Chasing Mr. Prefect

by Katt Briones

  “Sorry,” he said, genuinely apologetic, but he still sounded bothered. “I hate that subject, seriously. I always feel like I’ll flunk it.”

  “Look, I understand that the idea of getting anything less than a one point zero is problematic for you. But I would get dismissed from the college if I flunked Finance 2,” I said, putting on a falsely sympathetic tone. “Utang na loob, can you go to sleep so I could study na please?”

  “Whatever, I know you’re just going to sleep,” he said, and I could imagine his smug face from the other line. “But seriously, you really are turning over a new leaf, huh?”

  “Well, that’s the general idea, but you annoying me incessantly at this hour when I’m supposed to be studying is defeating the purpose of it,” I snarled.

  I stood from my chair and walked towards my window, which had an awesome view of the night sky. There was also a cushioned seat-slash-surface on it, which Mom had put in many years ago on my request. The light on my study table was far behind me now, letting me fully appreciate the night outside. “And besides, wasn’t that your aim in the first place? To set me straight?”

  “Honestly, I wanted you to stop being such a piece of work in general, but since that’s hopeless, I’ll take what I can get.”

  “Um, fuck you.”

  “Haha! Okay, I’m sorry,” came his nervous laugh from the other line, and I rolled my eyes. “That wasn’t funny. I’m just really bored, and I find it amusing you’re pikon.”

  “Tang ina, you didn’t tell me you wanted a clown! You should’ve called Summer.”

  “Stop dragging people into this,” he scolded, but it didn’t sound so convincing as he was still laughing his head off. “Besides, Summer’s not as funny as you. She doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

  “Who said anything about her humor? Mukha niya ‘yung pang-clown.”

  “Shit!” he exclaimed and he sounded like a dying whale by the guffaws he was making. “Ayoko na!”

  I moved closer towards the window and sat on the cushioned part beside it, but something was already in there.

  “Agh!” I screamed, jumping out of the seat, scared out of my wits. The blood must have drained off my face as froze, focusing on the spot, and realized what I had just sat on. “What the fuck, bakit may manika?!”

  “Gago, I’m alone in here!” he said, all traces of humor gone. He sounded more scared than I was. I then took small steps towards the doll, thinking of whether I should pick it up. “I swear I’ll stop being an ass, just cut it out!”

  It must have been a full minute before my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. Recognizing the doll at last, I picked it up and raised it to eye level.

  “Melba!” I said, the blood rushing back in my head.

  “You really had to give it a name?” Cholo snarled from the other line, his voice an octave higher.

  “Ugh, Liana!” I groaned. No one else could have put it there but her. I turned on my heel and walked towards the door.

  “Wait, wait! Where are you going? Don’t hang up! Wala akong kasama!”

  “Technically, you are alone, Cholo. Wait, what’s that I’m hearing in the background?” I asked, dropping my voice.

  “Vinnie, what the hell, didn’t I tell you I was alone in here?”

  “Then who’s that girl in white?!”

  “VINNIE!”

  I was about to laugh and scare him some more when the door opened on cue.

  “Vinnie?” said Liana, whose curly hair was standing up in all directions, eyes still sleepy. I glared at her, hating the fact that she couldn’t see me do so and put the phone away from my ear. “Are you okay? I heard you scream.”

  “What kind of sick joke do you think you’re playing?” I asked, unable to keep the venom from my voice as I walked towards my stepsister, throwing the doll at her feet with as much force as I could muster.

  She picked up the doll and looked at me calmly. “Sorry, I was cleaning the storage room and I saw that. I thought you’d want it back.”

  “Are you stupid? Why would I want that shit back?” I shouted at her. “Get out.”

  “Vinnie, you don’t have to shout,” she answered, cradling the doll like a crazy person. The look on her face made me want to hit myself over the head in remorse. “It’s all right, I’ll keep her.”

  Liana had barely made it out of the door when I slammed it behind her.

  I stared angrily at it, wondering why I was even feeling remorse. It took a while before I remembered the phone in my hand, and when I checked, the call was still running. With a jolt, I realized neither of us had hung up.

  “Vinnie?” I heard Cholo say while I was staring at the screen.

  “I thought you hung up,” I said, putting the phone back against my ear.

  “Are you all right?”

  “If I put a doll in your room and you found it at midnight while you were alone, would you be all right?”

  “Guess not, but that’s not really the problem, is it?” he asked me. “I’ve seen you cussing people off, but was the shouting necessary?”

  “Save the preaching for school, will you?” I asked. I was feeling horrible about screaming at Liana when I shouldn’t, and Cholo was choosing the worst moment to nag.

  “Lavinia, I’m trying to help here,” was his exasperated reply and my barely-contained anger came back in full measure.

  “Help? You don’t know anything,” I snarled. My mood swings were getting out of hand and I was probably going to regret what I was going to say next, but this guy needed a wake-up call. “Stop trying to tell people what’s good for them.”

  “What’s your plan, then?” he challenged, not backing down. Trust Cholo to turn things like this into a heated, classroom-worthy debate. “Push everyone away again? You were doing so well, why are you being such a—”

  “Doing so well? How?” I answered, cutting him off. I had the feeling that I wouldn’t like whatever it was at the end of his sentence. “Better grades? Quality . . . org work?”

  “You think that’s what I care about?” he demanded, now sounding angry. “You think this is graded? You think I get extra merits? No one knows I’m talking to you now, not even Patsy. Why do you think I’m going out of my way to talk to you?”

  “No one asked you to care. We’re talking because you need an extra head in your team and I need to pass BA 170,” I reminded him. “Are you forgetting that?”

  I heard a bitter laugh.

  “Nice. Really nice to hear that,” he said, and I could imagine him shaking his head from the other line. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  Remorse overcame me in another huge wave. My apology barely made it out.

  Thanks for the drama, I wanted to say, but the call had already ended.

  Damn it. This was exactly why I didn’t want friends.

  CHAPTER 9

  I thought my twelve-over-fifty Math 17 seatwork in freshman year would be the single, most humiliating result I would get in my entire college career, but it appeared my Finance 2 seatwork today would be breaking that record.

  I was figuratively tearing my hair out as early as question number three. It didn’t help that I was catching Cholo throw me furtive glances here and there. He didn’t smile nor frown, but the look on his face made me feel like a jerk who kicked a puppy.

  So naturally, I got fixated on how I would talk to him later, instead of focusing on question number five (the best way for Phineas and Ferb Inc. to increase their return on investment).

  Ganda.

  My brains were a total mush with the consistency of porridge when I finished the seatwork and trudged my way to the meeting upstairs. The fact that I was going to see Summer as well did not make my mood any better.

  I was greeted with smiling faces when I entered the room. “Here she is!” said someone, whose name I couldn’t place.

  Gian appeared from nowhere and put his arm around me. “The real MVP,” he said, steering me towards the corner of the room where Kristine and Seth were porin
g over a piece of paper. Summer was seated with them, her face impassive, eyes fixed on me.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked Gian, too tired to even push him away. Seth and Kristine looked at me with excited faces.

  “Vinnie!” Kristine exclaimed, pulling me like a puppy while jumping up and down like an idiot. “We’re getting a launch party!”

  I blinked, hardly able to digest this. “Launch party?” I repeated stupidly. The finance exam was still wreaking havoc inside my brain. “Don’t we just usually launch stuff online? Like, release the official poster, the title—

  “Yes, but there’s this brand,” said Seth calmly, always the more level-headed of the two. “They’re going to pay for a launch, venue and all. Well, it’s their launch, actually, for their new men’s skincare line called Exonerate but they thought they could use some help with the college market. So they partnered up with Ephemere.”

  “Okay,” I said, feeling a slight buzz in my head. “What’s the catch?”

  “They’re going to be event co-presentor, and we’re going to do another trailer video for Ephemere that will have nothing but their new product line placed on it,” said Kristine. “They wanted it to be totally similar to that one you first made.”

  “Something like, show up in Ephemere wearing their perfume and you get all the girls,” Seth summarized for me. Summer wrinkled her nose and I shook my head.

  “Okay, as long as we don’t use Seth’s tagline, I’m in,” I answered. Seth made a face and tried to get me in a headlock for my cheeky reply, but we ended up laughing it off. “When is this launch event?”

  “Two weeks before Ephemere itself,” Seth answered. “But you’ll have to meet up with them tomorrow to discuss the details and stuff.”

  “Just me?” I said, blinking rapidly, unable to believe it. The temptation to beg off was great, but I was here already, so I might as well do it. “Um. Okay.”

  “We’ll just go get food and then we’ll resume the meeting,” said Seth. “Want anything?”

  “Yes please, can you get me siomai?” I answered, sitting down on the nearest chair.

  “Sure! Can’t wait to tell Cholo, though. He’s going to be so proud!” Kristine said, running off with Seth, and I felt a small part of my stomach contract at the mention of Cholo. I was left with Summer on the sofa, and she was avoiding my eyes.

  I closed mine, so I wouldn’t have to look at her. My eyes had been through enough today and I didn’t want to subject them to even more suffering. (Chos.)

  “Great work,” she mumbled.

  “What’s that?”

  “I said great work,” she said more loudly, clearing her throat. I could tell from her tone that saying that was as easy for her as getting a tooth extracted. “Cholo was right about you. You’re not as bad as I thought.”

  “I get that a lot, thanks.”

  “Will you be able to handle tomorrow’s meeting?”

  “Of course,” I answered, hoping my voice wouldn’t give me away. Being the awkward person I was, I found the idea of talking to a complete stranger daunting, and the fact that I would be representing the org in that meeting did not help.

  “I have to warn you, though,” said Summer. “They’re difficult. This offer was hard to refuse, I’ll give them that, but the demands . . . ”

  “You’ve met them before?” I asked, actually making an effort to lift one eye open.

  “Yes. Worked with them, even. The first time I did, though, all I got for that effort was a ton of chip samples and fiesta flags for the College Olympics.”

  “Well, it’s a different event. This is Ephemere. The event name is a brand in itself,” I told her. “That’s what you told me, right, Miss Chairperson?”

  Summer took a long time before responding, seemingly gauging if I was being sarcastic.

  “Don’t worry, Summer,” I said, closing my eyes again. “I kept everything the team said in mind. I’m not going to screw this one up.”

  “You better not.”

  I could hear the venom in her voice, but unlike before, it didn’t scare me. For some reason, I felt even more confident. Summer wasn’t just acknowledging me as an equal or a teammate. She now had a good idea of what I can do and was trying to throw me off.

  Summer Tiu, threatened by me? It suddenly wasn’t such a bad day anymore.

  CHAPTER 10

  To: Cholo Valiente

  “HALP! Strangers! I can’t I can’t I CANNOT!”

  This message, of course, remained unsent.

  Despite the fact that I won the bet, I couldn’t bring myself to send him the text or even talk to him first. He kept ignoring me yesterday at the meeting, only stopping to tell everyone that they did a good job and running off to another “meeting” without as much as a glance at me.

  He didn’t even turn up to the 161 class today, so I wasn’t able to rub it in his face that I won the bet and he would have to stop being an ass to me.

  I kinda missed that, though. The constant nagging and teasing . . . even his incessant fanboying over Era of Maidens. I missed him in general, but I’d rather shave all the hair in my head than tell him that.

  I took a jeepney to the venue where the co-presentor and I agreed to meet. The traffic was starting to build, as it was a Friday, but I made it to the coffee shop with twenty minutes to spare. Thank goodness for that, because if I got there late, Summer would go off at me and never let me hear the end of it.

  Taking a seat, I looked around and prepared my notes. I was shaking so badly. My hands were clammy, palm sticking to the folder I was holding, which was bad as I was supposed to hand this over to the event sponsor later. This folder contained the memorandum of agreement they were going to sign.

  A lot of things were going through my head. There were a hundred possible ways of this going awry and I couldn’t stop thinking of each scenario in clear detail. Kristine did give me a few pointers, though, like making sure to shake the contact’s hand when introducing myself, and listening intently to everything the other party would say so that we would be able to fully deliver. I wasn’t completely going to wing it.

  I didn’t know what was worse, me going with my gut, or being given a set of rules on how to act and forgetting half of them along the way.

  “Hi,” said a voice minutes later. “Are you Lavinia from Dresden Marketing Club?”

  I looked up to see a familiar face. Miss Co was staring at me in the face with a polite smile.

  I stood up, about to ask her if this was their idea of a joke, then realized that my professor did not have a mole on the tip of her nose.

  “Hi, yes,” I replied, trying to regain my composure. “I’m Vinnie Exconde from Team Ephemere.”

  “Miki Co,” she said, shaking my hand firmly. “Shall we start?”

  Yes, the brand manager I was talking to and Miss Co (fudge, I meant Patsy, because this one would technically be Miss Co, too) looked alike and were actually siblings, but the resemblances stopped there.

  Miki was strict, and Summer had been right about her being demanding. I wasn’t the type who took a lot of notes, but Miki had such a lot of conditions that I ended up with two pages of my notebook full of questions that I was going to ask my co-officers about next week. Even the colors I was allowed to use in the teaser video were limited. The attention to detail made my head spin and coupled with my nerves, I could’ve been embarrassing myself without knowing it. I just really wanted it to be over.

  Thirty minutes later, I had a signed contract and a shitload of work to do. Miki shook my hand again, telling me that I was doing a good job so far and that she expected a lot from us.

  I was tempted to say No shit, Sherlock, but ultimately settled for “Yes DMC will deliver nothing but the best, as always,” blah blah blah, because that only meant that I had to do this properly. Or else.

  We got out of the coffee shop together. I thought, for a crazy moment, that I was so stressed I started seeing double, but apparently the other Miss Co was actually t
here outside the door waiting for us.

  “Vinnie!” said Patsy, and I blinked twice before I managed to return a smile. “I see you’re doing so well! Good job.”

  “Hello, shobe, glad you’re not late for once,” said Miki, rolling her eyes at my prof. It was so strange, watching her talk down to someone whom I looked up to. “Come on, we have to be in Makati by seven.”

  Miki pulled her sister away and Patsy had to settle with a last nod. I waved goodbye as well, then got on my way towards the main road, but a tall figure was standing in my path.

  “Cholo,” I said, staring at him like an idiot. He had his arms folded as he stared back at me. “What are you doing here?”

  “I gave Patsy a lift. How was the meeting?”

  “The contract’s signed,” I said, handing him the folder. He took it from me and checked each page, then closed it, looking satisfied.

  “Okay, let’s go,” he said oh-so-casually, tucking the folder under his arms. He was wearing a crisp blue shirt with a white collar, and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. I gulped hard and willed myself to stop looking at his arms.

  “Where?”

  “Home, malamang,” he answered impatiently, gesturing towards the traffic behind him. “Every jeep would be full, nor would you be able to find a cab to take you to the MRT. Sabay na tayo, I’m heading south today anyway.”

  “Really?” I said, unable to even keep myself from smiling. I was such an idiot. “You’re not mad at me anymore?”

  “Well, I lost a bet,” he said, shrugging as he turned his back on me and led the way. Taking something from his pocket, he pressed a button and opened the passenger door of a shiny black Toyota Altis for me. “And I am a man of my word, so I can’t be a jerk around you anymore. Mad or not I don’t have a choice.”

  “Dami mo sinabi,” I snapped, laughing as I took the passenger seat. “You could’ve just said you missed me, you know.”