My Crazy Housemate

She looked at him in surprise. How had he guessed that? Wait... Jeremy had told her a rumour had been flying around about her kissing Louis at the party that night and she had seen how some people looked at her in school since that night.     

"My family and the King's family go a long way back. And my sister is friends with Chloe King." He explained.      

Mia had kissed Louis but he noticed how Leo reacted to the whole thing. So he was kind of ĺ     

curious.     

"Well... I... uhm..." She tried to say something hut nothing came out. Thankfully, the door beside them opened and students began to file out.      

"Mia." Jeremy called as he approached her.      

"What happened to you? You never come to class late." He asked before turning to look at the guy beside her in surprise.     

Although he didn't like Benjamin, he remembered Mia liked him so instead of his usual glowering and glares, he simply nodded at him.      

"I'll be waiting inside." Jeremy said to her and gave her a wink before heading back inside the classroom.     

"I think I should leave now." Mia said.     

She had always hoped for a day where they would both talk about something other than the usual 'Hi–Hi' but now, she didn't know why she wasn't so excited. In fact, she wanted to get away.      

She turned to enter inside the classroom when Benjamin called her by her name this time.      

"Can I have your number?" He asked her taking her aback for the nth time that morning.      

"My number?" She asked him with slightly widened eyes. What was suddenly happening?      

Just then, more of her classmates came out of the class, one of them was Kelvin who was the student's council president, top student in their class and Benjamin's friend.     

"You're here already. Cool! Let's go eat something and talk." Kelvin said as he pulled Benjamin away without sparing her a glance.     

Benjamin gave Mia and apologetic smile before he followed Kelvin and his group of friends.     

Mia sighed in relief and returned to the class only to see Jeremy smiling at her.      

"What is it?" She asked him with a glare as she went to sit beside him.     

"I'm so eager to tease you but firstly, what's up with you? You look down and you even came late to class." He asked as he looked at her face intently.      

"I am fine."     

"You are not."      

"I woke up late. I was up the whole night so...."     

"What were you doing awake the whole night?" He asked as he looked at her suspiciously.      

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?" She asked taking out her notebook and textbook from her bag. "What did Mr Henry teach today and where is your note?" She asked him.     

"You live with a guy right? Chloe's brother.."  He said with a suggestive look on his face.     

"Your point is?" She asked without looking at him as she began to scribble something on her note.      

"So why didn't you sleep last night? And you live with a guy... Did you by chance...."      

Mia suddenly understood what he was trying to say and looked at him with slightly widened eyes.      

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" She bellowed at him more than necessary causing the remaining students inside the class to look at them.     

She noticed this and kept her voice down. "How could you think of something like that?" She asked.     

"Then why does your face look like a tomato?" He asked back as he looked at her face which was very red.      

"Whose face is red? This is how my face is!" She said defensively and scoffed at him as she touched her face self consciously.     

Maybe if she hadn't had such thoughts before about Leo then she wouldn't have been reacting this way.      

Thankfully, she was saved from further questions when Chloe came in.      

Chloe wore a white chiffon shirt with buttons and a bow at the collar, a blue pencil skirt which stopped at her knees and a black flat shoe with a designer handbag.      

They watched her enter through the front door as she spoke on the phone with someone.      

Mia couldn't help the feeling of jealousy which engulfed her.  Chloe looked like she had the perfect life while she on the other hand was always looking for ways to survive.     

That was Leo's sister.. She thought and looked at her own outfit.     

She was wearing an old black and white striped shirt tucked in a plain trouser and on her feet, she wore the only flat shoe she had which she had been wearing for years.     

How was Leo going to ever like someone like her?     

'What am I thinking about?' She asked herself in horror as she quickly shook the thought away from her head.     

"Guess what?" Jeremy turned to ask Mia immediately he saw Chloe enter.      

"What?" She asked.     

"I finally got her number!" He said in an excited whisper.      

Mia gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I already took her number but I forgot to send it to you." She apologized.      

"No problem. At least I got it myself." He said with a grin.     

"But how?" She asked curiously since it looked like he had always been scared to approach her.     

"Well, I found out yesterday that she own the mall I work part-time for. I met her there and didn't know she was the boss so I kept talking and also asked for her number."     

"She owns a mall?" Mia looked at him with wide eyes.      

"Yes. Ever heard of CONVENIENT?" He asked her and her eyes widened the more.      

"She own CONVENIENT?"      

"I was also super shocked." He said and looked towards Chloe who had dropped her phone now.     

"But why did she also miss the first class?" He asked rhetorically.      

"Where are you going to?" She asked him when he suddenly stood up.      

"To try my luck and talk to her. Wish me luck." He inhaled and exhaled deeply before heading towards her.      

   ***********     

"Chloe put her head down on her desk and breathe in and out slowly.  "You can do this Chloe. You can!" She said over and over again but her body jumped in shock when she heard someone call her name.      

"Woah! Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Jeremy apologized.      

She had thought it was David– The guy had turned into a stalker and was creeping her out. She couldn't report to the police because then, her parents might get a whiff of what was going on and she would be in trouble if they were to find out she had dated someone like that and spent a lot of money on him.      

"It's fine." She said as she tried to catch her breath.     

"Are you okay?" He asked as he looked at her with worry before sitting down beside her.      

Chloe frowned. She didn't like sharing seats with people especially those who didn't ask for permission but hey, this wasn't her father's house so she had no choice but to just let him be.      

"I am fine." She said in a rigid voice.     

Jeremy didn't want to give up now especially after noticing how some students were looking at them curiously, probably waiting for her to send him away.     

"I wanted to apologize for the way I talked to you yesterday. I really didn't know you were the boss." He said, thankful that he had something to talk about.     

"I figured. It's fine." She said dismissively. Her mind was occupied with a whole lot of things and she didn't want to start chit chatting like all was okay with her.      

"So...." He thought about somehing else to say but nothing else came out.      

"That guy the other time.. David is that it? Is he still troubling you?" He asked.      

She looked at him curiously and folded her hands in front of her chest.      

"So what if he is? Are you going to always save me from him?" She asked.     

"He really is still troubling you? Is that why you came late to class?" He asked and sat up.     

"Are you a stalker?" She questioned with a slight frown. She really couldn't deal with two stalkers.     

"Did you also deliberately begin to work part time in CONVENIENT so you could be around me?" She asked suspicuously.     

Seeing the way David acted now, she no longer trusted anyone. She always had trust issues and now it was doubled.     

"No.." He said with a displeased frown but she interrupted.      

"So what do you want? Is it money also? Do not tell me it is love. That's going to be weird." She said with a smirk.      

"I just want to be friends." He replied in an annoyed tone.      

"Well thanks for helping me fight David the other time but I do not need friends. I am very okay being alone." She told him before resting her head on the desk one more time.      

Jeremy sat there with a frown on his face. He knew she was like that so he wasn't surprised. But he was not going to give up. Her had dedicated four years into liking her despite knowing she was dating someone and she didn't even know about his existence. In a month, they were going to be done with school and now that he knew she was no longer in a relationship and she was even talking with him now, he was never going to let go of this opportunity.      

"I do not need anything from you" He said to her in a low voice.      

"I just need you to at least talk to me. If that David guy is still troubling you, I can take up the job to protect you from him. I am a really good fighter." He said and flashed her a smile when she looked at him.      

"You are saying you want to be my bodyguard?" She asked curiously..     

He thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "We can put it that way." He answered before flashing her another smile.