13 Reconciling Before Switching Partners (1/2)

Luke gestured me to sit down on the straw bed with his stormy ocean blue eyes. I sat down beside him as he opened his mouth, \”I didn't raise you to act like this Rika. What were you thinking making your new partner kneel in the field for over six hours?\”

\”I don't know. He's the one who chose to kneel down for that long,\” I replied while turning my head away from his stabbing glares.

I wondered why Luke was acting like this. I clearly wasn't his partner for the next month and what was happening between Allan and I was clearly only between us.

'Plus, he raised me? Oh please, we're both in the same age! And I was mentally at least ten years older than him!' My anger started to swell up in my chest even further.

\”The Allan that I know wouldn't kneel down in that field for no reason. What happened Rika?\” Luke gave me a chance to explain what had happened.

I decided to confess everything as I determined I had nothing to lose, \”It was because I refused to attend class today that Allan threatened me with his family name that he would forgive me if I went to class for the next two weeks.\”

Luke didn't look angry anymore, instead he was frozen in shock. \”You decided to not attend class today?\”

\”Only today, I didn't say anything about tomorrow or the rest of the week,\” I honestly told him.

The room was silent for a moment while Luke tried to recollect his thoughts.

\”Why? You know how much content we go through even if it's just a day,\” Luke couldn't understand.

\”When I returned home, I realized what I was missing out on when I was spending all my time at school. Everyday at school, I was pressured into studying and constantly had to push myself to the brink to survive through this hell! But, I didn't even know it was hell to me because I got used to it! When I was at home during summer break, I got to play some video games while catching up with some 'books'. I finally got decent time to myself and I was free of expectations for once. I got time to do some shopping everyday and spent some time with my parents. I even had the time to get angry at myself when my parents tried to conceal their sad faces because they knew I would be spending only a week with them! Do you even know how I felt when I saw their faces back then?\” I unintentionally yelled out.

\”You're in the first district now. Your parents chose to send you to this school for your future. You know the more you slack off, the more you go to lower class schools and drop through the districts. Or else we wouldn't be studying this hard,\” Luke tried to reason with me.

\”I know! It's because I know that I was going to rest for only today!\” I yelled while tears ran down my face.

I was confronted with the cold hard truth that I ran away from.

\”Then I hope you rest well while torturing your innocent partner that has nothing to do with this!\” Luke said sarcastically.

Luke left the room as he shut the door behind him while looking disappointed in me.

'Maybe I was wrong with treating Allan this way because I wanted a good break even though it was only for a day. All that he asked me was to attend class for the reminder of the day and maybe I was being selfish with denying that one request.' I tried to convince myself after looking at Luke's great disappointment in me.

I walked back into the field behind my classroom to see Allan still kneeling down on the grass.

\”I'm sorry\” I attempted to pull him up.

Allan nodded while looking barely conscious as if he had forgiven me for 'my mistake'.

\”Then should we head back to our room?\” I ended up supporting him all the way back to our room as Allan toppled as soon as he got up.

I grabbed a light novel and ended up falling asleep without turning one page after I safely put him down on his bed.

I woke up early the next morning to get ready for school. I guessed old habits die hard. When I was almost finished changing into my uniform, Allan woke up as if yesterday's incident did not happen.

\”Good morning!\” I greeted Allan.

\”Good morning!\” Allan friendly replied back.

We were on good terms now as we walked towards the classroom together while the day resumed as normal. I talked to Ellen and Shelly during the break and studied hard during class as usual.

But, when I noticed Allan interacting with Alex with his bright laid back smile, I didn't dare to look at Luke that was right beside them as his disappointed face flashed across my mind.

I was surprised when Luke threw the bag into the garbage as I pulled out my bag of chips and started to open the bag during lunch time.

Luke ordered another set of foods for me on the tablet as he soon passed over the tray of food to me. When I worriedly looked over at Allan, I was relieved when Ellen shared some of her food with him.

I was glad Luke ordered another potion of food for me as I was getting sick of junk food. I decided to forgive him with throwing my chips away and accepted the tray of food.

I guessed that meant that Luke wasn't mad at me anymore as my favourite dishes was on the tray in front of me.

These peaceful days continued until an entire two weeks quickly passed by and the teacher announced we were going to switch partners again.

\”It was nice being paired up with you Allan\” I pulled out my hand to shake hands with him.