Chapter 4: High School Life

Rhezi has been feeling annoyed. She looked at her phone and pouted. She even tapped the table in front of her. She sighed. She was very impatient, especially when it was related to food. 

They were in the canteen of their school. After their last subject they immediately went there. The place was large and there were plenty of tables and chairs. It is also very clean because of its white interior. The wall is also made of glass, so Rhezi can see what’s happening from outside their school to where she is seated. 

She looked around the canteen. She saw her best friend Mics at the counter, ordering food for them. She’s ahead of the line of students who were also standing and waiting for their turn to order. It’s just that, she will probably take a while before she will be entertained because of the great number of students in their school canteen. 

"Are you okay, Rhezaliza?”

She frowned and looked at her other friend Carmina. She rolled her eyes on her. If she wasn't a Muslim she would have incatenate her. She hated to be called by her first name. She prefers her nickname Rhezi. More classy and appealing.

"Stop calling me that, Carmi!” she said to her with an obvious annoyance in her voice. 

Carmi only laughed softly and fixed her hijab. “I'm sorry, Rhezi."

Rhezi sighed, again. She was so hungry because she hadn't eaten lunch earlier. Well, she really meant not to eat. She has a reason why she does that. And it is a good reason.

She smiled because of what she was thinking. Her eyes were tenderly longing for something as if she were dreaming while very much  awake. Her young heart was pounding too fast not because she was sick but for a different reason. After a while, she felt light hearted while both of her hands were propped on her chin and her elbow was supported by the table, a smile was lingering on her lips. 

“Have you eaten earlier, Rhezi? Why were you looking crazy in there?” asked their other friend Tin. She didn't even realize she was already on their table, too.

They consisted of four in a circle of friends at their school. Saint Benilde College is a private school. It is only exclusive to the rich and they are already in the forefront of luck when it comes to money.

Rhezi's family owned a chain of hotels. While her friend Carmina was a Muslim princess from Malaysia. Her other friend Mics was a daughter of a politician while Tin's family was an old rich family from Visayas.

They were also smart. They excel in every curriculum in Grade Twelve. They compete in every competition outside their school. Regional or even international competition. They won because they were smart. And she's the smartest of all. It’s just that, she's also the heaviest.

Rhezi threw her friend—Tin, a sharp glare. Her eyebrows were also sarcastically uplifted. Her friend Carmina laughed again so she gave her a glaring stare, too. Actually, Tin and Carmina were both beautiful. Both of them were good at handling themselves. They also have that beauty standard that anyone dreamed of. Unique and great in style. Even their friend Mics was also beautiful. She’s beautiful, too, with a little bit of a downgrade perhaps for other people. But still, it depends on the preference of someone who's looking, anyway. No one should feel inferior just because they’re blessed in something but cursed in the human standards of beauty. It was just a self-proclaimed standard. What’s important is your own standard, where you feel comfortable and at peace. 

"Why are you here, Tin? I thought you had a date?” Rhezi tauntingly asked her. When she saw her stay still, she laughed softly. “Break? Poor boy!” she added. 

In return, Tin also glared at her. “He cheated on me. What should I do? I'm not a martyr, you see!” she answered annoyingly. 

Rhezi shrugged. She looked at Mics' whereabouts instead and saw that she was already approaching them. She smiled when she saw the large size pizza that Mics was holding and a large coke in the can. She will surely ruin her plan to diet. Definitely, there was no diet plan to happen because she was really hungry at the moment. 

"You’ve taken a while in there!” she exclaimed. It was her immediate remark to her friend who had just taken her seat beside her. 

Mics first laid the pizza box before slapping her on the arm. "You should have been the one who lined up there. You already know how overcrowded the place is. Fortunately, the cashier had a crush on me,” she said while giggling. 

"Eww!" the three of them said in chorus.  

"Tsk! KJ's!” Mics answered. 

Rhezi just laughed as she sneaked some glances at the man whom Mics was referring to. Her thoughts made her shake her head. The man at the counter was thin and not too handsome. Far from her new crush.

They ate in silence. It was like each of them were in a different world and they didn't know each other. They also picked the pizza in front of them and ate it on their own. No one was talking nor giving one of them an attention to each other, either. They’re obviously hungry from their long classes.

"I think Rhezi was in love. She had been smiling alone. She looked crazy!” Tin commented on her. She had probably found her crazily dumbfounded. 

Before answering Tin’s accusation, Rhezi first ate the last piece of pizza she was holding. She also drank her coke before she faced her. Her eyebrows rose immediately.

"What do you mean?" Rhezi asked her friend innocently. She also glanced at her other two friends who were done already with their meal.

“You keep on blushing and smiling like an idiot, girl. Duh!” she rotated her eyes on her. "Who was your crush, huh? Maybe you can share it with us?” she added.

“I don't want to!”

Rhezi quickly reached her mouth and covered it with her hands. She bit her lower lip and looked at the table. They were shocked as to what she had said and their jaws dropped. She would love to laugh at their reactions but not at that time. They already knew her secret that she always wanted to hide from them.

"Who?" Mics asked.

Rhezi couldn’t do anything anymore but to tell everything to her friends. She told them the first time she saw her crush. How he was able to speed up her heartbeat and how handsome he was. She also thought he’s perfect. It’s just that he's seven years older than her. 

"Amazing!" Tin said while feeling thrilled. 

“Tsk! You’re liking someone who's impossible to get. Oh, whatever!" Mics commented. Disappointment was obviously laced on her voice. “We better get home,” she added suggestively. 

She grimaced. "Nothing is impossible, you see! I am Rhezaliza Lagdameo. Nothing is impossible to me. Remember that!”

"What a brat! You must make yourself sexy first,” Mics answered. 

"Why are you like that, Mics? I hate you!” she complained but she didn't really mean it. She was only a bit irritated.  

Rhezi stood up. She was really fat because she loved eating chocolates. In addition, she also loves soft drinks and heavy meals. But she wasn't that fat. She was only chubby not obese. Besides, she’s not sick but healthy and that’s the only thing that’s important.

She walked out first of the canteen. Her friends followed her shaking their heads while looking at her. They knew that she was in a bad mood because of what they did. They were just teasing her. But, Rhezi was very serious. Especially, when they're talking about weights.

They carried their expensive shoulder bags and school supplies and walked through the canteen. Fellow students on their campus were looking at them, admiringly. They were wearing their school uniforms. White polo shirt with their school logo on the chest and a plain navy blue skirt up to the knee length long. Only their friend Mina was just an exception because she was wearing slacks.

"I'm going ahead of you. I still have somewhere to go to," Mina told them. They just get to the waiting area of the school.

Rhezi was sitting on the chair. She looked at her Piaget watch. It was her mommy’s gift to her when she had won the Quiz Bee in their school. She saw that it was about to be five o’clock in the late afternoon.  She looked at Mina and nodded. She also did the same with Mics and Tin. They knew that her fetch was near so she had said goodbye first to them. 

"Where are you going, Mina? You're not done with being a fanatic of Uno's band?" Rhezi asked her teasingly.

Mina shook her head in disapproval. “I'm going to leave first.”

Rhezi just watched her friend's distancing figure. She’s walking fast while carrying her shoulder bag. She’s obviously in a rush through her actions. Rhezi shook her head. Mina was in big trouble.

Any thoughts of her friend were stopped when her cellphone rang. When she looked at it she saw an unregistered number. She cancelled the call but the caller was very persistent that she did not have a choice but to answer it.

“Hello?" Rhezi asked the caller on the other line.

"Where are you?"

Her heart stopped beating. She blinked her eyes then looked again on her cell phone screen. Even though she couldn’t see him, she knew who owned that voice. Who wouldn't. It became her habit to her new crush. The reason why she had planned to diet and be sexy. The reason for the raging speed of heartbeat of her young heart.

Kraius Montreal.