by M.G. Marquez
CHAPTER TWENTY
MAGGIE
Fred went missing for about five minutes and we don’t plan on searching for him – not.
“Where’s Fred?” I asked them. After we’ve enrolled, we got out complete. We were chatting the whole time when I noticed that one set of eyebrows was gone.
Paola pointed upward so we looked up.
I can’t help myself from laughing out loud when I saw him tangled in a net. I haven’t seen such wonderful scene ever in my life.
But wait… why would a net be in here? Right along the school’s sidewalk? Right in this hour of the day? Whom could it be for?
This can’t be a project of the school, right? It’s nonsense.
“HEEEEEY! You want war huh? GET ME OUT OF HERE!” He’s screaming and screaming and screaming, while we’re just staring and staring and staring at him like he’s some kind of an animal in a circus show.
Then Guji asked us to go. And Fred was like, “BOOOOOOOSS! DON’T LEAVE ME!”
Guji turned around to face me and said, “I’m sorry. But my tummy is my priority – OUCH!”
Paola intermediated and spanked the boys. “Don’t leave your friend hanging there. Get him down!” She barked.
“Eh, he looks great in there –”
“Are you complaining?”
“WAAAAA!” The boys ran to Fred’s aid as soon as Paola’s eyes were on them, grilling them to death. While they‘re busy getting Fred down, someone called my name. I turned around to face him and said, “Yvan!”
He asked me if I’m ready to go but I told him that we’re going to hang out first. We planned on eating cakes at Red Ribbon and he said he wanted to go. Then I turned to look for Guji’s face for any sign of rejection.
“Why are you looking at me like that, huh?” Disgusted at my gesture, he turned to put an arm around Yvan’s shoulders. My eyebrows knitted at the center in complete confusion. “C’mon, Yvan. Let’s have dessert,”
Via stood beside me and entangled her arm around mine. “You know, Guji’s bipolarism makes him hot. Can I have him, yo’bitch?”
“He’s all yours, bitch.”
We’re ten on a table and Yvan sat across me. And Via was seated next to Guji. Oh great. She’s trying to be close to him obviously. I’m jealous.
“Hey yo’bitch! Why are you looking at me like that?” Via pointed her finger at me like a mad grandma. I just rolled my eyes at her. When she caught me doing that to her she threw tissue balls at my face. I gave up the fight.
All of them were busy doing their own things. Jason and Paola were exchanging tickles and made them look cute. Guji, Via, and Kate were making fun of Fred as always. And Nikki was busy taking pictures of us.
“Is that delicious?” I turned to Yvan who’s eyeing my cake with such envy. I glared at him.
Without any permission at all, he used his fork to slice right through my cake and took a part of it for himself. “Fuck you, Yvan. Don’t steal my food!”
“Why? I was just having a taste of it. Why are you so selfish?”
“Why you –”
“That’s delicious, you know that? Can I have more?”
“NO!”
“Let’s just exchange cakes,” he suggested. I looked down on his plate on which a humble Mango cake was lying. I am thinking of the statistical probability of the deliciousness of that cake. I wanted to know if it’s more delicious than the one I have now, which was Chocolate Mousse.
“Taste it.” Appalled by his gesture, I blinked blinked blinked. A forkful of Mango cake was in front of me and Yvan was inviting me to eat it. I swallowed the lump in my throat because I could hardly breathe. That’s his fork and I’m going to eat with it. We’re going to have an indirect kiss, gosh.
Everyone’s looking at us expectantly. I told Yvan to put it down because we’re in public and it’s embarrassing. But Nikki insisted that I take the offer and told not to play hard-to-get. So I took it.
But the next thing that happened made my jaw drop.
Guji’s chair fell down when he stood up almost immediately. He even took Via’s hand and dashed off without looking at any of us.
“Guji! Where the hell are you going?” Kate exclaimed after Guji but he didn’t turn around.
“Oh, someone’s a little jealous,” Nikki sung.
My body shook in complete alarm when I realized that they’re trying to tie me up with some jerk. I shoved the thought away and turned to Yvan who’s looking at me seriously. Using the other end of my fork, I pushed his forehead back.
“Hey,” I say to him. But he just smiled.