Chapter 14

Jason's pov : I was trying to evaluate why I felt so furious when Alex called her bitch, and when George looked at her with his filthy gazes, my heart was aching. Something was wrong with me but I ignored that feeling and entered the restaurant. She was writing an order on the notepad, her wavy hair was tied up into a messy bun, a few little strands of her hair were touching her cheekbones, and I could clearly read the annoyance on her face. If there would be another girl, she would be happy with the cute baby hair that makes her look cute but you can't expect the same from Lia, I've already been defeated when I judged her, she was different. "Someone is liking my old place so much, I'm bemused if the food has become more delicious or any girl has become more interesting. I've never seen you following any girl but…," Mrs. Fennimore gave me the look of an investigator but with a genuine smile on her face. Here, the battle between my mind and my heart was not finished yet, and Mrs. Fenninmore was giving me more burden to carry on my mind. "You are right, Mrs. Fennimore, your chef makes really so yummy dishes that I just can't resist myself coming here, I hope you won't mind seeing my ugly face more than thrice in a week, will you?" I exhaled after completing all the best excuses I could make up. I could be a sweet talker sometimes. Mrs. Fennimore grinned like a wise lady, no doubt she was a wise lady. Running the old restaurant solitary was not a cup of tea although the restaurant was always overflowing with customers. "You are such a sweet talker, boy! You like to hear your praise, right? Ugly and you? You are so farther from being called ugly" She chuckled, "Welcome, Mr. Casano! This place is always open for you." "Thank you, Mrs. Fennimore! I'm just an eighteen years old boy, please, don't call me Mr. Casano! Call me Jason or Jay, after all, you are friends with my family," I pressed my lips inwards just to act up as a cute little angry boy, never mind! I was so damn cute that my mirror had a crush on my cuteness. "I'm not friends with your family, boy, I'm just friends with your mom. Your dad and I have never met each other, your mom and I were best friends since childhood. She still comes here sometimes," she started the talks of Mrs. Casano, and I just rolled my eyes and whispered, "can you accompany me in having lunch? I'm starving, Mrs. Fennimore," my stomach growled and it helped me. "I've already eaten my lunch, Mr.," she stopped, "Jay, you please eat first," she walked me to the table and called a waitress. Before the other waitress could come to take my order, Lia came forth, "sorry, Emily but he is my guest, I invited him to discuss our assignment. Well, you can take the order for both of us since I also haven't taken lunch today," she pulled the chair with a swift move and placed herself, smiling sweetly to Emily. Mrs. Fennimore was standing beside me like a statue, she looked at me and left with a chuckle on her lips. "One chicken noodle soup, shrimp tacos, and sweet potato fries for me, what would you like to eat Mr. Casano?" She looked at me after giving her order to Emily. I was not good at ordering food, I always ordered either pizza or burger nonetheless for a change, I wanted to try something new, "same as her," I told Emily who was gawking at me. Immediately diverting my eyes from Emily, I took the bottle of water and started nipping it down through my throat expeditiously. Lia snatched the bottle from my hand, no wonder my shirt got wet by her sudden bossy act. "You never should drink water before eating something, it doesn't help in digesting your food, haven't you learned about our digestive system in the seventh grade?" She scowled as a teacher. "You sound like a teacher, and you should be sorry for this," I pointed my finger towards my wet shirt and expected an apology from her. "Are you stupid or what? Do you even know what happens when your food isn't digested properly? How many diseases will you get? Your handsome face will be full of pimples, and I bet you won't like your face anymore," she smirked. "Thank you!" I pouted and waited for her question. "If you would have studied properly in seventh grade, you wouldn't need to say thanks to me." "Wait, let me clear this up! You said that my handsome face will be full of pimples. That means you consider that I'm handsome, right?" I winked at her and grinned. She started giggling, "haha! You're not welcome! Someone has told you before that your mind has left your body or not, huh?" She was smart and wise, she got it without any explanation. "No, have you accepted my apology, Lia?" I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes as if she was about to declare my result. Though I kinda had a hope that she would forgive me now. After all, she invited me to come here, maybe for a good reason. "On one condition only!" I opened my one eye, "what is that condition?" My head was tilted up in anxiety. "You are my senior, I'm your junior. We have an assignment to collaborate with our seniors on a nature project. I didn't know that you were my senior unless I saw you in the class. So I thought if we would work on the project, I'll consider your apology," she shrugged. "Oh, just because I'm the topper of the class, you want to collaborate with me, right?" I opened both my eyes and grinned like a cute cat. "What? You and the topper? I don't believe and let me tell you I don't need any topper senior, it's just because the professor has declared that we have to work with our seniors but I think that I need someone-" Before she could complete it, I got it and interrupted her, "no, I'll be your partner." "Project partner," she clarified, and I nodded. She was good at judging the words and pointing out my mistakes. The literature professor gave us the same assignment, too. Our group was also wondering about the partners, they were about to select a girl from junior class so they could flirt with the junior girls but I declined because I didn't want to hang out with a girl who would try her best to seduce me but the scene was different now. I will try my best to be friends with her. We decided that we would approach some junior boys nonetheless, Alex and George were upset because they got a chance to flirt with girls and I rejected the idea. I was in a dilemma then, how would I explain all the things to them? I refused at first, and I still chose to work with a girl, the same girl who already made them doubt that I was falling for her. Jesus, give me the strength to handle all this. First, I really want her to accept my apology, and second, I don't want her to work with someone else hence why I hastily told her that I'll be her partner. Oops, project partner! "Well, I'm sorry for what happened in the class but trust me, you were so good at putting those girls in their places," I broke the awkward silence between us and she broke into laughter. "I don't give anybody the right to judge me or question me. Plus, they were off-limits. I had to put them in their places before they could spread rumours in the school," she uttered and shrugged. "So you care about the rumours, huh?" I smirked and flirted with her. Even I was surprised to see my behaviour towards her, I never flirted with any girl ever so I just hoped that I was good at it. She smiled sweetly at me and put her hands on the table. "To be honest, I don't care but I don't like messing with people. I always prefer silence unless they try to hit their judgemental rocks on me." Within a minute, she changed her smile into a smirk. "And I love sarcasm though." She winked and giggled. Emily brought our orders and we were all set to dig in our food. I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and smiled at Emily who was shooting me a fangirl glare. "Congratulations on your first date, Lia! Your boyfriend is so handsome but don't worry, I'll see him as a brother-in-law," she murmured in her ears but it was loud enough to be heard. Was Emily a crazy girl who had lost her mind ages ago?