Isabella's pov;
I woke up to the alarm clock which was beeping beside me. I turned it off the alarm and looked at the time. 6.30 am? Huh? But I don't remember setting the alarm at this time last night. I laid on the bed again and covered the sheets over me to sleep but I couldn't so I got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom to get a shower.
When I came out of the cold shower, I spotted a lot of shopping bags on the other side of the room. The things which we bought yesterday. Did we buy a lot in the mall? How can I take everything to the camp? Are they planning to get rid of me or something? I ignored it and got ready for school and came downstairs.
Mr Martinez and Ethan were eating breakfast at the dining table. I walked to them and sat among them for breakfast.
"Brother said you're going to a study camp. Where are you going?" Ethan asked me while I was waiting for the food.
"Didn't he tell the place?"
"No."
"Mount diablo."
"Can I come?"
"No!" Mr Martinez and I shouted at Ethan at the same time.
Ethan let out a laugh and asked, "When did you two become synced together?"
I ignored him and started eating my delicious food.
While I was waiting for the food, I thought, I shouted 'no' since I don't want Ethan to be around me but why did Mr Martinez shout at him with the same answer as mine? I wonder what might be the reason.
"Looks like no one wants me." Ethan said.
"Aren't you facing issues in your company, I wonder how you're still thinking about going on a trip at a time like this, Mr Rodriguez." Mr Said while walking to the dining table.
Ethan turned towards him and said, "Actually, hanging out helps with solving the crisis, Noah."
I patted Ethan's hand and said, "Do you wish to come with me or are you coming with me to hit on girls in my class?"
He laughed and came closer to me and whispered, "You don't know how much I'm scared of Helen."
I laughed along with him and whispered back at him, "Scaredy cat."
"Really? You're teasing me? Do you know how old I am?"
"Is it fifty or sixty?"
While we're talking, Mr Martinez said, "Eating is the only thing you do at the dining table."
We apologised to Mr Martinez together and continued eating.
Ethan finished his breakfast quickly and said, "Well, I got to get off first. See you both later in the evening." And came to me and asked, "When are you leaving for the camp?"
"Tomorrow. For three days. I'll be so happy for those three days without seeing your face."
He laughed and patted my head while saying, "Enjoy the trip and have a safe journey, Bella." And left.
After he left, I continued enjoying the food on my plate.
Mr Martinez asked, "You two look close. Do you like him?"
I got choked on my food, He passed me a glass of water to drink. I drank it and said, "Even if he's the last man on the earth, there's no chance for him, Mr Martinez." And laughed.
"Why? You two look a lot alike in many things."
I laughed and said, "Yeah, Whenever I speak to him, it feels like I'm speaking to a mirror."
He gave me a confused look.
I continued, "Wait, Um... How do I explain this... Okay. Ethan and I are like the same poles in the Arctic. We may have the same personalities but we don't sync together. Haven't you heard that the same poles never attract, it'll only go away when they come in contact with each other. We are like that."
"Ethan said you and I synced. What does that mean?"
"Having similar thoughts. Ah! By the way, Mr Martinez, Why did you say 'no' to him? I said 'no' since I didn't want him to come with me but why did you say 'no'?"
"The same reason."
I smiled and said, "What about you, Mr Martinez? Do you like me?"
"What?"
"Why are you pretending like you didn't hear it? Anyways, It's time for my school. Got to go. See ya later, Mr Martinez."
I left the house and headed to the school.
In the school,
While I was walking in the corridor to my class, everyone looked suspicious around me. What's with these people? I ignored them and walked into my class.
As soon as I entered the class, Noah stood in front of me and asked, "When did this happen?"
I got confused and asked him, "What happened?"
"Is it true?" Peter asked me.
What is he talking about?
I got irritated and asked him, "What's true?"
Some girls in the class said, "I thought it'll only happen in novels, but after seeing it in real life. It's so good."
Everyone mumbled which confused me about what they're mumbling about. I walked past them and asked Evelyn, "What's happening here? I don't understand what everyone is talking about. Can you explain it to me? And Peter was blabbering something to me."
She showed me her phone and asked me to look at her phone. I took it from her and looked into it. It was a picture of Harry and myself standing close together. I think someone must have taken a picture of us yesterday when we fought in the cafeteria. But what made everyone talk about this? When I looked at the comment section, I saw many people commenting like,
-What are they doing by standing close together?
-Are you dumb? See it carefully!
-Did they kiss after this shot was taken?
-The paid looks so cute
-Rivals turn to lovers
What is wrong with these people? When did they take this picture? Do people wait with their camera to take pictures like this?
I gave back Evelyn's phone to her and looked around and searched for Harry. He wasn't in the class. Where did he go? Has he seen this picture yet?
"Harry didn't come to school yet." Evelyn said to me.
I left the class and walked around the school looking for him.
After searching the library, swimming club, music club, basketball court, cafeteria, I couldn't find him anywhere.
I got tired and sat near the library building.
"Why aren't you in the class?"
When I lifted up my head, I saw Harry standing in front of me.
I stood and asked, "Where were you? I was searching for you everywhere."
"Why are you looking for me? Did you miss me that much that made you search for me?"
I let out a sigh and said, "Listen, Didn't you see the noticeboard? Someone took a picture of us together and sent it to everyone in our class."
"Oh, that one. Yeah, I saw. What is the problem with that?"
"What's the problem? Are you kidding me? Everyone thinks we're a thing."
"Thing?"
"I don't want to say that word. Tweet that we're not like how they think about us in the group."
"Why should I do that?"
"Because we're not a thing."
"It's time for the first hour. Let's go."
"Where are you going?"
"To the class."
"Stop. First tweet that I said in the group."
"I'll do it after the class ends. Come on."
"Will you really do it?"
"Yes. Let's go."
We came to the class together which made everyone look at us. After I got seated, Noah poked me from behind and asked, "Why are you with him? Where did you go with him? Is it really true then?"
"No!"
I messaged Harry, "Don't forget to tweet after the class ended."
He replied with a thumbs up.
I kept my phone back into the bag and listened to the class.
After the third hour ended, it was Mr Brett's class. Mr Brett explained about the study camp and said, "You can now leave to your house and pack the things you need for the trip since we're leaving tomorrow at 6 am."
6 am?! That early?! I let out a sigh and dropped on the desk.
After school got over, I went to Mr Martinez's house.
"You're early." Rose said when I came to the house.
"Since they're taking us to a camp tomorrow, they said to pack things and to get some sleep."
Rose chuckled and said, "I've already packed it for you, Ms Garcia."
"What? When?"
"Come with me."
She took me upstairs and I followed her behind. She glided the travelbag over to me and kept in front of me. It doesn't look that big though as i thought. Let's check if it's heavy?
I pulled the travel bag and it glided easily to me.
"Wow! It's light."
"Yeah, I packed it light so that you can carry it easily." And opened the suitcase for me and said, "You can look into it and inform me if you need anything for the camp."
When I looked at the items in the suitcase, there were toiletries put together in a silicon bag and clothes for changing, a hat, sunglasses, skin care creams for the hot summer.
"I gotta admit that you packed me better than me. If I packed it by myself, I would have missed a lot of things. When I went camping along with my friends in middle school, I forgot my mosquito repellent and got bites from mosquitoes all the days I stayed there."
Rose and I laughed together.
I thanked Rose and said, "Well, I'll try to sleep for a while. Wake me up when Mr Martinez comes home."
"Yes, Ms Garcia." And left the room.
I woke up and saw the time in the clock. It's 7 pm. Why didn't Rose wake me up? I washed my face and walked to Mr Martinez's room.
"Mr Martinez? When did you come?"
"Around five."
"Okay. You look like you got out of a shower. Did you have your dinner? "
"Yes."
I sat beside him and took his hand.
"What are you doing?"
"It's Tuesday. I have to work."
I was holding his left hand while his right hand was typing something in the laptop. I never looked at his right hand so closely since he always gives me his left hand to hold which helps him to sleep.
Without thinking I touched his right hand which made him flinch.
He gave a surprised look. Sh*t! What did you just do?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mr Martinez. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Please forgive me."
"It's fine. What do you want?"
"I-I never looked at your right hand before... That's why I got curious and touched it. I'm so sorry, Mr Martinez. I won't do it again."
He removed his glove from his right hand and showed me while showing, "Quick."
I held his right hand slowly and tried to turn it up but he stopped by covering his hand. I slowly removed his hand and saw what he tried to hide. I was stunned and shocked when I looked at his hand.
There was a cut!
The cut looked like… did he do it to him? But why?
When I looked at Mr Martinez, he turned his head to the other side. I touched the cut slowly with my index finger and traced it along the cut.
"Can I ask?"
"Why are you so curious?"
I looked at the cut and said, "It looks painful. You must have been hurt so bad, right?"
"You have to get up early tomorrow. Go to sleep."
I moved closer to him and hugged him while saying, "It must have hurt really bad, right? I didn't know what happened to you in the past but can you please forget that? I had problems too but I never chose this way because I was a coward. Cutting our hands requires a lot of courage, not everyone knows this. The cut shows that the problem you faced must have been big which made you choose this way, right?" I broke the embrace and looked at his hand and continued, "It looks like a deep cut, did you lose a lot of blood?" And looked at him.
He touched my cheeks and caressed it while asking, "Why do you look upset?"
"I don't know." And looked down.
He held my cheeks together and said, "The face that you're making now is familiar to me."
"Huh?"
He moved his head closer to me and kissed my upper lip. My eyes almost popped out when he kissed me. What is he doing? Why am I not pushing him away? Why am I being still?
He broke the kiss and moved back quickly while stuttering, "G-Go to your room."
I touched my lips and asked, "What was that..."
He ignored and laid on the bed and covered him up with the blanket.
I stepped back while looking at him and came out of his room. I touched my lips and thought, 'Why did he kiss me? What was that kiss for? Why did he suddenly kiss me?'