Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Hey Lila! We've been looking for you."

Lila turned her head to the person calling her as she ate the sandwich she bought earlier here in the cafeteria. It's Sasha together with Nathan. She wiped her mouth with a tissue and smiled, "What took you so long guys?" she asked them. "Oh God, James is so slow! He is so finicky," Sasha muttered and rolled her eyes. "My partner, too!" Nathan exclaimed on the side and sat at the vacant seat in front of Lila. "I was badly hoping to get a prize but Nicole kept on acting like a baby." Nathan has always been this competitive. He always wants to be first in everything but he keeps it in a good way. His facial expression made Lila and Sasha laugh.

"Here guys, I still have P300 left in my voucher. Go ahead and buy your snacks." Lila handed the voucher to the two and they looked shocked. "What? You were the first person to finish?" Sasha shouted in disbelief which made the other students near their table look at them. "Oops, my bad," Sasha whispered and covered her mouth. Nathan, on the other hand, took the voucher and looked at it carefully. "That's why I wanted to be paired with you! Lucas is lucky." Nathan pouted like a boy and then laughed. "Oh, did he arrive?" Lila shook her head as an answer to Sasha's  question which caused their jaw to drop. "What? And yet you were able to finish the task first? Unbelievable. You're really something." Nathan messed up Lila's hair that made her chuckle. 

The two went and bought their own food with the voucher Lila has given them. Lila was left on their table in the middle of a busy and noisy cafeteria. Students are talking about various topics which filled the entire room with different stories from the students seated on different tables.

The Annual Quiz Bee King and Queen still hasn't left Lila's mind. She was deeply thinking about it until she heard a familiar name.

"Lucas!"

"Oh my gosh, he's so handsome."

"I finally saw him here in school!"

"How can Lucas be this perfect?"

"I badly want to see him smile."

As usual, the cafeteria's world stopped and focused on Lucas' arrival. A mysterious young man, who is the only son of the owner of the university, Mr. Dela Vega. Aside from being tall, moreno and handsome, he is ultimately rich. His presence screams perfect and every girl student in the university is head over heels on him and dreams to be noticed by the one and only, Lucas Andrew Dela Vega.

Knowing that a lot of girls have a huge crush towards him, Lila became content with looking at him from afar. She knew it was impossible for him to notice her existence, especially there's Aryan, an overly beautiful and popular girl here in the university. Everyone knew that she likes Lucas so all the other girls can't do anything but to just fangirl over him.

Looking from afar, Lila's world began to shake when she saw Lucas approaching her direction. She took two sips from her drink and asked herself whether this is really happening or not.

Not knowing what to do, Lila looked down and wiped her mouth with a tissue. She fixed her glasses and looked at Lucas who was looking exactly in her direction. With a short span of time, their eyes met once again and here’s Lila’s heart, beating uncontrollably fast.

As he was about to reach her seat, a person behind her approached Lucas. It’s Aryan.  “Lucas! I’ve been waiting for you, I miss you!” Aryan clinged on to Lucas’s arms. From looking at Lila, Lucas’s attention shifted towards Aryan who is basically hugging his arms. “Where have you been? Let’s go, James and the others are waiting for you at the lounge.” In an instant, Lucas and Aryan are already walking away from Lila’s table.

 “What had just happened?” Lila told herself and continued eating her food. Just in time, Nathan and Sasha arrived.

“Is it just me or I saw Lucas heading in your direction?” Curiously, Sasha asked Lila. As an answer Lila just shrugged her shoulders and focused on eating. “Maybe he’ll say sorry or something. He was absent earlier, right?” Nathan calmly said and looked at Lila’s direction who was now busy writing something on her notes. “Maybe,” a simple and plain answer from Lila.

“By the way, there has been an announcement that afternoon classes will be suspended. I’m gonna be heading out now, how about you guys, what are your plans?” Sasha curiously asked her two friends. “Oh, Lila and I will be working at the burger stall,” Nathan answered back as he was preparing to leave. Sasha nodded and took her books as well before they headed out of the university.

Sasha’s driver has texted her that he is already in the parking lot. Before she parted ways with them, a gummy smile appeared from her face and then she waved goodbye. The two headed out in the opposite direction. They are planning to walk to the burger stall, it’s just 15 minutes away from school anyways.

Silence filled the atmosphere as they walked in the busy streets of Espana. From a sunny day earlier, the skies turned dark and a rumble of thunder together with a sudden flash of lightning surprised the two walking students. “It seems like it’s about to rain, do you have an umbrella?” Nathan worriedly asked Lila. “Of course, I’m always prepared but let’s walk faster. I don’t want to get wet.” Nathan smiled with what Lila had answered. This is what she likes most about Lila, unlike other girls who tend to act like a kid, Lila always handles herself well. It seems like she can always do things on her own which makes Nathan admire her.

The two of them have been friends since first year high school and they have never crossed the friendship line.They say a man and a woman can never be friends unless someone is secretly in love with the other one. In their case, it’s Nathan. He always had a huge crush on Lila but not once did he admit it to her because he knew he would never stand a chance. Lila is the type of person who is very keen and focused on her dreams, distractions are never a part of her options. Nathan knew that, that’s why he never told her. He became contented with just them, being friends.

“Hey, we’re here. I’ll change first.” 15 minutes have already passed and they have arrived at the burger stall. Lila put her bag in the closet and took her uniform out. Nathan started arranging the chairs as well as the tables for the customers. A roaring thunder in the distance can be heard from the burger stall. It was followed by a flash of lightning that instantly lit up the sky. Nathan looks up, it is dark and heavy rain is about to pour. After Lila, Nathan went in and changed to his uniform.

Few customers arrived until the rain started pouring so hard. Since there were no customers left, Lila sat on the counter with her chin at the palm of her hands and started watching the raindrops. Seated next to her is Nathan who also watches every drop of rain. “Oh, I forgot to ask you, did Miss Santos talk to you?” Still looking outside, Lila asked Nathan. “Yeah, about the Annual Quiz Bee King and Queen, I said yes. How about you?” He stood up and took a bottle of coke from the freezer. “Good for you. Me? I still don’t know.” A heavy sigh escaped from her mouth and then she closed her eyes. “I know you’ll ace it, that’s for sure.” Nathan handed Lila a bottle of coke which she grabbed immediately.

“Ahh, I don’t know. I’ll think about it.” Lila opened the bottle of coke and drinks from it. Trying to convince her, Nathan moved his chair closer to Lila. “It’s P10,000 and a full year scholarship. If second place, P5,000 and a half year scholarship. It’s a catch. We can review together here when there’s no customer,” a convincing voice came out from Nathan. “It’s still two weeks from now,” he added.

A silence filled the burger stall and you can clearly hear the soft drops of rain pouring down on the roof. Lila looked out and breathed heavily. “I’ll tell you my decision tomorrow. But, thank you for convincing me,” her lips curved upward and a genuine smile flushed from her face. In return, Nathan’s heart started pounding. He looked at her and smiled as well. “Take your time.”

The moment was interrupted by a loud roaring thunder and then two customers approached the burger stall. Lila immediately stood up. 

“A rainy afternoon ma’am, what’s your order?”