My Crazy Housemate

Mia smiled when she saw the message and replied immediately. "Yes. Wish me luck."     

"You already have all the luck in the world baby, just do your thing. Fighting!"      

"Hehe! Thank you." She replied with an embarrassed smile. It was weird how Leo always made her blush whether they were seeing each other face to face, texting or calling.      

"How's your friend, Jeremy? Is he better now?" Leo asked.      

Mia spared Jeremy a glance. He had been busy studying. It was an unusual sight since Jeremy rarely studied but it seemed he wanted to be focused now and do other things instead of being idle because that would make him fix his gaze on a particular person.      

"I don't know. I think something must have happened between the two of them the other day. They both do not look good." She replied.      

"Oh... Tell him to cheer up. He needs to write his test with a clear mind unless he wants to fail."      

"What about Chloe?"      

"She's already smart. She can handle herself. Hehe!"      

Mia could not help but giggle at his message. Another message popped up immediately. "I'll handle her. "Write well and make me proud honey."      

She smiled again before dropping her phone.      

When she raised her head, she saw Jeremy looking at her. "You're acting so girly. It's creepy." He said before turning to his book again, leaving her frowning at him.      

She looked at Chloe's direction and saw her take out her phone to answer a call. She could guess it was Leo calling her.      

"How are you?" Leo asked Chloe.     

Chloe tried to keep her voice down since she was inside the classroom.      

"I... am good. Why?"      

"Did you quarrel with him?" He asked.     

Chloe was quiet. She knew the 'him' he was talking about was definitely Jeremy. She didn't know why are brothers were so concerned about the both of them. It was as if they wanted her to stay away from him and at the same time, not stay away from him.     

"No." "Not really." She said quietly.      

"You have a test. This is important for you so make sure you put everything aside and focus. You don't want the parents to get mad at you." He reminded her.      

Chloe sniffed. "I... am trying." She placed her head on the desk when she felt her eyes turning misty. She couldn't understand all of her emotions. She just wanted to cry.     

"It's going to be okay."      

"Nothing is going to be okay." She replied. Everything was messing her head up. And worse of all, Jeremy had refused her request to meet outside. It was the first time he was saying a no to her and it was hurting her really badly for some reasons she didn't know about. It wasn't as if no one had ever said a no to her before. But this one was different.     

"Calm down Chloe.. you are in class." Leo reminded her. He knew how much she liked to keep a good image in public. He wouldn't want a case where she would lose it.     

"I'll talk to you after your classes today. Just be calm and do well in your test. You know you can trust me right?"      

She sniffled, "Yea." She said weakly.      

"Good! Be good."     

"Thanks." She looked up and saw the lecturer enter with several large envelopes in his hand.      

"It's time students!" His voice made the students hurry back to their seats while Chloe dropped her phone after turning it off.      

The door opened again and this time, Kelvin entered. His steps were arrogant just like he was and he had a smug smile on his face.      

Chloe locked eyes with him and he sent her a smile before looking at Jeremy's direction. Jeremy's head was still down as he tried to organize his desk. But in reality, he was burning inside with his hand tightly clutching his bag.      

"Let's begin. Everyone get seated." The lecturer said and soon, the room was quiet with everyone seated obediently while the papers went around.      

Once it was officially time to start, they all began circling the correct answers on the question paper.      

Jeremy tried to push out every other thought out of his head and just focus on this which was more important at the moment. No Chloe, no Kelvin. Just himself and this paper before him. He had to pass, he had to do well.      

Twenty minutes later, their attention was piqued when they heard a pencil slammed down on the desk.     

They all looked at Chloe's direction as she stood up, picked up her bag and began to walk out of the class with an unreadable look.      

"Miss King? Is something wrong?" The lecturer asked while the students began to murmur. Some took the distraction as an opportunity to cheat and ask their friends questions.      

Chloe didn't spare anyone a glacne, neither did she answer the lecturer. She just walked out of the class with only one thing on her mind— to leave the school premises.      

Out of impulse, Jeremy stood up but Mia held his hand to keep him from going after her.      

Rich people could afford to leave like that, but they couldn't. He was on a scholarship and also needed a good result to secure a good job but Chloe on the other hand wasn't only a bright student, she already had her own business. Her parents could pull some strings for the school to give her a make-up test, but Jeremy would be left to his fate.       

Jeremy seemed to get why Mia held him back so he looked at the door with regret before sitting down slowly.      

If he wasn't already in a bad mood, his mood worsened when Kelvin stood up and followed Chloe, also ignoring the lecturer.      

Jeremy could hear how some students were awwing and oohing and calling Kelvin a gentleman for leaving his test for his girlfriend.      

"Do not let it get to you." Mia advised him. His claim about moving on, it was obvious he was only saying that to make himself feel better.     

She felt really sad for him. She couldn't imagine what he was going through. She could see he was at the verge of crying and was trying his best to not let his emotions win. She didn't know whether being soft was a good thing or bad thing because it was really fucking him up and he couldn't hide it.      

He sniffed and turned to face his paper when the Lecturer yelled for all of them to be quiet.     

As Mia looked at him, she saw a tear fall on his paper.      

That moment where he knew Kelvin was winning and there was nothing he could do about it.     

   ******     

"Chloe!" Kelvin called when he finally spotted her in the hallway, walking out of the Faculty.     

She stopped and turned around to look at him.      

Kelvin clearly saw the disappointment in her eyes when their gaze locked. Had she been expecting someone else?      

Passersby watched them with interest while some made small gossips.      

"Can we talk? Privately." He asked in a calm voice.      

She continued to look at his face quietly before walking closer to him.      

"That picture was your idea wasn't it?" She asked pointedly when she stopped in front of him.     

"What picture? I don't know what you are talking about."      

"'What picture?' Pretending not to know what I'm talking about shows it had been your idea. What do you think you are trying to do? Piss me off?"      

"Chloe." He looked around nervously at the other students passing by and prayed they weren't listening.      

"Let's go somewhere..  please?"     

"Stay away from me. This is a warning Kelvin. And make sure that picture stops circulating unless you really want to get in my bad book."      

"It won't be you. And it will never be you."      

Having told him what she had in mind, she turned around and walked away. She hurried to her car and drove out of the school premises.