Chapter 21

At the midway point to school Oliver spotted Alex and Rachel walking a bit further ahead of him . He silently followed behind them, when he was near enough he noticed that Alex and Rachel were holding hands, upon seeing this Oliver snickered . ’These two are getting along pretty well . I’m proud of you comrade having to hold hands on the way to school, such is youth . ’ Oliver then tapped Alex’s back, Alex turned his head around shocked at the sudden tap, but even while doing this he didn’t let go of Rachel’s hand .

Alex looked like he was about to strike but then he saw it was Oliver he tapped him, he stopped . "Your back was wide open comrade . . . Good morning comrade Alex, Comrade Rachel . "

"Good morning" Rachel gave her greeting but Alex was just staring dumbly at Oliver . Rachel nudged Alex gaining his attention, she then using her eyes signaled Alex to greet Oliver .

"Good Morning Oliver" While the three started walking again heading to school, Alex was in deep contemplation .

’How did he get behind me without me noticing?! He was even able to touch me, if he was an assassin I would have been dead for sure . . . It seems like I truly underestimated Oliver . . . No James Bourne . ’ Alex smiled finding a friend who was at the same level as him who was also the same age as him was a great fortune .

Yet Alex didn’t know he was overestimating Oliver’s skills too much . The reason Oliver was able to get so close without Alex noticing was because of a combination of reasons . Number one Alex’s thoughts were currently jumbled up, and he could not focus properly . Second the emotional dilemma he was having and couldn’t understand kept bothering him, even though he denies it . Thirdly and most importantly all of his attention was on Rachel’s soft comfortable hand holding his own . With all of this distractions and Oliver’s great timing, he was able to tap Alex’s back .

Still without any knowledge of all of these factors, Alex simply assumed it was part of Oliver’s skills . Alex walked in the middle of Rachel and Oliver, he looked at Oliver and smiled .

"Don’t worry Oliver, I won’t let my guard down anymore . . . Thanks . " Oliver and even Rachel looked at Alex confused, the only difference was Rachel showed her confusion in her facial expression, Oliver on the other hand kept a serious look and nodded even though he didn’t understand what Alex was saying .

When the trio where near school a bunch of students noticed them, but the reaction on seeing the group was not as loud as yesterday, still Alex could hear some of their whispering .

"Look at them together, do you think the three of them are involve in a love triangle?"

"Huh? . . . Actually you might be right Rachel being chased by two boys isn’t anything new . "

"No I’m talking about Alex chasing Rachel, Rachel chasing Oliver, and Oliver chasing Alex . "

"What?! Don’t tell me your bl crap you know I can’t handle that . "

"Why? Isn’t it hot and steamy just thinking about it?"

The other conversations were about the tennis match that happened yesterday .

"Hey look its Alex! Isn’t he so handsome and now that I look at him isn’t he sexy? The tennis match yesterday made him look so manly . (sigh) I wish he would look my way . "

"Dream on . . . Don’t you see his already with Rachel . "

"Yeah your no match for her, if you’re not one of the three Goddesses you wouldn’t even able to fight back . "

"Who knows, Alex might like a girl whose better in the inside than what she looks like in the outside . "

"Heh, your talking like you’re any good inside . . . Rachel already won in that area, we know how much you like bitching about, you slut . "

Some were even planning ways on how to show off in front of Rachel .

"Hey so what do you think any chance?"

"You saw how he moved yesterday, he even caught a tennis ball bare handed! There’s noway we can win in sports against that guy . "

"Then if we can’t beat him athletically, we can beat him using our brains, a . k . a academically . "

"That’s a no go too . I learned from a friend whose in his class, Alex is even smarter than most of the teachers . He even corrected them while they were doing their lessons . "

"Damn it! Then how can we even compete with him"

Those were the conversations Alex could hear while passing by some students . He didn’t understand some of them, but it didn’t matter as long as they don’t have hostile intentions on Rachel, he could care less .

Another day in school that was suppose to be the same as yesterday, but now there was a difference . The difference was Alex noticed that someone had tampered with his locker, being on high alert Alex opened his locker carefully, and a bunch of letters fell down . Oliver looked a bit excited while Rachel was pouting, even though when she opened her own locker a similar flood of letters fell down .

"Are those letters of challenge?" Oliver asked Alex excitedly .

"Those are love letters, good for you Alex . " Rachel was the one who answered Oliver’s question while pouting .

Alex looked at the letters and was seriously thinking of what to do with them .

"Aren’t you happy Alex, you might actually find someone who wont put you in a friend zone, and actually date you . " Rachel’s tone was sour . She continued pouting while looking at Alex’s serious expression as he stared at the letters .

"I’ll read them later, but I really don’t have time for this . " Alex placed all the letters in a plastic bag .

"You don’t have time? What, aren’t you happy your so popular?" Rachel was feeling a bit better when she heard Alex had no time for such things, but her tone was still sour .

While he was putting all the letters in a plastic bag Alex answered Rachel . "I already have a full time job of being your friend, I don’t have time for this . "

When Oliver heard what Alex said he whistled . Rachel on the other hand went from pouting to blushing .

"Really? Well I’m sorry then . " Rachel stormed off into the classroom .

’How can he keep on saying such lines with a serious face . So its better to be my friend than to have another person as his girlfriend . ’ Rachel was blushing but her face was showing a smile as she started giggling which made everyone who saw her swoon at her cuteness .