“Damn! Chrissie, leave me alone!” Reina grumbled as she snuggled back in the covers.
“Wake up! Get up, girl!” Chrissie ordered, pulling the blanket off. “Yang, are we going to play tug of war now?”
With that, Reina harrumphed, grudgingly sat up her bed, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Rain!” Chrissie admonished as she went to turn the cd player’s volume down. “You haven’t been attending class for a couple of weeks and counting…”
“It’s not like I haven’t done that before…” Reina cut in.
“Right! But this is the finals week!” Chrissie reasoned. “I’ve been covering for you for days now! Good thing you haven’t gone out or else people would know that you’re cowering.”
“Get up, girl,” Chrissie said again, pulling on Reina’s arm. “If you attend class now, you’ll know the coverage for the exams on Wednesday.”
“But people are laughing at me!” Reina said pulling back her arm and succeeded.
“Yes, they are,” Chrissie panted, placing her hands on her waist. “It did not help that you disappeared after that fateful lunch incident.”
She sat down on Reina’s bed and said softly, “It’s been hard making people believe that you’re in Phuket to watch over Bliss because your mom’s in the US. Good thing she’s really in Miami now.”
“I owe you big time Chris,” replied Reina, wriggling her nose. She looked at her friend and whined in a little girl’s voice, “But I still can’t! Promise! I’ll go tomorrow.”
Chrissie threw her hands up in exasperation. “There goes that word again! Stop procrastinating, Rain. I know this is callous but may I just remind you what happened the last time you said I’ll-do-it-tomorrow?”
“Okay…okay!” Reina knew she was defeated but still tried to strike a bargain. “Let’s compromise,” she offered. “How about lunch time?”
Chrissie roared, “Now!”
Reina covered her ears and declared, “Lunch time. I’ll even meet you at Mystique.”
Chrissie gave up. It’s no use talking to a brat. “Fine! See you at Mystique then. Be there at 12pm sharp!”
“Yes, mother!” she replied, smiling sweetly.
“Oh by the way, go get a tan. Use that indoor tanning machine Auntie has. That would corroborate my story… look as sun kissed as a beach bum… Okay?” Chrissie said before she left her room.
“Love you, Yan!” Reina called after her.
========================================================
“Woohoo! Sherwin, wake up!” Matthew shouted as he ran into Sherwin’s room. He shook Sherwin violently to rouse him from sleep.
“What now?” Sherwin groggily asked.
“Mom just sent my graduation gift!” Matthew excitedly announced.
“Huh? But the grad’s on Sunday!” Sherwin sat up, rubbed his eyes and yawned.
Matt sat on the edge of Sherwin’s bed. “Well, I kinda asked them to send it earlier so I could drive…”
“And show it off.” Sherwin finished for him.
Matt grinned sheepishly. “That, too. It sure is a girl-magnet!”
He stood up and urged Sherwin to follow him
Sherwin lazily got up and asked, “Tell me again how we became cousins?”
“That’s easy, our mothers are sisters!” Matt replied as he headed toward the door.
The car was a Chevrolet Corvette C6. It was the latest version of Chevrolet Corvette and was launched at the Detroit Auto Show.
When Sherwin saw the car, he was amazed!
“She’s a beauty!” Sherwin said enthusiastically.
Matt looked very proud, “She is, isn’t she?” Sherwin could only nod.
Matt then proceeded to describe the car. “This latest ‘Vette musters 300kW from its six-liter motor…”
========================================================
“Well…well…well…The flirt is going solo these days, eh? Where’s your round-the-clock partner in crime?” Diane taunted as Chrissie passed by their table.
“Zip it Diane. I’m in no mood to be nice to you,” Chrissie stopped to face her and retorted.
“Touch. Reina Yang has hidden herself. Damn! If I were in her place, I’d hide, too. Imagine… she had actually let dorky hump her?” Diane maliciously added as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Chrissie took a deep breath and with as much control as she could muster, she retorted, “At least Dorky’s a man while you just content yourself with dogs!”
Chrissie turned and walked away, a murderous expression on her face. She thought angrily, “I’m gonna kill you Sherwin Xu! Nobody messes with the Yan and Yang!”
========================================================
“Damn! Where are those two?” Chrissie thought. She had been waiting for either Sherwin or Matt for an hour now. She’s meeting Reina for lunch in a couple of hours and she wants everything toned down by the time her friend arrives. “There’s Mike! Might as well squeeze some information”
“Hey, Mike, Honey!” she waved at him prettily.
“Hi, beautiful!” Mike replies and goes to where Chrissie was standing.
Mike had a major crush on Chrissie. He was enamored by her beauty the first time he saw her. They had even gone out a couple of times, too.
“Well? Are you just going to stand there? Don’t I get a hug or something?” Chrissie asked coyly.
Mike looked at her and smiled, “Or something…” and proceeds to kiss Chrissie.
He dragged Chrissie to his car and they both went inside.
“All alone?” Mike asked, surprised, as he nuzzled her neck. He had never seen Chrissie alone since she got in ABAC. She was always with Reina, the Bitch.
“Uhuh…” she moaned. “Reina’s in Phuket. They have a princess visiting Bliss. Her mother can’t attend to her ‘coz she’s in Miami.”
Mike stopped kissing her. “Really? I heard she was hiding!” He looked confused.
“Reina Yang? My friend? The Bitch?!” Chrissie held him away. “Do you think she’d actually hide because people found out that she slept with Sherwin?!”
“Well…” Mike shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “It’s not that she just slept with Sherwin. It’s more of Sherwin being her first.”
Chrissie laughed “Who told you such an outrageous lie? Sherwin, himself?”
He shook his head vigorously. “Sherwin? Hell no! I rarely talk to that guy. I couldn’t believe that he was actually the Yang’s first,” he moves back to nuzzle her neck again.
Chrissie thought, “Eew! Yuck! He better tell me something really good or else I just took his sloppy kisses for nothing!”
Chrissie tried to moan making him think she’s enjoying it and asked, “Then don’t believe it. But then if it’s not Sherwin, who?”
“You don’t know about The Red Announcement?” Mike asked again, astonished.
“What Red Announcement?” she tried to sound indifferent.
“You really don’t know?! It’s been around school for weeks now!” Mike replied.
“That gossip about Rain? I never paid attention to it. It’s just talk & full of crap,” Chrissie said, all the while toying with Mike’s shirt button.
“So, why bother with the whole story, right? All I know is that Sherwin and Rain got together and she ended things. Probably ‘coz he’s boring. And she’s on her way back from Bliss. In fact, I’m meeting her later,” she traced a line from his chest down to the waistband of his pants.
…