Chapter 4

• "I only know a few of them," I humbly said.
• The intense feeling of stares from my classmates was not good. I wanted to sit back on my chair at the back, but I did not want to appear disrespectful to the teacher.
• "That's okay." He played with his pen on his fingers and calmly smiled. "You'll perform the activity first."
• "W-What?" I cleared my throat. "I mean... uh."
• "You mean what?"
• I gave up. I shook my head. "What will I do, Sir?"
• "Kindly introduce yourself in the form of singing. Make the lyrics your name, age, and what you love the most."
• My cheeks burned red in embarrassment. He wanted me to sing? In front of my classmates?
• "Is there another ---"
• He interrupted me. "No other means. Only singing."
• "But I am not uh... super with singing."
• "Just try it."
• I knew that whatever I reasoned out to him, he will always win because he was the teacher in class.
• I did what he wanted me to do. So I sang my name. "Sydnee Lurica loves being alone for sixteen years of her life." I cleared my throat. "That's all, Sir."
• He stared at me longer than usual. And I find that disturbing, so I looked down on the floor. That was when he clapped for three times. "Unique voice and creative, Sydnee."
• The moment my name rolled out in his tongue, my breath hitched. The way he pronounced my name was something special and... intriguing.
• "T-Thank you, Sir."
• I immediately walked back to my chair, but he stopped me. "Please write your name on the board."
• I turned and walked back to the front. I got a chalk and hurriedly wrote my name on the chalkboard. Not only that, but I even misspelled my name because of nervousness.
• "Oh, I-I'm sorry," I said softly and reached for the eraser. And that thing was near the teacher, so I had to move closer to him.
• "Write calmly, Sydnee. No one's after you," he whispered and chuckled a bit.
• My forehead creased again. No one told me that he was a comedian, or some sort of. I just slightly nod my head as an acknowledgement and erased my name on the board. I wrote it again, neatly as possible.
• "Finished, sir."
• I put the eraser back on its place and walked back to my chair at the back.
• "Let's give some applause to Miss Sydnee for participating in class."
• I stopped in my tracks when I heard the clapping of my classmates. My heart skipped a beat as I listened to them, clapping their hands for me. This was the first time that they did that for me.
• And that was because of Teacher Anthony.
• I turned around to look at him, but he was busy reading the class record now. I sighed and sat quietly on my chair. My seatmate even gave me a weird look and a small creeping smile.
• THE SUN was shining brightly in the clear blue sky. The clouds were flying to and fro in every direction, and all I did was to stare in awe. Surely, the morning was beautiful.
• I was leaning on a tree while looking up to the skies above, when a shadow blocked my vision. I adjusted my vision and blinked twice. My vision was greeted with the smiling face of Teacher Anthony, and he was looking down at me.
• I gulped and stood still. He was tall, maybe around six foot. He had a massive body compared to my small height of five and a slim body. His muscles were bulging in his tight white T-shirt.
• And he was the moreno type. His skin matched his huge, masculine body. I did not notice it when we first met yesterday because he was wearing a big jacket, unlike today.
• "S-Sir," I greeted him. "Uh, what are you doing here?"
• He just smiled.
• I scratched my nape and looked away. "I'm sorry if I'm too rude yesterday. I didn't know that you're my teacher."
• "It's not something worth mentioning, Sydnee."
• I looked back at him because of what he said. "I'm sorry?" I cleared my throat. "I mean, I'm sorry, but I didn't get your point, Sir."
• He breathed deeply. "I am here to ask you about the poison inside your lunchbox."
• "Oh... I didn't bring my lunchbox today."
• He slightly nodded and smiled again. "Just what I thought you'll do." He looked upwards. "What did you do in the last months?"
• I stared intently at him. Why would he ask about my whereabouts? My forehead creased. Even my own mother won't ask about my whereabouts, so why would he?
• I cleared my throat. "Sir --"
• "Please call me, Anthony."
• My forehead creased even more at his remarks. I dared not to lose my sight unto him. "You are my teacher, so I should address you properly, Sir."
• He looked down on me again. There was a playful smile on his lips and his eyes were searching my face. His expression made my stomach churned. Nobody did stare at me like that.
• And it made me uneasy. I did not want to think of something bad with him, but with that expression, I thought that he was making fun of me. It was not funny nor amusing at all.
• "I am not that old, Sydnee. I just graduated from college."