Chapter Fourteen: Connection

Terra rolled her eyes.

“Stop it! I didn’t do that,” Rose screeched.

Terra didn’t know if it was her high-pitched voice or simply the fact that she couldn’t stop batting her eyelashes at Ocean, flirting incessantly from the second she sat down next to him that nettled her endlessly.

“Stop her,” Mercedes hissed through gritted teeth before she sank them into her sandwich and bit her food off carnivorously.

“Gag me,” Terra muttered, twirling the spaghetti in her plate and poking the meatballs. “God, I’m going to be sick.”

The corner of Tony’s lips curved up and even though he didn’t join their under-the-table-conversation, she knew he was listening and by the look of it, he was enjoying every minute of it.

Mercedes must had caught him smiling from the corners of her eyes because by the next second, Tony pulled a pained face and Terra saw Mercedes’ elbow on his stomach.

Calvin looked over at him and tilted his head. “Bad food?”

Tony shook his head, shutting one of his eyes and pointing his fork at Mercedes. “Bad company,” he muttered, grinning.

Elbow.

“Ouuuccch,” he yelped. “Okay, okay. I was just kidding.”

Mercedes sank her teeth deeper into her sandwich and huffed. Tony could only spare a glance over at Rose and Ocean before he turned his attention back onto his food, suppressing a laugh. Terra didn’t understand.

What was so funny really? Did Tony actually find her attractive too?

Seriously, what was so attractive about her? She was just a stupid, hyperactive cheerleader who’d migrated from some unknown place and was a few years younger than them. Sure, she was beautiful and sure, she’d perfectly proportionate body ratios and well, yeah, she’d pretty hair but—

Christ, what was she talking about?

“Where’s Mo?” Terra asked, steering the topic so that the conversation at the table didn’t need to center around Rose’s past history. Terra had no interest whatsoever to know what she used to stuff down in Ocean’s backpack.

Chewing his food, Calvin looked up, smiling at Terra.

Now here was a familiar face that never changed. She always knew she could count on Calvin when everyone else fails. He wasn’t like those stereotypical smelly guys who just couldn’t seem to free themselves from the spell of wicked, young girls.

Like the one sitting beside him.

“Mo’s out sick,” Calvin explained and continued to chew his food. When he was done, he smirked at her playfully. “Don’t tell me you miss him,” he said jokingly and placed a hand over his chest. “I’d hate to think that you like him more than you like me.”

As bizarre as it was that Calvin was suddenly talking to her in that manner, she actually smiled. At least she could flirt if she wanted to; Ocean wasn’t the only one good in that game.

“Have you been hanging out with Moses for too long? You’re starting to talk like him,” she said.

“Nah,” he said dismissively. “I’ve always been like this. Mo just overshadows me all the time. Maybe it’s finally time you see me for who I really am, eh?”

“Not bad,” Terra said, nodding. “Very articulated.”

“Gracias.”

“Ooo, multi-language. Very sexy,” she said, winking at him. “How about you and me get together tonight?”

Calvin laughed heartily and slid a hand over Terra’s shoulder. “For you? Anytime, Terra. Call me and I’d be there.”

Terra just couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at that moment. Why was Calvin being so different than usual? Was he actually flirting unabashedly with her? Where was that sweet, quiet Calvin she used to know? And well, to be fair too, she guessed that she’d never flirted with Calvin before but even so…

He winked at her and nodded at Ocean.

Did he know what she was thinking of?

Wait, wait. What was she thinking of? Flirting with Calvin of all people out of the blue? Had she lost her mind?

At some point between their conversation, Rose had finally extricated herself from Ocean and he was staring at them both, his eyes brimming with an unfathomable indifferent gaze.

“Well, well, look who’s finally warmed up,” he said with a lazy smile.

Obviously, her flirting session with Calvin had gotten Ocean’s attention. At least he wasn’t drooling over Rose now. Maybe that was her intention—or was it? God, now she was doing things she didn’t know she was doing unconsciously?

“What, bro? You jealous? Aww, come on,” Calvin teased.

Ocean raised his brow, looking almost impressed. “Cal, my man. Since when have you picked up lines from Mo, bro? I mean, look at you. Flirting with Terra? What’s with the sudden guts?”

Calvin pointed at his beef jerky. “Maybe it’s the meat,” he said benignly.

“Are you sure you took your medication this morning?”

Rose swatted Ocean’s arm and gaped at him. “Ocean!” she squealed, “Don’t be so mean!”

Only with the very best of her strength, Terra managed not to roll her eyes but she could feel Mercedes’ radiating with anger right beside her.

“You’re the one who needs medication. Look at you, you’re infatuated,” Calvin muttered under his breath but Terra heard it loud and clear and for some reason, she didn’t think that it was directed to Rose from the tone of his voice.

Just when Terra wanted to lean over and ask Calvin exactly what he meant by that, she was cut off by the commotion behind her.

“Look, I don’t have a cell phone and I don’t have a phone number. I’m sorry but I can’t give you a number if I don’t have one, can I?”

All of them turned around in the seats only to see Scott being accosted by yet another one of his fanatic admirers. Terra swore, it was only five days since he arrived but it seemed as though the school had an entire fan club dedicated to Scott.

Hell, why not anyways?

Scott was handsome, cute and gorgeous. Terra knew that all of the adjectives used to describe him was almost about the same but then, he really portrayed all of those traits. He was handsome when he was being smart, answering questions right off-hand with a nonchalant charm, he was cute every time he winked or laughed and he was definitely gorgeous every single time he wore sweaters that clung onto his body that was made for sports. No matter how many times he’d told her that he didn’t like sports, she still couldn’t convince herself that he didn’t work out.

Even the teachers adored him.

The guy was one lucky ass.

“Can I at least get your autograph?” the girl cooed and sighed, almost melting right under his nose.

Scott drew his brows together, looking rather uncomfortable but he narrowed his eyes, asking carefully, “Will you leave me alone if I gave you my autograph?”

She nodded repeatedly.

Finally, Scott sighed resignedly and signed whatever it was that the girl had just passed to him. Terra rather thought it was a tissue paper—she wondered if Scott had blown his nose onto it before.

Then, after he’d signed it, the girl wanted to throw her hands around Scott but Scott, having a fast reaction, evaded her and hurried towards the rest of the group without even saying goodbye to the girl.

When he reached the group, Ocean chuckled with mirth.

“What a show,” he said, doing a slow clap.

Rose grinned wickedly. “I didn’t know we were so poor that dad couldn’t afford a phone. Want my cell phone, Scott?”

He narrowed his eyes perilously at them and waggled his forefinger. “Don’t provoke me, you two. I feel like eviscerating someone now.”

Terra looked at her spaghetti and bristled, “Hey. I’m eating here, Cyclops. Would you mind sparing me the gory details?”

He laughed and pulled a seat over to the table, sitting behind Mercedes and Tony as he raked a hand through his hair. “Seriously, I’m suffocating with all this attention.”

“Oh, just rub it all in, dude,” Calvin said.

Tony patted his back sympathetically. “It all comes with a price,” he said. “Just pick and marry an ugly one so that your son wouldn’t have to suffer the same fate as you did.”

Terra laughed and shook her head. “I thought that handsome and ugly bears super cute babies?”

Tony grinned. “Who said that he was handsome?”

Scott smacked the back of Tony’s head with one hand and even though Tony jerked forward, he was still laughing.

She didn’t know why but it seemed that Tony, Mercedes as well as Laura had met him on the very same day that she had. They had AP Spanish together right after her gym period that day and well, they’d somehow hit it off. Of course, she should also take into consideration that they’d already had AP English together and it might have just picked that interest that Scott shared not only one but a few classes with them. Still, right after that, they’d been tight.

She couldn’t explain the chemistry between them.

Mercedes pulled Scott’s shirt so that his head was right next to hers. Her expression obviously gave way to the fury she was trying to quell.

“Get your sister off him or I’ll have to start harassing you just to get even,” Mercedes threatened, chewing off the last of her sandwich.

Scott’s eyes followed Mercedes gaze and she could see him flinching just ever so lightly. For a few seconds, he didn’t do anything but stare at Ocean and Rose, who, at that moment, were back at their lovesick banter.

Then, he shrugged helplessly. “I can take another harass. I’m used to it already,” he said simply.

Mercedes sat up straight and shook her head, narrowing her eyes into splits. “Oh, don’t you dare, mister.”

Scott threw his hands up in the air. “I can’t help it if I’m too gorgeous. Right, Terra?”

Terra rolled her eyes and pushed her lunch away. “I think I just lost my appetite.”

Scott gave her a thumb’s up. “Great, now you can shed a few pounds. I realize you’ve put on quite some weight recently.”

Terra arched a haughty brow. “I didn’t know you paid so much attention to my body, Scott,” she said, spreading a sultry smile over her face but not before she saw that Ocean was stealing glances at her even though he was talking to Rose.

“What do you think of my other half, eh?” she said, just to be perverse.

There she went again. Flirting. Jeez, she just couldn’t stop herself.

“Mmm, I like it just the way it is,” he said, putting his chin between his thumb and his forefinger and playing along with her.

Calvin smiled amusedly at them. “You know,” he started, “I wish Mo was here to see this. He’d be surprise to see that you’re all getting along better with Scott than you are with him.”

Mercedes finally averted his gaze to Calvin, reluctantly withdrawing her claws from Rose. “Well,” she said, “we can’t help it if Tony likes to pick fights with Moses.”

Tony snapped his head over at her and protested, “Hey, I don’t pick fights. He does.”

Calvin flicked his wrist and said dismissively. “Both of you do. Let me have some peace now that Mo’s not here.”

Terra shook her head, giggling softly. Her eyes surreptitiously glanced over at Ocean who’d somehow seemed to be more focused on the conversation of the rest of the group instead of focusing solely on Rosie alone. Terra smiled with a sense of satisfaction growing inside of her.

“What exactly is Mo sick with?” Ocean asked casually, his whole body turning to face all of them instead of only Rose.

Calvin finished the last bits of his beef jerky and wiped his mouth with a tissue. For a guy, Calvin was considered one of the neatest out of all of them.

“Down with a cold, I guess.”

He raised a brow skeptically. “A cold? How unlucky. My parents' party is in two days, I thought he was planning to hit on my cousins.”

“Ah, don’t worry. He’d turned up wherever there’re girls and well, your mother.”

Terra winced and rubbed her arm. “Aren’t your cousins a little too young for Moses?”

Ocean’s eyes slowly traveled across the table and locked gaze with hers. His eyelids were heavy as he smiled at her devilishly.

“Mmm, you seem to be paying a lot of attention to my family tree. Interested in being part of it?” he asked.

She could feel a blush creeping up her cheek and before she’d totally lost control over her escalating heartbeat, she snorted.

“Over my dead body.”

Ocean laughed with a low, husky voice. “I’d let mom know that you feel that way about being her goddaughter.”

She was pinking now. Profusely.

Scott cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Charming conversation,” he said and then, straightened his back, “But while we’re on it, I don’t think we’ll be able to be there.”

In a nick of time, everyone had their attention diverted back onto Scott and Mercedes, Tony as well as Calvin voiced their surprise in unison.

“What!?” all three almost yelled.

Terra simply looked straight ahead at him, her eyes blank. It was an errant feeling but she just couldn’t help but feel as though a huge tidal wave of relief just washed over her. She pursed her lips.

“Why can’t you come, Scott?” she said, thinking she really ought to say something rather than keep quiet.

Scott scratched the back of his head; his gesture seemingly causing him to look a little bit more boyish than he portrayed to be.

“My grandparents are coming to San Francisco all the way from Montana and well, my nana’s a bit, err, how do we say it? A handful. So, my dad wants us to keep them company.”

“Oh,” Mercedes said with a dull voice as though she was genuinely disappointed but then, anyone could see that her eyes suddenly sparkled.

“We?” she said and although she was trying her best to filter the hopefulness out of her voice, Terra could still feel it.

“Which means I can’t go as well,” Rose said, sighing. “I do wish I could come though.”

Ocean patted her head. “Now there, Rosie. Be a good girl and go make your grandparents happy.”

She smacked his chest. “Stop talking to me like I’m a child, Ocean. I’m merely two years younger. No big deal.”

Terra looked away from Ocean and Rose, turning to Scott with a warm smile. “Aww, shucks. And I thought I could introduce you to Reid.”

Tony’s brows drew together. “And by that, you mean?”

Mercedes winked at Scott. “He’s really, very cute.”

Scott laughed, putting a hand over his chest. “I’m deeply sorry that I cannot meet him then. Perhaps you should arrange a rendezvous for us?”

Terra looked at him apologetically. “I wish. But according to Mer, he seems to be attached to someone else right now.”

“Oh, double shucks.”

Tony bristled, “Hey!”

And they all laughed.

And without first thinking of the effect it might cause, Terra chortled out between her laugh, “Oh, Scott. We’ll miss you there.”

Visibly, Ocean winced.

“Yes,” Ocean said flatly. “We’ll miss you.”

And that just made her stop laughing.

Terra flinched at the acridness of his voice. In some way, he sounded bitter when he said that and definitely, Terra didn’t think he’d miss him at all. It was a subtle hint, she knew and Terra didn’t know if Ocean was really meant it.

“Thank you,” Scott said, smiling with levity. “We’d miss you guys too.”

Rose clapped her hands together. “Of course we would!”

Right on cue, the bell rang.

Some of them groaned and shook their head but either way, all of them scrambled to their feet, gathering their stuffs. As she packed her stuffs away, Terra just couldn’t stop thinking about what Ocean had said and the meaning behind it. Of course, normally, when he talked with a flat tone, he’d be mocking someone but then, why’d he mock Scott like that?

Was he—did he?

“Terra! Come on! You know Mrs. Luther already hates you as it is,” Tony shouted over the crowd as he stood at the exit.

Stop thinking about it.

Terra rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the heads-up!”

By the time she’d finished packing and was on her way out of the cafeteria, everyone else were already almost in their classes leaving the place empty. She walked out of the door, sighing. But then, when she pushed through the exit, her heart skipped a beat.

Ocean stared at her, unfolding his arms and nodding towards the direction they were supposed to head.

“Come on, princess. Stop dreaming and get moving. Or should I just hold your hand and lead the way?”

Friday night.

Ooo, sweet, sweet night.

Terra flopped down on the couch and threw her backpack aside as soon as she got back to the mansion. Man, she was exhausted. She didn’t know how Mercedes and Tony could still think of going for supper after such a tiring day. She knew that it was considered their ritual that they have supper together especially Friday nights after work but she was too tired to even eat.

Even though her stomach was grumbling.

Sighing, Terra reluctantly rose from the sofa and dragged her feet into the kitchen. Tired as she was, she couldn’t sleep feeling hungry.

She ransacked the whole fridge to look for some leftover food and came out with a piece of chocolate cake as well as some milk.

It was everything sweet and everything that she truly wasn’t really fond of but then, desperate times called for desperate needs.

She kicked the fridge shut, her hands occupied with the plate and the carton of milk. And just before she turned around from the fridge, she saw a shadow at the kitchen entry which sent her into a state of shock almost causing her to drop her cake and milk.

“Oh my God,” she said, feeling her heart getting weaker and weaker by the second, “What’re you doing here?”

A rueful smile spread across his face as he scratched the back of his head, yawning. “You’re late,” he said.

At that moment, with her heart beating fast against her chest, all of a sudden, all the adrenaline traveled up her body as she looked at him.

Hair ruffled, eyes shining with a unique dark blue hue, cheeks rosy from his sleep and skin just glowing from the aftereffect of slumber. Venus, save her.

Was her heartbeat escalating because of him?

She felt a warm blush creeping up her face as her eyes roamed at his bare chest. He was clad only in a boxer; somewhat indecent for a girl to see. He should have known better than to let her see him like this.

Turning her gaze quickly over from him, she cleared her throat.

“It’s none of your business,” she said, steering herself over to the marble counter and sitting on a stool with her back facing him.

Please go away, she prayed silently.

“Hungry?” he said. “Why don’t you and I go out for supper together, eh?”

She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see it. “Put on some clothes and we might still have a chance at it.”

All of a sudden, and Terra swore she didn’t know how he could do it; his head appeared right next to her. She could feel the natural warmth emitting from his body as it lay inches apart from her back.

“Why, aren’t you feasting your eyes upon me, sweetums? Why would I want to take away the pleasure of making you blush?” he said and quickly ran one finger through her cheek and she shivered.

God, please just spare her the torture.

“Stop trying to make me—“, she said, stammering just very slightly and she cleared her throat, “—barf.”

He laughed right next to her and tugged a lock of her hair behind her ear before he walked towards the counter and got himself a glass.

“Pour me some milk please,” he said, pushing the glass to her.

She raised a brow at him and pushed the carton of milk over to him instead.

“I’m not your slave,” she said simply, stuffing cake into her mouth.

He smiled at her as he lifted one of his shoulders and took the milk. “I like a girl with an attitude.”

She snorted because it truly sounded ridiculous coming out of his mouth. “The only type of girl that you like is the one that kisses your ass.”

He pursed his lips together and leaned forward with his head propped on his hand. “True,” he said solicitously. “At least they don’t complain about me walking bare-chested.”

And before she could stop herself, she’d already blurted out.

“I didn’t complain.”

He smiled at her languidly.

She stuffed more chocolate cake into her mouth and gabbled, “I ahh—it doesn’t mean I ahh—agree with it. I mean, it hurts my eyes.”

“Ouch,” he hissed. “You hurt me so.”

“Good,” she said, nodding. “Now maybe you’d find it better not to pick on me.”

He laughed and she must have been going crazy because all of a sudden, his laughter was beginning to get winsome instead of being a mere bane.

“Stop it,” she said, “I’m trying to eat.”

“So eat. I’m not doing anything.”

“Except distracting me, of course,” she grumbled.

He leaned even closer, his forehead almost touching hers. Christ, was his body so long and lean that he could actually close the gap between them without even standing up?

“You find what distracting?” he asked amorously.

She didn’t want to give him the pleasure of hearing her say him.

“The fact that you’re not sleeping makes me wonder if you’d stayed up waiting for me,” she said rapidly so that she could change the topic over onto him to make him stop pestering her for an answer.

“Oh, you did.”

Okay, that was certainly unexpected.

“I did?” she squeaked, her throat dry. Where was her glass of bloody milk?

He nodded, pursing his lips as he drained his glass of milk. “You and I have a connection, you know.”

“Connection?” she licked her lips wet.

“Mmm-hmm. I could sense it when you’re home but I guess it’s just from a lot practice.”

“Practice?”

He nodded and laughed. “You don't think I realize it when you come back? Your room is practically across mine. I hear you every night.”

“You do?” she asked again, her eyes sparkling with bemusement. For some reason, the fact that he was listening out for her sent her into a state of euphoria slash tenterhook.

What was she going to do about that? Shouldn’t she be a little pissed? But why should she?

He looked at her with a smile, cocking his head.

“You ask an awful lot of question when you’re hungry, don’t you?”

She blushed and snapped out of her reverie, turning back to the chocolate cake. God, she wanted a drink but oh God.

He laughed.

“Pink suits you well,” he said simply and placed his empty glass on the marble counter, pushing it towards her along with the milk.

Then, he walked by her and paused, winking at her as he brought a finger to the tip of her lips and wiped crumbs of chocolate cake away from her face.

“I’m going to bed now. Just drink from the carton, eh?”

Her mouth still filled with cake as she gaped lightly at him. Unknowingly, she was simply staring at the air as she listened to his footsteps going up the stairs and—annoyingly, she thought—his light laugh.

But how did he know?

How did he know that she wanted a drink? She looked over at the glass he’d pushed to her and picked it up.

How did he know that she’d wanted to drink from the carton desperately instead of using a glass?

Swallowing bits of her cake into her stomach, she simply stared at the glass for a few minutes before she finally took the carton instead and drank straight from it.

All of sudden, she realized something.

She was late tonight. She was late compared to her usual Friday nights because it took her longer to reach the mansion tonight. God, and what was the first thing he said to her when he saw her tonight?

“You’re late.”

She looked over at the clock on the wall; it was almost one.

Was there really a connection between them? Something that she couldn’t explain? Was the jealousy—she finally admitted she had for Rose—something to do with this? What about how she felt when he’d appeared right out of nowhere and scared the hell out of her with the heart-jumping feeling she’d experienced?

Shouldn’t she feel sick of him? Shouldn’t she feel pissed just like how she always used to be? Shouldn’t she hate him?

So, why then, was she feeling a totally different feeling for him?

Just like a connection she didn’t know was there.

A/N: I'm soooo sorry. This chapter is really hard to write. I have forty over pages of drafts of this chapter with different storyline. Sigh, the story is still pretty hazy but I think I've gotten a good plot already now. Oh oh. I'll be having my finals in October so I wouldn't be updating until then but after my exams, I'll try very hard to update faster! Thanks for reading!

AlphaBeatKayGee: LOL. I'm sorry for the late update and all the suspense, :) I get how you feel. Hahaha. But the suspense will make it all so much more fun! ;)

iman1234: Alright, I try to update faster next time.

katicus: Haha. It's not easy, really. The witty remarks are the things that keep me at bay the longest.

rollinby: It's okay! I understand how stressful school can be. I'm making it up as i go, you see. That's why I don't update as fast as I did in TOP.

Ashley Watts: I hope you'll keep reading. I really didn't have this habit of updating slow but this story is really hard to write. :)

: :) Hope you like this update, it's not as long and it took me very long but sigh, it was harder to write than i thought.

Jade: I'm very happy that you read thirteen chapters in a jiffy! :) It sure says a lot that you think it's really good. Haha. Okay, hopefully I could write faster and ideas could come to me smoothly. Continue reading, aites?

MissMason: you're still sticking to the story and well, the love triangle is a bit inevitable eh? Hahaha. But I promise I'll make this good!

HeyyyitsPickle: Every single guy knows this skill ;)

Truth17: HER FEELING FOR HIM IS GETTING MORE AND MORE OBVIOUS. :) Don't worry, things are going to clear up soon.

SoWhoWillCallMeBeautiful: Hahaha. I'm sorry for the late update! I know you wait a long time for it. I hope you're not getting sick of it and I promise that after my finals, I'll make the updates faster.

queenjade: Thank you! I mean, haha, here's the next chapter :) Thanks for reading my story. Lol. And I wish my books could get published but sigh, there's no one around!

ishani : Thanks for reviewing!

Me102: My updates are slower than usual but rest assure, I will not post an author's note saying that i'm ending this story unless I write until the end! Don't worry, it's going to go until the end.