by Con Template
“Ahhhhh!” I screamed my ass off when I saw the two culprits standing right beside the sink, a few feet away from me. “What are you two doing in here?!”
I automatically latched onto a towel and wrapped it around me. I stared at them while the soap from my hair dripped all over my face. Although I was stunned that the Demons had been able to find my apartment, I was more shocked that they were in the bathroom with me.
“His Dark Majesty said that we have to watch over you or he’d feed us to his hellhounds if we screw up!” Phix shouted with a shaky voice. It was clear that Phix knew he was treading the line with Eclipse. He was adamant about no longer being on Eclipse’s bad side.
“Not when I’m frigging showering!” I manically cried over the running water. “Even Eclipse gives me more privacy than this!”
“Oh really?” Phix asked, genuinely astonished. “He doesn’t guard you while you’re in the shower?”
“No!”
“Oh man! He’s such a risk taker!” Phix gushed like Eclipse was the bravest entity he had ever met. “If my existence was dependent upon someone else’s, I would guard her 24/7 and stick to her like white on rice!”
“Phix,” I began impatiently, the once warm water getting cold on my feet. Though my voice was feeble, my threat was anything but. “If you don’t leave right now, I’m going to lie and tell Eclipse that you pushed me and made me slip in the shower.”
“Okay, okay. We’ll leave,” Phix placated, taking my warning to heart. He looked relieved that he didn’t have to stay in the bathroom with me either. The Demon grinned innocently, giving me a sheepish expression before asking, “Uh, can we eat your food? It took Coco and I the entire night to find where you live. We’re starving.”
“Yeah,” I replied, eager to get them out. “Help yourself.”
“Thanks, Gracie,” he replied. It felt odd to be greeted so chummily by Phix, but with a personality like his, he could get away with murder. “Oh, by the way, Coco and I have split up the duties. I’ll be watching his Dark Majesty during his slumber. Coco is going to watch you because I figured you’d be more comfortable bonding with her than me. If you need anything, Coco’s your girl.” He gestured his head towards the other Demon, who was silently standing there, glaring at me. “Let’s go, Coco.”
Phix exited the bathroom, but Coco continued to stand there, her eyes appraising me critically. Judgmentally, she asked, “Are you a former fatty?”
I felt the former overweight girl in me shrivel in uneasiness. Instead of confirming her invasive question, I just stared at her blankly and softly said, “What would make you say that?”
She gave a long pause and then vacantly said, “You act like one.”
And on that insightful and positively upbeat note, she left, leaving me to flip the bird at the area where she once stood.
“Poop-face,” I mumbled immaturely before returning to my now horribly screwed up shower.
●●●
Six hours.
It had been six hours of misery as I sat in my last class of the day with Coco buzzing in my ear.
“Let’s skip class.”
“No!”
“Come on! You’re so boring!”
“Leave me alone then!”
“If I could, do you think I’d be sitting in this boring class with you?”
If we weren’t in a lecture hall filled with forty witnesses, I would’ve unleashed my sadism and showed her exactly who she was pissing off. The girl had no boundaries and no zipper for that big fat mouth of hers. Any fascination I had with her when she was a famous actress was completely gone. I felt like I was stuck listening to a radio station that I couldn’t lower the volume for. I was losing my mind.
Calm down, Grace. Calm down. I took in a deep breath. Despite my overwhelming urge to stab her, I did well to keep my composure.
“Coco,” I fired back coolly, my eyes turning into calm but threatening slits. My Business Law professor was still lecturing on the podium, moving on to the next PowerPoint slide in his presentation. “I know that you’re just doing your job, but I swear to the God-who-will-never-answer-me, if you don’t shut your mouth, I’m going to jab my Hello Kitty pencil into your eye. Since I have a track record of violent tendencies, I think you should check yourself before you continue to annoy me.”
Alarm stirred in Coco’s eyes. I had no doubt that she was running over my résumé in her mind. I was certain that the extracurricular activity my six-year-old self participated in ran prominently in her thoughts. She was aware that I was more than capable of bringing this threat to fruition.
With a soft gulp to save face, she feigned carelessness and said, “Ugh, you’re so melodramatic.”
Then, without another word, she placed her head on the table and moaned in misery before falling completely quiet. She remained like so as the day wore on, but regrettably, she didn’t stay like that when evening came.
“God, how long before they come and take our order?”
“Just be patient. They’re giving us time to look over the menu.”
Coco sat beside me at the private booth I had reserved at one of my favorite restaurants: Blossom. She was as impatient as ever and I was doing my best to be tolerant for the sake of civility. I ignored her and admired the restaurant. The lights were dimmed with chandeliers hanging above. There was a candle set on every table, as well as beautiful floral centerpieces. It was a handsome restaurant with really great food, but after seeing a restaurant like Luxuria, there were few man-made restaurants that could match up to the Demon of Gluttony’s.
For a brief moment, my queue of thoughts wandered over to what occurred with Sloth and Tony. My unpleasant reaction to them aside, I pondered the reason behind Tony gifting Eclipse with a portion of his powers. What was coming up? What special event was coming that made Sloth give Eclipse the aid of Phix and Coco? What was so special that caused Tony, who clearly disliked Eclipse, to be nice to him?
As expected, my questions to myself yielded no answer.
Discarding those dead-end thoughts for the time being, I focused on the menu before me. I mindlessly petted OinkOink as I did this. Before we went to the restaurant, I had stopped by the apartment to check up on Eclipse. Due largely to the fact that I didn’t want to suffer with Coco alone, I brought OinkOink, who was napping beside Eclipse, with me. While Coco continued to yap and complain about my presence, OinkOink was glaring at her from my purse, seemingly very annoyed with her and her negativity as well.
“Why are you looking at the desserts if you can’t eat them anyway?” she asked, dragging me out of my thoughts.
I eyed her from the top of my menu. “There’s no harm in looking.”
“I’m sure you’ve been saying that quite often these days, haven’t you, OinkOink?”
I scowled at her. I was certain I was going to burst into a ball of fire because I was fuming with so much anger. How dare she call me by OinkOink’s name? Even OinkOink, who was typically a friendly puppy, was growling at her from my purse.
Coco shifted uncomfortably when OinkOink’s growls grew louder. Though she seemed afraid of my puppy, she wasn’t intimidated by me.
“Sorry,” she apologized in an inauthentic tone. A fake smile shaped her mouth. “I meant to say, ‘Gracie.’ I don’t know how I could’ve slipped.”
I closed my menu, mortified. The former overweight girl in me was feeling sick to her stomach. I had suddenly lost my appetite.
“What did you decide on?” she asked nonchalantly, consulting her menu.
“Salad and tofu,” I replied quietly.
I was disgruntled with what I ordered because I wanted fatty food. But since my offensive dietician was sitting next to me, it felt appropriate to further my misery by eating healthy.
Coco nodded in approval. “I’m going to have the same as you.”
I didn’t say anything to her; I merely began bitching at her in my head and fantasizing about beating her up in a dark alley. In lieu of giving in to my
sadism, I kept my poise and set all those violent (and tempting) thoughts aside.
“Oh my God! Hi Grace!” two chirpy voices greeted from across the room.
My eyes instantly brightened when I saw that it was Dawn and Ara, my friends from school. They had just walked into the restaurant with Kina and Missy, both of whom were their childhood friends and also my subtle “frenemies.” It had only been a few days, but it felt like it had been forever since I last saw them. It felt good to run into Dawn and Ara like this, even if Kina and Missy were with them.
“Hi girls!” I cried, waving at them from the booth. The girls, all dressed in white dresses, approached our table. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We’re here to pick up the to-go food we ordered for our church group meeting,” answered Dawn. Her eyes traveled to Coco, who was sitting quietly in her seat. “Is this your friend?”
“Friend?” Coco asked, laughing obnoxiously. “Yeah, right,” she muttered under her breath.
Dawn and Ara smiled awkwardly at me, darting their eyes from me to Coco. I knew they were wondering who this rude girl was. Behind them, I saw Kina and Missy smile in amusement.
I laughed nervously, trying to act oblivious to the negativity that was shooting out of Coco.
“Dawn, Ara, Kina, Missy.” I began to point at Coco, who was blinking flippantly at them. As this occurred, OinkOink continued to growl at her from my bag. Recalling quickly that the girls were probably familiar with Tears of the Rainbow—and that Coco was actually a famous actress—I changed Coco’s name. I didn’t need my friends wondering why I was hanging out with a supposed dead actress. “This is my friend . . . Chanel!”
“Chanel?” Ara asked amiably, giving Coco a small wave. “Hi Chanel, nice to meet you!”
Coco nodded at her while sparing a glance at me. There was approval in her eyes. She was proud that I had given her such a cool and fashionable alias.
Missy stared at her in awe. “Hey Chanel. From this angle, you kinda look like Coco Cho! Has anyone ever told you that?”
Coco pretended to give a careless shrug. “I get it all the time, but I don’t think so. I think she’s prettier than me.”
I gave Coco a dry look, aware that she was fishing for compliments.
She was wearing a black leather jacket and form fitting black jeans. She had on very heavy makeup: dark eyeliner with smoky eye shadow, blushed cheeks, and glossy red lips. She looked gorgeous all the same, but definitely did not have the natural look that Coco Cho was famously known for.
For a pompous celebrity like herself, it was clear that Coco preferred to be adored for her natural beauty rather than for her contrived one.
“No, I think you’re prettier than Coco Cho,” Ara assured her. “Coco is cute, but she doesn’t have the ‘wow’ factor going on like you.”
“Yeah!” Dawn beamed. “And oh my goodness I love her dramas and all, but I still can’t get over that kissing scene from Tears of the Rainbow. Why was she so stiff when she kissed Jae? That was such a bad scene for me—”
Dawn cut off her words when she made eye contact with Coco and saw that she was glowering at her. Ara’s smile subsided as well. Coco had already been snobby when they were introduced to her. Now that they had inadvertently dissed her acting abilities, it appeared that Dawn and Ara were on her shit list.
“Anyway,” I began, wanting to lighten the mood. I belatedly noticed some white poster boards in their hands. “Are those posters for your church meeting?”
Ara bobbed her head as Kina, upon being reminded of their church planning event, pivoted to Dawn and asked, “You know that quote we found?”
“What about it?” asked Dawn.
“‘God is love’ and ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Where in the bible was it again? I need to put that in when I make the posters.”
“Um, let me check.” Dawn began to rummage through her satchel to look for her bible.
“The first one is 1 John 4:7-11,” Coco answered from beside me, surprising all of us. Kina, who had always been cold towards me, looked at Coco with acute interest. Unfazed by the surprised stares, Coco resumed and added, “And the second one is Matthew 5:9.”
Kina and Missy exchanged astounded glances before they turned back to Coco.
Missy decided to test her by saying, “‘Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.’”
“Romans 12:9.”
“‘God loves a cheerful giver,’” Kina whispered.
By now, everyone, including myself, was staring at Coco in utter disbelief. How was it possible that she intuitively knew every quote from the bible?
Coco took a moment to ponder the answer. “2 Corinthians 9:7.”
A stupefied silence overtook our table. It was so quiet that when our waitress came to get our orders, she was momentarily taken aback by how hushed we were.
“You know every part of the bible?” Missy asked incredulously after Coco and I placed our orders.
“I really enjoy reading the bible,” Coco replied, her voice authentic. She released a soft sigh. “It brings me peace.”
“Are you a Christian?” Kina asked, unable to hide her intrigue.
A guilty smile appeared on Coco’s face. “I’ve been slacking.”
No kidding! I concurred in my mind, still flabbergasted that this newly converted Demon was so religious.
“We all do it. No one’s perfect,” Kina said affably, showcasing a friendlier side. She laughed graciously, the aura radiating from her warm and embracing. “I didn’t realize you were religious. We just assumed that anyone who hangs out with Grace is an atheist as well.”
I didn’t miss the nasty connotation in that calm voice of Kina’s, and when I saw Dawn and Ara exchange uneasy looks, I knew they hadn’t missed it either. Oblivious, or ignoring the obvious discomfort exhibited by her two childhood friends, Kina strummed along, finding more interest in Coco. Next thing I knew, the dinner ambiance did a complete 180. The conversation evolved and pretty soon, all I could hear from Coco, Kina, and Missy was chattering about how involved they were in the community and how much religion had played a part in their lives.
And as they bonded, I continued to sit there, blinking at Coco in quiet disbelief.
It was shocking to learn that Coco was so religious. From how she spoke about her faith and her respect for her religion, one would never entertain the possibility that she was actually a human-turned-Demon.
Suddenly, Kina eyed me with a hint of malice in her eyes. I instantly froze in my seat, for I knew what was coming. Her day would not be complete unless she picked on me.
“Chanel,” she initiated delicately, “how did you and Grace meet? Forgive me, but it doesn’t seem like you two have the same personality at all. I mean, you’re so outgoing and upbeat, and Grace is so . . . you know . . .” She gave an awkward shrug that made Ara and Dawn stiffen in worry. “Grace.”
Coco laughed, sparing a glance at me like I was a dead weight she was forced to carry around. “She’s a bit boring, isn’t she?”
“She’s just studious,” Dawn corrected, while Ara added, “Grace has an introverted personality, but I wouldn’t say she’s boring.”
I could tell that they were annoyed with Coco for throwing me under the bus, especially when she was supposed to be my “friend.”
“Studious, boring . . . It’s all relative, isn’t it?” Coco dismissed airily, causing Ara and Dawn to glower at her in revulsion. “She walks around with a stick up her ass most of the time.”
My face turned beet red as a gleeful smile pulled at Missy’s lips. She loved that Coco was speaking so horribly of me.
“Hey Chanel,” she prompted casually, “the other day, I was having a conversation with some bible study friends and we were talking about atheists. I was thinking how regrettable it was that they do not see the light. Do you have any tips on how to get these unfortunate souls to be more open-minded?”
“Missy,” Dawn said warningly, already knowing where this conversation wa
s going. She didn’t approve of it and wasn’t making any more effort to hide it.
“More open-minded?” asked Coco.
Missy nodded, her dislike for me taking over her rationale. She ignored Dawn and ruthlessly continued with her thoughts. “Yeah, those atheists are so sensitive. They get all offended when you’re trying to help so they don’t end up in Hell. What can we say to these people so that they can see the light and make themselves useful and do good things in life?”
“Missy, that’s enough,” Ara hissed from the side. Her eyes were unyielding. Ara had never been one of those Christians who pushed her religion down someone’s throat, and with me sitting at the table, she couldn’t have been more protective of me.
Next to Missy, I could see Kina smirk, her eyes traveling over to me before returning to Coco who had just asked, “Do good things in life?”
Missy nodded, still productively ignoring Dawn and Ara.
Coco evaluated Missy. Then, she said something that would forever change my negative opinion of her.
“Do you not think your question itself is close-minded and out of line?” Despite the shock that met their faces, Coco plowed on, her eyes fiercer than I had ever seen them. “Being a good person is relative, and no one has the right to judge others for that. So to answer your question, I would say to believe what you believe in and not be nasty to others who have a different belief than you. You are not only pushing them away, but you’re also giving them a reason to generalize against the whole Christian community. People like you are the ones who represent the bigger community, and sadly, it is bad apples like you who always stick out like a sore thumb in the minds of others.”
When it looked like she was done, Coco glanced at me and added, “And I think it’s pretty fucked up that you would bring this up while Gracie is sitting here. You know that she isn’t Christian and you know that this would make her uncomfortable, but you did it anyway. That’s pretty classless and conniving.”
It appeared as if Missy, whose face was getting redder and redder with rage, was about to bitch Coco out.
She was stopped when Kina placed a calming hand on her shoulder.