Chapter Three: A Visit from the Cengenda Boys

Nervously holding onto her backpack straps, she walked out of her actual room after asking the custodian for a master key to Maximilian’s room and took her stuff. She was beyond embarrassed. If she was not religious before, today she converted for sure: praying at least five times every minute, hoping for a day without another encounter with Maximilian.

She glanced at her watch. Crap! She was about to be late. Only ten minutes were left before her first class. Still unfamiliar with the school campus, she cursed herself for not coming to orientation.

She picked up the walking pace into a light jog. Then, whaaaaaaaaam!

She was knocked onto the ground. Hard. Face down. Tears were about to gather in her eyes. (It hurt!) Nonetheless, Lulu lifted herself up, dusting the dirt off her clothes. Then, Baaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

And again, she was down. Almost ready to kill someone, she jumped up, and her jaws automatically dropped upon the realization that she had been stampeded by a large mob of people. Mostly of the female sex, with a couple of boys mixed in. Wait, make that a couple of metro boys. Very metro boys.

Everyone was screaming and squealing. It took her a while before she figured out what they were saying, and when she found out whose name they were screaming, she knew who she wanted to kill.

Maximilian.

You. Are. So. Dead.

He must’ve been these girls’ (and some gay guys’) god for the past three years at Phelton. Everyone in the mob was yelling his name with passionate but super high-pitched voices. It was truly an unprecedented phenomenon. At least, she had never seen such a faithful cult of one person.

“He’s going into Wilson Science!” some girl shouted. The rest responded with a simultaneous scream of 5,000 decibels and ran with all their might.

Unknowingly, Lulu had joined the ranks of the mobs and desperately searched for his presence, but she had a different reason. She would locate where Maximilian stood, and then she would make sure to stay away.

She jumped up a couple of times, suddenly wishing she was taller so she could get a better view. She wasn’t short, but right now average height wasn’t good enough. Scanning the crowd quickly with her eyes, she finally found an open view (courtesy of the gathering of a bunch of girls who were shorter than her). She saw him. He was dressed in a dark suit with a red tie, strongly offset by the white starched shirt. He was slowly turning around.

Turning…turning…and he caught her eyes.

Immediately pulling away her gaze, she cursed herself and ducked quickly. It seemed that all she accomplished since she arrived at Phelton was embarrassing herself, over and over again.

“He’s taking Organic Chemistry!” some other girl screamed, disrupting Lulu’s contemplations. A few girls around her started to get even more excited; they all held Organic Chemistry books in their hands.

Lulu sighed out of relief. She wasn’t taking organic chemistry, nor would she ever want to. Good, at least she’d be safe in one class.

Everyone was rushing toward the Orgo (Organic Chemistry) Lab. The giant mob of people suddenly disappeared around the corner, though their noises lingered in the hallway.

She glanced at her watch, only two minutes left now, and she still had to find her classroom. She fumbled through her pockets for her schedule:

1st period: Physics (Lecture)

Instructor: Roper

Room: 501

Great, she thought sarcastically. She wasn’t about to run up five flights of stairs, so she smartly looked for the elevator.

The doors of the elevator were closing, she shouted, “Wait!” and ran.

Luckily the doors opened again and revealed the most breathtaking guy she had ever seen.

She felt a blush rushing onto her cheeks. Her voice trembling, she whispered a thank-you and didn’t dare looking at him in the eye, afraid that he would address her directly about her bashful behavior.

“No problem.” She heard him say, kindly.

The time that they spent together in the elevator seemed endless. She told herself that she was being ridiculous, she had only caught one glimpse of the guy, and it made her unable to control her actions and feelings. She stole a glance at him again.

He seemed so gentlemanly. His dark brown hair was neatly combed; his chin perfectly chiseled. He wore a green oxford shirt with dark pants and well-shined black shoes, a satchel swung across his shoulder. There was a sense of casualness about him, softness in his face, despite the way he dressed.

Finally, the elevator stopped abruptly with a light “ding.” It was the fifth floor. The guy next to her extended his arm in front of him, and said, “After you.”

She thought she had squealed. What a gentlemanly guy! She wasn’t used to this. Back in her home town, her neighbors Matt and Michael were so crude and impolite, often spitting in front of her and slamming the doors after themselves. Usually disgusted by their behaviors, she would tell them to get lost.

Room 501 wasn’t far from the elevator. She got off and just had to walk a few feet. When she was about to open the door to go into the classroom, she could see through the glass pane on the door that the teacher had already started lecturing. Her hand which rested on the doorknob suddenly withdrew.

“Why don’t you go in?” someone behind her asked.

She turned around and the gentleman from the elevator was standing right behind her. She must’ve blushed again because he chuckled a bit and placed his hand on the doorknob.

“Come on,” he said.

With a grin, she followed him in, and everyone stopped copying notes while the teacher, a white-bearded man in a flannel suit, paused in his writing. Everybody turned to look at the two. The atmosphere was really tense. She wanted to find an available chair quickly, but the room was almost filled.

“Please take a seat,” the teacher said, with no blame in his tone, but for some reason the lack of blame only made her feel worse about arriving late.

She finally spotted a chair in the second row on the other side of the room. As she walked toward it, her elevator buddy had resorted to a seat in the very back.

Thankfully, the teacher resumed his teachings.

Quickly, she took out her notebook and a free pen that she got from a local bookstore. The words “Phoenix Ridge Bookstore” ran down the length of the pen.

Despite how boring the lecture was, she listened intently. She couldn’t help noticing the girl sitting on her right; the girl must’ve been doodling for a long time. Drawings of a monkey getting stabbed in the head took the place of what should’ve been physics notes. To Lulu’s shock, the name “Roper” was scribbled across the monkey’s stomach.

Lulu cringed unknowingly. This gloomy school must be getting to everyone. First, girls were willing to chase after the arrogant, egotistical Maximilian Silvertonnes. Now someone was illustrating voodoo rituals of cursing the physic lecturer.

Just when she was on the verge of zoning out completely (again), the classroom door had been busted open.

Everyone’s sleepy heads immediately jerked up, welcoming new excitement. Two boys dressed in gym clothes practically skipped into the classroom. It was the first time that Lulu saw someone wearing gym clothes on Phelton campus, and so it was a nice surprise. One of the boys had distinct straight black hair that came down to his ears; his big dark eyes made him look younger than he was. The other boy had the most unruly curly red hair. Both of them, however, had the same bright smile on their faces.

“Hello, Dr. Roper!” the black-haired boy said loudly, standing by the door.

“Hello, everyone!” the curly hair shouted, his voice booming.

By now, most people started to snicker or chuckle at their silly behaviors. Nonetheless, everyone was enjoying it.

The lecturer seemed slightly annoyed, but quietly told the boys to sit down and join the rest of the class.

The boys didn’t budge. Instead, they shouted even more loudly, “Remember Cengenda, everyone!”

Then they pointed to the letters printed on their t-shirt and sweatpants. Indeed, the letters spelled Cengenda.

At this point, Dr. Roper (the teacher) seemed more than annoyed by them. Almost angrily, he asked, “Are you two in this class or not?”

Then came a serious of apologies from the two.

“Sorry, Dr. Roper, we promise we won’t do it again!”

“We mean it! It won’t happen again!”

“Just take your seats!” Dr. Roper finally had it. Poor old man, having to deal with raging hormones of teenagers was getting to him.

Unfortunately, the only seats that were open were all the way in the back. As the two Cengenda boys made their way to the back, they kept on saying “sorry,” “excuse me” for making people move their backpacks that were clustered in the aisle.

The whole room seemed completely entertained by these two jokers, save for Dr. Roper of course, who could only sigh forcefully and get back to his teaching.

Ten minutes later, a sheet of paper that had been scrunched up into a ball landed on Lulu’s desk. She turned around, but couldn’t tell who it came from. Gingerly, she lowered the ball under her desk and pulled it open.

It read:

Buy Cengenda!

Love,

Cengenda Boys

She almost laughed. Cengenda boys?

Waiting until the teacher turned his back toward the class, Lulu quickly turned her head around to spot the two jokers. Yes, she found them, slouching in their seats, winking at her. Her face suddenly became flushed and reflexively, she turned back around.

The class was over sooner than she thought; perhaps she had spent too much time pondering about those Cengenda Boys. As she packed up her things, most of the class had left already. She glanced back as she proceeded out of the room, and she accidentally caught the eyes of her elevator gentleman. He gave a calm, serene smile, and she shyly nodded her head at him before she practically ran out.

She had a free second period. So she figured that it was best for her to go back to her room and unpack some of her things. This school was, so far, entertaining. At least she wouldn’t be bored. Besides, her first class didn’t seem too hard. Maybe, just maybe, she might end up having a good time. She unknowingly smiled at that thought. Picking out the room key from her key chain, she unlocked her door.

Lulu still hadn’t met her roommate yet, but from the posters of indie bands on the wall and the messy desk, she told herself to anticipate some wild kind of girl. For now, she’d enjoy the quietness. She unzipped her old and beat-up suitcase and started to put some of her clothes in the closet.

Then, there was a knock on the door. It came in a quick series of three knocks as if the person was in a hurry.

“Come in!” she shouted, not feeling like she wanted to come out of the closet.

The individual didn’t say anything and simply opened the door. Lulu didn’t turn around to look, but she could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the closet. Finally, after she finished putting a stack of jeans away, she turned around and she was greeted by pure horror!

With no second thought, she let out a scream.

A/N: yes, finally, i updated. :) reviews are welcome.