NOT SO GOOD AFTERNOON
#Chapter5 NOT SO GOOD AFTERNOON
He left just like that. Who’s back in the city? What are they talking about? I am still upset about his opinion in relationships. I absent-mindedly stood up from my table. I stopped myself before I bump into someone.
/"Hey, Milly. Do you want to have lunch with me?/" Jason’s voice rings in my ears. Of course, I can.
/"Yeah, sure. But I think my friend will be joining us too. Is it okay? She really wants to meet you./" I told him, looking for Pearl in the class. She’s sitting looking at the ceiling, lost in thoughts.
/"I’m okay with that. I guess./" He said with hesitation. I guess he’s not comfortable with that. I can’t leave my friend alone.
/"I will get her now. Wait here,/" I walked towards Pearl. /"Hey, I know how to get your mind out of Andrian thoughts. Do you want to meet Jason?/" I patted her shoulders. Her eyes brightened up.
/"Oh, really. Where is Jason?/" she stood up fast as her eyes wandered over the whole class. When she got a glimpse of him, she rushed off with a pen and paper.
All I can see from a distance is she’s pleading with him for an autograph.
/"Keep the note down now. I am so hungry. I need to eat./" I told her.
/"Yeah, sorry. I am coming./" We three left the class and went straight to the canteen. We all got lunch and settled on a table. I had a chicharron and a Cuban sandwich. I got so tempted by the food that makes me forget about every other thing.
/"Will I get your sister’s autograph too, Jason?/" Pearl started her annoying talk.
/"Stop it, Pearl. We are here to eat and talk like every other student. You got his autograph. I think that’s enough. Do you get it?/" I harshly spoke for a minute. She stared at me. She must be thinking ‘When did Em have the courage to talk to me like that?’.
/"I get it./" she took her spoon and started eating silently. I didn’t expect the lunch would go without a single conversation. But it did. And then Pearl-spotted someone from a distance.
/"Andrian’s here. I can’t take this anymore. I’m going to talk now./" She left the lunch unfinished and ran off.
/"Finally, I got some time to talk. Puff./" Jason said with relief. I laughed in return.
/"Don’t get annoyed by Pearl. She won’t behave like this every day./" I assured him.
/"I won’t be talking with her every time. I’m here to talk with you,/" he said, wiping his mouth after finishing the sandwich.
/"I’m hoping to talk with you, too. I can hear about Pearl’s fight with her boyfriend later./" I said, slowly taking a bite of the sandwich so that I could get some time to know him.
/"Where do you live? If your mom’s a celebrity, you must be living in a mansion. You should also be studying in a rich school, right?/"
/"This is how everyone thinks. Edgewood High is the nearest school we found in this city. I am living in a mansion near the Miami beach./" he said.
/"Oh, that’s cool. Do you have any other friends in Edgewood high?/" I questioned him, eager to know them.
/"Yes, I do. But I don’t speak to everyone. Many girls irritate me with a intentions. I don’t like those who are coming after me for sex and money. I can identify their intentions and cut them off./" He talked with frustration like he had a million problems like that. It’s good that I don’t have anything he mentioned above. I never had sex. How do these girls have sex in their seventeen years? Gross.
/"It seems like you won’t talk with someone without analysing them. What did you see in me which made you think you can approach me?/"
/"Um... I guess you forgot something. You got bullied by a dick. I came to help. You looked calm and a total outsider to this high school. I thought I could help you. That’s all I guess./" he said.
/"Yeah... right. From my point of view, you don’t look or act like a rich person. I like that. But I need to say, you looked gorgeous in that magazine. You are the reason I bumped into that guy. I saw your photo while flipping the pages./" I admitted what’s happened in the garden.
/"I didn’t see that coming. It was my fault in some unknown way but I got to meet you./"
/"Yeah... In the ground, looking like a coward. Maybe we should stop talking about that. I regret I didn’t yell back at him./"
/"Okay. We can stop talking about that. Say something till the bell rings./" he asked. A thought ran over my mind about our above conversation.
/"I have something to ask. You said girls are after you for sex and money? Does that mean you already had sex?/"
/"Of course, I had. What type of question is this? There’s no virgin in Edgewood High. What about you?/" He slightly laughed like it’s a silly question? For me, it means a lot. But I can tell a lie now.
/"Yeah...you are damn right. I was about to say whether or not you have a girlfriend. It ended up by asking about sex. It’s silly. I had sex too./"
/"With who?/" Suddenly he got a little serious. Am I good at lying? I can test myself now.
/"With a boy in Paris. He was my boyfriend. But not anymore./" I calmly said, with any emotions. How can I have any emotions? I never ever kissed a boy.
/"Oh, okay. So, you don’t have a boyfriend now?/"
/"I don’t have.../" I trialled off when Pearl hurried to our table again.
/"What’s going on, Pearl?/" I asked her, finishing off my lunch.
/"Whatever isn’t supposed to happen is happening. I can't have a boyfriend who’s a senior… Who will be moving far away…/" she said, eating her lunch again.
/"Did he break up with you?/" I assumed it by myself.
/"Hell, no. Then I wouldn’t be eating at all. I will be crying hard in the bathroom./" She said with her mouth full of rice.
At that time, Jason faked a cough. /"I will meet you later, Milly. You can talk with your friend./" he politely said and left. I watched him leave and turned my head towards Pearl.
/"Do you want to share anything with me?/" I asked her, keeping a hand on her shoulder with care. She ate the food without giving a reply. Then I noticed tears in her eyes. She’s trying to fight back her tears.
/"Pearl.../"
/"Thanks for asking. But I can’t talk now, Em. I need some alone time. Sorry./" she left with her plate in her hands.