Code Blue

Everybody's excited for the most awaited Foundation Week.

Each class would put up booths that both students and visitors could enjoy and take part in. And all of the accumulated profits will be donated to various foundations.

The girls in our class originally wanted to sell sweets and beverages and the boys wanted to do the sit-back-and-enjoy booth. But Teacher Beshy was just crazy about this Kidnap for Lovesom (Love + ransom) booth that we've never heard of. And since we are living in a very democratic country, we went with Teacher Beshy's suggestion.

At first, we were very skeptical about her idea but as she explained how the booth would work, we could not think of another word to describe it but GENIUS.

The 'modus operandi' was to capture two people of the client's choice and keep them locked up inside one of the cubicles with their hands tied together for half an hour. The kidnapped victims however, have the option of paying a ransom which would be double the amount of what the client gave us. The concept was pretty dark and should be considered illegal. But the name of the booth pretty much explained its purpose which made it possible to acquire a 'permit' to operate from the board.

What's a little harmless kidnapping anyway if it's all for a good cause?

We've already finished decorating and setting up the makeshift cubicles inside the classroom by Friday afternoon. The only thing that's left to complete our booth was covering the lights with colored wrappers. It was a last-minute suggestion by the boys who thought that making the room darker would give off a more romantic atmosphere. Because that's actually what our booth was trying to sell; Romance. And it was a very brilliant idea, considering that it came from people who initially just wanted to laze around.

Since the preparation was almost done, most of the class went to practice and prepare for their competitions, while the others went to watch the pageant rehearsals. Since my event was poem writing, where there's really not much practice that can be done, I decided to stay behind and wait for Percy and Vina who went to buy the wraps for the lights.

"We're here!" Percy excitedly bounced her way in only to stop dead in the doorway when she saw that I was alone in the room. "Where did everybody go?"

I smiled at her. "You seriously want me to make a report right now, Vice-Pres?"

"Just a summary will be good."

"They left." I summarized but she didn't look satisfied with my answer, so I took a deep breath before explaining in detail. "Some went to practice for their competitions; Some went to watch and help with the rehearsals; Some went to assist our seniors with stage decorations; and the other guys went to unwind just now." Then I added apologetically; "Sorry. I can't really ask the guys to stay when they've done all the hard labor for the past days."

Vina nodded. "It's okay. There's nothing much to do anyway."

We agreed to finish decorating the lights ourselves, but we faced one minor trouble.

None of us could reach them.

'Where is Arthur when you need him?'

"Where is Arthur when you need him?" Vina sighed as she looked up at the lights.

"Exactly my thoughts." I muttered as I moved the teacher's desk, placed a chair on top of it, then smiled at Percy who was taller than me. "You think you can go up?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid of heights!"

"It's not that high!" Vina argued.

'Nope. That's definitely high.'

"Then why don't YOU go up?" Percy put her hand on her waist, her voice rising a notch.

"You know I can't reach that!" Vina countered, obviously offended. Height has always been a sensitive topic for her.

I watched them argue back and forth and if I didn't know better, I would have been alarmed. But these two have been best of friends since kindergarten and this kind of argument was a form of everyday conversation for them. It usually lasts for a couple of minutes, unless one of them concedes defeat. And since I could not see that happening any time soon, I went up the table with my knees slightly shaking to try if I can do the task myself.

'I don't like this at all. I have really bad memories with chairs and not standing on solid ground.'

As soon as I was up on the chair, Vina and Percy stopped arguing and cautiously held the chair in place.

"You think you can reach it, Zee?" Vina asked.

"I hope so." The tips of my fingers were able to touch the bulb, but it was very difficult to twist it off. That's when Vina and Percy started arguing again.

"See? If Zee could reach it, then so could you!" Vina pointed out.

"Ugh! And like I said, I'm afraid of heights!" Percy sounded really irked. But then her voice suddenly lightened and my heart uncannily jumped at the name. "Oh, Hi Craige! Are you done practicing? Are you going home now?"

My chest leaped and I instinctively grabbed the back of the chair. The heck was that? Did I just sway? I didn't know that I was acrophobic.

Then I heard Arthur's voice. "Yeah. I think we can win the Chess competition."

Then Vina asked, as if completely forgetting the task at hand, "Craige you're also going to be an escort for the pageant, right?"

"Uhm... hello? Am I invisible right now?" Arthur complained.

'Poor thing. And to think we were just talking about him earlier knowing that he could easily reach the lights. But now, he's being ignored completely because of Craige.'

"Yeah, we're done rehearsing our parts." Craige finally answered then I heard him ask. "What are you doing?"

Vina happily explained what happened from the moment they went to buy the wrappers then subtly asked. "You think you could reach it?"

Then I think I heard bells ring when Craige said. "Zeanne, let me do it."

'I love you!!!'

"Are you sure?" I asked, but I already started to climb down from the chair, afraid he might change his mind.

Vina held my arm then she suddenly started laughing when she felt me shaking. "What's this? You're also afraid of heights?"

"No." I denied. I watched Craige climb up and effortlessly reached the lamp. Vina and Percy hastily started preparing the papers and tapes, while I held the chair in place with Arthur.

I looked at him accusingly. "Why didn't you volunteer? You're taller than him."

He whispered so that only I could hear. "Why should I? You looked really hilarious with your knees shaking like that."

Birds of the same feather indeed make a good feather duster. No wonder he's best friends with Jake.

I glared at him. "Jerk."

I kept my hands on the chair so when Craige shifted his weight, I felt it and was automatically on alert. Repeating to myself that I should prioritize safety before getting even with Arthur. I looked up at Craige to keep my focus on his progress, but I ended up noticing something else.

His shirt lifted when he raised his arms and revealed the blue and black lining of his underwear just above the waist of his pants.

I reached up on impulse and pulled his shirt down to cover it which made him glance down at me. Then as if he realized why I did it, he said, "Ah. Thanks" Then he went back to work on the lights.

Arthur grinned at me, "He he he..."

I just rolled my eyes at him and looked up at Craige. Hoping that the blood rushing to my face would slow down before Arthur could notice that my face was turning into a very ripe tomato.

Half an hour later, thanks to their help, mostly Craige's, we finished the job faster than expected. And as soon as we were done with the lights, we cleaned the room and locked it behind us.

"You guys going home?" Vina asked.

"My dad's coming in 5 minutes." Arthur said, giving me a meaningful glance, silently asking me if I wanted to come along.

I looked at the direction of the gymnasium. "I'll wait for Kath to finish her rehearsal."

When they left, I went to sit on the bench and played with my phone. I was in the middle of my game when someone sat beside me. I finished my game first then looked up to find Craige, nonchalantly sipping juice as he watched the track and field participants practice.

"I thought you left already."

"I just went to get something to eat. Want some?" He offered me his juice and I shook my head. "I still have to wait for Brian."

'Ah...that's right. Brian's training for the 100-meter dash.'

The two of us just sat there without speaking for a while until I finally could no longer take the silence. "Uhm... Is Brian your best friend? I always see the two of you together."

"Is Katherine your best friend?" He returned the question.

I looked at the direction of the gymnasium and smiled. "I like being with her. We go home together every day. We share our darkest secrets and dreams. We talk about all sorts of things. So, I guess so."

I heard him chuckle. "Then I'll have the same answer."

That made me turn to him. "You sound like you're deciding on a menu. And will you stop copying my answers?"

He smiled and shrugged. "It's just that, I don't see the point of labeling someone as the 'best' friend when they're all equally good friends to me. But if I must pinpoint just one among them with the criteria that you just gave, then I guess Brian would be the one."

'Equally good friends... that actually made sense.'

'He really does think deeply even about the smallest things.'

'Or is it quite the opposite? Like not thinking at all.'

I tapped my shoes together, trying to get rid of the dust. I was actually having the urge to wipe it off with my skirt, but I figured this was not the right time to do it.

Don't judge me.

It's Friday.

Being a little dirty is okay.

As long as Mom doesn't find out.

"Hey, Clinton."

"Hm?" He looked at me with those silver in his eyes glittering against the field lights.

I plastered my feet on the ground and avoided his gaze. "Do you always have eye-contact when you speak with someone? Did no one ever complain about it?"

That's not what you wanted to say! And why do you sound so intimidated?!

He didn't answer immediately so I thought I must have offended him. But then, "Nobody. Until you."

"I see." Why the heck did I have to ask that? "Sorry."

I apologized but Craige didn't seem to be the type that's easily offended. "Does it bother you?"

'A lot!'

"Not really." I lied and tried to change the topic. "Talking to you is quite refreshing. The girls only like to talk about crushes, fashion, celebrities, crushes, tv shows, movies, crushes, shopping, desserts and cr---"

"Crushes?" He covered his mouth with his fist as if trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Why? Don't guys also talk about crushes?" I challenged.

"We do." He cleared his throat then added; "But not as much as you guys do."

'You do, huh?'

"Good for you then." I let out a heavy sigh. "Girls on the other hand can be really persistent. First, they ask you who it is. Then they'll ask how it started. And then they start asking you endless what ifs that only have a very small percent of chance of actually happening in real life. And just when you think they've run out of questions: they'll come up something new every single time. Sometimes it's kind of gross, you know. It doesn't sit well with my stomach."

"Hmmm. I see. Sounds like having a general medical checkup. How many times do you call each other for a follow-up checkup?" He sounded so serious that it took me 3 seconds to understand the connection.

And when I did, I laughed. "Nice one. We actually do it as soon as we meet after summer vacation and every after periodic examinations."

"That sounds scary. Remind me to stay clear off your friends." He leaned back on the bench, looking so relaxed, so I did the same thing.

'"What are you talking about? You're actually friends with one of them already. Trix never tried roping you into that kind of conversation before?" It's hard to believe otherwise, knowing Trixie.

"Trix? You mean Trixie? She did. Remember that time when she interrupted our discussion because she wanted to speak to me about something." He looked up at the darkening sky, as if trying to recall something. "She did ask me a couple of questions then. I can't remember the exact words, but they were mostly about crushes. I also remember her throwing a few of those 'what ifs' that you talked about earlier."

I wanted to ask for all the gory details of the conversation but seeing that he wasn't really enthusiastic about it gave me a weird sense of satisfaction. Behave, Zeanne Haile. You're being evil again.

So, I just asked, "So? Did she ask you if you liked someone?"

'Of course, she did.'

"She did." He sighed as he looked at me again. I could almost swear that the finality in his tone was telling me not to push the subject.

'Wrong move, buddy. You're just making me want to pry more.'

Three weeks after class started, the entire class was in a buzz when the rumor about Craige having a thing for Ameera spread like wildfire. He didn't confess to her or anything and it's quite a mystery where the rumor started. But since he never denied the accusations and being the matured kids that we were, everyone just jumped into conclusions. Though I was not fully convinced about it, because he was really subtle about showing any signs of emotions.

Until now.

I studied him for a minute, miraculously brave enough to look him in the eyes. "Is it true then? That you like Ameera?"

He smiled and my heart lurched in shock. "Is it true then? That you like Joshua?"

My jaw dropped. "Where the heck did that come from?"

He shrugged, still smiling. "Are you the only one allowed to ask questions?"

I squinted my eyes at him. "I like him. Happy? Now your turn."

He looked at me disbelievingly. "Seriously? You really like Joshua? I mean...he's a great guy and all. I just didn't expect that the rumors were actually true."

He listens to rumors. Now, that's unexpected. "I enjoy bickering with him. It's really fun to ruffle his feathers. And he has an exceptionally sharp tongue. Overall, he's really interesting and it turns out that we had a lot in common: Being mean is one of them."

Shoot! I should've told him, 'He's attractive, smart and very charming.'

Or at least that's what Joshua insisted me to say if someone asked for the reason why I 'like' him.

Joshua already knows that I am not attracted to him and he even looked amused when I explained to him how that rumor blew up like that. He also understands that I had to let people believe that rumor until I can attain freedom from these Crush Hunting, which won't be possible until next year. And he agreed that he can be my 'crush' for this school year, given that I give those reasons to whoever's asking, instead of telling them 'just because'.

'Dobby's definitely going to kill me.'

"Ah." He said like he has seen through me. "Then, I like her, too."

"What do you mean by that?" I looked at him suspiciously. I feel like he's making fun of me with this CTRL+C and CTRL+V answers.

"Ameera's pretty, smart and charming. So, I guess you can say that I like her." He was grinning at me.

He's saying that he likes Ameera as a person.

Just like how I like her as a person too.

And that's not the kind of 'like' that I was fishing for.

And I could not reproach him for his answer because I realized that my answer was just as empty as his, so I just shook my head in defeat. "Right. How can anybody not like her?"

***

Dear Dairy Milk,

I was planning to apologize to him about touching his rear, but I got distracted by those silver rings again.

Why does he like staring at people when they talk?!

Anyway, we're friends now right?

How many times do you have to talk to a person before you can consider him a friend?

.

.

.

Okay, I've decided that he's now officially a friend.

And I feel like this friend has a good fashion sense. It was a blue CK.