Jhenie spent the whole night inside her room. She wanted to surprise her best friend. Lhisa had gone early to school. She let her. She also woke up early but she was quite nervous. It was her first time for a very long time to really dress up and had a make-over.

She wasn’t pretty sure of herself. The feeling was quite new.

She stared at herself in front of the mirror. She knew that she had some pretty things in her if not really attractive but she wasn’t that confident either. She sighed. She misses her eyeglasses already. It had been her companion for a long time. It was like a shield.

Without her eyeglasses, she felt so vulnerable. She just couldn’t label the feeling since she was not used to it.

Jhenie felt eyes following her as she entered the huge campus. Fridays are civilian day for them and she was thankful that Daiki brought her the wonderful dress. It was cream and knee-length with matching green ribbon on the waist. Daiki also brought her a pair of two inches sandals that matched with the dress. She put on a black coat to her dress which showed professionalism yet in a cute way.

She just let her hair down. She was advised not to clip it so that it would stay straight like that.

She had her head down when she reached their classroom. She peeked in. Most of her classmates were there. Her heart pumped inside her chest. She was not really sure how she would face them this way.

She entered quietly. But she felt that the air around her became thick as the class looked at her direction. She pretended not to notice anything and went straight on her chair. The silence continued. She didn’t have to look around since her peripheral vision already told her that the class was still staring at her in awe.

She just couldn’t understand if it was in adoration or criticism.

Her nerd seatmate poked at her arm. She looked at his direction. He was smiling at her showing her his new braces. “Kawaii…” he commented when he had a better look at her.

Jhenie smiled at him. The class was sent to a riot afterwards. Some of the boys went to her seat. One of them stared at her as he put an arm at her desk. The rest were full of admiration in their eyes. her make-over must have really worked wonders for her image.

“Wow. You look great, Jhenie-chan.” One of the boys commented which Jhenie answered with a timid smile.

The rest of them also gave their own comment which boosted her self-confidence.

She looked at the back of the class. Lhisa wasn’t looking at her. She wanted to ask her friend’s opinion but she couldn’t get her attention.

Daiki was pretending to read his book but there was a hint of smile in his face. Yuto and Chinen were giving her a thumbs up, while Ryosuke smiled at her. That was the first real smile that she got from him since they came.

She then saw Keito who was also looking at her. His face was passive but there was something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite catch which made her heart sagged. She wanted him to notice her and he did but she couldn’t identify whether he liked it or not.

She took her eyes away from them as their sensei came in. Their sensei was not in a good mood so she tried to focus on their lesson but her mind kept on wondering at the back of the classroom where he was seated.

“Lhisa,” Jhenie called on her best friend as soon as she saw Lhisa went out but Lhisa seemed not to hear her and walked on.

“Eh?” Jhenie exclaimed at herself as range started to run down her senses. She knew that Lhisa was only pretending not to hear her. Jhenie just couldn’t understand why her best friend seemed to hate her.

Jhenie found herself wondering towards the cafeteria. She absent-mindedly got herself some foods and looked for an empty table. She saw Lhisa seated with some other girls in their class and there was no empty chair on their table so she just looked for her own.

She was walking on the side aisle when a guy stopped in front of her. “Do you need a help, Jheni-chan?” he asked.

He was quite charming actually but she just couldn’t seem to remember him. “Do I know you?” she asked.

The guy gave her a toothy smile. “Iie.” He answered. “But then I am willing to introduce myself to a pretty girl like you.”

That was when somebody took the plate in her hands. She looked up to see Daiki with her plate while staring at the guy.

“Ah, Arioka-kun, ohayou.” The guy said.

“Ohayou, Haruma-sempai.” Daiki greeted the guy though he didn’t seem sincere at all.

The guy smiled at them. “It seemed that this girl is already marked, huh?” he asked.

Jhenie tilted her head. Marked? She wondered. Daiki, on the other hand didn’t say anything and just stared at his sempai.

Haruma smiled at the two of them and patted Daiki on the back before leaving them. Some of the students near them started to breathe since they felt obliged to hold their breath at the encounter.

Daiki moved and walked towards the princes’ table with her plate. Jhenie started to follow him but then she glanced at the guy who was walking away before totally following Daiki.

The girls they were passed by were staring at her in envy. Some of them even eyed her angrily since she was with one of the princes.

Daiki put her plate on the table and took a chair for her which she accepted.

“Why are you talking to Haruma-sempai?” Yuri asked her immediately as she sat on the chair. There was pure concern on his eyes.

“Nande?” she asked.

“He was known for being notorious with girls and his former girlfriends are notorious for torturing the girls that he set his eyes upon.” Yuto answered.

Jhenie blinked twice. “So?” she asked innocently.

“So?!” Yuri exclaimed as if his life depended on it. He was already in his feet. “You are his next target so you are their next target.”

“Hah?” Jhenie looked at the guys except Keito who didn’t seem to care.

The young Ryutaro looked at Ryosuke who sighed and put his fork down. “Keito,” Ryosuke started.

Keito looked at him in inquiry.

“We will announce that the two of you are dating.”

The guys and Jhenie gasped at Ryosuke in shock.

“Nani boku wa?” Keito complained.

Ryosuke looked at the guy. “Because she confessed to you.” He answered in a matter of factly tone.

Jhenie felt her face burned as she heard his words. How could a guy be this blunt?

Keito fidgeted on his chair. Jhenie saw in her peripheral vision which had been working on the double since this morning that his face and ears turned bright red.

“If he won’t do it, then I would.” Daiki volunteered.

Jhenie stared at him in confusion. He just smiled at her while sipping at his flavored water. “Is it really that big of a deal?” Jhenie asked Ryosuke.

Ryosuke looked back at her. “Hai.”

Jhenie shook her head in disagreement. It was so movie-like for pete’s sake.

“Ok, so we would announce that you are dating Daiki-kun,” Ryosuke said.

Jhenie seemed to wake up. “No, you can’t!” she exclaimed.

“Why not?” Yuto asked.

Jhenie looked around and caught the eye of her best friend. Though, they were quite far, there seemed to be anger in Lhisa’s eyes.

Jhenie turned back to them. “Anou, gomene.” She said. “I can’t tell you.”

“Then we will do the announcement.”

“But Yamada-san…” she begged.

“Unless you tell us the reason, we will still do as planned.”

The others agreed.

“Demo… I can’t really…” her voice became softer. She couldn’t tell them that Lhisa had a huge crush on Daiki. She would be betraying her best friend.

“Then the decision is final.” Ryosuke said. “This is for your own good.”

“I can take care of myself.” She snapped at him. “Just don’t announce that…” she let her voice trail.

“Ok, so we’ll announce that you are dating Keito-kun.”

“Eh!” she exclaimed. She knew that her face must be very red since she felt it burning.

“Ok, ok. Just let Daiki you.” Ryosuke commanded.

Jhenie gaped at him. Was talking to that Haruma guy that bad? She looked around and saw Haruma Miura on one of the tables. He was chatting with some guys and girls. There was one girl who had been trying to feed him when he caught her eyes.

Jhenie’s jaw dropped when the guy smiled and winked at her.

Her new image was giving her a real pain in the .