Kissing The Wind

“What? Did I surprise you that much?” I asked.

“I can’t help it.” He grinned. “As you wish.”

His arm was still around my shoulder so I hastily wrapped my arms around his torso and looked up gently to meet his eyes. “Thank you for listening,” I said.

His thumb caressed my cheeks and his lips curved into a gentle smile. “Good night,” he said. The warmth of his arm around my shoulders diminished as he put his arm down.

I sighed and entered my room. I closed the door while staring into Anthony who was still standing in front of the door, scrutinizing me under his gaze. Only when the door closed that I exhaled a sharp breathe. I did not notice how I held my breathe while staring into his soft gaze.

The air had changed around the corner of the school. More gazes fell on me as I walked in the school ground. My brows knotted in annoyance and curiosity. Why were they staring at me like I was a strange prey?

“Have you heard the news?” a girl whispered to her companion sitting on the bench in the hallway as I walked passed by them. “It’s shocking!”

“I know. But they said that Rogie didn’t like it and he started a fight with his parents. Now, he is bullying the girl!”

“What? How could he bully a duke’s daughter? It’s against the rule!”

“You know who is Rogie Camero. His family rule this town. Of course, he is the exemption of rules.”

I stopped in my tracks when I heard their whispers. I turned around to face them but when they saw me approaching, their faces turned ashen and they quickly stood and ran away. I blinked in confusion. What happened to them?

Just then, I saw Isa approaching me. I smiled at her and she returned it with a small smile. “Hey,” I greeted when she stood in front of me. “Long time no see.”

“You had jumped from the pedestal and your enemies rejoiced when you’re not around,” she snorted. “You must get to the pedestal once again.”

I sighed at her words. Of course, I knew that the top students were glad that I did not come to school for a number of days. My gaze trailed on the students nearby who were looking at me. They never looked away when I had met their gazes which turned my blood cold.

“Had something happened when I was not here?” I asked.

Isa gestured me to walk towards our classroom and I hastily nodded. We walked side by side. And each step felt like a death march because of how hateful the stares of some students were. Why? What happened?

“Have you heard the news?” Isa asked, and it was the same question the girl asked earlier to her companion.

I shook my head and I heard her sighed. “Rogie is engage to Lisa Montefalco.”

That made me stop in my tracks but when I saw that Isa did not stop, I continued my walk beside her. “Montefalco? The duke’s daughter?”

“So you’ve heard of her,” she said, annoyance was in her voice.

My brows knotted once more at her tone. “What’s with her?”

“Lisa is the number one bully in other section.”

“So we’re batchmates?”

Isa chuckled. “Of course. Silly. You never knew who is Lisa even if she’s quite famous for bullying the lower years.”

“I don’t really care who’s who,” my voice trailed off. “But why they were staring at me like I’m to be butchered?” I asked as I stole glances around.

“Yes. You’re to be butchered by Lisa herself.”

“Huh?”

Before Isa could speak again, a group of students stood in our way. In the middle of the group stood a girl around my age. She had those brown curls and bright blue eyes. I blinked as Isa and I stopped in our tracks. Who were they? And lo, they all stared at me like I was their most evil enemy.

I tugged Isa’s sleeve but she shoved my hand away. That made me gulped hard. I knew I’m in trouble.

“Sydnee Lurica?” the girl in the middle asked.

I blinked and carefully nodded at her. “Why?”

The girl smiled and she took a step ahead. I took a step back. She chuckled when she saw what I did. “Easy there, friend. I wanna talk with you about something.”

I looked around but all the students were looking away when our gazes met. Some of them held my gaze and I was the one who looked away and stared back at the girl with a maniacal smile on her lips.

“I don’t know you,” I said. I heard some gasps from the crowd nearby. “But we can talk after class. Time is running out and I and my friend need to attend morning classes.”

After I said those words, I held Isa’s wrist and dragged her passed the weird group. They did not bother to stop me nor Isa. After some steps ahead, I started running and so was Isa.

“You’re crazy,” she said between her breathe when we stopped in front of our classroom.

I laughed and ran after my breathe. “I don’t know them yet they stopped us.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dumb girl,” she spat. “That’s Lisa Montefalco and her group of bullies.”

My brow raised and I squinted my eyes at her. “Really? Weird. They did not stop us when we walked pass by them.”

Isa huffed and crossed her arms against her chest. “Lisa and her group are not some low level bully who’ll stoop at their opponents level. You know that being a duke daughter has benefits not only in this school but outside the school too. Be careful when you walk outside the school.”

That made me stopped grinning for awhile and stared at Isa. “You’re kidding.”

“I hope to kid you, alright? But no. And you dragged me in this mess.”

“But I didn’t do anything bad to her!”

“Of course you didn’t,” she said then entered the classroom.

I pouted and walked inside after her. Then my classmates glare bore on me and that was not unusual. I sighed and sat on my chair next to Isa. I turned to her. “How to stop Lisa from targeting me?” I asked. “Should I give her something?”

“Oh no, you shouldn’t.” She stared at me from head to toe. “You think you can give her things that she could get in seconds?”

“But how could I stop her?” I asked again. I let my voice be louder than usual so my classmates could hear me. “Our classmates bully me and now that they stopped in their habit, I want to enjoy my freedom from bullies.”

I heard some scoffed at my words while some whispered gossip that I could hear. I suppressed a smirk on my lips. Nah. They should not bully me now that I had trampled their top one student’s pride.

Isa gave me a ridiculous glare. “You still don’t know why Rogie kissed you in that same spot you’re sitting at?”

My face turned ashen at her question. Yeah. My mind remembered the time when Rogie entered the classroom and kissed me while our classmates watched me struggling under his tight grip. They did not bother to stop that weird guy from murdering my lips.

My cheeks blushed and I looked away. “Let’s not start talking about that now,” I said.

Isa scoffed at me. “Then you should ask Rogie why he kissed you in that day.”

My brow knotted and before I could ask Isa again, I saw Rogie entering the classroom like a model. His hair danced through the cool breeze as he stalked his way towards his chair, lips crooked into a thin smile, hands inside his pockets, and wearing his uniform with a reddish stain. My lips parted when I noticed the strong smell of ketchup around the air.

Someone whistled from the outside. Then Rogie’s only best friend which I didn’t know his name entered the classroom and smacked Rogie in his shoulder. “Dude, you’re insane. Lisa is wailing after you left.”

“Let her be,” Rogie said and cast a glance at me. He smirked before he sat on his chair.

That made me blinked in confusion. His best friend shot a glance at me before he sat on the chair next to Rogie.

I felt Isa’s hand smacked my arm. I gasped and glared at her. She grinned at me. “Talk to him and ask him to spare you from Lisa’s anger.”

“Why should I?”

“Because he’s the only one who knew why Lisa is hunting you and the one who’ll protect you at all cost.”

My brows knotted at her words and silently shot a glance at Rogie who was staring right into me. My eyes went wide and I looked away.

My heart was thumping inside my chest.