Chapter 7

“WHAT did I just get myself into?” Kace mumbled to herself as she walked along the hallways of their building. “How am I supposed to convince a student to join the pub? Ugh!” She shook her head.

Suddenly, someone blocked her way. When she looked up, she saw Kris infront of her. “K-Kris?”

Her brother smirked. “Why are you reacting like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Oh… uh… nothing. It’s just that students may see you talking to me,” she answered, almost whispering.

“Don’t worry about it. They won’t notice. Why are you bowing your head while walking? What if you bump into a wall?”

“I don’t care about the wall right now. I just don’t know where to find someone to join us.” She sighed.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way. You’re Kace the Great, right?” He tapped her shoulder.

She nodded at her brother. “You should get going now. Someone may see us.” She reminded him.

Kris nodded. “Goodluck!” He turned his back and started to march his way out of the building.

She continued to walk forward still thinking of ways to convince some students to join them. Suddenly, someone called her from behind. She stopped and turned around.

Stephen was walking towards her direction. “Kace! Why did you leave me?”

“Oh sorry. You were talking to your brother so I thought you’d need more time.”

“Ah, all right. By the way, were you just talking to Kris?” He asked out of the blue which left Kace with a stunned look. “Uh… Kace?”

“Oh… uh… that… he just asked me something,” she said as an alibi.

“What something? Do you know each other?” He asked again.

“Ah no. He just asked for the time.” She wished Stephen would stop asking her about Kris already.

He looked at her in question. “Is that really it?”

She nodded and grabbed his hand. “Uhm… let’s go!” They both walked together back to their building.

As they were walking, someone saw them. It was Nix. “Hey Kace! I was looking for you…” Then she paused and looked at Stephen. “Oh… you’re with him.”

“We just came back from the meeting,” Stephen answered her.

“Ah...” Nix asked. Then, she noticed her bestfriend’s unwholesome mood. “K, are you all right?”

She just nodded at her.

“Did something happen?” Nix eyed the two.

“Nothing.” Kace shook her head. “Come on.”

***

WHEN they reached the cafeteria, the rest of the guys were on their usual table. Chester and Brandon were playfully bickering at each other while Max was eating silently.

Stephen excused himself and went somewhere else, as Kace and Nix proceeded to where their friends were sitting.

“Oh hey! You’re here.” Chester noticed them.

“So where did you go?” Brandon asked when the two finally sat down.

“Do we really have to answer?” Nix glared at him.

“I was asking Kace.” He remarked.

Nix threw a napkin before him.

“Hey! What was that for?” Brandon hissed.

Nix just stuck her tongue out at him and laughed.

The guys glanced at Kace who was still not speaking. They were not used to her being so quiet like this.

Chester nudged her in the arm. “Chief, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head.

“She’s like that ever since I saw her a while ago. I don’t know what happened,” Nix muttered.

“Wait… so you two aren’t together earlier?” Brandon asked.

“Obviously no,” Nix answered.

“Then, what happened?” Chester asked again.

No one spoke. They looked at Kace trying to figure out something but they couldn’t. Just then, Kenneth came running towards their table.

“Hey Ken, where have you been?” Max asked him.

Kenneth gasped for air before answering, “Is it true???” He looked at Kace.

“What’s true?” They all asked back except for Kace who was still on her own world.

Ken took a deep breath. “Our pub is going to be removed?”

“What?” They all exclaimed.

“Chief, what’s going on here? Do you know something?” Chester asked her.

“I’m sorry,” Kace mumbed as she hit her head on the table.

“Kace, is this what happened at your meeting?” Nix turned to her.

“Meeting? Isn’t it supposed to be this afternoon?” Brandon asked.

“No. It was this morning.” Kace answered with a heavy heart.

“Can’t we do something?” Kenneth asked.

“They said if we can find students to complete the editorial board, they’ll consider keeping the pub.” Kace sighed.

“So that means we still have a chance?” Chester exclaimed.

“But how will we convince students to join us?” Max turned to them.

The others heaved a sigh. Suddenly, Kenneth stood up. “We can use flyers to let the students know.”

Max shook his head. “Not again. I told you that won’t work.”

“There’s no harm in trying. AGAIN.” Kenneth said.

“Yeah. I agree. It’s better to try than do nothing at all. Who else among you wants to keep the pub?” Chester asked.

Everyone nodded. “But if this doesn’t work, we should have a plan B.” Brandon suggested, grinning. “And by B, I mean, plan Brandon.” Nix smacked his nape, causing him to wince in pain.

“Let’s just try this first before we think of the next move.” Kace finally said.

***

AFTER lunch, they all headed to the pub office. Nix had no choice but to go with them. Kace on the other hand, felt hesitant but she didn’t want to let her staff down. They had to do something if they wanted to keep the pub.

As they reached the office, Nix quickly commented, “Why don’t we try renovating this office first? I mean, look at this place.” She scanned the room full of dust and webs. “Who would want to work here?”

“As much as we want to, we don’t have the money for renovation so just bear with it. Do you mind?” Brandon said to her.

“Hmph.” Nix stomped her feet as she found a wooden chair on the side.

Just then, Kace noticed something on a table near the half-opened window. “Wait! What is that?” She stood up and walked towards it.

Everyone turned to her direction. Meanwhile, Kace froze on her post.

Nix’s eyes widened as she saw a piece of note glued on the table. “Smile and everything will be alright.” She read it out loud. “Kace! Your secret admirer is back.”

“Admirer?” Chester asked.

“Yeah. Someone has been giving her love notes ever since freshman year, I think. Right, Kace?” Nix looked over to her but Kace didn’t answer. “Anyway, we still don’t know who he is. But I reckon, it’s Stephen.”

Brandon nodded. “Yeah. I think so too.” He smirked at Nix trying to tease her again for her unrequited admiration for the said guy.

“We should just start making flyers now.” Kace ignored the note but deep inside, she was excited because another note came.

The last time she received one was before their summer break. Even though she didn’t know who it was, she still felt like she knew the person for a long time now. She always felt inspired after reading the notes.

***

LUKE was walking out of the main gate when suddenly, someone called from behind. “Hey!” He looked over his shoulder and saw that it was one of his classmates. He stopped walking and waited for the girl to reach him.

“C-can I ask you something?” the girl stuttered as she started to speak.

“Y-yeah?”

“I… was just wondering…” The girl fixed her thick glasses while trying to gain confidence to talk to him. “Can we be partners for the Chemistry project?” She said in a fast pace.

He wasn’t able to speak at first. He has almost forgotten about it. He has no other else in mind to ask as a partner so he decided to just accept the girl’s offer. But then, when he was about to speak, someone came running towards their direction. “Wait! Stop!”

Nix was about to head out of the school grounds when suddenly, she saw their geeky classmate and one of the top students, Jessica walking up to Luke. She figured she’d be asking him to be lab partners with him so she quickly ran towards them. Her plan of getting Kace and Luke as lab partners would be ruined so she couldn’t just stand there and watch the whole thing.

Luke and Jessica looked at Nix with confused looks when she reached them. “N-Nix?” Jessica mumbled.

Nix was panting hard but she managed to speak, “Jessie, aren’t you supposed to be asking Stephen as your lab partner?” She looked at her and the girl blushed.

Apparently, she’s not the only one who has a crush on Stephen. Almost all of the girls in their class and from other classes got an eye on him.

“I… already asked him and he said… he’s planning to ask Kace,” Jessica said with a defeated look.

“What???” Nix’s eyes widened. She already expected that. But still, she should try to do something.

“No! No! That’s not right! That’s why I’m here…” She looked at her then turned to Luke, who seemed lost at the two. “…to tell you that you can’t ask Luke because he already asked Kace. Right?”

Luke didn’t answer, not until she nudged him on the side. “Oh… uh… yeah….” He touched his side while Nix tried to convince Jessica to find someone else.

“O-okay then. I’m sorry.” She bowed before them. Luke did the same. When she finally walked away, the two stared at each other for a while. “Why did you tell her that?” Luke asked her.

“A-about that… I’m really really sorry Luke.” She started to plead. “I just thought… Kace would be your perfect lab partner, don’t you think? Besides, you’ve already worked with her.”

Luke thought about it. She was right. Kace was smart so it would be a bonus for him to be lab partners with her since he didn’t want to fail the subject in the first place… or else their dad would send him back to London. But the problem was, how was he going to ask her?

***