about how you left me out of nowhere yesterday,” Laia patted her friend’s back with more force than necessary.

Brie pouts as she pulled away from a frowning Laia. “I’m sorry, there was an emergency back at home!”

“Let me guess, one of your bags got lost?”

“How’d you know– I mean, no! Definitely not that,” The long-haired girl nervously tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Grandma came home from the Maldives!”

It was easy for Laia to remember how Brie told her a few days ago that her grandmother was currently on a cruise.

So that was obviously a lie.

And Brie had never been great at lying, Laia thinks as she watched her friend awkwardly shift her gaze from Laia to the ground repeatedly.

Sighing in defeat, Laia waves her hand to imply a change of subject.

Brie was happy to comply. “So,” The girl even had a mischievous smile that strangely Laia remember her mother. “What do you think of Amethyst?”

Laia pondered for an answer and in the end, decided to just shrug. “She’s okay, I guess?”

“Hmm,” Her friend obviously didn’t believe her. “Nothing to tell me?”

“Nothing,”

“Really? Because Niel might have or might not have had texted me how you girls had this silent tension ongoing after Sammy revealed that he had been to your house already before yesterday,”

A punch on the face would definitely be what Niel would be welcomed with when Laia arrives in the coffee shop later.

Laia continued to act as if it didn’t bother her one bit. “It’s not a big deal like how Niel probably told you,” She kept her face as impassive as possible. “She probably just didn’t like the food that’s why she was silent–”

“She was only silent when Sammy talked about you,” Brie smirks and even wiggled her eyebrows. “That’s kinda fishy, don’t you think?”

It’s even fishier how Brie doesn’t seem to want to just drop the topic about Laia probably having a distaste for the asshat’s girlfriend but Laia doesn’t say that out loud.

“I thought you were friends with Amethyst?”

“Yeah? So what?”

“Then why are you so keen on wanting to hear me talk shit about her when we just met yesterday?”

Fortunately, Laia’s bluntness was enough to silence Brie for the rest of the flag ceremony that also coincidentally started after Laia’s statement. Despite feeling her friend’s stare on her back, Laia never turned once and instead tried her best to focus on whatever the principal was talking about in front.

The principal’s announcement ended being longer than Laia expected.

Bored, the short-haired girl scanned her surroundings for a familiar face, completely dismissing the idea of turning towards Brie whose phone was repeatedly vibrating from all the notifications (or messages) that she was receiving.

Unfortunately, the familiar face just had to be the asshat who was in a line with a different section.

Said asshat also grinned at her and even waved.

Laia had to crouch down in panic when those who were near the asshat (probably his friends) turned towards the direction of whoever the asshat waved at.

“Annoying asshole,” Laia whispers and grimaces upon seeing how her skirt was stained due to how she landed on a small puddle of water probably from the rain that happened during dawn. “He always ruins my day..”

“What happened?” Brie asks when her friend stood up from her crouching position and glared at someone on the right.

“Nothing,” Laia pulls her hair into a ponytail which she was barely able to do with how the current length of her hair was. “Amelie still not done talking?”

The girl’s blunt words made some of their classmates turn to her with shock, obviously not expecting Laia to call their school principal by her given name.

Even Brie was taken aback by her friend’s seemingly change in attitude.

Laia raised an eyebrow at everyone who was looking at her weirdly, making them turn away while whispering and gossiping like how they always did.

“What’s the big deal? Amelie did tell me before that it’s okay for me to call her by her name, especially since she didn’t want to feel old,”

“How does calling her principal makes her feel old?”

“I don’t know, but I’m used to calling her by her name in private,”

“So why’d you call her by her given name in public?”

Laia shrugs. “At this point, I honestly don’t care much about my reputation. It’s already in pieces with how everyone is on the asshat’s side whenever we fight,”

“I’m on your side, though?”

Laia couldn’t help but look at her friend with undisguised skepticism.

That was definitely a lie and everybody knows that.

“Sure,” Laia checks her phone to see if her mother texted her whether she would work overtime or not today. Her mother still didn’t send a message. “Did you study for the quiz later?”

“What quiz?”

“The History quiz, genius,” Laia shows Brie the message their History teacher sent on their group chat. “It’s happening today, did you forget?”

“What the hell? I didn’t even see that message and I’m always online!” Brie anxiously scrolled through the messages of their group chat and paled upon seeing the message that Laia showed her a few seconds ago. “Oh god, there is a message..”

Laia pats her friend on the shoulder sympathetically. “It’s just a ten-item quiz about the topic we discussed last week,”

Brie looks at her and pouts. “Do you honestly think I still remember whatever our History teacher discussed last week?”

“And yet you can memorize whatever Jake told you last week?” Laia didn’t let the opportunity to tease her friend pass.

The long-haired hair groans as she pulled her History textbook from the bag that she placed on the floor. “I hate reading about dead people..”

“Who does?”

“You,” Brie narrowed her eyes at her friend who laughs. “You even think that one Greek philosopher was hot,”

Laia frowns. She didn’t remember telling Brie that she thought a Greek philosopher was hot. They were all depicted as old men! “Why would I think an old guy is hot?”

Brie shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe you’re attracted to old guys that’s why you don’t find anyone in our school attractive,”

Laia not finding anyone in their school attractive may be a bit of a stretch. It’s not that she doesn’t find anyone attractive, it’s just that she didn’t quite like the personalities of most of the boys in their school had.

And Laia did find someone of their age attractive!

She unconsciously sighed as she remembered how nice her new neighbor was and how he even smelled good.

Laia immediately shook the intrusive thoughts away. Having a crush on her attractive and obviously out-of-her-league neighbor is definitely a no-go.

Her chances of getting together with him are probably zero to one and the one percent would probably only be possible if Aiden wouldn’t see any other girl on the street or in their neighborhood alone.

“What’s gotten your head up in the clouds?” Brie asks once she noticed how her friend suddenly became silent.

“Nothing,”

“Oh, that’s definitely not nothing,” Her friend elbows her with a teasing grin that reminded Laia of her own when she was teasing Brie earlier. “Who are you thinking of?”

“What makes you think it’s a who?”

“I mean,” Brie looked at Laia like she just asked the easiest question to answer. “Would a History quiz get your head up in the clouds like that?”

Laia was about to retort a dozen reasons of how it wasn’t (definitely was) a person who made her head go up to the clouds when the principal finally left the stage and everyone applauded in turn.

Brie sighs in disappointment upon realizing that she would probably never get the answer to her question after that interruption. “Ugh, let’s just go to our classroom,”

Laia nods and followed her friend who surprisingly seemed eager to leave their line when Jake was revealed to be standing just behind her.

Weird, Laia would certainly ask about that later.

If she even remembers.

The short-haired girl was about to enter the room when someone pulled her wrist in an almost gentle manner.

“What’s honestly with people pulling me when I’m about to do something–”

Laia’s eyes widened at the boy who was currently smiling in front of her.

How?

“Hi,” Aiden’s dimples seemed to be shining to Laia. “I thought I should at least say hi before I embarrass myself in front of the class later,”

“You– What– Why–”

“My grandmother thought it would be tiring for me to travel every day to my previous school,” He smiles at the thought of his grandmother, unaware of how his smile made Laia’s heart drum erratically in her chest. “She told me to transfer here and here I am,”

“Oh,” was the only intelligible word Laia could utter. She still couldn’t believe that she was just thinking of the boy and suddenly he’s here in front of her and is apparently her classmate as well. “That’s great..”

“I’m happy that you think it’s great,” He gently pats her on the shoulder. “Should we go inside? I think that’s our adviser,”

The boy cocks his head to the side and Laia immediately pushed him inside as she realized that he was right about their adviser coming their way.

“You stay here,” She guides him towards the corner of the room. “Wait for Ma’am Anne to tell you to introduce yourself,”

Aidan smiles. “Okay.”

Laia looks away from the boy’s intent gaze that stayed on her until she sat down next to Brie whose mouth was open.

“Brie, close your mouth,” Laia reprimands her friend as she pushed her friend’s jaw upwards.

Brie turns to Laia with her eyes wide and whispers. “Who is he and how lucky are we on the scale of one to ten that he’s our classmate?”

Her friend wasn’t the only one curious. Whispers and murmurs filled the room of who the new student was, Laia hearing bits of some conversations being how they found Aiden attractive and extremely handsome.

She doesn’t disagree.

“Laia?”

“Oh,” Laia couldn’t help but fight back a smile as amidst the chaos in their room Aiden’s eyes remained on her. “He’s my new neighbor,”

“Good morning class!” Their adviser clapped her hands together in glee as she beckoned Aiden to step forward. “We have a new student joining us today! Introduce yourself, please?”

“Hi,” The boy waves briefly.. “I’m Aiden Thaddeus Hayes.”