Chapter 154 - Sacrifice
Betty was in a daze.
One minute, she was running after Sam and the next, she was staring at his perfect face. She was right. He had the most beautiful, deep eyes ever. She could get lost in them. She found breathing to be a bit difficult as she had never been this close with any guy before.
"SAM! There you are!!"
Betty's thoughts came back to the present as Sam looked up. He looked back down at her and asked, "Can you stand now?"
Betty blinked and realised what position she was in.
"Oh! Oh! Yes, I'm SO SORRY!!" Betty said in embarrassment, jumping back and giving several deep bows, her hair flipping away. She was mortified. This was Beatrice's special one and she spaced out in his arms! She wished the floor would open up and swallow her right now.
Sam just nodded and waited till Xing Han came bouncing over.
"What's up?" he asked.
Sam was feeling utterly grateful at the moment, despite the foreshadowing of Xing Han's arrival, for the shout had cleared his mind. For the briefest of seconds, when he looked at her lips, Sam had almost felt like ....
He shook his head.
Impossible.
It was merely his emotions going out of whack. He clearly remembered the research he had done the other day. Emotional changes during puberty occurred, ranging from being overly sensitive to having sexual attraction.
It just so happened that when his body was being charged with all of the hormonal imbalance, he had to come across a human bunny. He held a human bunny. He had never held a girl before, let alone a human bunny.
Sam knew that all of these weird feelings he was having had nothing to do with 'love' or anything of the sort. He almost did something that would have had dire consequences.
Yes, that's all it was.
He had to keep repeating that to himself to get his head screwed on properly. Thus, he was grateful for Xing Han's timely arrival.
"Why aren't you at the Student Council Office?" Xing Han said to him accusingly.
"Why can't I not be in the Student Council Office?" Sam asked back.
"Because you're a Student Council member," Xing Han replied.
"Yes I am," Sam agreed, "So?"
"So you're supposed to be at the Student Council Office," Xing Han said stubbornly, "Go. Go back. Shoo shoo."
"I'm helping Betty," Sam said, gesturing towards Betty.
"Betty?" Xing Han queried then, as if seeing Betty for the first time, he shouted, "OH! Betty!!" Xing Han then looked at Sam with a knowing grin, "Ooooh, Bet-ty"
Betty was bewildered.
"Yes?" she replied, wondering why he kept calling her name.
"Hi, I'm Xing Han," Xing Han introduced himself, offering his hand for a handshake.
Betty took his hand, and said as she gave him a firm handshake, "Betty."
Xing Han pursed his lips, "Bet-ty. Nice name, for a nice girl."
"Thank you," Betty said, and tried to take her hand back but Xing Han held it tightly.
"So, tell me, Betty," Xing Han said with a smile, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
She looked at him in puzzlement, her head cocked to one side, "No, why?"
Xing Han replied, "What other reason could there be? Well, since you're free and available ..."
"That's enough, Xing Han," Sam said tersely, grabbing Xing Han and Betty's wrist while pulling at Xing Han's hand.
Xing Han laughed and let go, putting his hands on his pockets.
"Well, I can help Betty while you go back to the Student Council Office," Xing Han said magnanimously, "I'm sure you're a really busy person."
Sam's looked at him intently, but before he could say anything, Betty said, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I really wouldn't want to trouble you."
Sam shut his mouth and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She didn't want to trouble him but didn't mind troubling Xing Han? He looked at the both of them, from Xing Han to Betty and back to Xing Han.
The former had this really stupid grin on his face while the latter was looking at him all shy and all. Sam gritted his teeth, took Betty by the hand and walked off, saying over his shoulder to Xing Han, "Tell Kyle I'll meet you guys at the Student Council Office at 5pm. I promise."
Xing Han grinned, made an 'ok' sign with his hand and walked away, while tapping the message into the phone.
'Sam said Student Council Office at 5pm' - Xing Han
'You didn't drag him there?' - Ali
'No' - Xing Han
'Why not? What makes you think he'll really be there at 5pm?' - Ali
'He promised' - Xing Han
'That's settled then. 5pm it is. Just WHAT did you do to get him to promise?' - Kyle
All of them knew that once Sam gave his word, he'd never back out of it. However, he never made such promises easily. Since they all knew that Sam was doing his best to get away from them, why would he willingly enter the lion's den?
'His way of getting me out of the way' - Xing Han
'That doesn't explain anything, Xing Han' - Kyle
'I tried to steal a girl from him' - Xing Han
'WHAT!?!' - Ali
'Okay, details' - Kyle
'Nothing much. Just caught him with a girl in his arms. Offered to take her around instead of him. He went all hissy-fit and ran off with her' - Xing Han
'You sure we can stay at the Student Council office till late, Kyle?' - Ali
'Yes. We'll take all night if we need to' - Kyle
'Oh, we definitely need to' - Ali
?? SAM ??
"Um ... um ... Senior Sam?" Betty said tentatively while struggling to keep up. Sam was pulling at her hand while walking quite fast.
Sam slowed down and finally let go of her hand, while he looked behind them, "Good. He didn't follow."
He looked at her, and asked worriedly, "Sorry, but Xing Han can be a real pain sometimes. I could see that he was going to tease you endlessly, so I had to get you out of there quickly."
"Tease me? Why?" Betty asked curiously, walking beside him.
"He doesn't mean anything by it," Sam assured her, "It's just that he's quite a joker. If you're not used to it, you might get overwhelmed."
"I can take it!" Betty declared, pumping her fist in the air, "I may not look like it, but I can fight!"
Sam turned to look at her, from her childlike face, her slim body that he remembered was so soft, her dainty hands and long legs ... he blinked several times to get the bunny image that kept invading his mind.
"I really can!" Betty pouted, seeing the disbelief in Sam's eyes, "I used to beat up those people who talked bad about Beatrice!"
Sam smiled softly at that, thinking of how this little dainty girl rushed up to protect the one she loved. He resisted the urge to rub her head and hug her close, thinking that she was the one that should be protected instead.
Betty smiled wistfully when she saw how Sam smiled just from the mere mention of Beatrice's name. She sighed, patting her chest while saying, "I don't think I would need to do that anymore though."
"Yes, you are right about that," Sam said, "No one bullies her here. No one dares to anyway."
After all, Beatrice was not only of Sage Class, but she was also the Vice President. Everyone knew how protective Kyle was with all members of Sage Class and of 'his people'. No one would dare offend him simply because they all wanted to be on his good side.
Betty nodded, thinking that Beatrice truly was lucky to have Sam by her side. He even declared how he is protecting her and all that. Seeing how firm and strong Sam was, Betty sighed again. Where can she find such a perfect guy like this again?
"You really like Beatrice, right Senior Sam?"
"Of course," Sam replied honestly, "She's a very capable and dependable person."
Betty sighed, nodded. As expected of someone who ended up with Beatrice. He would be as logical and straight forward about it, but she was still a bit unsatisfied. Beatrice should be wooed with sweet words as well.
Perhaps he just needed a little help?
She asked hesitatingly, "Do you think she's pretty?"
Sam thought about it deeply. Pretty? He supposed so. What made a face 'pretty'? The shape and thickness of the eyebrows? The length of the eyelashes? The sharpness of the bridge of the nose? The high cheekbones? Full lips?
All sorts of physical characteristics went through Sam's mind and he placed them as a template upon Beatrice. With those thoughts, he answered accordingly.
"Yes, she's pretty," Sam replied and looked at Betty.
With Betty, there were many things that were clearly lacking when he used the template. Her eyebrows were not the 'perfect' arc. She didn't have high cheekbones. Her upper lip was a bit thin.
Yet, despite it all, he couldn't deny that he found Betty really, really cute. Beautiful, even. Much more than Beatrice.
He sighed, thinking that his analytical skills were getting really out-of-whack. He vowed to get his raging hormones down to a manageable level so that he would be able to handle Betty much better in the future.
This was the reason why he decided to get the whole Initiation ordeal over and done with. The other three had gone through this much earlier and would be in a better position to advise him. The Initiation Day wasn't just about flashing their d*cks in the air, but it was to have a heart-to-heart talk about the changes they were going through.
Sam felt he needed that badly before he started doing or saying things that were out of the norm for him. As it was, he was already thinking and feeling things which were not normal. He needed to get back on track.
All of that at the cost of Sam Jr.
He looked down briefly at his own crotch and lamented over its innocence that would be sacrificed today.