Reason 1: I Was Fascinated With Her Tantalizing Smiles (3)

Woah. The capital district is really big.

It's Saturday of the second week of classes. And I'm here in a Mcdonald's fast food chain branch, sitting by the glass windows, waiting for Gelu early in the morning.

Seriously, why is she even my seatmate?

I had to wake up super early because of the travel time between districts. I reached McDonald's at 7 in the morning as we had agreed upon. However, it's already 8 and I don't see a shadow of Gelu!

Seriously, girl, you live in this district! Why can't you wake up early and arrive at your destination on time?

I'm licking my ice cream when I finally saw her approaching my table. She's obviously panting.

"So?" I asked, not even offering her to sit. I kept on licking my ice cream while looking at her with an indifferent expression. Are all students living in this district always tardy?

Back in my old school, we had to be at school before the flag raising ceremony to clean our rooms and offer our greetings to the teachers.

"Sorry, the new episode of the anime I was watching aired last night. But I managed to book us a time with my auntie's salon. We can go there now for the interview," she said as she ordered the same ice cream as mine at the counter. She even offered a pack of fries to me as her peace offering.

"Alright. I already compiled the questions for the interview. We have to give them a short briefing to make sure that the interview runs smooth," I said as I showed her the list of questions we needed to ask. However, I noticed some things.

"Fix your hair, Gelu. I'm still seeing some unspeakable debris stuck in your nest. Wipe your face. I can still see white spots made out of face powder. Adjust your collar. It'll irritates me," I continuously nagged as I helped her fix herself. I'll be recording the whole interview while she gets her face in the camera. Of course she needs to be presentable.

As I finished fixing her, she finished her ice cream.

"Yup! Ready to go," and with that, we had our journey to her auntie's salon.

We walked side by side as we watched the cars and trikes dash by. The salon is just near the fast food chain branch.

As we walked, Gelu was pointing at some stores while telling me what they sell or what service they gives.

"That building over there is owned by Lisa's family. On the second floor, it's a martial arts center run by her uncle. That's where I met her and Jean. They were my mates in taekwondo before," she narrated, and seriously, I can't figure out how she can be a martial artist with her thin body.

I'm wondering where she got the energy to give me a heart breaking slap last week, but I guess this explains it.

"I wanted to join a martial arts class before, but my father won't let me. He said that if I want to be a member of the police force would he let me join the class. I already had a target course, so of course, I can't be a police officer. Sucks," I also shared my memories of my past.

I'm not physically endowed, as my usual sport would be chess. I played chess since Grade 4, and I didn't even know that the game I was playing was a competition. I was happily humming while moving my pieces across the board at that time, unaware that I'm already going to go to a higher Meet for the sport.

My father just brought me to the hall where they play the sport, and said that I will play. As a pure innocent child who never had the concept of competition, I happily accepted their given propositions. And I never regretted opening the doors to chess.

"So Rae, how's life as a transferee?" Gelu suddenly asked a taboo question.

"Transferee? Fine, I guess. The school is so different from my old school. I have to adjust to the time schedules, has to know the last trip for the jeepneys, the fastest route home, the cheapest snacks, the rules to avoid detention, and the strict teachers," I said, as we opened the door to the salon.

We approached an employee and we proceeded with the interview. With everything done, we went back to McDonald's for an early lunch.

"Hey, where are you going after lunch? Straight home? Or visit some stores before going home?" Gelu asked as she ordered her lunch. I also ordered mine, and believe me, this meal alone would cost me my allowance for a whole week. Good thing I saved some from the last two weeks of classes.

"Home. I'm not that familiar with the district except for the popular malls and landmarks, so I might get lost. My mother always warned me about wandering off to somewhere, so she instructed me to go home right after our interview," I answered as I took a bite out of my chicken.

"It's a shame. I would like to invite you to visit one of my favorite stores in the district. But since you're going home, I'll just invite my cousin, then," she said.

I just kept silent while eating as I knew that the store she was referring to would be a store that is way out of my budget. This lunch is worth my whole week's allowance, so any store other than this place would cost me my jeepney fare home. I don't want to walk home

Just as we are about to stand up from our seats, an employee here in Mcdonald's approached us and asked if we were also here earlier. (The time when I waited for her)

We confirmed his question so he led us to the counter. I'm not sure about what's going on, buy he asked us to give them our email accounts.

I have no qualms in giving them my email, as I already had one (we created our emails when we were in Junior High School). When I checked my email, I saw a new message on my inbox from this McDonald's branch.

They gave us free ice creams, and wishes that we continue to patronize their branch. Yippie! Free ice cream!

From then on, I got a good impression of this branch and it's employees.