Hop In, Princess!

CERENE'S POV 

Wieeee!!

   "Shh! Keep it down, Quinn! People are looking at us right now."

   "How can I!!" she exclaimed.

   "Uh-uh, your voice please..." I reminded her in a low voice.

   "Gosh Cee, we just graduated from senior year. We can finally stop studying~!" she said in a sing-song voice.

   "Calm your horses missy, we still have to go to college."

   "Hmph! Can you just let me savor this freedom? hmm?" disappointed for remembering, she pouted.

   "Sigh... Don't be so down Quinn, at least we're going to the same school," I told her, trying to cheer her up.

   "Hehehe, the fact that we're going together to the same college just cheered me up!! And not just any college, it's the university of kentburry! KYAA~!" she said cheerily.

    That's right. In just a few months, we're finally going to enter UCK, my dream school, where only chosen students from all over the world get accepted to and I recently got my letter of acceptance just a few days ago.

   "U-Uhmm, Ms. Quinnley Hart?" a tall guy shyly trying to call Quinn from behind. "Hmm?" Quinn takes a glance, only to get shocked by the dazzling guy before her.

   "Oh my God!"

   The guy quickly gets on his knees and hands out a medium-sized bouquet of golden lilies and other flowers that complement its beauty. "Q-Quinnley Hart! I want to give you this bouquet of flowers because it reminds me of how lively and lovely you are, and also I-I sort of want to ask you out! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!"

   "Oohh~~" the crowd gasps and murmurs.

   "Sort of..?" I said quietly. In an instant, we became the center of attention.. well, duh?! Someone just asked out my best friend! Quinnley Hart, a.k.a. The Queen Of Hearts, 18 years old, was born on 15th March in the year 2000. A social media pioneer having followers over 25 million and also the daughter of the CEO of StarHigh Entertainment that produces world-class artists! You can see any type of content in her social media account and on top of that she's actually pretty smart, hence getting accepted to UCK is pretty much in the bag for her. Her only problem is...

   "Omigod Cee! I think I found the on-"

   "Uuuh, no you don't!" I covered her mouth while disrupting her answer. Well...you could say that she's pretty much a hopeless romantic.

   "Sorry Boy, but actually starting from today she's taking a break from boys due to too much heartbreaks, ok?" I explained. "O-Ok" He replied, looking confused.

   "I see we've reached an agreement, so please, move along," I told him, wearing a threatening smile. The guy quickly ran away, more nervous than before, and with that, the crowd around us also started to dissipate.

   "CEE! That was a rare catch! I really think that this was the one" she screamed at me, very displeased with what I have done.

   "Oh really?" I said sarcastically. "Then what about the one 20 minutes ago? Or the one an hour ago? And so on? hmm?" I chuckled while Quinn's still pouting. "Geez, that makes it the 7th proposal today"

   "Speak for yourself! You've already received 11! gurl ur on more fire than I am, hmph," she yelled at me.

   "I received 11 and I rejected 11," I said nonchalantly. "Look, Quinn... Honey, Every good-looking hunky stud you meet is basically the one for you. You have to control yourself, at least I don't want you to get hurt I'm just looking out for you." I said to her in a soft, caring voice.

   "Okay, fine ＞﹏＜... Just don't forget our promise, hmm?" she said.

   "E, I dunno~ It's a hassle to do it though," I replied.

   "Ughh~ Cee, you promised!" she exclaimed.

   "Kidding! I'm kidding," I chuckled. "I already started last Tuesday," I said. "Hehehe." she instantly cheered up. "I started last Sunday. Don't forget to do it every day, okay?!" she reminded me.

   "Fine.. pinky?" I held my pinky up to her.

   "Pinky! Hihi!" she said in a lively voice while entangling her pinky to mine.

   "Excuse me?" Suddenly I hear someone trying to talk to us in a somewhat confident low voice. As I turned around, the first thing I saw is flowers. Seeing this, I got irritated and thought of nothing else and immediately shouted in an enraged manner.

   "WTH! I clearly announced that my best friend is off-limits!" I shouted at the guy, looking like a dog protecting its baby.

   "HAHAHAHA! Geez, Miss President!" He laughed loudly. "For a minute, I thought I saw a vicious dog in front of me, but please calm thyself, I am not here to court Ms. Hart but to congratulate both of you." He explained.

  "So please put down you're guard and accept these congratulatory tokens from me," he said calmly.

Wait.. come to think of it, he looks a bit familiar. Those admirable shiny black hair, deep brown eyes, silver-rimmed glasses, neat posture, and a smirk that could melt the hearts of many, many women. Oh! could it be..?

  "Beckett Johnson?!" I yelled.

  "Took you long enough, Ms. Colton. Though we've been working together for a year, it seems that you still do not know me," he said, with a disappointed expression.

Beckett Johnson, Student Council Vice President, 17 years old, born on 24th September, labeled as the King of senior year by the students here Sarmorie High, a total heartthrob who captured the hearts of most of the girls here in school. Belonging from a prestigious family, he famous for his kindness, resourcefulness, quick-thinking, etc... The only reason I figured out who he is, was because of the description the girls in the school gave about him.

   "Sheesh Cee, we've graduated and all, but you still don't know your vice president." Quinn chuckled.

   "U-uh, I do know him.. heh." I stuttered. "I just kinda forgot after a while. Well, anyways.. sorry, I'm just busy with how to improve myself and learning and stuff." I tried to reason.

   'Cute,' Beckett thought. "If you're really sorry, how about dinner with me?" he suggested.

   "Oh, of course! When will we go?" I asked.

   "How about now?" he answered.

   "But we're still in grad clothes. Do you mind waiting for me to change my clothes for a minute?" I said.

   "I would gladly wait," Beckett replied.

   "Oh! Then you guys should go ahead, I have to take these flowers that I got back home and also change my clothes, and a few touch-ups, I can't go anywhere without looking fabulous!" Quinn said while she started to walk away from us.

   "Ok then! See you later, sist! Be safe on the way okay?!" I yelled.

   "Thanks! You guys too, and don't forget our promise!" she added.

   "Fine!" I raised my voice once again, bidding her a temporary farewell.

   "..Shall we go then, Colton?" Beckett asked.

   "Oh!" I replied as I widened my eyes slightly. I was so absorbed in waving goodbye to Quinn that I forgot that he was here for a minute.

   "Yes, please.. lead the way," I said. "And please don't be so formal you said it yourself, we've been working together for a year, so call me by my name," I added while walking behind him.

   "Is that alright?" he looked at me from behind him, trying to confirm again.

   "I already said so," I reassured him.

   "Ok, then please also call me by my first name, Ms. Colt-I mean Cerene." He asked.

I smiled at him as a sign of accepting his request, and he nods back in reply. We walked and walked for a few more minutes, making our way to the parking space outside of our campus with me walking behind his back.

With nothing left to say, awful silence was heard. Well, we're not really acquainted with each other that well. I and Beckett indeed worked with each other for a year, but I only talked to him if it's about our duties, nothing more, nothing less. Because of that, I don't know anything about him. His personality, his favorites, the topics he talks about. I dunno about him, but in my point of view, we are nothing but coworkers.

     "We're almost there," Beckett said, breaking off the silence. "Are you not tired yet?" he asked.

     "I can still walk another kilometer ^_^," I replied, smiling from ear to ear.

A few more minutes and finally we have arrived at the parking lot.

     "Phew, that was quite the distance," Beckett said, trying to be cheery while sweating so much.

     "Well, It is graduation day. This already makes the school field being full a given so, they closed the school parking lot to avoid the school being packed." I said. "By the way, nice ride Beckett!" I added.

     "Oh! Thank you!" He replied in a cheery tone while blushing a little. "I bought it with my own allowance!" he added.

     "Wow, that's good!" I replied in a calm voice while smiling.

     "It's the latest model-"

Completely absorbed in describing his car and everything good about it, he continued talking, while I just smiled and nodded, for I did not understand a single thing about it since I'm not that knowledgeable about cars.

After minutes of explaining, he finally finished. "Let's get in," he said. Both of us started walking towards the car to enter it, and as I reached for the door handle-My eyes widened. Both of us has reached for the driver's seat door. "Oh," he said, widening his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked with a confused smile on his face.

     "I thought I was gonna drive?" I replied.

     "But it's my car, so I should drive it," he said slowly with a smile.

     "But we're going to my apartment." I refused to stand down.

     "It's still my car tho," he said.

     "I never said it wasn't yours," I replied with a confused smile while shaking my head slightly and slowly.

     "No. I meant that it's mine so, I should drive it!" he said, finally losing composure.

     "You don't know my address!" I replied.

     "Then tell me!" he said.

     "It's complicated," I replied, raising both of my brows.

     "Fine! Suit Yourself then. Hmph." He said, knitting his brows.

     "Pfft, HAHAHHA!" I laughed, noticing how childish we were.

  Seeing me laugh about it, Beckett too, started to laugh at what just happened, and at that moment, we grew closer together. And then, Beckett started heading towards the passenger seat upfront.

     "Then please, lead the way Cerene." He said with his face tilted, smirking with one side of his lips reaching his ear.

     "My pleasure." I smiled with my teeth.

***

BECKETT'S POV

It's been 30 minutes since we have arrived in front of Cerene's apartment. To get some fresh air, I waited here outside of my car with me leaning on it.

     "It's taking a while," I mumbled quietly. "I guess that's just how women are." I let out a short sigh.

I started getting bored being left alone, so I opened my phone to view a few posts on Headbook. The newsfeed was filled with graduation congratulations, farewells of other students to their friends, and lots of other random stuff, so I checked my message inbox when I saw it has 99+ notifications. When I viewed it, it was filled with messages of different girls congratulating me, some were simple, but some also had some flirting mixed with them. So I thanked those who did it simply and didn't view those with inappropriate remarks like I always did. After that, I started surfing through my nf again to please my boredness. That's when I saw a student at our school posted a picture of Cerene and her best friend, Ms. Hart together, with the caption of: 'The Silver Haired Queen and The Queen of Hearts together! Kyaaa! I can't- ಥ_ಥ'. Following this were many comments complimenting them together and some, each of them.

     I kept looking at the comments, reading them one by one while smiling. "She is really adored by them, huh," I whispered. After scrolling a little more, I saw one negative comment about Cerene. 'The silver-haired Queen? More like The silver-haired witch!' it stated.

     Seeing this shocked me and made me widen my eyes. Not because I never thought Cerene would have an enemy given that she was a saint figure in the school, but because there was a person brave enough to do this.

     Even though Cerene wouldn't bat an eye about a comment like this, it isn't the same for her followers and adorers. When someone bashes Cerene, they would always do anything to bring down that person. Last time they created a fuss at school because someone called Cerene a slut! In retaliation, they dug the person's past for dirt and found adult tapes about the guy and several men and women. It was played in the school auditorium for everyone to see and managed to pin the blame on their victim, saying that he was the one sharing it all over the school. Ever since then, the student never came back to attend classes.

     Even the school council couldn't find any evidence that leads the blame to anyone else but the student, but everyone knows that it wasn't him that started it. This made them really infamous, and with their rising prominence, an unspoken rule was made: 'Do not ever insult Cerene Colton.' "I wonder what will happen to this young lady who called Cerene a witch. Well, it's not any of my business, so I shouldn't pry any longer."

    As I was absorbed in my reading, I didn't notice Cerene coming down the stairs in front of me until she said.

     "Yo, Beckett! Start the car. You're driving this time." Cerene said with a soft chuckle.

     I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I got startled by her soft voice. But as I took a glance to reply, something even shocking was before me.

     In front of me was Cerene, with her hair tied clumsily in a low bun. What she was wearing was a loose sleeveless white cotton crop top covered with an unbuttoned black and white flannel with one front pocket and sleeves that reach to her wrists to cover more skin, but is also loose enough to keep her body cool. For her lower body, she wore high waist grey jeans tightened with a black leather belt, and to cover her feet she wore a pair of Maison Margiela Retro Sneakers. I can't say that she looked ugly in that outfit cause she wasn't!

     "Hey!" she raised her voice a little, bringing me back from being dazed by her beauty.

     "Is my outfit that bad?" she said while being shyly disappointed in herself.

     I scoffed at her response, making me smile. "Maybe," I said to make her more anxious so that she shows me more of that face.

     I entered the car and gave Cerene another glance. "Hop in, princess!" without thinking, I spoke princess as a mistake. The way I addressed her made both of us shocked.

     A big confused smile was seen on her face. "Sure.." she said slowly.

    'Oh shit... That was way too embarrassing!'

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***