Chapter 4: The Very Beginning

Matthew didn't think anything could piss him off so much as when Mr. Adnan had grabbed Tina, practically dragging her to her chair. He didn't think he could walk across a classroom so fast as when Mr. Adnan pushed Tina into her chair and yelled at her. The moment she winced in pain, he didn't think he could hold onto anything so tight that he hoped he was breaking Mr. Adnan's arm. And when Mr. Adnan had turned to say something to him, it was as if he couldn't hear what he was saying at all and the only thing he wanted to do was yell back until the older man let go. Matthew barely registered the two detentions he stuffed in his pocket as he leaned down to check if Tina was okay.

If there was one thing Matthew learned after having spent so much time with the Filipina is that she lied sometimes...a lot. Her days were always filled with 'Yes, I have time to help you with that,' and 'I was almost done with my work anyway,' and 'Oh, you can have that last sandwich/cookie/waffle/pancake/glass of juice, I already had one,' and 'You can borrow my notebook since I don't really need to study for this,' and 'I don't really mind cleaning up for today.' The only way Matthew could know if she was lying or not was to look straight into her eyes because she could never lie to him when he did that. He always used this whenever he asked about her day, inadvertently making it a daily habit for the two to just look into each others eyes and talk.

Matthew instinctively held that part of Tina's arm that had just been let go, immediately regretting the decision in case it was hurting her. But when Tina's shoulders became less rigid as she relaxed into the warmth of his hand, he decided that, fortunately, he didn't have to let go. Rubbing his thumb over the area of her arm that was turning red, he made sure to look straight into her eyes.

"Are you okay?" It was a simple inquiry, but it felt like he was asking more than that, Matthew just wasn't quite sure what it was.

"I'm fine, Matthew. Thank you..." she trailed off. Her voice came out too loud, Tina decided, especially since the class had gone too quiet since they came in.

When she said she was okay though, Matthew had been expecting her not to, searching her eyes for any signs of false assurance but could find none. Even though he was standing in an almost uncomfortably awkward position, he had wanted to stay. And although he knew she was telling the truth, Matthew stayed a while anyways, gazing at Tina and the slight pink that showed on her cheeks despite her caramel tan, how her lips had not closed completely after she had answered him and there was a small gap to exhale through, how some of her bangs had fallen across her forehead even though they were too long so she usually tucked them behind her ears, and how, through her thick lashes, her eyes had stared back, watching him too.

Realizing that if he continued to look at her like this, he wouldn't be able to deal with the odd tingly feeling accumulating in his insides and the weird notions that his brain was telling him to do. Matthew nodded to his decision, practically forcing himself to look away from her to stand up and walk away. Not quite being able to let go completely though, Matthew let his hand linger on Tina, his fingertips trailing up her arm as he walked around her and her desk. He could still feel the smooth skin of her upper-arm, the soft cotton of her uniform blouse, and the wavy stray strands of her hair that had landed, almost strategically, on her shoulder even after his hand had fallen back on his side and he was no longer physically connected to Tina.

Setting his eyes on his destination, his desk at the back of the classroom, Matthew walked without looking at anyone or anything in particular, not being used to having people, other than Tina, look at him and not through him like they usually did.

Tina kept staring at her arm, where a slight light-purple bruise began to form. It wasn't the quick, stinging pain of Mr. Adnan's hand closing in or her arm that she felt, but the warmth and soothing gentle hold of Matthew's large hand that lingered even after he had let go and walked back to his own seat. That and his eyes after he asked if she was okay stayed in Tina's mind through the rest of the period. His eyes were like the ocean: a blue that was almost lavender (not that she had even seen an ocean that shade of color before), but it felt so much like swimming in the cool waves of water during dusk after having worked under the blazing sun all afternoon. She had to be careful not to swim too far out lest she drown. But in Matthew's case, Tina thought she wouldn't have minded so much to be submerged in his gaze.

That simile ran through Tina's head so fast whenever she even caught a glimpse of her arm that all she could do was say her usual 'I'm fine' and 'Thank you,' and bury herself in reading the textbook chapter Mr. Adnan had assigned them, seeing the words and pictures but not understanding a single concept in them. She had to calm herself enough so as not to turn around and stare at the Canadian again. Tina knew that the bruise on her arm would subside in a day or two, but she wondered if Matthew's lingering warmth would remain. She hoped it would.

And when the bell rang, Tina knew that it was lunch time. She and Matthew had agreed to go to the library beforehand, and she was waiting for him to lead her out of the room. She sat, waiting, but not turning to look at him while she waited. It started to feel like forever. How long does it take to walk across the classroom? She was anticipating it and yet she was still surprised inside the moment he touched her shoulder. No words were needed as the two nodded to each other, not breaking the silence that still held their classmates in their seats, as Tina packed her books away. Before stepping out of the room, she caught a glimpse of Mr. Adnan, still grumbling at some piece of, probably empty, paper, and Tina almost laughed at herself for being so affected by the events that happened after the Modern History teacher had acted on impulse.

Still immersed in some residual silence from their previous class, Matthew and Tina walked through the crowded high school hallway, effortlessly guided by muscle memory towards the library, unnecessarily through the bookshelves where they had first met, and to the table they had first sat some weeks (had it already been that long?) ago. Even though they hadn't said anything to each other while walking, the two walked side by side, out of habit, with Tina's shorter, brisker strides matching Matthews larger, slower pace perfectly. Reaching their table (and the pair had sometimes mused at how they had claimed the table as their own), Tina and Matthew sat at their usual seats across from each other.

Matthew seemed to deflate into the chair, leaning so far down it that his legs had extended across the underneath of the table and brushed past Tina's, initiating a mini footsie session, stopping only when Tina thought they were making too much noise, although there was barely anybody who wasn't at lunch and they were too deep into the library anyways.

"Are you really okay, Tina?" Matthew asked when he noticed her looking at her arm again. Maybe the pain had only started now that the bruise was fully purple? He was contemplating if it would've been better if they really just told Mr. Beilschmidt about what had happened. But since the school was really lax, and all the faculty were old buddies, not much would have been done for anyone anyways.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Matthew. I just....no, it's..." Tina didn't know how to answer him, looking down at the desk instead . She knew that Matthew probably thought her arm was in pain, but she really was only feeling his hand and not the bruise at all.

"Just what?" Now Matthew knew she was hiding something. "What wrong, Tina?" He reached his hand out, touching her cheek to make her face him. Without noticing it, Tina's hand shot up to remove his, but instead ended up keeping it in place. Realizing the intimacy in their actions, they both turned different shades of pink but didn't change their positions an inch. Time seemed to stop and they seemed to forget whatever they were going to say to each other. Staring into each other's eyes, as was happening too often lately, this seemed to be the longest span of time that the two hadn't said a word to each other... Suddenly, Tina gasped for air (she seemed to have stopped breathing), and they both let go, immediately missing the feeling of the other.

"I....there was nothing...wrong, Matthew." Tina replied to the question long forgotten to him, still not knowing how to answer. "I just, well, the bruise doesn't hurt at all, but I...uh... Thanks, you know, for what you did and all..." She had never sounded so ineloquent before, and all Matthew could stammer was a quiet "Y-you're welcome..."

This was the first time Tina felt that she had been this embarrassed. Well, there were probably other times, but right now she couldn't think of any other moment than the ones that had just passed. Unknowingly, her hand reached back up to where Matthew had placed his on her cheek, and it was then that he realized why she had kept staring at her arm before when nothing hurt. He was even more flustered now, sneaking little peeks at her only to make sure she wasn't looking back at him. She wasn't; Tina had returned to looking at the desk as if it was some source of interest.

'I couldn't possibly have any effect like that to her, right??' he wondered. 'I mean, we've only known each other a few weeks...and I, well, she's just... I'm pretty sure she has someone else she likes, or something... But I never asked before though...'

'I...crap, this can't be it...' Tina argued to herself. 'I have to think this through! Matthew is... Matthew is... He's such an awesome guy! And I'm... I'm just... Didn't Ivan Braginsky's sister like him or something? Gah, I can't compete with...wait, that's not what it was...!'

Breathing in deeply, Matthew decided that just sitting there wouldn't do anything to help him. "Tina?" he asked, being the first to look up. Her head immediately snapped up to face him upon hearing her name. Matthew almost hoped she wouldn't so he'd have an excuse to...wait, that wasn't the point right now. "Do you have someone that you---"

*!!!* the bells rang, cutting Matthew's question off. They had both given a little jump in their seats, surprised by the sudden interruption. They both stood up to take their book bags off from the carpeted floor, getting ready to leave the library.

"If I have a what?" Tina asked, mounting her book bag on her back while they walked to their next class.

"Huh?"

"You're question."

"Oh, never mind...It didn't really matter, anyway." Matthew made a small hand motion as if to make is previous question fly away. The abrupt ringing of the school bells seemed to have blown out what little confidence he had to ask her about her love life. He was a little relieved, actually, after realizing how awkward it would have been to ask. Unlike Matthew, Tina didn't really like to press for details when others seemed to avoid certain topics, but she was sure as hell going to overthink it in the next couple of class periods until after school, when they would go to their regular detentions and hopefully have an opportunity to talk again.

Instead of getting accustomed to Tina having detentions, Yao had instead stayed strict with her, always giving a disappointed sigh whenever she walked into the room as if to say 'Where did I go wrong.' This always made her guilty enough not to talk, even to Matthew, during the detentions Yao oversaw. Luckily, instead of Yao, Mr. Vargas was the one looking over the detention. Even though he was the Principal of World Academy, he was so lax with the students and administration that most people believe that Mr. Beilschmidt was the one actually running everything under the guise of Vice Principal. Mr. Vargas usually allowed talking in his detentions, and he even specially encouraged Matthew and Tina to talk, usually commenting about something like youth and seizing the day.

"Hey Matthew," Tina began, turning around in her chair and sitting in it backwards to face Matthew who was sitting behind her. "What were you asking me about before, back in the library, before the bells rang?"

The sudden question caught him off guard. Matthew had been hoping Tina had forgotten all about it after two class periods, but instead it seemed as if she had contemplated everything possible so as to be prepared for whatever his previous inquiry was. He hesitated to tell her, but after realizing he wasn't being fair (since he often made her say what she wanted to by looking into her eyes, which now that he thought back to it, embarrassed him that he did that so often), he took another deep breath and repeated the question.

"Do you have someone that you like?"

"I..." Tina began to answer prematurely. She closed her mouth and started to think about her answer, suddenly regretting her decision.

"Haha, it's okay, Tina. It was just a random question..." Matthew tried to laugh off the awkwardness he knew would come. "Anyways, did you get the homework that we---"

"No." she stopped him from changing the subject. "I feel like I have to tell you these things. I mean, everybody needs someone who knows them well, right? And I think it would make sense for me if it was you..." she rambled. "It just kinda makes sense to me that way, you know?" Tina finished, turning to look at Matthew, who had unknowingly been leaning forward in his seat while listening to her. The pair blushed at the proximity and both leaned back.

"Well," Tina said. "I don't know if it'll answer your question or not...but I'll start from the very beginning..."

"...a very good place to start." Matthew added.

Blargh:

I lied. Alfred's POV will come waaaay later... I was just magically inspired by nothing to write this [I kinda realized that I hadn't even written about Tina's and Matthew's feelings or anything at all! D:].

Honestly, this chapter was kinda hard for me to write since I kept squeeing to myself every few words. But hey, it's spring break! \(^o^)/

...are my chapters getting...wordier? D: