Chapter 63: The Reason You Pass or Fail
"Wow, Celio your name was?" James asked.
"Yeah," the treasurer replied. "It's nice to meet you, King James. I hope you get well soon."
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"Wow." James smirked at Roselle. "Younger guy, huh? He sure is cute."
Roselle cringed and gave him a look. "Knock it off!" she whisper-screamed.
Celio fidgeted. "Hey, Ro?" He went to her side and whispered to her. "Is he hitting on me or something?"
She nearly choked on her own spit. "Oh, no. I could totally see why you'd think that though. But he's not gay. He's a heterosexual, metrosexual, demisexual."
He blinked. "I have no idea what you just said. I think I need to touch up on my english skills."
A guard entered the room. "My lord, you have another guest here to see you."
"Oh?" James crossed his arms. "And who might that be?"
"The Vice President of the United States, sire."
"Interesting . . . I don't like him very much, but I'm curious as to why he's here. Very well, let him in."
Eliot entered the room holding a box. "Hey, king-boy," he said. "I brought you some cookies."
James rolled his eyes. "Since when do you show me kindness, Eliot? Are they poisoned?"
"Oh, so you don't think I can be nice, man?" He pointed at the king. "I'LL BE THE NICEST DAMN VISITOR THAT EVER VISITED YOU! How do you like them apples?" He took a cookie out of the box and viciously gnawed at it. "See? Not poisoned." He tossed the box on the table next to James's bed.
"Tell me, why are you really here? You came to see the little rose, right?"
Eliot was silent for a minute. "Yes . . ." He turned to Roselle. "Why did you ask THAT guy for help with your spanish tutoring?!" he questioned, eyeing Celio. "I'm Mexican too, you know."
She staggered back. "How the hell did you know about my tutoring lessons?"
"Well . . . the army soldiers told me."
Roselle face-palmed. "Of course they did."
Celio spoke to the Vice President in spanish.
"Woah, woah, woah," Eliot said. "I don't speak spanish."
"Then why would you get mad at me for not asking you?!" Roselle questioned.
"Well, it would've at least been nice to be asked. I never see you anymore!" He pouted. "Ro, when will you spend more time with me?"
She groaned.
James slowly motioned his hand towards the cookies that Eliot put on the table. He stared at it for a moment, then gave it a small nibble. Immediately, he snapped his neck at the vice president and gave him a glare.
Eliot glared back. "What?"
They stared at each other for a long time, but eventually, the king broke the silence. "Bake for me more, peasant," he said, stuffing the rest of the cookie in his mouth.
The vice president immediately blushed and turned his head away.
"Okay then?" Roselle shook off the insanity she had just witnessed. "Come on, Celio. Let's go." She touched his arm and nudged him.
Celio's face was a deep shade of red when she touched him. "R--right."
'He likes you,' James mouthed.
'No he doesn't,' she mouthed back, walking out of the room.
* * *
The next day, Roselle walked to her spanish class carrying a lawn chair. She had to bring her own furniture since the teacher was going to force her to sir on the floor if she didn't. Ugh. What a mean prick. She had a deep pain from the pit of her stomach when she thought of having to see him again today, but she buried it deep within her and kept marching on.
"Woah, hey there!" Vicente jogged up to her and swiped the chair away from her. "I'll be taking that."
"Hey! What are you doing?"
He gave her a grin. "I'll carry this for you. I heard what happened yesterday. You got stuck with Professor Jimenez, huh?" He laughed. "That's unfortunate."
She rolled her eyes. "Glad you think it's funny. I can carry my own chair, by the way. I can also walk to my own class, so if you'd excuse me, I'd like to be left alone. I can handle myself."
"Ah, Roselle. I can feel you have the spirit of a tiger within you. I admire your attitude. You should know that I'm not walking with you because I don't think you can handle yourself. I know you can handle yourself. I'm walking with you and I'm carrying your chair because I want to."
She raised a brow. "Why?"
"I think you're very interesting, and very beautiful. Plus, I like feisty girls." He gave her a solid wink.
Roselle grumbled. "Look, dude. I know you think you're some kind of big deal around here, but not to me. Maybe that whole sexy spanish accent thing can work on some other chick, but I'm NOT interested."
He gave a half-smirk and tilted his head to the side. "So you think my accent is sexy?"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I--UGH! WIPE THAT GRIN OFF YOUR FACE!"
Vicente's smirk dimmed a bit, but it didn't die out entirely. "Why do you dislike me so much?"
"Well, I didn't exactly get the best impression of you the other day. You kind of seem like a crass jock to me."
He shrugged. "First impressions can be deceiving. Maybe you would like me if you just got to know me."
"Well, I don't want to get to know you, so if you'd excuse me," she took her chair back, "I have a class to go to."
Roselle left Vicente in the dust, but she took note of all the people that were gawking at her as she walked away. She shielded her face.
* * *
Roselle made sure to get to class twenty minutes early that day. She didn't want to give Professor Jimenez ANY opportunity to bully her. She sat down in her lawn chair and studied spanish vocabulary.
Someone whispered, and she was sure in that whisper, she heard her own name. She glanced up at her classmates who were staring in her direction and talking. She turned around to see if there was any chance they were looking at someone else, but nope. They were specifically staring at HER.
"Can I help you?" Roselle asked the girls.
The three of them exchanged glances with one another and nodded. They got up and went over to her.
"Is it true that you rejected Vicente earlier?" the brunette one asked. "Everyone is talking about it."
She groaned. "What is this, high school? So what if I rejected him?"
The tall girl gasped. "You don't know who he is?"
"Does it matter?"
"Uh, yeah," the one with freckles said. "Literally every girl at this school would KILL for him to ask them out. He's--"
The other girls shook their head at her.
Freckles nodded. "Well, he's the football team's quarterback."
"I don't care." Roselle rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to study. Please go away."
The girls left, offended.
"She's so stupid," one of them said. "Just wait till she finds out who Vicente REALLY is. She'll be BEGGING for him to date her." They laughed together.
Roselle was too tired to snap at them, so she forced herself to continue on memorizing the words on the page.
* * *
Professor Jimenez showed up to class eight 'o clock on the dot. "Hola, mis estudiantes [Hello, my students]," he said.
"Buenos dias, señor Jimenez [Good morning, Mr. Jimenez]," the class replied.
"Today, we're going to start talking about basic conjugations, but first, a pop quiz on the words we studied yesterday. I hope you studied the words and all the accents. I want you all to have no less than an error margin of ten percent, or you fail. There are two hundred questions."
The students exchanged glances with one another. Ten percent? For newbies? That was outrageous!
A student that was shaking in his boots raised his hand. "Um . . . sir? I think that's kind of . . . strict, right?"
The teacher narrowed his eyes. "Maybe not strict enough. Seven percent."
"That's insane!" Roselle blurted out. She realized what her big mouth landed her into right after she said it and clasped her hand over her mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Professor Jimenez walked over to her seat and narrowed his eyes at her. "I see you've brought your own seat. Ms. Reyes," he said. He faced the class. "Good news, everyone. It looks like your classmate, Roselle, has offered to take the pop quiz on your behalf with an error margin of five percent."
Mumbles surfaced across the room.
He continued. "If she does good, you all pass for today. If she does bad, however," he locked eyes with her. "She will be the reason why you all fail for today."
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maxyperson
maxyperson Thank you to HotRedFlaming, Diamond_Air, Nate_Quinn, purpliciousj, Fallingleaf, and Emy_Emerald for voting today! And as always, thank you to all my lovely readers. See you in the next chap! :D
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