Taming the School Heartthrob

Chapter 7

THE NEXT DAY during class, I didn’t give too much attention to my surroundings. I narrowed the noise inside the classroom and kept my eyes looking in front—at the teacher writing on the whiteboard.

Except the fact that I still noticed that Ceasar was still not around and yet the first subject for the morning class started. I don’t know why, but I could feel like the back part of the classroom was at peace—maybe because he was the storm.

That particular scene that I saw last night on Dona’s birthday flashed through my mind while reading through the definition of quantitative research and how it differs from qualitative research.

When I noticed that my mind was again deviating from our discussion, I slightly shrugged my head. Only to gaze at the door of the classroom when someone walked through without second thoughts.

“Good morning, Miss!” greeted Ceasar as he walked towards his seat, his silly smile not disappearing from his lips that made his face goofy and unserious.

Does he even know that it is disrespectful to attend class late and cause that much commotion?

And yet, despite his bright smile, his voice that was full of aggression filled my memory.

How could a person be two personas at the same time? What happened between him and that girl that made me furious?

I gulped. Well, it wasn’t really my business to know.

The tapping of feet under my chair started and I just ignored it. My mind already knew who was basically doing that.

A few minutes later, I felt something cold near my arms.

I glanced at my side and saw that someone was handing me something—my calculator!

Without saying a word, Ceasar handed me my calculator.

I whispered a little, “Thank you.”

The rest of the class hours I was smiling. My calculator is finally back. Undamaged. At least Ceasar didn’t feel the urge to destroy it for whatever silly reason he might have come up with.

The day went by fast and smoothly, not until around dismissal I was called by Teacher Ann. It turned out I wasn’t alone. Ceasar was asked to stay in the classroom while we waited for our other classmates to go home.

“You two should stay for a while,” she said.

I nodded in obedience. My reflexes knew better than looking behind, so I would know Ceasar’s reaction.

I remained at my seat after fixing my things. Then I smiled at Teacher Ann and she gazed at me.

Minutes after, all of our classmates left the classroom and we were the only ones left inside.

I don’t know what this is gonna be about but—it surely is serious.

“I heard that you didn’t report to the disciplinary office during the time that Mrs. Georgina asked the two of you to go. Why is that?”

“That is wrong, Miss. We went there but it was closed.”

It took me seconds before taking in what Ceasar just said. Was the office closed? I remembered that we weren’t able to check because I succumbed to a panic attack.

He stared at me, as if forcing me to add something and support what he just said. “Right?”

‘Trina, my name’s Trina,’ I was so tempted to say. How could he not know my name and mess around with me for the past few days…

Instead of coming up with another lie, I just nodded my head. Hesitant at first, I opened my mouth to add an explanation. “Yes, Teacher Ann. Ceasar was right. We went there and no one was there and the door was locked.”

Teacher Ann’s brows burrowed. She folded her arms in front of her chest and was about to say something when someone knocked at the door even though it was wide open.

It was one of the male teachers of the ABM strand. He smiled at us and said, “I’m sorry to interrupt but… Miss Ann. We are called on for a faculty meeting.”

Teacher Ann’s gaze was glued to the male teacher, as if she was a trance. I didn’t realize I was already looking at them both, very intently, because seconds passed by and Teacher Ann wasn’t able to gauge a word.

Then I felt someone’s presence near my hair. “Cat got her tongue.” It was Ceasar’s voice.

I almost screamed when I saw his face just inches from mine. “What are you doing?” I said, always a whisper to not attract the attention of both teachers.

“Talking with you?”

I squinted my eyes. This guy is so unpredictable. So, weird.

After almost a minute, Teacher Ann recovered her composure and smiled at us. “I will follow you, Sir. Just a few minutes.”

The male teacher nodded, glanced at us and smiled before leaving.

Teacher Ann almost frantically fixed her things and got them all inside her expensive sling bag.

“You two, you can do an hour of community service. You can clean the bathroom near the school gym. Then you don’t have to check the disciplinary office the second time. You then go home afterwards.”

“Alright, Miss!” said Ceaser, his voice almost cheering. Then Teacher Ann left the classroom.

My mouth went ajar. I glanced at my watch. It is already 5 pm. An hour of cleaning and I will be late for going home.

“The gym’s bathroom smelled bad every time. For sure it’s a mess this time too!” I complained, mainly to myself, but I realized that I was thinking out loud when Ceasar answered me with a disgusted look.

“You can clean it yourself.”

I stood up from my seat and faced him. Arms resting on my hips and my eyes wide open.

“We were told to clean them both!”

“I didn’t say I would.”

“Nor did I!” I retorted. “But you said, alright, miss.” I even tried to imitate his tone when he said those very words earlier.

He laughed.

I squirmed. Wanting to wake this guy up from the realization of his words.

“We should go fast or else we will be home late.”

“I won’t clean a bathroom—”

My palms grasped his wrist, then I dragged him outside of the classroom. I am determined to reclaim my untainted high record of good conduct. If I had to do an hour of community service, I would oblige.

And this guy will do the same, because he has also done damage.

“Ceasar, you can mop the floor and I will sweep the mirror and also clean the toilet,” I said as soon as we’ve arrived at the only bathroom that was situated near the school gym. It was basically a bathroom with 3 cubicles. If we do the work now, we will surely be finished by an hour.

But he just stared at me, as if I was losing my mind.

“What?” I asked as I fixed my hair into a bun and settled my bag at the sink.

“Are you effin’ serious?”

“We were told to do that!”

“C’mon she won’t even check if we cleaned or not.”

“Would you risk getting reprimanded again?”

“I won’t mind.” Ceasar smiled sheepishly. Like he would prefer that instead of following instructions.

“We’ve got to do this,” I firmly said. “Or else we will have a disciplinary record.”

“Who cares—”

Instead of listening to him whine, I started cleaning.

If he leaves, it is his choice. I won’t… but I heard a shuffle followed by a clamour of cleaning materials from a distance. It was Ceasar mopping the floor with a headset wrapped around his ears.

I couldn’t help but nod, not realizing I was smiling a bit after seeing him convinced to clean the bathroom as we were told to do.

Focusing first on the mirror and the sink I was humming will cleaning. It allowed me to focus on the work and not be troubled by the tedious task. But after around half an hour I was finally sweating. But I kept going. This is just a small task compared to being painted as a troubled student. I don’t want to fail my parents by being a disrespectful student based on the school handbook.

I kept cleaning and so did Ceasar, until we were left with the garbage and a few stains on the bathroom wall.

“Ceasar,” I called him and touched his shoulder a little. “Can you throw away the garbage and then I will clean the wall. After that we are finished.”

He stared at me once again. He can’t believe that I was asking him to do things...

Well, I just realized that too, but we really have to work on this together.

He didn’t say yes or anything. He let go of the mop and grabbed the garbage bag from the bin. He just has to dispose of the garbage at the designated station.

I was left alone inside the bathroom, then began wiping the stained floor.

When suddenly, the electricity shuts off.

I screamed as the surroundings went into total darkness!