Page 22 of Chasing Mr. Prefect
“What, it’s an endearment! Like how you call me prefect brat every chance you get,” he said indignantly. “Wait, so that wasn’t an endearment? You really think I’m a brat?”
“For it to be endearment, we have to be close.”
“But—you know what, fine. If I win, you’re not allowed to swear for one week.”
I gaped at him. It was my turn to get caught off-guard.
“No way,” I said. Cholo looked satisfied with himself as he grinned from ear to ear. “You were swearing just now, Prefect Brat!”
“Well, take it or leave it,Lavinia,” he cooed, even inching closer to my face as he said it just to be annoying.
He smelled so good, though.
Wait, what? Lavinia,NO.
“Well, this is my house,” I said,taking the keys out of my pocket. “Shoo.”
“Wow, that’s how you say thank you?”
“Thank youuuu,” I said, rolling my eyes and doing a mock curtsy for full effect. “Okay na?”
“I give up,” Cholo said, shaking his head and throwing his hands towards the skies. He steered his bike towards the direction of where we came from and climbed on it. The way he turned around to look back at me made me notice his sharp jawline.
Gosh, that made me realize I needed sleep. I was starting to find him attractive.
“Good night, Lavinia,” he said, giving me a small smile that felt like a punch in the face. My tummy started feeling all funny.
I must have had way too many nuggets or something.
“Good night,” I said, hurrying with the lock in case the funny feeling in my tummy lingered. I also didn’t want to end up doing something ridiculous, like blush.
He waited until I got inside the house before he gave me a last wave and rode away. I got to my room feeling ready to go to bed when my phone beeped.
Cholo Valiente
I haven’t laughed that much in a long while. Thank you.
See you on Tuesday
I chuckled and fell asleep smiling.
CHAPTER 11
The bet with Cholo for the BA 161 exam ended up not just being an elaborate attempt to annoy each other but also a good motivation for me to prepare well with the upcoming exam. It took place the next Wednesday. I was not sure about whether I would beat Cholo on it, though, so I just let that go and decided to be chill while waiting for the exam results.
Prefect Brat did the exact opposite. I left the exam early and that seemed to make him nervous. Being the competitive soul that he was, he even called me that night to grill me about my answers.
“Cholo, we have a 142 seatwork tomorrow,” I told him over a video call, just as he started another question. The clock on my laptop read 12:30 a.m. “Can’t this wait?”
He was freaking out about the exam. I understood and his concerns were valid—after all, he would be risking his magna cum laude standing if he got less than a 1.5 for the class. I knew this because we started talking on the phone every night after our fast-food morning run and it had become a habit. We had been talking to each other a lot before that, about Ephemeremostly but now the conversations moved to other topics such as academics, people in school, and, of course, Era of Maidens.
As much as I liked talking to him, I would have to leave home early tomorrow to catch the first train north. I also had barely made a dent on my study list for 142 (my other weak subject, Finance) so I needed to get off the phone.
“Sorry,” he said, genuinely apologetic but still sounding bothered. “I hate 161, I swear. I always feel like I’ll flunk it.”
“Cholo, I understand that the idea of getting a grade lower than 1.5 is stressing you out but I would be at risk of failing two subjects this term if I flunked 142. I would then be at risk of getting dismissed out of the college. Utang na loob, can you go to sleep so I can study na, please?”
“Weh. I know you’re just going to sleep,” he said and made this smug face.