C3 Chapter 3

So who exactly was Tom? Well, his actual name is Thomas Morales.

We met when we were in primary school, he was my tablemate. Back then I was a timid girl and he was just a cool, nice boy. We became really good friends and I developed a little crush on him. It wasn't that obvious or anything, at least I tried not to make it seem so.

And me being the shy girl that I was, I only talked to a few people and those people mostly consisted of those sitting nearest to me in class and my best friend, Megan, who sat right behind me. Then our friendship was so-so when the teacher decided to rearrange our sitting arrangement. He was cool and we joked around which sometimes ended up in me laughing too much. It raised suspicion to Megs and she somehow knew about my crush on him.

He's the kind of guy that's cheeky, cool, outgoing and yet mysterious. Call me dumb but I can never tell what he's thinking.

But Megs and I remained best friends even to this day. In fact, we got much closer after that. We dragged each other out shopping.

She did most of the dragging since I was such an introvert and preferred staying at home compared to the mall. We did all kinds of silly things together.

So you could say we were inseparable.

And looking back I think hanging out with her made me learn how to express myself more and I gradually came out of my shy girl shell to the new me now. I mean she was my only real friend I had considering that I was such a timid, introverted girl and I tend to care too much about what other people think about me. Now? I don't even give two f*cks whether someone thought lesser of me though it does get to me sometimes.

Tom and I didn't really talk much after the switch, all we did was greet each other once in a while and that's it. Then, we graduated primary and on to secondary school, we went. We happened to go to the same school although by then my crush on him had already faded to almost nothing. All I felt was a spark now and then when I saw him walk past.

Then, came the day I met Joshua Rice. He was on the school's basketball team as was Tom when I saw them playing on the same court and team together one day. We were in the same class. We grew closer after bonding over a group project and we hung out a lot.

During one of our hangouts, he admitted to having a crush on me but it was only one-sided as I wasn't into him. We talked and we just became really good friends. Although he was quite the joker and flirty all the time, he was just a really nice guy. Then, we even went out on a date as a joke.

Long story short, I lost a bet so it was sort of a punishment for me but I'm not really complaining compared to the other dares he and Megs made me do.

Don't get me wrong. Josh is a really good looking boy with his dark hair and brown eyes that shone whenever he laughed as he looked at me but he just wasn't the right guy for me. Though, I did catch Megs sneaking glances at him when she thinks nobody's looking. I really ship them both together. I think they would make one cute couple. With Meg's dramatic personality, Josh's joker attitude and both of them being outgoing people? They are made for each other.

Sometimes, when Josh, Megs and I hung out at his place, he'd invite some of his closest guy friends over to play video games and I'd see Tom once in a while. He'd joke with Tom that one day, he'd really sweep me off my feet with his irresistible charm and marry me. Then have an entire basketball team of kids and he'd teach them how to play basketball. My reply is always the same with, "dream on, dude, dream on."

But then both of the goons would just smirk and burst out laughing at me. While Josh was being his usual flirty self that I was most accustomed to, sometimes I'd catch Tom staring at me or lingering on me for a second too long whenever he thought that I wasn't looking but I wasn't really sure and I sure as hell wouldn't get my hopes up. I mean my brain could be using my peripheral vision to play tricks on me. You'd know what I mean if you mistake a black plastic bag for a black cat once.

It was like Tom and I's relationship from primary never really ended. We just picked up where we left off. We joked, we teased but that's it.

Tom and I were like best buds but after hitting puberty we were never really the same anymore. We weren't as close as how I wanted us to be. I think it was the part where we were all grown up and a little bit different from the people we were a few years ago.