SIX

ROSALEIGH ISABELLÉ

I was sitting in the classroom revising notes when Lucy joined. I always prefered Lucy's company to Grace's. Lucy was calm, composed and the most optimistic soul born on earth. She could point out good even in the worst of the situations. Whereas Grace was a totally opposite of both of us. A lively soul. She believed in living in the present rather than worrying over the past or future. Grace was popular among the boys, a heartthrob in the college.She loved us, only two friends and our simplicy. Our reality kept her grounded.

The lecture was to start in another five minutes when Grace came running to class looking for me and Lucy. Grace looked like she've just escaped a war.

"Okay, so I've a news." Grace started.

"Grace believe me, We are not interested for the masquerado party you've been bragging about" I replied, Lucy supported me nodding assertively.

"Eh... Guys its not about the masquerado party!!! We got a new classmate and he is totally HOT stuff!!!" Grace squealed excitedly.

As usual Lucy showed no interest in this topic but I knew who this new 'HOT' stuff was!! Alex!!! I kept mumb about how this hot stuff was a son of a old family friend of mine, living under the same roof as me.

Grace went on and on about how good looking this new student was.. Just then the professor walked in followed by Alex saving us from Grace's ramble.

"Class, I would like you all to meet Mr. Alexander Betson, he's going to join us from today. Be kind to him" The professor introduced Alex as he passed a tight lipped smile. Little did the professor knew that the girls in class were eager to be more than kind to him. They gushed over how Alex appeared like a prince out of a fairytale.

The professor asked Alex to take a seat. Complying to professor's wish, he started walking towards me and from the look in his eyes I could decipher that he wanted to sit in the seat next to mine. Already embarrassed by the morning incident I purposely placed my bag on it. May be getting the idea, Alex took a seat in the next row that was adjacent to mine.

During the lecture I could feel him looking my way but I tried keeping my attention towards the front. My eyes travelled on their own accord once to meet his already looking at mine. He passed me a dazzling smile that did things to me deep down. Ignoring Alex I got my attention back on the board.

The bell rang for the break, as all the girls including Grace rushed to Alex's seat introducing themselves. I couldn't stand it anymore, grabbing Lucy's hand I walked towards the cafeteria away from Mr. Popular.

"Rosaleigh are you okay?" Lucy asked noticing my discomfort.

"Yeah its just I am bit tired" I shrugged walking to a table with my lunch. The cafeteria offered me a special lunch which included all the necessary nutritions prescribed by my doctor. Apparently my protective parents can go to any heights to keep me away from junk food. Taking deep breaths I calmed my insides.

Grace joined us moments later, looking worn out from all the pulling and pushing she must've went through back in the classroom.

Alex entered the cafeteria in no time with the flocks of girls following him everywhere he went. He was instantly popular without saying a word. However he appeared unphased by all the attention he was getting.

Grabbing lunch which looked similar to mine, Alex took a seat to the table facing ours.

"So did you speak to Alexander ?" Lucy inquired.

"He just prefers Alex! Yeah, actually he's quite reserved. He didn't entertain any of the girls who tried hitting on him, that was cool." Grace replied bitting on her burger.

So he's reserved and not interested in girls here. This peice of information caused an unknown kind of satisfaction lingering in the depths of my stomach, relief washing over me unexpectedly. Moments later Grace was back to rambling about parties and gossips which I obviously found useless.

"Rosaleigh I think he wants to speaks to you. " Lucy noticed. Lucy is always the observant one.

"Umm.. What?" I looked up from my lunch.

"Alex.. He's been looking at you for so long" She spoke as Grace looked at his way convinced.

"I think he's interested in you" Grace squealed happily.

Arrghh this girl and her squeals!!!! i cringed at that voice.

"I... " Before I could deny Alex came to our table.

"Rosaleigh, you'd forgot your cell phone in a hurry.. Aunt Kate asked me to give you" Before I could respond Alex walked past our table and exited the Cafeteria.

Wooof!!! I didn't notice not having my phone since morning yet.

I looked around the cafeteria to find almost everyone's attention on me.

"Dont tell me Rosaleigh, Alex is your cousin" Amy, a classmate shouted from her table.

My Cousin!!?? An unknown tinge of anger raised in me at her question.

"No!! He is not my cousin" I yelled back at her.

"But the son of a old family friend staying at my place" I smirked at the girls as they took in the piece of information. It was fun to look at their shocked faces and I felt victorious. .

With a sigh of satisfaction, I turned to look at my friends to find them raising their eyebrows at me. I couldn't help but feel guilty for hiding it from them.

However walking to our next class I filled them from how I first met Alex in the library where he asked me to tutor him, to finding out that he was a old family friend that would be going to stay with my family.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. I was famous within few hours. Not that I was a nobody in college before. I had my reputation as the one who got excellent grades but this was different kind of popularity. Some girls started giving me those jealous looks whereas others tried to get in my good books so that I could provide them with Alex's number or have them on sleepover at my place. They kept on asking me some crappy questions which included of what's his preferred colour choice in undergarments etcetera.

Grace and Lucy made a bet of how I can/will end with liking Alex infact loving him. Grace unsually was convinced that I would and should end up with him whereas Lucy was skeptical about it. It was hilarious to have my bestfriends betting over my non existent love life.

Grace although being so popular at college tried to keep away every other guy who wanted to hit on me where Lucy suggested me on going out on dates. According to Lucy, a strong balanced serious relationship could help me recover my memories. I'll have a shoulder to lean on completely. Unlikely I supported Grace. But this time she too was convinced that Alex will have me swooning over him. That was strange.

Unlike the morning Alex drove me home since I had no license of my own. My parents wouldnt provide me with a car of my own, dreading the consequences. The ride back home was almost silent except the one discussion we had.

"You didn't need to pull that stunt in the cafeteria" I turned from the window to look at Alex.

"It wasn't a stunt I just wanted to give you your cell phone. Aunt Kate would have been worried." He replied. I was too much pissed to answer him thus chose to ignore him.

"You tried ignoring me in the college" Alex stated after a while of silence, his eyes strained on the road.

"Umm.. yeah.. cause the girls in the college wouldn't let me be at peace. After the 'stunt' they kept on bugging me asking questions about you !! And for God's sake I dont know what color underwear you wear !!" I exclaimed at him. All of a sudden I realised what I had blurted in anger.

"Ohh, dont you remember??" Alex smirked at me before continuing to drive. He was refering to the morning incident. Colour rose to my cheeks as I faced the window avoiding any further discussion.

Arriving home, we had some snacks. Mum was busy editing on her laptop. She wrote articles on the social problems arising around the world and published them under the cover of a fake name. From past few weeks her articles were against Kings who have turned into dictators oppressing their people. Alex was in the living room engrossed in his phone when I chose not to disturb them and retired to my room.

Relaxing for some time, I chose to revise my lessons. Since it was the start of the last sem we did had some new concepts of medication to be learned. I was engrossed in my books when a light knock sounded on my door.

Looking up from my books I saw Alex standing on my door, his books with him. He looked spectacularly gorgeous in his reading glasses. His steel grey eyes looking more phenomenal behind the glasses.

"As you promised to tutor me, I think this is the best place we can learn without being disturbed" I approved of his idea cause there was no way in hell I could tutor him in the college with the amount of attention we could get.

Alex stepped into my room, his eyes observing every minute details of my room. My room was not too girly or flashy it was simple as much as I liked it.

The major theme of my room was in steel grey just like Alex' eyes with tinge of red. When choosing the colours for my room I somehow had a liking for steel grey. My Bed was a medium size placed near the window to let the sunrays wake me. I didnt like waking up to the blarring sounds of alarm and I tried using them at rare occasions. A Small balcony was attached to my room so that I could gaze at the stars in the night. There were small shrubs and flower plants hanging at a corner in the balcony giving my room a natural touch. My closet rested in the other side, beside it was a huge bookshelf. I loved reading and books took more than half of my room's space. I once read quote from Sir George Martin which read

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." And from that day I tried reading as much as I could. Reading was my escape from Reality.

My bed dipped breaking my chain of thoughts. I glanced at Alex, he was wearing sweatpants and a white teeshirt that gave a good view of his built. I could make out that basically Alex loves working out.

Without wasting any other moment I began covering different topics. We solved multiple choice questions, studied medicine and discussed some psychological facts. Alex himself was a very bright student.

It wasn't until my mom called us downstairs for dinner that I glanced over the clock. We had spent almost three hours studying and revising and it felt like they went by in a blink of an eye.