4. Boyfriend

David and I walk together in silence, and I am secretly relieved by it. I would never admit it out loud, but this game we're playing is making me uneasy. I wish for a moment that he would just confront me about his wallet again. Noticing that he's slowed down, I look back at him, cocking my eyebrows up. He's frowning at me, distracted.

"David?" I snap him back to attention.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he tells me, suddenly awkward. He scratches his flushed neck, and the movement exposed a bruise on his shoulder. Judging by the look of it, it's most probably from our encounter in the hallways yesterday. I probably should apologize for that. He's a jerk, but he did protect me from getting seriously hurt when we fell down.

"So, um...." I start, clearing my throat. Obviously, I'm not used to apologizing. "I also want to say sorry for what happened yesterday. You know, that thing with the running and chasing and you hitting your head. Then me almost choking you..."  

David smiles, noticing my uncomfortable expression. "Nah. Forget about it. I was only hurt a little bit." he tells me. He then grins like he's just had a brilliant idea. "By the way, when do you get your car back?" he asks me.

"Oh...um.." I stop walking. That apology might have weakened my senses a bit because now I can't properly think of excuses. "Probably not until next week? It's the um... it's been having so many problems. The mechanic said it'd take a while."

"Huh. Okay." he says, clearly not buying what I said, "But that's weird. I would've expected Arnold to buy you a top-notch vehicle. From what you're saying, he's bought you a second-hand."

David slows down, leaning down to pin me with his gaze. The gears in my head turn as I try to remember the details of the story that I spun earlier. Damn it. Why are his eyes so unnerving? 

"It was. It was an old car of his. He didn't buy me a new one."

Straightening up, he nods as if he understood. "Oh, well. That's too bad." then he stops walking and casually drops a bomb on me, "Do you wanna carpool with me, then? I ride with Sai, but he's finally getting his own car this Monday." 

I skid to a halt. Oh no. No, no, no. Pretending to be friends with him is one thing, but spending more time with him is stretching it too far. I open my mouth to reply, but he continues to speak, "I'll take your silence as a yes, then. I'll pick you up first thing on Monday,"  

"Oh no, it's fine, I actually--" I counter, but up ahead, our school is coming into view, and David looks like he hasn't heard me.

"Oh, here we are, " he says, stating the obvious. I scratch my head in exasperation as we continue to walk toward campus.

"Ye--" I try again, but he's Mr. Cool again, suddenly busy with his phone, pulling it out from his pocket and holding up a finger at me like I'm his secretary or something. I start to fume.

"Hey! No loitering around the school entrance when people are coming in. Head to your classroom now." the lady guard announces, frowning at us as she ushers the students entering the building. As if to prove her point, a guy bumps into me on his way in, and I get separated from David.

"David? Hey--" I call out, determined to finish my sentence. But he's already on the other side, seemingly engrossed in his phone call. I bet he's doing it on purpose. The bastard.  I huff in frustration as I step aside to let the other students in.

"Girl, are you not going to class? Move your ass, now." the lady guard calls out to me from her station at the entrance.

"Yeah, sorry, " I reply, stepping inside campus against my while, clenching my fists tightly on each side of me as I find myself coerced into going to school again. 

***

Stupid freaking David Choi. Freaking stupid David Choi. Carpool, my ass. No freaking way. I cannot let it happen. He's going to ruin my plans. I need to look for Uncle Fern and I can't do that when someone like him's breathing on my neck the whole time.

"Are you okay?" Ari says, looking at me in concern as she seats herself beside me.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I tell her.

"Okay," Ari responds, but I can tell she doesn't believe me. She looks at me silently for a moment before saying, "He seems different with you."

"I--who?" I ask her, face scrunching up.

"Dave," she clarifies and I scowl at her.

"It's true." Ari asserts. "He doesn't usually talk to people that aren't close to him. He barely knows you, but he was teasing you when I saw you guys earlier."

"How do you know he was teasing me?" I challenge her.

"Well, I just happen to know him better than most people," Ari replies. I wonder what she means by that, but I decide not to push further. In fact, I wish she'd stop talking now and leave me in peace.

"He likes you," Ari repeats, not getting the silent memo. And she claims to be perceptive.

"That's ridiculous," I tell her. "He was only messing with me because he thinks I took something from him."

"Oh, yeah. His wallet. I heard about that. Now, that is an interesting story." Ari says, amused.

"It's not an interesting story, it's an annoying one," I reply, though I don't know why I feel the need to correct it.

Ari leans towards me, beaming excitedly, "You know what I think? I think this is a start of a love story."

"You're crazy." I blurt out, feeling my face heat up. What the hell? That guy? Interested in me? I don't think he even has a romantic bone in his body. Not to mention that he might also be gay, what with his possessiveness over Kier that first day. The guy just clearly believes I have his wallet, and he is determined to annoy me about it to the ends of the earth. And now I have to ride with him to school everyday because he clearly figured out that I'm trying to stay out of school. Which means that he won this round. 

***

It's Monday. It's also the first day of my carpool with David. Not bothering to check the time, I tie my hair up and wash my face. I then grab the first set of clothes from my wardrobe and put them on hastily. I look at my inviting bed and sigh. I would have loved to sleep a little more, but I need to leave before Mr. Cool gets here. My movements get faster by the second. I quickly fix the contents of my backpack while I brush my teeth. I grip my head with one hand, frustrated. I also would love a warm shower, but time is not on my side right now. I rinse my mouth. I barely wipe it dry with my towel as I am already grabbing my stuff and heading out of my room.

"Mom! I'm going--waah ah" I back up the stairs so quickly I almost trip. Shit. Stupid David is already in our living room, chatting amiably with Mom and Arnold, and sipping gaily on his glass of orange juice. Ugh. What the hell? He's so early? I try to hide behind the banister as stealthily as I can. 

But it's too late. They already heard me. "Dina? Is that you, darling?" Mom calls out. 

"Come join us, Dina. Your friend David is here. To fetch you, he says." Arnold chimes in, as cheerful as ever.

I close my eyes as I silently count to ten. I have to. Otherwise, I will be tempted to tackle Mr. Cool to the ground and beat him senseless. Wearing the brightest smile I could muster, I approach them warily. David tries to catch my eye, but I fix them widely on my Mom.  My heart beats faster. David could be telling them about his wallet. But my mother looks confused instead of angry, so it couldn't have been that. I wonder what they are talking about.

"Honey, this nice boy right here says he's your boyfriend. You didn't tell me you have a boyfriend. I mean, you barely make friends." Mom tells me, and I sigh in relief. Whew. I really thought she found out about the wallet. Just then, it hit me.

What?! Boyfriend?!

"Now, darling, I'm sure Dina's not as unfriendly as you say." Arnold defends me. In my periphery, I see David looking smug by the second. The audacity of this boy to corner me like this. Once again, I pull back from the urge to murder him. 

Well, if this is how he wants to play it, I'm going to make this even worse for the both of us. I stand beside David, glaring at him before linking my arm with his. "Yes, of course. I'm not that unfriendly, Mom. Yes. David here... is my boyfriend." I say with a saccharine smile. 

David looks down at me, his expression turning from surprise to amusement. I can tell he's not expecting me to go along with it. Well, he obviously hadn't learned anything from yesterday. I am, not in a million years, going to back down. 

Flipping my hair behind me, I give an exaggerated giggle. "He's here to pick me up. How sweet is that?" I announce to my parents, though I almost throw up a little in my mouth. 

Silence fills the room as Mom pales. "Is this really true?" she asks David, her mouth agape. She looks like she just learned that the world is about to end and I feel weirdly insulted. Sure, I don't really make the best relationships with other people. But my own mother not believing that I can get a boyfriend is just hurtful.

"Yes, Mrs. Moon," David answers confidently. He unlinks my arm from his and grabs my hand in his. His warmth reaches me and I swallow at the contact. I physically have to shake m head to get clear my head. 

"I don't understand," Mom mutters weakly, still visibly confused. 

Arnold, on the other hand, is cluelessly ecstatic. "Come on now, Naledi. As I said, this is wonderful!" He looks at David and me proudly, "You both have my blessing."

"Arnold." Mom chastises him gently.

"What?" Arnold asks innocently, fixing his glasses up his nose. Frustrated, my Mom picks up a croissant from the tray on the table. Huh. She's eating. She must really be upset. Though I don't know if it's because I supposedly have kept this secret from her or if it's because she's suspecting me of concocting up something criminal again and have somehow roped up David into it. Either way, I am surely going to hear more from her about this. Which is why I need to leave now. 

"Well, we better go, or we'll be late," I tell them even though the ride to school only takes thirty minutes. Mom starts to say something, but I pretend not to notice. I grab David's arm even more firmly and push him towards the door.

"Ow." he mouths at me with accusing eyes, circling his shoulders from the pain. I widen my eyes at him, not releasing my grip. This guy is really begging for it. Wait until we get in his car.