3- "Friendly."

After placing my order at the counter, I walked with my food tray to the first available seat I saw. Settling in, I began to eat.

I really never mind eating alone. Some people might raise their eyebrows and glance at me warily at first, but then they'll shrug and return to what they were doing. Not an issue for me. I have no friends, and I don't care if people would think I'm a loner.

"I have not yet finished my assignment. Can you let me borrow yours later, my dear beautiful cousin, Barbara?"

"Sure, dear. You can."

"That's it! Thanks! You're really a life savior, and I love you!"

The girl chuckled.

"Come on, Jude! Stop taking advantage of Barbara's kindness! It's f*cking annoying!"

Their group laughed and grinned.

I looked at the Gregoris, and as usual, every time they were around, people would glance their way and would admire them. They are cool and a bit loud when walking and talking.

Yeah, I could not even blame our schoolmates. They really appear to be cool people. All five of them in their group. They seem to be taking attention wherever they go without even doing anything, but their effortless magnetic presence leads people's eyes to look at them.

So, Jude was the name of the big grinner among the five, and Barbara seemed to be the nice one with short hair and skinny structure, but she's ultimately beautiful. And the one that called Jude annoying was the girl with red hair with an uncaring aura.

They walked past my table, and my subconscious eyes followed them until they stopped at a vacant table and sat there.

Jude continued to joke around, and Barbara laughed hard while the other ones would just grin, and the red-haired girl would smile as she rolled her eyes in the air as if half entertained and half annoyed. And that aura actually makes her hot. I don't know if she realizes that, but she's probably sultry for having a snub appearance.

I shook my head and stopped glancing their way. I should just mind my business and finish my food like how they're enjoying themselves as if there are no other people around them except them five.

After a few minutes of eating in peace, a female sat down in the chair in front of me at this table.

As I looked up to see it, I was surprised to see who it was. "Barbara!"

"Hi! You already know my name?" she asked with that naturally kind and friendly approach.

I glanced at their table, and the four people remaining there were directly watching over here because Barbara went to me.

A bit shy, I looked at the girl in front of me, who was smiling and waiting for my response. I nodded. "Yeah, I heard it a while ago when you walked past my table."

"Oh, that's great!" She was genuinely cheerful.

"Hey, ladies!" Jude greeted us with all smiles, too, as he followed Barbara and sat next to her.

"So, this is my cousin—"

"Jude," I uttered, unintentionally cutting Barbara's supposed introduction of her friend to me.

"Yeah. You knew his name, too!" She chuckled. "You're really cute!"

I could almost feel my cheeks blushing as Barbara called me cute. But I don't really think that I am. It just happened that I got to know their names because I heard them. Nothing's so amusing whatsoever.

"I heard it, as well."

"You remember us? We're classmates in Biology," Jude spoke to me.

I nodded. "Yeah." Like, who wouldn't know you and your group? Even if we happened not to be classmates in a subject. Your bloodline seem cool and famous on campus…

"You're Camila Valdemore if we could remember it right?" Barbara talked.

Once again, I nodded. "Right."

She offered me her hand for a shake. "Nice meeting you, Camila."

Hesitantly, I accepted it.

"I hope we can be friends. Anyway, you're a transferee, as we guess? You seem to be a fresh face we haven't seen for the past few years we've been studying in this school," Barbara continued talking to me.

"Uhm, actually, no. I used to study here before but had to stop five years ago, and there was a reason I wasn't able to finish my course. I just happened to go back now."

"Oh!" She was a bit surprised by that. "So, you've been a student here for a long time, probably even before we did. What an awe!”

Shy, I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah. A bit like that."

"But why? Why did you stop, and why didn't you finish your course five years ago?"

Uncomfortably, I shook my head. "Uhm, it's a long story."

"Oh! Yeah. Sorry for asking. Guess I'm being too talkative here."

I smiled with pureness. "It's alright."

"Stop asking personal questions, Barbara! You see, Camila here gets uncomfortable!" Jude jokingly scolded his cousin.

And Barbara rolled her eyes laughingly. "Yeah. Whatever, Jude!"

I couldn't help but smile at the two. They seem close and yeah, they're really cool. They were so nice and friendly to me that they went to my table to chat with me. Different from others that seem to not give a f*ck at all.

"Anyway, since we haven't really introduced ourselves that much yet, let me tell you that we are the Gregoris and all five of us are taking Veterinary Medicine." Jude looked at their table where the three were still there and watching us. He pointed them one by one. "That red-haired girl with paper-white skin is Abigail. She's a bit snub and sarcastic, but believe me, she isn't really that bad at all. That one's Rain. He's the serious type in the group and the big brother that settles conflicts when sometimes we have arguments."

They're taking up Veterinary Medicine. Interesting.

"And that last one, the coolest and the most sought-after man in our group, Trey Gregori. At first glance you would mistake him to be arrogant and unkind but believe me, he could also be gentle at times."

My eyes darted directly to the guy that Jude lastly talked about.

Arrogant and unkind, yeah, it shows. But gentle? I doubt it if he could.

"Camila, if you won't mind me asking, does Trey really look like someone you knew and you mistook him for?" Barbara curiously asked.

I looked away and I was hesitant. "Yeah. But I knew he wasn't him. They're different people. Noah, my late fiancé, died five years ago and he was gone. Trey is a different person and alive who just looks like him but is not him. It was purely just my impulsiveness and because I missed Noah a lot that brought me to hugging Trey the first time I saw the latter and I mistook him to be Noah. I would even like to apologize for the scene I created that caused your cousin public embarrassment in front of our schoolmates when I did that."

Barbara shook her head understandingly. "It's okay. No need to apologize for that. We understood. If he really looks so much like your late fiancé, we couldn't blame you for your emotions."

I smiled. "Thanks, Barbara."

"And Noah was the reason why you had to stop going to school five years ago? Because you lost him and all you wanted to do was mourn from his vanishing?" she continued.

I nodded with all honesty.

She seemed to be more interested. "What happened? Why did you lose him? Why did he die?"

With a simple sad smile, I shook my head. "Let's just not talk about it. I don't like talking about him anymore. I hope you can understand."

"Yeah. Of course. Sorry. I once again tried to invade your privacy and went too personal. I didn't realize it. Sorry for offending you, Camila. I hope you won't avoid me because of my uncontrolled talkative mouth." She was accurately apologetic and seemed to be regretting going that far.

I nodded and smiled lively again. "Don't worry. I won't."

Glancing at the table where Trey, Rain, and Abigail were sitting, I saw that Rain seemed to be whispering something to Trey and that both of them were seriously looking at me…