To My Dearest Nicole: The Pages Of You Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Me as A tomato

Read chapter 3 of To My Dearest Nicole: The Pages Of You by Sora Aishi on NovelPedia.

I wandered out of the bathroom, towel rubbing through my wet hair. My body felt heavy, too tired to even stand for long, perhaps its because of emma's enthusiasm. And so I flopped onto the bed and fished my phone from the nightstand. "I wonder if emma got home safe..." I silently muttered as i opened my phone. I dont know why, but i expected to see notifications, but instead i was greeted with an empty inbox. My arms flopped down beside me as i stare at my ceiling. My eyes felt heavy, I yawned and soon drifted to sleep... "Huh?" A bright light shone above me "This is..." As my vision cleared, I saw a field of roses... It feels so familiar. I walked around the flower field, following the path and stopping and crouching down at a peculiar orange rose. I gently carressed its petals... And then i heard A woman's voice call out from behind "Nicole," I turned around and... There she was, the woman who i always clung onto, Desparate to touch her, i tried to reach her... But then— "TAHOOO! TAHOOO!" My eyes snapped open. The morning light seeps through the curtains as the taho vendor's voice echoed from the streets below... "Mom..." I muttered holding back my tears as my chest tightened and tears weld up on my eyes. "I-i miss you..." My voiced cracked as my silent sobs broke through. After awhile, i wiped my face on the sheets and dragged myself out of my bed. ... I blinked, and suddenly I was back in the crowded halls of my school, students walking past, voices overlapping. the weight of the dream pressing against me even here. "Nicole, you ok?" Emma asked worried "Your eyes are red and swollen!" "Im alright" i tried to force a smile "You know if something is bothering you, im always ready to listen, you know..." She said pouting "Im fine really, i just... Remembered afew things" "Is that so?..." Emma replied, still worried I opened the class room door and entered. It was mostly empty except for the one at the far corner, it was the guy with glasses, still reading his book from yesterday. "Oh, look, mark is early again" emma said while looking at him "Mark?..." I asked emma while i glance at him "Seriously? You don’t know Mark?" Emma asked with an amused expression. He’s basically the teacher’s pet-slash-human calculator!" "Oh..." so that’s his name. Mark. Somehow, even though I’d seen him around, I’d never really looked at him until now... I dont know if it was just my ignorance or what... The moment Mark’s eyes lifted from the page to meet mine, my stomach flipped. And from that moment our eyes met. It was as if time stopped and i could feel my heart race. I snapped out of it when emma nudged me "You really don’t know him?" Emma laughed, nudging me. "Sometimes I wonder what’s going on in that head of yo-" emma stopped and looked up at me. "Nicole, are you alright? You're red as a tomato!" My hands shot up to cover my cheeks, but it was too late, the heat had already betrayed me. "Wait... no way... Dont tell me..." Emma looked back at mark and me "you... and him?!" emma points at mark and me back to back "N-no i-!" I tried to find the right words I tried to cover my face from embarrassment and quickly sat at my seat, practically melting as emma followed behind. Emma crouched infront of me "you're still red~" "S-shut up..." I muttered, flustered. I turned my head to peek at mark, but it seems like he was already indulged in his book once again. "Its the first time ive seen you blush!" Emma whispered, leaning closer. My heart raced faster. I wished the floor would swallow me whole. Before i could say anything further, the classroom was slowly filling up with students and the sound of chairs scraping against the floor filled the room. By the time the bell rang, emma was still grinning at me nonstop. And now The familiar chime of the 7/11 door greeted us. Cold air-conditioning wrapped around me as Emma dragged me inside, her eyes already scanning the shelves like a predator on the hunt. “Slushies first!” she declared. “Winner pays, l