Chapter 13: Cheese Burger

Fera on the other hand tightened her grip on her pen. 'This idiot had a bad tongue,' she remarked silently. In her side vision, she saw that Nick turned his head toward that girl.

At the end of their first subject the girl waited for Nick at the doorway, Fera pretended as if she saw nothing, it was not a big deal, and she care none.

But the conversation between them was much clearer than her footsteps. The girl asked Nick to go with her to buy something in the canteen. Together with some of her classmates, they head to the next subject. In the room, she found Tunner in there.

As Tunner saw her a wide smile escapes from his lips. He tapped the desk of a chair next to him, it was the first time that someone offered a seat to her. She awkwardly walked towards him and sat down.

"How was your weekend?" he asked with a full smile.

"It was fine," socializing wasn't her thing the reason why she found it awkward upon talking to someone she wasn't comfortable with.

"Uhm, do you watch a basketball game?" he suddenly asked, which made her turn to him.

"I'm not a fan of physical activities," she confessed.

"I was hoping that you can drop by the gym, we'll be playing for the school basketball league." She doesn't know how to decline this time, he was been good but she couldn't bring herself to be confident and say okay.

"You won't be sitting with the crowd, you can be in a VIP seat." He added when he felt that Fera was about to decline.

"I don't know," Fera thought that it would be safer to answer that way.

"Do have something important to do?" She awkwardly nodded. She wasn't one of an empath person but she could feel his disappointment.

"Will I expect for next time?" and Fera lost her words. "It's fine, maybe next time you'll find basketball interesting." He promptly said before Fera could turn him down.

"I'm sorry." He only responded with a weak smile. Behind her, she could feel the stares of everybody, she secretly glanced at who are they but she met the sharp glare of a group of girls.

A dry run of discussion ends, and a golden hour had began. The beautiful yellowish sphere in the west was about to drop. She started walking alone and took a glimpse of the sun turning dark orange between the wigs of the trees.

"Hey!" she turned her head behind her and saw Nick running towards her.

"Do you need something?" she asked.

"Nothing, but I remember that I owe you." And she recalled that she loaned him money last Friday.

"Forget about it," she instead answered and they walked together.

"Oh, come on." He grabbed her hand and they walked towards the none cemented path. They passed taller trees and dense parts of the town.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" she mumbled while looking around, she heard some birds singing in their small voice.

"Maybe," he tightened his grip on Fera's hand. Fera pretended to ignore it as if she hadn't heard it. It was weird that she couldn't bring herself to feel frighted about his answer. What horrified her was the fact that she's comfortable with Nick and feels betrayed when someone has his attention.

As they moved, Fera saw a metal fence. Beyond that fence was a beautiful park. They walked into a small hole, which was a broken part of the fence. They got in and she saw an elegant fountain standing gracefully in the middle of the park.

"Here, they serve the best burger." Nick pulled her after whispering those to her ears. In the corner, there were food stands that offer different food. He bought two burgers and they sat on the nearest swing.

"Thank you," she thanks. A sweet smile responded from him.

"You seem a bit off," he concluded.

"How can you say so?"

"You don't usually say thank you and you thanked me just now." She kicked his foot and he laughed at her reaction.

"Funny?"

"Now I can see, you're back on track." She rolled her eyes and harshly bit her burger. Her eye grew wide as she taste the burger.

"What is this again?" she turned to him and asked.

"Burger," and her face fell into annoyance.

"Stupid, what I mean is what its name!" His laughter mirrored the level of her annoyance.

"Cheeseburger," he answered. It wasn't the usual burger she had when she was a kid. It was much delicious and creamy yet, it was not too sweet to justify the patty.

"Do you like it?"

"Not bad," she only responded and eat it. She never speak again and focused on her burger.

"What's up with you and Tunner?" she stopped for a bit and think what is up too. She didn't know what he meant but she shook her head.

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean?" she blurted, as she finished the last bit.

"Nothing much, but I want to remind you that Tunner is a good player, so be careful." She nodded her head and stood up, she walked towards the stand.

"Five cheeseburgers please," she handed the money after that, she went back to Nick.

"So 'not bad' means very delicious." His remark hadn't affected Fera, she only raised her eyebrow.

"We should go home, I think." Nick nodded and he started walking in another direction. She quickly followed, while memorizing the place and how to get there.

"Have you heard-"

"Not interested," she cut him off. Instead of getting offended by her attitude he smiled and pinched her nose. "Aww!" she slapped her hand away.

"Your tongue has returned, huh?"

"I am not a fan of gossip, Nick, keep it," she intentionally did that to annoy him. Payback time was always felt great.

"It's not."

"Gossiping is not good, Nick."

"I'm not," he insisted as they walked by the road.

"Wait, where's your girlfriend?" Fera suddenly remembered about the while earlier.

"Which one?" And his back met her solid slap. "Some believe it was you, and who are you talking about?"

"The girl earlier, who said she doesn't like me," she pointed out.

"I don't know, she's a family friend, not a girlfriend," he clarified.

"Don't flatter yourself, Nicky."