17. I'm sorry

" Why are you staring at me ?", Ethan asks whilst writing, without actually turning his face or looking at me. I quickly look away. Shit ! He caught me. And I had promised I won't look at him.

" I'm s..sorry.", I utter.

" It's okay. I don't mind it. Probably you are thinking about your best friend.", he says.

" Ahm...y..yeah."

He places his pen down and looks at me. " You can see me as a friend."

" Uhmm..okay. R..read the next question.", I say blankly. I definitely can't see him as a friend or trust him so soon.

Ethan sighs. " Let's take a small break. We already wrote 20 questions."

" o..okay."

" Can we talk something?", he then asks.

" What ?"

" What happened yesterday when I asked you whether you had lunch ?"

" N..nothing."

" No. Something happened. Tell me.", He insists, urging me to speak.

" Ahmm..I-I just...nobody actually cares for me. Wh..when you asked that I felt like, Alex was a..asking me. He..he used to ask me that always. I used to s..skip lunch."

" Oh..I see. Have you actually had lunch last day."

" No.", I shakes my head.

" Are you skipping lunch everyday ? I don't see you at canteen.", he asks with something like concern in his eyes. My eyes widen a bit in surprise. So he noticed I was not in the canteen. Or probably because his monster friends wanted to bully me and they were looking for me.

"N..no. I have lunch from outside."

" Are you lying ?"

" No.", I say and take the textbook from the table, reading through the next point I marked. I don't want to indulge in this type of conversation with him. He is starting to act like he really cares for me. Who is he to care ?

" When was Treaty of Tordesillas signed- 1494", I say and start to write it down.

" You agreed to take a break.", He says snatching the pen from my hands.

" You can leave early if we f..finish this fast "

He smiles. " I don't have anything else to do today. I am free. So I don't want to leave fast."

" B..but..you won't like spending time with me." I say side eying him. He furrows his eyebrows together and looks at me. I continue looking down at my lap. " You w..wont like spending time with a nerd like me. Your friends...they are all so d..different from me."

I look up, just to catch him clicking his tongue on the side of his cheeks. This is exactly the one thing Alex used to do when he got angry or annoyed. Ethan already looks like Alex. Why does he have to start acting like him too ? This is driving me crazy.

Oh heck ! Ethan is angry now. Did I mess up ?

" Just that you stammer doesn't mean you are a nerd. ", he finally says calming himself down. " My sister also stammers. I don't think she is a nerd."

What ? I think he just made up a story. If so this is all part of some wicked plan of the jocks. And I am their prey.

I can't help but frown as he continues. " She is really intelligent. You are also intelligent. And I honestly liked spending time with you than hanging out with those four."

" I don't believe. That..That girl is your girlfriend and they are your f..friends. Why'd you l..like spending time with me whom you m..met last day than with them ?"

He chuckles. " Who ? Amelia ? Who told you she is my girlfriend ? She is crazy. And I totally despise her and all of them."

Wait ! So she is not actually his girlfriend ? Will that be true ? Maybe he is being genuine. Maybe his sister also stutters. Maybe that's why he is showing sympathy towards me. Still it can be the other way too.

" Really ? What if they knows you s..said this about them ?", I ask.

" Then bad things will happen to me. I think you won't tell them.", he says looking at my eyes.

I let out a small laugh and looks away, breaking the eye contact. " Th..they won't believe me even if I t..tell them. And I'll n..never have the courage to g.go in front of them." I stand up from the chair and walk to my bed. I slump myself down on it and slowly lie back.

" Are you gonna sleep?", he asks standing up as well.

" No...call me when you w..want to start working again.", I say closing my eyes. But I open them soon after a moment as the bed dips down beside me. And he is proceeding to lie down near me.

He raises an eyebrow. " Do you mind me lying on your bed ?"

" No.", I shake my head and moves a little to give him enough space. He smiles and lies down at an inches distance from me. Then he turns his face and stares into my eyes as I was already looking at him. I suddenly get really nervous and look away.

" I am sorry.", he whispers.

" Wh..what ?"

" I'm sorry for beating you. I didn't want to. And I'm sorry for everything that happened."

" It's okay. I-I understand. J..just do me a favour. Tell your f..friends to leave me alone."

“ I'll. ", he nods. " l'll try my best. But I can't promise you they'd listen to me and leave you alone.”

I reply with a subtle nod. We lie like that looking at the ceiling for sometime. I wanted to stare at his face again, but I was feeling nervous to do so. My heart was also beating a little bit faster.

" Shall we go and continue ?", he finally asks turning his face.

" Okay.", I nod and sit up. Then we again go back to the chairs. We quickly starts writing down questions and Within half an hour, we write down 20 more questions and answers and decide that's enough as we made questions from almost all important points.

Ethan closes his notebook and clips his pen back in his pocket before standing up. " It was nice working with you.", he smiles.

" Same.", I smiles back.

" Bye then.", he scratches on his neck.

" Okay b..bye.", I nod.

" Ahmm Michael, shall I....nevermind. okay, bye.", he says and hastily walks towards the door taking his notebook. I follow him to the door and look on either sides of the corridor after he exits. Luckily there was no one. Ethan once more says 'Bye' before he rushes down the corridor and disappears down the steps.

I step back inside my room and closes the door shut. I heave a sigh as I walk back to my desk to start studying today's portions. I look at my watch on the desk and see it's only 7:30 Pm. I slump down on the chair and smile looking at my history notebook. It was actually nice working with him. He is a nice guy I think. Maybe I can trust him.

After all a guy looking like my Alex can't be that bad.