Chapter 23: XXII
IT WAS A GREAT DAY. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE since their classes for the day start in the afternoon.
They can also choose not to go since the classes are only about two minor subjects.
This translates to Laia being able to sleep until at least eleven in the morning!
Not.
[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Let's meet up around 9 AM to finalize our group report. I'll send the address of the coffee shop.]
Laia grumbles, throwing her phone behind her back as she buries her head back on one of her pillows. It's way too early to let the asshat ruin her morning and have to deal with him later on!
The girl could feel sleep attempting to carry her again to dreamland when her phone vibrates again. This time, it wasn't just once.
It repeatedly vibrated as if it existed to spite her and finally ruin her supposedly great morning without having to deal with the asshat.
Laia clicks her tongue as she grabs her phone only to see the asshat and Shane are already in a conversation. How the hell can Shane have the energy to deal with the asshat at six in the morning?
[Shane Victoria Miles: sure or maybe make it around eight-thirty so we can at least have time to eat lunch b4 going to class????]
[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Yeah, sure. Just make sure everyone arrives on time or earlier.]
[Shane Victoria Miles: so u g00d with 8;30??? where though?]
[Samuel Vincent Laurie: Probably at Brewing? It's the closest to the school.]
[Shane Victoria Miles: u not eating lunch?]
Shane Victoria Miles changed her nickname to shaney.
[shaney: don't skip meals yall]
Laia grumbles again once she saw that it was already six-thirty. She literally spent thirty minutes burying her head on the pillow and then reading the previously sent messages while cursing the asshat internally, wishing he would end up being late just for Laia to spite him in return.
[Samuel Vincent Laurie: I won't be attending the afternoon classes but I will attend the rehearsals for the play. It will happen next week, after all.]
Sometimes Laia finds it difficult to understand how can someone be so different when it comes to how they text and to how they are in person.
Like the asshat for example, who seems to be a very serious person with the way he texts and in person he's a huge asshole that cares not if he ends up offending the person he's talking to and even often makes inappropriate jokes.
She rolls her eyes as she makes her way to the bathroom, opting to take a quick shower rather than taking a bubble bath like she originally planned.
What a real bummer.
The girl didn't take too long inside the bathroom. She didn't take too long to decide on a simple outfit, just a hoodie and high-waist pants to pair it with. It was raining, anyway.
She ignores the sneakers her mother bought her and still opted for the run-down sneakers she always opted for.
Getting one of the toasts from the plate her mother placed on the table and pairing it with a slice of ham, she checks her reflection on the mirror of the living room one more time and left.
Breathing in the cold air, Laia pulls her hoodie to cover her head from the pouring rain. The rain wasn't that heavy, and it was slowly about to end when the girl reached the coffee shop the asshat was talking about ten minutes before the allotted time.
The bell of the coffee shop's door rang loudly when Laia pushes it. Grimacing at the loud sound from the bell, the girl sighs in relief anyway upon seeing that Shane was already there, waving at her enthusiastically.
Laia walked straight towards the table where her groupmate was and sat next to her, leaving the asshat no choice to sit on the sole chair facing the girls.
"Hey!" Shane greets her with a smile. "You're really early,"
Laia shakes her head. "You still beat me to arriving first, though,"
The girl with curly hair sticks out of her tongue but says nothing else about the topic and instead moves to another one.
"I'm looking forward to seeing Samuel's reaction when he realizes we arrived before him,"
Laia couldn't help but agree. It is indeed funny that the asshat was the one who organized the whole group meeting and he's the last to arrive.
The short-haired girl's eyes drifted towards the clock by the counter. It was already eight. Her eyes scanned the surroundings for any sign of Niel or Keith, but her friends weren't there.
Good for them, Laia thinks, they do deserve a break sometimes from working regularly. Laia sighs. She deserves a break too!
The girl was supposed to sleep until eleven and yet she's here, waiting for the asshat to arrive and berate the whole group report.
Fifteen minutes passed with Shane and Laia conversing about the most random of topics. Both girls continuously stole a glance at the entrance door of the coffee shop, hoping to see their groupmate come in next.
And finally, the asshat finally comes in. Despite just wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, Shane whistled lowly from beside Laia, making the short-haired girl turn to her.
Shane raises an eyebrow at her as if confused on why her groupmate didn't react the same as she did. "Are you seriously not thinking what I'm thinking?"
"What do you mean?" Laia steals another glance at the asshat who didn't immediately walk towards his groupmates and instead seemed to have bought coffee.
"He looks really hot, you know?" Shane sighs and even dramatically starts fanning herself using her hand. "You can't deny that fact to my face, Laia,"
The short-haired girl glances at the asshat whose coffee was prepared by a female barista that Laia didn't know.
The barista was even blushing at their small interaction, obviously finding the man in front of her attractive.
Laia thought otherwise. Not that she doesn't admit that the asshat is hot, because he is, unfortunately, but his outer appearance just cannot make his ugly personality just disappear.
As she watched the asshat finally make his way towards his groupmates, Laia watched Shane turn away from the staring (ogling) she just did.
Not that Laia judges her. Almost everyone does the same after all even if they somehow get a glimpse of the asshat's ugly personality underneath his kindhearted and social butterfly-like facade which makes Laia wanna barf sometimes.
"Hey," The asshat pulls his chair backward and sits down. He places his laptop on the table. "Sorry for the delay, I got stuck in traffic,"
Traffic? At this hour? Laia looks at the asshat with perplexion and doubt in her eyes, not believing any word that just came out of his mouth.
Shane didn't seem to share the same thoughts as Laia, as she was still busy ogling the boy in front of her albeit a bit subtle.
Just a bit.
"Sure," Laia says, making it obvious that she didn't believe his reasons one bit. "Anyway, let's start? It's already eight-thirty,"
Both of her groupmates nodded. Laia was genuinely surprised that the asshat agreed easily, but why would he disagree when his grades depend on this project of theirs?
Shane was the first to elaborate on her part, explaining the various parts of the PowerPoint she created alongside Laia.
Laia, who had already revised her script the day after the asshat berated her writing skills, had more confidence on conveying her script properly.
The asshat watched his groupmates in silence and after both girls were finished on their roles, he applauded for a while.
"That had a little improvement than last time," He checks the time on his watch. "Sure, there are still a lot of gaps to fill but I don't have time anymore--"
"You don't have time?" Laia couldn't help but hiss out loud.
The audacity of this asshat when he was the one who organized the whole meetup. And now he's supposed to be somewhere else immediately after watching his two groupmates practice just once and giving out backhanded compliments?
"Well, I didn't have time earlier too, asshole," Laia places her hands on the table as she stood up. "And look where I am now, in front of you, being responsible."
The asshat rolls his eyes as if he found the girl's actions unnecessary and annoying. "And look at your performance being lacking as usual. Did you even rewrite the script at all? I did tell you I can rewrite it for you--"
"How about I make your peer evaluation a zero since you contributed absolutely nothing on our group report after all--"
The asshat sneers. "I did the research since you can't even research online-"
"Which I could have had done by myself, thank you very much! Do you seriously think I am that poor that we cannot even afford WiFi on our house--"
"You said that, not me--"
"But you're implying it every single time we meet! You really are nothing but a self-absorbed, arrogant asshole who cares about no one else but your riches that you all get from your daddy--"
The asshat stood up from his seat and glares at Laia. "Say that again,"
Laia didn't back down and even smirks at the asshat. "I said, you're nothing but someone who latches on to your rich father to get money and buy all sorts of luxury things!"
Shane, who finally had enough of her groupmates arguing again, stood up from her seat. "Stop! What the hell are you two doing?! Everyone's staring at us!""
And that was when Laia realized that her groupmate was right. Everyone was indeed staring at them, especially at the asshat who clicks his tongue in disapproval.
Laia even noticed some taking pictures and videos. Is the asshat some sort of a celebrity or something?
He definitely plays an arrogant character because he surely suits that role, Laia thinks.
"If any of those videos go online your phones won't be the only things that would end up broken," The asshat suddenly says in a booming voice that immediately made everyone stop recording.
Laia turns away from the asshat who still had an infuriated expression on his face. She didn't know what say.
Even Shane looked uncomfortable at the awkward silence that filled the coffee shop after what the asshat said.
Before both girls could even think of formulating a single sentence to start another topic anew, the asshat had already grabbed his laptop and left.
Shane sighs in obvious relief but glared at Laia, who raised an eyebrow at her in return. "Why did you say that to him?!"
"Did I lie, though?" Laia replies, angry at the way Shane seemed to think that it was all her fault.
If the asshat wasn't blatantly rude at them and even looked down on Laia's finances, then she wouldn't say those things. It may be below the belt, but did the girl really lie?
Shane sighs. "I know you wanted to defend us," The girl looked around and was quick to notice that everyone was still talking about the whole fiasco from earlier. "But that wasn't the right thing to say--"
"And you think him looking down at us despite our efforts is the right thing?"
"You don't understand," Shane exhales deeply.
Laia was confused. "Understand what?"
However, instead of an answer, all she got was silence until both girls decided to bid goodbye.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone