I'm not good with crowds.

I get nervous, my chest feels stuffy, and I get really overwhelmed.

I panic.

That's why when TFE invited me and Axel to join in their recruitment activities after class, I almost froze in fear.

Sure, Damien would be there and I would get to spend more time with him, but there's going to be a lot of people there, and that's really scary for me.

The first day of classes was very scary for me, thank goodness Axel was always by my side. I got familiarized with the faces of our block mates, some of them became acquaintances, and some became my friends.

What makes me scared and nervous is the amount of unfamiliar faces and strangers in a crowd. I have no problems being in a room filled with people I personally know, though.

"You don't have to force yourself, Teo." Axel told me as we walked towards Plaza Mayor, which was in front of the Main Building.

"No, I'm fine..." I said nervously.

"You're not fine at all. You're pale." Axel told me. "I know you want to see Damien, and all..."

"It's not about that..." It's totally about that.

"Who are you trying to fool?" He asked sarcastically. "After being all lovey-dovey yesterday, I'm sure you're craving for more."

"Hey! Stop saying that!" My face burned in embarrassment. "Why do you keep on saying that?"

Axel started teasing me about being lovey-dovey with Damien when he came home with Clark yesterday.

Damien woke me up after Axel opened the locked door from the outside. I was actually resting my head on Damien's lap. I don't even remember lying on his lap and falling asleep.

I sat back up in an instant when I realized that my head was n Damien's lap. I felt utterly embarrassed. Damien was acting really cool about it, but I can't help but think how embarrassing it was.

It was embarrassing, but... I enjoyed it.

After that, Axel kept on teasing me. He kept on asking me what happened in my room.

"Fine, I'll stop saying that, but you have to tell what you did in your room with Damien." He insisted.

"What the...? I already told you, we watched movies and I fell asleep." I was starting to get frustrated. I already told him that many times over and over again, but he won't believe me.

"You're telling me you got locked in your room with Damien, both of you were in in your bed, and all you did was watch movies?"

"Yeah." I said as I nodded. What else would we do in there?

"Really? You didn't do anything else?"

"Should we have done something else? Maybe I should've asked him to teach me how to draw. I'm having a hard time in Engineering Drawing."

"Huh? Are you serious? You're locked in a room with him alone, and you want him to teach you how to draw? You, you didn't show him the box, did you?"

"Hey, why would I show him that? That's embarrassing." I complained.

"Wow... this is driving me crazy... You throw away such a golden opportunity..."

"What golden opportunity?" What is he talking about? He's confusing me.

"Ahh, forget it, let's go..." He sighed.

Plaza Mayor was filled with booths of different student organizations recruiting for new members. TFE's booth, in particular, had a line of students, mostly girls wanting to have a chance of having their picture taken with, either Clark, James, or Damien.

"Those three are really famous here." Axel said. "Well, I guess it's expected, they have millions of views and subscribers."

This is not good, I can't do this. My heart beat nervously as I look around and saw dozens of unfamiliar faces.

"Should we go back?" Axel asked me.

I wanted to, but when I saw how many girls were lined up to meet Damien and have their pictures taken with him, I felt a sudden pang of jealousy and a bit of possessiveness. "No, I can do this."

"Ohhh, they're here." James said with a smile as he approached us, leaving his post. Eyes followed him as he walked towards us. "My savior!" He told me with a smile as he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Let's go." He pushed me inside the booth.

He introduced us to the Org president, Selma, who was a tough looking, but beautiful girl. I can understand why James was glad I caught the permission slip; I could see Selma giving hell for losing it.

"Welcome to the org!" Selma said with a friendly smile. Despite her tough exterior, Selma is a nice person. "I think, our org is going to be more popular this year." She said as she scanned Axel with her eyes. "Axel, you should help out there; attract some more girls... I mean volunteers to join us."

"That's shameless..." James said as he clicked his tongue.

"You better get out there too." Selma told James.

I was looking at Damien, and he was smiling at everyone. It seems that he really was back to his usual self. Even though the line was long and the sun was high, he was still very nice to everyone who approaches him.

Axel went in front of the booth and instantly caught the attention of the crowd. A few girls approached him, and I could see that he is enjoying the attention. Well, he'd always been a ladies' man.

"Teo, sit back here. You can just chill back here." James said as lead me to a seat near a fan.

"But..."

"I heard from Damien, you're not good with crowds." James told me with a smile. "You can just relax here. Showing up here, even though you're afraid of crowds is enough effort." He smiled even wider as he leaned closer and tapped me on the shoulder.

Damien turned his head and saw James leaning towards me. "James!" He called with a slight frown

James chuckled as he turned to Damien. He walked towards Damien and patted his cousin on the shoulder. They exchanged some words and Damien's frown disappeared. Damien then looked at me and then waved with a smile.

The roulette was a great gimmick, almost everyone wanted to have that autographed Polaroid of Damien.

At one point, Elisse arrived with her friend and she started attracting male students. As I expected, she kept close to Damien most of the time. It's really frustrating.

I watched as she poses with Damien for some photos. She even has the audacity to lean her head on Damien's shoulder. It was really irritating.

A few minutes later, I heard familiar voices joining the crowd. "Wow, so you're telling the truth. I thought you were just trying to avoid eating with us." It was Danny, one of our blockmates.

"Hey, who's that?" Gilbert, also a blockmate of ours, asked as he looked at Elisse. "She's pretty."

"Ahh, that." Axel said. "Elisse." Sounding disinterested.

"She's gorgeous, isn't she?" Gilbert added with wide eyes.

"I don't know about that..." Axel sighed.

"Ohh, isn't that Damien Licauco? He's more handsome in person." Yana said as she approached the group.

"You're right. I want a picture with him." Reah seconded her.

"Ahh, that's right, where is Teo. We have something for him." Yana asked Axel, and suddenly I felt nervous.

"There he is!" Reah saw me in the booth. "TEO!" She waved as she pulled Yana with her.

The two approached me with a smile that only made me even more nervous. "We found this cute hat at the carpark, and we instantly thought of you." Yana explained as she showed me a knitted puppy hat.

"Wear it, it really suits you." Reah urged.

I tried dodging the situation, but it was no use. Those two are really persistent. I think they have decided to make me their dress up doll. They always try to make me wear embarrassing things that they call cute.

"Hey! You two, what are you making him wear now?" It was Janine. Of all our blockmates, I like her the best. Her caramel skin is gorgeous, she's smart, confident, and very nice to me. She knows she's pretty and she likes it that way, but what made her different from Elisse is that she doesn't need anyone to validate her. "Wow, you two are incredible. How you keep on finding that kind of things." She said when she saw what those two made me wore.

What I like most about Janine, is her love of food. We're the same in that manner. "What's that? That looks good." I told her as I saw the green ice pop that she was eating.

"It's avocado." She said as she took out a new one from the plastic bag that she was holding. "I was thinking about eating both, but you can have this." She said as she handed me the ice pop.

"Thanks." I said with a smile as I opened it.

"It's good, right?" She asked and I gave a satisfied nod. "You have something on your lips..." She was about to wipe it with her handkerchief when I heard Damien.

"Teo!" His voice boomed, making everyone turn to him. "Who are your friends?" His voice seemed a bit stern. I wiped my own lips as he approached. Is he angry?

I introduced Damien to everyone, and I could tell that Yana and Reah were really happy to meet him. Damien greeted them nicely, but he wasn't really smiling. Something was off, I just didn't know what.

Those two girls seemed pretty starstrucked, because they suddenly fell quiet; something very uncharacteristic of them.

"What are you wearing?" He asked me, noticing the puppy hat. He walked passed by the girls and stood in front of me. He suddenly smiled down at me. "You look cute." He said as he leaned closer. "Like a little puppy." He said as he pinched both of my cheeks lightly.

My face suddenly felt hot and my heart started beating fast. Damien just called me cute, and I was feeling so happy about it, just like a fool. Just hearing him say that I'm cute was enough to make my heart skip a beat.

Having his face close to me, I could see that Damien was starting to break a sweat. It was expected, since the sun was really high. "Want some? It would cool you down a bit." I said as I offered my ice pop to him.

It was like I said some really bad curse words, because suddenly I could feel the heavy stares of everyone inside that booth. Even Damien was looking at me with a puzzled look.

Suddenly it dawned on me. What am I saying? I already licked it more than a few times. How embarrassing, there's no way Damien would like sharing it with me.

"Then, don't mind if I do." Damien said with a small smile as he held my hand that was holding the ice pop. He moved my hand closer to him and he took half of the melting ice pop in his mouth. Damien sucked on it for a few seconds while his eyes were fixed on mine.

Having him stare at me as he licked the ice pop made the whole thing a lot more embarrassing for me. My face felt hot. I wanted to move away, but I can't. Damien was still holding my hand.

"Ohh, that was good...." He said with a smile as moved away. It was only when Damien went away that I started eating the ice pop again. My heart almost exploded as I did. It was an indirect kiss, and it was enough to drive me crazy.

It's childish, I know, but what can I do? Everything about Damien drives me crazy. I also liked the idea of Damien giving me special attention amid the crowd. It makes me feel special. I knew that he does that because he sees me as his little brother, but I can't help but hope that it was because of something more.

Reah and Yana finally let out their squeals when Damien left us. For some reason, they looked really giddy. They started questioning me about my relationship with Damien, and I told him that we're friends even before college.

"Why didn't you tell us that you're friends with Damien sooner?" Reah complained. Because I didn't want more girls circling around him.

"Have you eaten his food? Is he really a good cook? The food in his videos looks good, do they taste good too?" Yana kept asking.

"He's the best. He for me cooked many times before." I replied proudly with a small smile.

"I'm jealous..." Yana complained.

Those two kept on asking for details, thankfully Janine was there to keep them at bay. Janine never asks for specifics, not because she wasn't interested, but because she has her own ways of finding them; if she's really interested.

She's scarier than Reah and Yana, that way. She's like the female version of Axel - maybe that's why it was easy for me to get comfortable around her - minus the big mouth.

That school week started really well for me, that's why I never expected what was about to happen.

It was freshmen week, and our seniors told us that there would be a lot of surprises for us, but for me, something even greater was waiting.

At that point, I was still deep in curiosity why the world was messing with me and Damien. I was still very confused as to why my fate got screwed. What caused it, what did really happen?

I thought that finding out the truth would make me feel better, that it would shed some light on my situation that things would be a lot simpler, but I was wrong. Things only got more complicated.