My forehead furrows. He takes out a blue handkerchief which he immediately wipes on his sweaty face. I stare at his defined skin tone as he is directly hit by the sunlight. Golden hues seem to kiss the natural brown skin of him. His eyebrows turns darker. Even the shadows of his eyelashes are reflecting on his cheekbones.

I am well aware that compared to the city boys and mainstream standard of visual appearance here in the Philippines, he's just an average. But boy, gem can also be found in mediocrity!

At first glance, he seemed to be basic but when I glue my eyes longer at his features, I can say that he's God gifted. In the small town of Villian Mont, in this province that seems to avoid industrial changes and preserves history and customs, he is indeed an apple of the eye. Suddenly, he catches me staring at him!

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I startle. Like what?

He raises an eyebrow, scrutinizing me as if I am a prisoner escaping from the cell. I swallow, thinking of an alibi. But then, I can’t find any reason why I stared at him like that. If there is, it would be embarrassing to admit. I choose to nudge it away.

He snaps his fingers at me. "Hey!"

I look away. The mood between us is suddenly awkward, not that it was not. A few minutes have passed, and no one tried to break the silence. Slowly, I turn to his side. My eyes grow wide when I meet his. Again, I glance away!

"Tss. Go ahead to the detention room. Wait for me there. Don't stay here. It's still sunny."

"Why? I'm fine here," I say.

Rico looks around. I do, too. My chest leaps a beat when I see some of his classmates looking at me weirdly, as if it is a miracle or a strange sight for me and Rico to be in one place, especially the girls who are sharply looking at me.

My lips parted at the realization. Of course, those were my classmates when I was still in first year highschool! We were classmates before. Majority knows what happened between us! They might be thinking that we're having a truce or something...which won't gonna happen anytime soon.

Rico licks his bottom lip and says, "You're exposed to the sun for so long. You might become dehydrated."

He pulls out a bottle of mineral water and hands it to me. I glance at it with confusion but I decide to drink on it anyway.

"How about you? You're tired from the training," I asked.

My lips quickly purse. I don't even need to ask that one. I sounded as if I was concerned. From the almost stoic expression, his eyes glowed. He bites his lips, obviously refraining from smiling but I can see the appearance of his dimples on his cheeks.

My eyes grow wider when he opens the lids of the bottle and directly drank a little. Maybe one-fourth of it. I feel the heat on my cheeks when he gives the bottle to me again.

"Thanks."

Chuckling, he runs away from me.I am dumbfounded while facing his back. Why did he...do that?!

The officers in the CAT training are reassembling on the quadrangle. My eyes found his. He mouthed, "Go!"

And so I did while my cheeks are furiously burning red.

A room painted in all white greets my sight. From the walls, the benches, and the desks, the place gives me a renowned hospital vibe. This was not the first time that I went here. Detentions and guidance office are not even new to me and it is something I am certainly not proud of.

I just lost the passion to study so I chase for the thrill to bring it back. It felt like drowning when you lost the intense desire to do something you used to enjoy. In the middle of seeking, I got tired.

I sat down in the chair and immediately looked inside. Including me, there are only three students here and it is a shame that the two boy students are just sophomores. There is even a trace of tears on the cheeks of the other one. But whew, I'm not in a sardine situation today! Of course, Rico the President is very strict that almost no one dares to disobey. There are some, but some of those usually just seek attention.

Wait.

Am I also an attention seeker?

Internally, I shake my head. I just forgot to wash my uniform! We have Annie but she is just Mama's caretaker. I do a lot of household chores. It is just a coincidence that he caught me this time. In fact, I didn't even want to see him until I graduate in junior high!

The door creaks open, and the low steps thereon. My eyes instantly fly to the familiar man with stern face. Earlier, he was just smiling at me. I purse my lips when our eyes meet. He licks his lips and adjusts his standing posture in front of us.  I also notice that he has changed his cloth into a plain gray shirt.

"Good afternoon," he greets in a low and quite baritone voice. "I already informed the higher officers about your punishments. You need to paint and cover up the huge graffiti on the back walls."

The balls of my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The thumps in my chest turn loud. So... have they seen it? Do they know that I did it?

I swallow hard. Sweats form on my temple even if it's cold here. My fingers are shaking on my lap. Calm down!

My breathing pace heavier as I look at his wrinkled forehead. What if they find out that it was me all along? Stupid! This is what I wanted from the start for I know, I will be suspended or worse, be expelled. But I did not know I'm going to be this nervous!