"Thank you."
After turning in the papers, Joanna went out of the faculty office. This is why she doesn't want to be class president, teachers will ask you to do everything.
She was eager to go back to their classroom to tell Kayden what she saw. She admires Kayden but she is the only one who feels affection between the two of them. She doesn't want it to be a one-sided love but Kayden doesn't like her back.
In another reshuffling of sections, she was thankful that Kayden became her classmate. That way, she can monitor his every move and at the same time, try to attract him. Unlike Aubrey, she has long liked Kayden. In fact, she fell in love with him when they were on their second year of junior high school. She didn't reveal that to Kayden, not until Kayden met Aubrey. She went all out just to let him know that she adores him A LOT.
Last year, she was embarrassed in front of everyone when Kayden confronted Aubrey about his love for her because she was so cocky about him liking her hypothetically. Last year, October, she witnessed the most painful encounter in her life.

Joanna walks down the hallway alone on her way to their classroom. She is feeling really good so she is optimistic for today. Her positive emotions matched with the perfect weather today.
Her eyes widened when she saw Kayden walking towards her direction. He was smilnig from ear to ear while holding a bouquet of flowers. Joanna also smiled at him. She approached him.
"Hello, Kayden! Is that for m--"
Her talking was cut off when he passed by her. She couldn't have imagined that Kayden wasn't looking at him. Se turned behind to where the young man was going. She was devastated to see that he was already kneeling in front of Aubrey, the girl she hated the most from this school.
"Are you kidding me?" she was talking to himself. What happened pushed her to running back inside her classroom. Thankfully, no one was inside to witness her on her lowest point.
"I hope you guys break up."

True came her bad wish. After three months, Kayden and Aubrey broke up. They separated ways. Of course, Joanna saw this as an opportunity to get Kayden's attention but she failed to do that because Kayden still hasn't been able to move on with Aubrey even until now. She is still trying her best to get her attention but she completely ignored him all the time.
She was always in front of Kayden, but he failed to recognize that.
When she returned to the classroom, she noticed that their teacher was gone. The teacher may have come down to the faculty to get stuff or may have gone to the bathroom. She took advantage of this moment to talk to Kayden.
"Guess what I saw," she said. Kayden looked at her with a frown, looking uninterested. "I saw Aubrey with another guy. It looks like they're in good terms."
It looked like she upset him. Kayden asked, "And so? Why are you telling me that?"
"I just want to inform you that the girl you're still going for is now taken by this one guy. After all, you don't want to know what my tea is, I guess I'll just keep it to myself." Joanna was about to return to her seat but Kayden stopped her. He grabbed her arm.
"Sorry for being harsh," he apologized. "Who's the guy?"
"The guy you loathe a lot."
She added, "Miller."
With a mocking grin, Kayden released a disappointed laugh. "That guy again..."
~ • ~
Miller is taking advantage of the opportunity to be alone in the classroom. Such an opportunity is like ‘therapy’ to him. Being with many people makes him feel really exhausted. Too many personalities combined in the same room is a headache from him.
Many people pity him for having no friends at all, but Miller thinks of the opposite. Due to his past experiences of being bullied, it hindered him from interacting with people normally. It created an invisible barrier between him and people that no one can ever break. Not even his family. Not even him.
If necessary, he talks to people. However, he makes sure that he would not feel attachment towards them. It's hard, it might happen again. He experienced bullying throughout his life, and he eventually got tired of it. Never again.
After taking the last sip from his drink, he stood up to throw out the bottle of iced tea he had bought. He was blocked from moving when someone tried to stop him. He stared the man in the face. It was the same guy who harrassed him the other day.
"Aren't you tired of fighting?" he said frankly to Kayden. "I'm tired of wasting time just fighting with you. Leave me al--"
"Stupid!"
He was met with a punch to his stomach. He felt an excruciating pain from the excessive force Kayden applied to punch him. "Stay away from Aubrey. She's mine!"
"L-like I said, I don't care." He hugged himself because of the pain in the middle of his stomach and chest. "You can have her whenever you wan--"
"Kayden!"
From his vision, he perceived an image of a girl approaching Kayden. "I told you to leave me and people around me alone, right? Don't you understand?"
Aubrey lay down in front of Miller. "Are you okay?" Aubrey supported Miller to leaning against the wall.
"Leave, Kayden. If you do this again, I'll tell the guidance counselor about this," Aubrey threatened. Kayden ran away.
Miller gasped for more air. He was unable to focus on standing because Kayden's punch was really painful. "Come on. I'll take you to the clinic," Aubrey said with a smile.
"You don't have to do this," Miller denied.
Aubrey chuckled. "Nope. You're in a bad condition and you can't stand up properly. Do you want me to just leave you here in the hallway?"
Aubrey forcefully supports Miller to stand. As she guided him, he slowly stood up.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Aubrey replied.