PERFECT HEARTS CHAPTER 32

(Secret star🌟)

BY BLESSING SILVER

IF YOU MISS ANY EPISODE CLICK HERE

Rebecca took a brief bite off her burger as she flipped through the pages of her notebook. Realising it was the last page, she sighed and dropped it after reading. The weather was neutral and she had read that book for the second time, she wasn’t interested in doing it again..
She took another bite of her burger and gulped it down with her orange juice before dropping it..
For the first time in a long time, she felt bored of reading, it had been her routine all day and today, she felt a bit uninterested in doing it..
*Maybe another activity would help, something very different* she thought and as she looked around her, everything seemed to give her inspirations that she didn’t want to forget or miss.
Dropping her burger beside her, confined in its wrapper; she picked up her bag, brought out a big textbook that served as a safe for her music diary. She looked around, as if searching for anything suspicious.
She hadn’t done this before, especially not outside and in a not so secluded space so she needed to be pretty careful.
She took out the book and opened it, grabbing the pen from it’s hooker; she began scribbling lyrics onto a blank space.

Writing up to her satisfaction and filling up two pages successfully, she put the pen back in its space and began finding a perfect hum for the song.
She was about jamming the lyrics into a song when Jose ran up to her, she was quick to hide the book, shove it into the textbook and put it away; her heart taking an unusual beat at the unexpected disturbance.

“Um Hi!” Jose said, intimidated by how her gaze shot up at him.
“Yeah?” Rebecca asked, her voice hushed. “I mean Hi. What do you want?” She repeated, calmly this time and Jose relaxed.
“So.. I wanted to show you this” he said, stretching some papers stapled together to her. Her brows narrowed as she stared at the paper.
“What is that?” She asked, glancing at him.

“My test script” he replied and she collected it. “Remember when you said that our friendship depends on my grade. I decided to show you this for a start” he said.
Rebecca perused through the script and scan through the grade; it was an A.
She retreated to go through the solving and realised that they were all correct.
She was bemused. Jose? An A.
“You did this?” She asked.
“Yeah-
“Without assistance?” She added, cutting him off.
“Um.. yes?”
“Mmh..then I guess you won’t mind retaking it, right?” She said, grabbing a book and pen from her bag.
“Um.. retaking it?” He repeated and she nodded sharply.
“I want you to re-answer these questions in my presence” she said, tilting her head to look at him.
He was quiet for a brief moment, Rebecca already understood the action but since he wasn’t ready to admit it, she wasn’t going to let go either.
She stretched the pen and book to him.
“Er..o-okay?” Jose finally said, reluctantly taking the items from her and sitting down beside her.
Rebecca unhooked the questions from the answers and gave it to him to resolve.
Jose held the pen tip at the blank page of the book for more than a minute, soliloquizing on what to write or how to even solve an equation like that..
He bit his lower lip and sucked it in, he should’ve just studied the answers while copying them..
He felt very humiliated when he couldn’t write a thing after boasting about solved the answers himself.. Rebecca would surely hate him, no doubt.
He checked the other questions, probably he could find a simple one to start with but damn, they all look so complicated. He doesn’t even understand the questions.

“You’re not writing?” Rebecca asked, seeing him leave the pen on the same blank margin for over five minutes..
“Um.. I’m- I mean I have something to tell you,” he said, giving up on the question.
“You don’t know how to answer the questions and the answers in this script isn’t your handiwork?” She asked, with a raised up brow.
Jose sighed, embarrassed as he nodded slowly. “I-I’m sorry. I just really wanted to make you proud of me. I wanted to prove to you that I am worthy of your friendship” he said, heartbroken.

“By lying?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m sorry!” He repeated.
His head bowed in shame, she gave him a long sturdy look.
“It’s okay,” she said and he tilt his head upward to look her, his face brightening up.
She took the pen and book from him.. “look here,” she told him “I’ll show you how it’s solved!”
*****

Everyone waited for Mr Bricks to leave before they finally dispersed from the class for their lunch break, he had overstayed his period, talking about the project and picking out those whose performance wasn’t good enough for him..
“We did wonderful, thanks to you, Jeremy” Brianna said, standing beside Jeremy as he gathered his notebooks.
“We both equally worked hard for it” he said and she giggled.

“I’m just so excited. With this perfect score, I’ve got a huge chance of getting a good grade this semester. We should celebrate this!” She said. “Let me buy you a meal after school today” he said.
“You don’t have to-
“Come-on Jeremy, I insist. I know you might have like tons of plans but can’t you just spare fifteen minutes for me?,” she asked, giving him a pleading look.
“Alright” he said.
“Thanks. Catch’ya later!” She said she’d walked out.

“Brianna seems super excited for you guys!” Harrison said, reaching Jeremy.
“Yeah. Our project got a ninety-five percent” he said, taking the notebooks.
“Ours is an eighty-nine. Thanks to my partner, she’s pretty smart”
*And clingy* he added inwardly.
“Come-on, you gonna have lunch or what?” Harrison asked.
“Sure! I’ll meet you there, I need to keep these books in my locker first”

***
“Whoa..this is so easy!” Jose smiled dropping the pen after finishing an equation Rebecca gave him.
“Not so fast..” she shushed him as she checked the question for errors, she observed that he only made an error in the answer, he hadn’t placed the power after the numbers and she added it for him.
“Oops..” he mumbled, realising his mistake.
At least he understood the solving. It was his second trial in the second question after passing the first one.
He would never have believed that he’d be able to solve something so complicated-looking all by himself.

One thing he is sure of is that he was working that hard because of Rebecca, she was right beside him so he couldn’t fail her, especially not in her presence.. so he did his very best for the first time in a school work and it paid off.
Rebecca returned the book to him and he smiled.
“I can’t believe this tough looking question can be so understandable and easy” he said, excited at his performance..
“It is and you would’ve realised that sooner if you had taken your studies very seriously” she said and Jose nodded.
“I’ll do my best from now!” He promised.
Rebecca arranged her books and stood up. “If you don’t get good grades on your own next time, don’t even think of talking to me!” She said sternly and began walking away..
“I’ll try! I promise!” Jose said after her, yelling so she could hear him.
.

During closing hours, Rebecca was at her locker, arranging her homeworks into her backpack. She turned, feeling a presence behind her. Seeing her face, she turned back to her locker, zipped her bag and shut the locker door before turning back to her; the girl who she had given her lip balm to at the restroom after hearing her lament about not bringing hers.
Seeing Rebecca’s attention on her, Brianna exchanged look with Fiona who nodded at her to go on. Rebecca caught the stares.
“Hi, I’m Brianna. Do you remember me?” She asked and Rebecca nodded positively.
“So the lip balm you gave to me, I’ve been going to different stores looking for that exact type you gave me but I can’t seem find it anywhere. I was thinking if you could recommend a place for me or just tell me the amount you paid for it, so I can pay you bavk” she said.
“It’s nowhere in the country” Rebecca said.
“Oh.. then I’ll pay you. How much does it cost?” She asked, taking out her wallet.
“I don’t want your money” Rebecca said, slinging her backpack over her back and taking a step forward to walk away.
“But I insist-” Brianna said, touching her in a bid to stop her from walking away. Rebecca turned and stare at her fingers on her skin, Brianna took them off. “I used your lip balm, it’s only fair that I pay you” she added.
Rebecca raised her gaze up to meet Brianna’s..
“When I offered you that lip balm, I gave you two options; to accept and make use of it or to refuse and throw it away and you chose one,” Rebecca said. “Now this is your own offer and I choose to not accept it. We’re fair!” Rebecca said and walked away, leaving Brianna to stare after her awe-struck.
“I hope she means that” Fiona said, walking to stand beside Brianna.
Brianna’s brows narrowed as she kept watching Rebecca walk towards the exit.. “she’s so weird”
___________________________________
T.B.C
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BY BLESSING SILVER