Chapter 5: Chapter 5

As someone who thinks a little too highly of himself, Yuri thought everybody's eyes would be on him, but he was wrong.

All his other classmates were focused on someone else—someone far above him. They were all fawning around that person, surrounding her as they tried to suck up to her like leeches.

"Chesca, you got prettier since the school break!" One of the girls giggled as she smiled at the girl sitting on a chair in the middle row.

Instead of staring at them for too long, Yuri walked inside and went to one of the vacant chairs in the front row.

'It's still the first day of classes but it's already so obvious who the queen bee is,' he thought to himself as he put his bag on the floor and sat on the chair.

Yuri sat still as he listened to his classmates shower the girl with compliments, making him remember how his classmates used to do that to him back in his hometown. 'I guess things really are different here. I'm pretty confident in my looks too, but I'm basically a nobody here so I have to work hard so others would know my name,' he thought.

A few minutes have passed and the classroom was almost filled with students. Most of them sat either in the middle or at the back where most students want to sit.

Finally, someone sat next to him. It was a boy who was wearing a pair of glasses with thick lenses. He had black hair, pink lips, and had a mole on his left cheek.

"Hello," Yuri greeted as he showed him his brightest and friendliest smile. He thought it was a great chance to make his first friend, seeing as to how he's sitting right next to him.

"Hi," the boy greeted back without smiling. He put his AirP*ds in his ears and started scrolling through his phone, making Yuri unable to start a conversation with him.

'Seriously, are all of them like this?' Yuri thought, getting a bit pissed, thinking that he was ignored by his seatmate even though that wasn't the case at all.

He greeted him and the boy simply greeted him back without anything more.

Thankfully, before Yuri felt even more upset, the bell rang. All the students stood properly and headed outside the classroom, and so Yuri did the same. He decided to follow them since he doesn't know how things are done in his new school.

"Gosh, why is he so late?!" Yuri heard a voice from behind. He glanced to see who it was and saw that it was none other than the class' queen bee, Chesca.

'I should say hello, right? If I become friends with her, then naturally, I'd fit in easily,' Yuri thought as he bit his lower lip.

"Hello," he said as walked next to her with a smile on his face. "I'm Uriel Delavin, and you are?" he continued.

Chesca stopped walking and looked at him with disbelief. Even without saying anything, her eyes were telling him that she didn't like something about Yuri.

"You don't know me?" she asked as she scoffed. "Or are you just pretending that you don't?" she continued as she raised a brow.

Yuri had a confused look on his face. 'Is she upset that I don't know her?' he thought. "Uh... no, I don't really know you," he answered with an uneasy look on his face.

Unexpectedly, the girl's face that showed pure disbelief and dislike was suddenly replaced with a bright laugh. "That's rather refreshing," she said with a smile on her face, her dimples showing on her cheeks. "Uriel, right? I'm Chesca Lee," she said as she offered her hand for a handshake.

Yuri's heart fluttered upon seeing how beautiful she looked when she smiled. 'It makes sense why everybody was fawning over her,' he thought.

"You can call me Yuri, nice to meet you," Yuri said as he took her hand and shook it. "You can call me Ches or just Chesca. Are we classmates?" Chesca asked as they started walking along with the other students.

"Yeah. I didn't get to talk to you earlier because everybody was surrounding you," Yuri said as he touched his nape. "Oh sorry, that happens a lot. I'll be sure to talk to you from now on. Let's be friends," she said as she put her phone inside the pocket of her skirt.

Yuri couldn't help but smile upon hearing the word 'friend' from her mouth. She's the first ever friend he made since he arrived in the academy that he felt really happy.

'I thought she'd have a nasty attitude, but it seems like I was wrong about her,' he thought.

"Let's do that," he giggled. "You look very pretty," Chesca said as she looked at Yuri's face, checking out his features one by one. "Thank you, likewise," Yuri smiled. "By the way, how long have you been studying here? It seems like everybody knows you already," he said.

"Since kindergarten. I go here with my best friend and cousin... Well, he's someone whom I don't really want to call my cousin, though. He's really, really annoying," she said as a pissed smile curved on her lips.

"What about you? Where are you from? I don't think I've seen you around here before," Chesca said as she raised her brows with a curious look on her face. "I'm from XX province. I'm here because of the scholarship," Yuri explained.

"Wow, that's so great! The scholar acceptance here is really low, so you must be really smart," she said with awe evident on her face. "I guess luck played a part in it too," Yuri said, trying to sound humble.

"Oh, we're already here," Chesca said as she glanced to her sides, looking at the surroundings. Yuri didn't notice that they finally arrived at the place where they were supposed to go.

It was a gymnasium with a tall ceiling. The floor looked so shiny that Yuri could see his reflection on the floor, and it was even fully airconditioned even though it was such a big space.

"Come with me. Our class' line is here," Chesca said as she grabbed Yuri's hand and dragged him to where the rest of the class was.

They were asked to form a line by a teacher, and so they did as they were told. The girls' and boys' line were next to each other, and because Yuri and Chesca were shorter in height, both of them were in front and they were even standing next to each other.

"What are we doing here? Entrance ceremony?" Yuri asked as he looked at Chesca. "Yep. We're gonna listen to a long speech from the principal and a speech from the student who got the highest score in the entrance exam," she responded.

"The highest scorer? Do you know who it is?" Yuri asked, intrigued as to who the student was. He knew that he, himself, was smart but it was astonishing to find someone who was even smarter than him.

It was like some kind of symbol that proved him that his world was really getting bigger.

Before Chesca could even respond, the teacher suddenly stood near them so they didn't have a choice but to keep quiet so they won't get scolded.

The principal started his speech about welcoming the new students and honestly, Yuri found his speech inspiring even though most students weren't really paying attention to him. He was talking about how the students of Chen Academy are leading their lives to a future brighter than others' and how things will be for the new students.

"Now, let's call on the top scorer of the entrance exam, Theodore Greene," the principal said with a smile on his face.

Yuri's focus was on the stage, the same with everybody else who was drawn to the person who walked up the stairs. When he was finally in the middle and faced front, Yuri thought he looked familiar.

He had dark red hair that was almost close to black and godly facial features that put famous and popular actors to shame.

"Hey... Remember my annoying cousin?" Chesca whispered as she quickly poked Yuri's arm. The omega looked at her through his peripheral vision. "That's him. The guy on stage," she continued.

His eyes looked straight to the stage once again. Staring at the person in front confirmed that he was right that the student really looked familiar to him and it was because...

He's the guy staying in the room next to his.