Chasing Hearts

Fourteen

Reign wasn't kidding, and as the week by he showed up every day to be tutored in different subjects. He claimed this was because I complained about him always sleeping in class and not being more serious about his studies.

I couldn't argue with that, I did do that a lot.

This was helping me a lot too; I could put on my application at least that I did extracurricular activities like tutoring. I was trying to think of more things I could do when I was called to the main office during lunch and met with Mr. Briere.

"I wanted to inform you that you've been granted the scholarship. The other student we recommended dropped the scholarship."

"Wait, seriously? Why would they do that?"

"It seemed they weren't that interested. Here is the application, sign at the bottom and you can pay at the main office." He handed me the paperwork and I felt like I was holding gold in my hands.

I did it, I actually did it.

I ran down to the main office and paid what I could for the admittance fee, and the room and board. But I stopped when it asked for a parent's signature for the room and board. Even at the age of 17 I still needed a parent to sign for me to stay on campus.

"If I'm 18 by the time I attend, do I still need a parent's signature?"

"Of course, no student can stay on campus without their parent's permission."

How was I supposed to do that? Neither of my parents would approve of this.

I thanked the woman and left, feeling even more defeated than before. To my luck, I ran into Reign just outside the office.

'What's wrong?"

I showed him the paper and the parent's signature. He suddenly grabbed the paper from me and pulled out a pen from his bag, then signed.

"There, bring it back tomorrow morning."

The signature was rather perfect and looked neatly done for the writing I had seen him do before. "Do you think this is going to work?"

"It doesn't hurt to try," he shrugged.

I rolled my eyes. "It does, actually. But regardless, this is my only option, or there is no option for me. Thanks, Reign."

"What are you planning this week now that you've finally achieved your goal? Are you still going to tutor?"

I smirked at him. It was rather fun tutoring him, though most of the time he fooled around and tried to distract me, he worked hard, and it was actually kind of fun. I felt like we had become much closer after the night I spent at the shop.

"Of course, I need to make sure you get good grades for the monthly test tomorrow and for our exams. We need to make sure we're the top class this month."

He just rolled his eyes and followed along with me.

~*~

I spent the next few weeks working as hard as I could. I took up the job at Reign's shop without my father knowing and started to tutor more students and charged them a small fee per session. I was getting closer to my goal, I already had everything signed, and I was that much closer to getting everything I worked so hard to get.

I was working on some assignments when I got a Snapchat from Xiuying. It was her and Reign as they ate barbeque together in celebration of getting the highest class score in the school, but I opted not to go so I could study and work.

"Reign, when is Maia getting here? She is missing out on some good food, tell her!" Xiuying flipped the camera to Reign, who was stuffing his face.

He took a second to swallow, then smiled the sweetest smile I had ever seen.

"Come and eat barbeque, Maia. It's delicious," he said in a monotone.

I laughed at how dull he was.

Right after the video, I got a text message from Reign.

I ate lots of food for you. When can I see you?

It's Saturday tomorrow, I'm free.

See you then.

He sent me a funny GIF of a panda waving goodbye, that made me burst out laughing for the first time in what felt like forever. I put my phone down and continued on my work, but deep down I was excited to hang out with Reign tomorrow.

I wondered what he would have planned as I smiled to myself.

Come the next morning, I took forever to decide what I wanted to wear since I had no idea where we were going. I opted for a sundress with a pair of shorts built in, just in case it got windy, and put an open sweater over the top in case it got cold wherever we went.

I ran out of the building and met Reign up front.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He smiled. "Follow me, and you'll see."

We walked to the bus shelter and waited for the bus, then hopped on, although he wouldn't let me see what the front of the bus said before getting on. We sat at the very back and I took out my headphones to pass one to Reign.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" I asked him.

He took my phone and scrolled through it, then picked a song. It was a song called 'We Go Down Together' and it sounded beautiful and serene right from the beginning. I fell into the song and the lyrics, the sweet melodic voice of male and female vocal correlation.

When I listened to the lyrics, my heart started to race and I felt tension build between us, but I wasn't sure if I was the only one. The lyrics were sweet and intense, with feelings of deep love for one another and the promise of never leaving one another, no matter what happens.

Why did he pick this song? Was I thinking too much into it? Reign didn't strike me as the kind of person who listened to such slow and sweet songs. Did he pick it because he thought I would like it, or was he trying to say something to me?

I barely noticed when the bus had stopped until Reign dragged me off, and I gasped.

We were at Disneyland.