Begin Again

Chapter 8

With my encouragement, Matteo approached my three best friends. "Hi, I'm Matteo. Nice to meet you," he said with a slight smile.

"Hi, Matteo! I'm Talia," she replied.

"And I'm Erica," she added.

"And I'm Zenia!" she completed.

"Nice to meet you too," the trio said in unison. Gosh, they sound a little creepy. They finish each other's sentences! They remind me of the Bugga Bugga Bugs in Dora the Explorer. They may be a little too enthusiastic for Matteo.

I looked up at Matteo and smiled. "See, that wasn't so bad. And they're not exactly strangers. You didn't have to be so repulsed by the idea of greeting them," I chuckled. "You should try making friends with those in your year."

He shook his head. "Nope, they are irrelevant to my life. I'll make friends with those I'm working with in future. You know, Devon Grey Hospital. It's like the Seattle Grace Hospital of New York."

"Seattle Grace is now called Grey Sloan Memorial. Also, it's fictional," I replied. "Oh, cool, they both have the word 'Grey' in them. Anyway, there's seriously no harm in being friends with the people you're going to be graduating with."

"I prefer the earlier seasons so it will always be Seattle Grace to me," he huffed. "Besides, they don't even watch Grey's. They just study and party all day. I don't get it. What's so fun about partying? I guess it kind of makes sense when you're still in high school but they're in college! They should be striving to be the best!"

"Says the person who studies all day," I deadpanned. "This is also a party, Matteo, and you enjoyed it! Also, with you clinching first place every year, I doubt anyone would even dare to harbour the thought of beating you. You get full marks for every paper, you genius."

He smirked. "Hmm, that's true. I am a genius."

I rolled my eyes. "Learn to be humble, Mr Knight."

"It's hard to be humble when you're good at everything you do, Miss Grey," he replied. The smirk was still lingering on his face. This cheeky boy.

"You are indeed an anti-social child," I remarked. "Not to forget extremely arrogant! I don't see myself bragging about my top place in high school. I am humble."

"Now that you just did it, I don't see how humble you are," he snickered.

I rolled my eyes and heaved a deep sigh. Why are you so annoying, Matteo Knight? "Whatever. Think however you want. My conscience is clear. You hate it when people flaunt their wealth but you're flaunting your grades. What's the difference?"

He frowned. "Don't you dare use this against me," he warned.

"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about that?" I asked.

He moved closer to me so that I could feel his every breath. "I don't know," he replied. Smirking, he continued, "What do you think?"

I burst into laughter. "What are you doing?" I laughed out loud. "Gosh, this seems so out of your character. Oh my God. Hahahahaha! Please don't do that, Matteo. It doesn't look like you. Hahahahaha!"

He moved away from me slowly. He chuckled, "I guess I don't have the charm to swoon anyone. My brother was right. If I carry on being such a nerd, I will be single even when I'm thirty, not that it matters because at least I'll be a successful doctor by then."

"Come on, you're not that bad. You're handsome, you're smart, you're nice... I'm sure many girls have a crush on you," I replied. "It's just that I know what you're like. You just want to study, be the best at everything, become Derek Shepherd. I know there's no way you would want things to get complicated because you're in a relationship."