Begin Again

Chapter 10

I could hear Matteo reciting his notes in order to memorise it. All the complicated biological terms that you only learn in your fourth year that I cannot understand. I looked at the time. It was one in the afternoon. "We studied for five hours?" I gasped.

"Five hours is too little," he muttered in reply as he flipped another page.

"Too little?" I hollered. He's seriously such an Amy Santiago. It's when she told Jake that reading fifty books was not a lot before realising he actually said fifteen. "It's lunchtime! I'm famished! I doubt you're cooking so let's go out to eat."

"Order takeout," he mumbled. "It saves a lot of time. You just have to click a few buttons and your food will come within half an hour. In the meantime, you are sitting at the same spot studying. How efficient is that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Lazy bum," I murmured.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

"No, I heard that. Stop lying, Grey. You called me a lazy bum! Does this look like the work of a lazy bum?" he questioned, gesturing at the piles of notes on the table. Damn, this man really hates it when his hard work gets uncredited. "It's called being efficient."

I shook my head and facepalmed. I pity his bruised ego. Anyway, how does one even stand studying for five hours straight? Even I'm not so hardcore. Well, I guess that's mainly because of my incredibly good memory.

But studies show that taking breaks from studying every ninety minutes or so can improve both focus and attention!

"Come on, chill. Taking a break can help you. Just because you've never done it, it doesn't mean that it's not effective. You won't know unless you tried," I said firmly. "Besides, you study the same thing over and over again. Stop."

He gave me a blank look of reluctance before sighing, "Fine. I'll try."

I grinned. I stood up and walked towards him. I grabbed the pen from his hand and placed it on the table. "Now, no touching your notes and stationery until we're done."

He scowled. "If I don't graduate as the valedictorian, if I don't graduate with summa cum laude, if I don't graduate with a 4.0 GPA, if I don't get full marks for my exams, I swear I will kill you, Alexia Grey."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop being such a prick. You know your stuff like the back of your hands. You can afford not studying for the rest of the day," I chuckled.

"For the rest of the day?" he hollered. "I only agreed to a short break. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. That's it. I did not agree to relax for the rest of the day like you said."

"Come on, Matteo. You need to calm down. You need to learn how to let loose. You need to take a breather. You're so uptight. Studying is not everything. Look at your classmates. Not only do they study, but they also party! I bet they still get good grades."

"No, they don't," he replied.

I cursed at him internally. Why is it so hard to convince him to have some fun? "Well, whatever it is, you study a lot. It's okay to chill once in a while. You don't have to study twenty-four seven to get a perfect grade. I mean, look at me."

He frowned. "That's easy for you to say. You have a freaking photographic memory. You don't have to study as much as normal people like me do. You don't understand. You all the more don't understand what it's like to live up to expectations imposed upon you."

"Can you stop putting people down to prove your point?" I asked. He's getting on my nerves. "It's so annoying. It's no wonder you have no friends. Your EQ is basically non-existent. You just shut people out. There's this ice wall around you that no one can break."

"How dare you assume?" he hissed.

"I know it. I can feel it. Your family can feel it. Everyone can feel it. All you care about is studying. Studying, studying, studying. That's all you know how to do. How are you supposed to work with your colleagues in future if you can't even get along with me? We literally argue every time I make you try new things. You resist change."

He looked away, unwilling to reply. I don't know if it was because he couldn't be bothered to argue or he knew I was right. "Is it very hard to be with me?"

"Uh, kind of. You also refrain from talking to others. I heard that you reject invitations to parties a lot. As such, everyone just stopped inviting you completely," I replied. "Why do you have to be so distant? Isn't it lonely? Isn't it lonely enough that you are living alone?"

"I don't know," he said. "I know I prioritise my studies a lot. That's why I distance myself from everything that can possibly distract me like friends, parties, talking... except for Grey's Anatomy. I know it sounds a little extreme but that's just me."

I thought back to the time we first met. He kept interactions to the minimum. He greeted me and left before I could reply. However, he was willing to show me the way to school and talk to me the next day. When he found out I watched Grey's Anatomy, he immediately opened up to me. We argued a little but he still talked to me.

When I visited the dean, he came back to check up on me. I never questioned it back then but, now that I think about it, why did he bother to turn back? We hadn't known each other long enough to care about each other that much.

He seems aloof but he's warmer towards me. He acts like a total nerd in front of everyone else but, to me, he's like any other human being. He doesn't seem like the nerd everyone thinks he is. He's fun to be with but he gets extremely defensive.

Damn, he's very defensive, especially when it's about his merits.

"So, tell me some bad things about me," he suggested.

"You always want things to go your way. You're inflexible. You're antisocial. You hate change. What I don't understand is why you are willing to make special arrangements for me. You say it's because I'm your only friend but... that's just not it," I replied.

"I don't know. You just seem very nice. Somehow, we became friends and you're my only friend, so naturally, I care more about you. You're special to me. Everyone is either a stranger or an acquaintance to me. But you are my friend," he said.

My heart skipped a beat. That was so poetic. It's nice knowing that you're extraordinary to someone, especially if he's an antisocial person and he hides his feelings most of the time. I smiled and nodded. "Uh, then, are you okay with a burger for lunch?"

He laughed and nodded in agreement. I laughed along with him even though I had no idea what he was laughing about. It's nice knowing you made a person who hardly displays his emotions laugh. He stood up and grabbed his phone and wallet. "Let's go."

I grabbed my phone and wallet as well and followed him out of his apartment. My mission to take Matteo Knight out of his house is now completed. It's nice knowing you have succeeded in helping a friend of yours.

It's nice being Matteo Knight's friend.

At least he isn't an asshole.