CHAPTER EIGHT

Mark went to school the next day with a clear goal: apologize to Sapphire, then keep some distance from her to stay sane. Sounds easy enough, right? Turns out, very very wrong. 
The moment Mark saw Sapphire standing alone in the hallway waiting for her first class, his palms started to sweat and he felt his heart rate double. He tilted his head from side to side and tried to calm himself. 

It's fine, it's fine. You just need to go there coolly, say sorry sincerely, smile then walk away. 

He nodded. Okay. He stared at Sapphire and smiled. Showtime.

Sapphire was leaning on the wall beside the door from the classroom of her first class. She sighed and looked at her wristwatch. Why was she so early? She groaned and laid her head on the wall. She couldn't even sleep that night because of...
Sapphire shook her head. No, do NOT think about him. It's...just plain dumb and stupid.
Even though she kept telling herself to NOT think about him, she just can't seem to help it. He was stuck in her head since she met him yesterday. It really was getting kind of out of hand. 
She turned her head to the right and saw Mark walking towards her. Sapphire straightened. He was walking towards her with his head down, avoiding eye-contact with her. She frowned. That's weird.
When he was right in front of her, that was when he finally looked up. She noticed that his cheeks were a little flushed. Wait...is he embarrassed?! She was so flabbergasted that she couldn't do anything but stare. 
He cleared his throat and looked straight ahead to avoid eye contact. Again. This is getting suspiciously weird. 
"H-hi." Mark spared a glance at her but averted it in about a second. "Hi. What brings you here? Going to insult me again?" Sapphire meant to make him flinch a little but regretted it immediately when he grimaced as if someone slapped him. 
Mark rubbed the back of his neck. "I, uh, actually came because of that." He sighed and this time looked at her with regretful eyes. "I just...want to apologize for how I behaved yesterday. Firstly, I apologize to you for being so rude and for telling you to get lost and stuff." He removed his hand from his neck and started fiddling with it. "And secondly, for that...thing yesterday. It wasn't right. I don't have the right to tell you what to do and stuff and I take back what I said about...handling guys and, you know, stuff." He looked at her and shrugged with a self-depricating smile. "Yesterday was a weird day and I'm really sorry for being an ." 
Sapphire's jaw went slack. Wait. Why...why is he NOT being an ? Is it possible that he's not one? That yesterday was just a fluke?
No way...right?
Mark awkwardly scratched his head and looked behind him. "Um, well, yeah. I've said what I intended to say, so, umm, yeah." He looked back at her and waved his hands in a way that made her catch her breath because it was just too...cute. 
"Uh bye, I guess?" Mark then walked away from her. She stared at his back and thought of the question that could possibly be the key to open up the door of possibilities for the both of them.

He's not an ?!