A day brightly shines through the curtain as the alarm began to ring. He can't bring himself to wake up, but today is important, although it is not exactly for him.
"Sighs... good morning, I guess", he said while still trying to get up and be ready. As he was about to enter the bathroom, his phone rang, and the name "Arthur" appeared on the screen. He picked up his phone and put it far from his ear, followed by a loud voice: "Good morning, dumbass! Still slacking your ass off", said Arthur.
To which Gabriel replies, "Dude, can't I just have a normal morning?" Arthur laughs and then continues, "My bad... my bad..." he says, which doesn't feel sincere at all. "Just to let you know, I'll meet you at the cafeteria." Then immediately hang up. He closes his eyes and sighs, then proceeds to get ready.
An hour later Gabriel walked to the cafeteria when Arthur jumped at him, putting his arm across his shoulder. "Dude, you're late. I almost died out of boredom waiting for you. Luckily the girls accompanied me. "Did you masturbate in the bathroom or what?" He said with a smirk on his face, trying to tease Gabriel's calm and cool demeanor.
Gabriel responds, "Before I beat the shit out of your mouth, you better close it", he said with a smile on his face. They both laugh it off, showing no hate towards each other, when suddenly Gabriel got bumped by a person who was carrying a big box that completely blocked her vision.
Gabriel remained standing while she fell onto her butt, and the items inside her box scattered across the walkway. She kept apologizing as she hurried to collect her things. Gabriel noticed a pair of glasses, picked them up, and handed them to her before helping with the rest. But before he could say a single word, she was already running off again, leaving behind only a quick "thank you."
"Ohh, look who finally decided to grow up. That's very smooth, I'll give you that. You're making me proud; my virgin friend finally upped his game." Arthur teases him while patting his shoulder.
Gabriel just shot Arthur a glance and removed Arthur's arm from his shoulder, then continued walking, but somehow he can't stop his feeling from lingering at the girl. He can't seem to recall her face, but his curiosity strikes him. "Who was she?" he whispered to himself.
After that, he and Arthur took their breakfast and went to the school hall to help with sorting out the items. He can't seem to focus on his work and missed out when his name got called. After half an hour, the hall was finally ready to use. At exactly 11:00 A.M., all the new 1st-year students enter the hall. There are many interesting new faces, but there are only two students who stand out among them, with his height almost reaching 6 feet. The other one being a tomboy who seems to be a troublemaker.
Gabriel didn't really give much of a care and continued to welcome all of them as a senior. Then immediately after that, the juniors recognize him with his calm and cool personality.
30 minutes later, the greeting session is done. The juniors sat down accordingly and chatted around to each other, trying to introduce themselves among the groups. Then, the principal went up to the stage to begin his speeches and give a small orientation for the new batches.
All of them give their attention to the principal speech, but Arthur with his personality just sleep through out the speech and only wakes up when people clapping their hands. Meanwhile, Gabriel keeps looking around, hoping to notice her at the senior side.
Coincidentally, he notices her only to be a few tables away from him. He can't stop looking at her, but he keeps his cool and continues paying attention to the principal's speech.
The speech ended at 12:47 PM, and it took nearly an hour and 17 minutes. At the time, some of the students who fell asleep finally regain their consciousness and begin to exit the hall with excitement as their college life finally begins.
One by one the students left the hall, leaving only the seniors to clean the areas. It was the chance Gabriel had to take so he could create a conversation with her. Slowly, he uses his surroundings to cut his gap so he can get closer to her. It wasn't obvious, but Arthur can't help but notice his movement that looks like a predator trying to catch his prey.
Arthur smirked, knowing he was the only one who truly understood Gabriel's personality. Not wanting to interrupt he brushed it off, leaving things in Gabriel's hands. It didn't take long for Gabriel to close his distance between them, using the excuse of helping to clean as his main weapon.
He saw her struggling and immediately took his chance. "Here, let me help you," he said. She recognizes him right away and gives a proper apology. "Hmm, you're the one I bumped this morning, are you? Sorry I didn't apologize properly". He laughs it off and says, "It's okay, I can't blame you for being busy". He gives her a smile and continues to lift the heavy things. She could only stand beside him, feeling guilty for troubling him again.
"Are you okay? Do you need any help?" she asked. To which he replied, "Don't worry, I can handle the heavy stuff; maybe you should organize the files instead. Don't force yourself to handle the heavy stuff". In which she finally agreed to do it with a smile on her face.
"Btw, which year are you? How come I've never seen you before?" He asked to prolong their conversation. She replies, "Ohh, I'm a 2nd year. We're in the same class, remember?" To his surprise, he did not know they've been in the same class all along.
While still in a daze, he continued, "Sorry, I didn't recognize you". She chuckles. "It's okay; we never actually talked in person before". The mood becomes less tense, and their conversation begins to flow naturally. Their conversation continued, and more friends came to join in, making the cleaning process become less tiring.
They all share a laugh together, but Gabriel can't help taking a peek at her while the others are laughing. At some moments their eyes met; it took a few seconds before they finally looked away. Creating a tension between the two of them without the others notice.
The cleaning is finally done. The only thing left is to bring the items back to the student council room. Gabriel offered to help since it wasn't that much of a box anyway. They feel bad for him doing it all alone, but before anyone opens up for suggestions, she offers herself to help.
"I'll go with you; I want to repay you for bumping into you this morning", she said. The others don't suspect anything and agree with her since they were about to help him anyway. It wasn't shown, but deep inside Gabriel can't help but feel butterflies in his chest.
So they gave them a trolley to ease their workload. Then they move everything and proceed to the student council room. While on the way, a small conversation relieves the heavy atmosphere, creating a small spark in-between.
As they arrived, things were sorted out. They didn't notice, but somehow they quickly clicked. Leaving them nothing but an empty trolley, they sat down for a break, and he opened up a conversation.
"So, anything interesting lately?" he asked. "Nothing much, just a normal repeated day like usual. How about you?" she replied. "Sighs, same like you. Nothing really happened yet. Maybe I'll just wait for something to appear." Their conversation continued, and then they finally decided to get back to the hall to help with the rest of the cleaning.
Before they arrived, Gabriel gathered his courage and asked, "Hey, can we... perhaps exchange contact... if you don't mind?" She left a bit shocked but said, "Well, no one asked me before". She shows a subtle hint of her shy personality. "Sure, but... I'm really active when it comes to replying".
They look at each other for a brief moment before they exchange their contact information. The accidental encounter put them in a moment they didn't expect, but it surely created something in-between them. After that, they went into the hall and continued with the rest.