Chapter 66: Curse of the Yellow Bird (Part 1)

(I'll be back Tuesday)

[Abby POV]

Honestly it was a little strange hanging out with someone you had dated before. But for some reason, I kept finding myself wanting more of him in my life. After school was over, Haley, Tara and I went back together using my car.

Enid hitched a ride with us as she was a tiny girl. We picked her up at school before I drove us to my house.

"Why not go straight there?" Tara asked. "I want to change my clothes." I said. The true reason was to remove my goth makeup and pretty myself up before meeting with Edward but I couldn't tell them that. That was too embarrassing for anyone to admit.

I changed my clothes to some short jeans, a crop top see through thread sweater with a black cropped tank top underneath. The outfit I wore both looked both baggy and sexy at the same time, which was picked on purpose today.

I kind of wanted him to look, but also not too much. It was a stupid thought, I know.

My stomach felt as if it had been filled with butterflies as we stood in front of Edward's front porch. The dilapidated, messy and gloomy house I remembered had been completely changed when Edward started to take care of it a month ago. We could see some sunflowers growing healthily in front of the house, but they weren't blooming yet.

Tara knocked on the door and Edward opened it up soon after.

"Welcome, the 'Totally Spies' team." Edward greeted jokingly. He looked at Enid with a smile and said, "Welcome SPY A."

Enid was silent and nodded in acceptance as she thought his words were fair. But Ed didn't continue and turned to Tara before saying, "SPY B." Tara was confused by Edward having turned to another girl before she could ask what he meant.

Next, he looked at Haley before licking his lips and saying, "SPY C. (Spicy)"

Lastly, he turned to me and said, "SPY D."

I quickly covered my chest as my eyes started to quiver. He looked at me with a mischievous grin, making me think that he knew…

'But how did he know? My cup size just got bigger last night. It's now…in the D category…'

[Haley POV]

'Spicy? He's calling me hot?! NOW OF ALL TIMES! IN FRONT OF ABBY!? IS HE CRAZY?!' I turned toward Abby with shaky eyes, only to find out she was ashen white and was hugging herself. My knees felt weak, and I knew I should say something to diffuse this situation.

"ED! Seriously? Even if we-"

Before I could finish speaking, Abby suddenly interrupted me, "You perv! Did you put a spy cam in my house? How did you know?!"

"Know what?" Edward asked innocently, but his eyes were full of mischief. I was stunned, and became horrified a second later as I realized I almost shouted we had kissed in front of everyone even though he was only trying to prank me and Abby at the same time.

"ED!" Abby yelled again and wanted to put him into an arm lock straight away. But he was already taller than her now and could easily avoid her attack smoothly by pulling Enid in front of him.

"Sorry about this. Consider it payback for spying on me."

Enid was baffled by how quickly the situation deteriorated from the moment Edward opened the door. To be honest, I was confused too. The joke quickly broke all of the awkwardness we had with each other and brushed away the certain difficult topic that was preventing us from truly enjoying each other's company.

I was grateful for him as he took the responsibility for himself, but I was feeling a bit sad too as he might have thought about the matter for a long time and stressed himself out alone – just like when he thought about us dating each other wouldn't work out before this.

'This kind of life…feels a bit… lonely…doesn't it?'

[Edward POV]

Not knowing the misunderstanding in which I lit the fuse on inside Haley's and Abby's mind, I pulled Enid left and right to be my barrier against Abby. Finally, the ex-goth girl calmed down a bit and started to think clearly.

"Did my mom tell you? How do you know?" Abby asked suspiciously. By now, she really thought that I had installed a camera in her house somewhere to spy on her.

"You don't remember telling me?" I asked with a grin.

"NO! I never told you! I only told Haley!" Abby said anxiously. Haley tilted her head in puzzlement and asked, "Tell me what?"

"What?" Abby was baffled when she saw that Haley didn't remember it. "I just told you last night?"

"You never texted me last night?" Haley asked in confusion. Abby darted her eyes between Haley and me before muttering, "Oh no."

"Oh yes." I smirked mischievously as I took out my phone and shook it in front of Abby. Her face turned ashen and she tried to snatch my phone away, but I used my Enid defense once more.

"How long should I suffer?" Enid muttered with a deadpan expression.

"As long as necessary." I replied to her even though she didn't expect an answer.

Her eyes flashes a glint of excitement before it dimmed out again as she remembered she was only an extra in this party as she was not a part of the group.

"Come on in." I finally welcomed them into the house after teasing them for a while. Haley and I stole a glance at each other as she walked in. I thought it was pretty funny that she was wearing modest clothes today. She gazed at my neck, and became embarrassed when she saw the spot where she put the hickey there last night.

By this time, Abraham and Jacob had only reached 7 and 6 points in the game respectively and had become increasingly frustrated by it.

"What? Only 7 points the highest? Are you guys noobs?" Tara joked as she saw the scoreboard on the TV. The boys gritted their teeths but they didn't respond as they started the next game almost immediately to reach for a better score.

"Give me your phones." I said to the girls before installing the game into their phones. Abby took her phone back after I had put the game in it with a dissatisfied expression as she was hiding her embarrassment.

"Stop leering at her." Haley said as she took her phone from me. She thought I was staring at Abby's chest after I knew about her increased cup size. I shrugged and gave Tara back her phone as Haley sat on the two seat couch with Abby.

"Hey. I'm really sorry!" Tara said as she reached for her phone from my hand. "It's okay. I don't mind." I replied calmly as I turned to Enid.

"I'm sorry too…for spying on you before." Enid said as she thought I wanted an apology from her.

Titling my head in confusion, I gazed at her face weirdly before saying, "I don't care about that though. If anything, your sister is at fault here."

"What-" Tara exclaimed in bewilderment as she was accused. I laughed at her reaction before giving Enid back her phone. "There's no more seats left. Wait, I will go grab a chair from the kitchen."

There was only a seat for 6 people in the living room as I only had a 6 seat couch. The single couch was used by me, the two seat couch was used by Abby and Haley, while Jacob, Abraham and Tara used the three seat couch.

"Hey. Ed. It's okay, she can just squeeze in here." Abby said as she called Enid to their seat.

"Yeah. We're only small people…" Haley added.

"Small? Sure…." I said with a tone of disbelief as I looked at Abby. She became irritated and warned me, "Shut up, or I'll poke your eyes."

*Ding Dong* *Ding Dong* *Ding Dong*

"The next guest is impatient huh." I muttered as I walked hurriedly to the front door before my doorbell broke. Manny, Luke, Gloria, and Alex had come by to play the game. Alex looked sullen while the rest were really excited to be here.

Gloria had come by as she felt the need to chaperone there, since she had a hunch that there would be no adult present. Her feeling turned out to be true as there wasn't any adult in the house, therefore, she stayed.

But she didn't plan to bother us while playing the game and waited in the kitchen instead – maybe while cooking something for the children.

Luke and Manny didn't have a smartphone so I let them use my laptop to play the game instead. They sat on the floor while playing the game in the living room.

"Where are your parents?" I asked Alex as I pulled her to sit next to me, sharing the single seat couch together. She wasn't playing the game, so I appointed her as my assistant to collect data instead as she had no interest in playing the mobile games.

"Home." Alex replied curtly as she held a pen and paper in her hands. She filled in the observation sheet I gave to her. Abby and Haley gave her side eyes as she was sharing the seat with me, but Alex and I didn't notice what they were doing.

The scoreboard changed quickly, and the top score was unexpectedly taken by… Haley. She managed to adapt to the game in just a few tries.

'I guess that's expected as she basically lives with her phone being a part of her.' I thought as I smiled at Haley. My smile actually made her break her concentration and the yellow bird on her screen fell straight to the ground. Abby chuckled at her before her bird fell too, ending her game at the 4th point score.

"Hey. What is the purpose of us flying the bird?" Manny asked suddenly. The laptop gamers had quickly broken double digit as it was easier for them to play using the keyboard.

"I guess it's to get higher marks than your friends." Luke replied as he broke Manny's record and then jeered at him, "So you can rub it in their face! BOOM!"

"UGH! My turn!" Manny said as they changed users before starting a new round of the game.

Alex was intrigued by the question so she continued to ask even though the boys had lost interest. "So, is that really it? Just for the score?"

"I guess so. I made a few versions, and I wanted to see if this…" I pointed to the original flappy bird version without any programmed additional features, "...is good enough."

"Oh. What other versions?" Abby heard our conversation and interjected into it as she was feeling too frustrated by the game.

"As it is a bird, I changed the background to a forest. You need to fly through the trees, you can get power ups from fruits hanging from the trees, and you need to avoid an eagle, and the purpose is to get to the south before winter comes. At every hundred points mark, you can unlock new skins and new power ups for the bird."

"Skins?" Jacob asked in confusion.

"New designs." I said casually before turning to Alex. "Both of them had played the game for a while. Go ask them to fill the questionnaire."

Alex thought for a while before asking in a whisper, "Before that. I want to ask you something. Why did you text me to wear classy clothes? Are you trying to control the way I look now? Or is the way I dress not good enough anymore to be your friend?"

She had been thinking about the question for an entire day after she got the text message. If answered incorrectly, Alex may stop wanting to be friends with me anymore, but I didn't notice that at the time and answered honestly instead.

"Oh that. I made a few glasses frame designs from paper, and I wanted you to try it out after this. I also need to take a picture of it to submit it to the manufacturer after this, so I asked you to wear nice clothes. Are you mad at me for that? If so, I apolo-"

"Wait! No, don't apologize. I'm sorry for suspecting you." Alex said with an embarrassed blush on her face as she had forgotten about what I promised before. "Also, it will be expensive right? I'm okay with just the designs. You don't have to send it to the manufacturer." She added.

"Not at all. I'm using Pepper's connection to produce my own product lines, so it'll be good for me. The bad part is, I still haven't figured out a way to make the lens thinner." I explained.

Abraham suddenly interjected into the conversation as a fellow glasses wearer, "The reason glasses lenses are cut into rectangular shapes right now is because it is the thinnest part of the lens. If you make the frame design bigger, then the edge of the lenses will be too thick. It won't look good."

"Yeah. if you use 1.5 index one. But if you use higher than 1.7, then the lens will be thinner." I said casually.

"There isn't anything higher than 1.67 though. I checked it at the optometrist before this." Alex said in confusion.

"Yeah. there isn't now. But there will be soon." I replied with a smile. I found that bit of information when I checked into the ongoing research in the scientific community.

A Caltech team of scientists needed a lens with a higher refractive index therefore they were experimenting with different materials to create a lens made from plastic and polycarbonate.

If I launched the frame designs at the moment the new lens manufacturing became widespread, I could monopolize the eyewear fashion industry for a few months before another giant company entered the game.

Alex blushed hard as she saw my confident look while thinking about how hard I had worked on her gift before. She even considered stopping me from writing a song for her, but she stopped as her mind blanked out when I reached for her glasses.

'At my time, the lens index of refraction had reached more than 1.9, so a giant lens and giant frames was possible at that time. That's why the trends move toward big glasses in my previous world. But now I had to make do with only index 1.7.'

"I-I…will do the questionnaire now." Alex slapped my hand away before I could touch her glasses and skedaddled quickly toward where Abraham was sitting to ask him a few questions– also to get away from me. Her face was beet red at that time.

But then, something happened in the living room that made almost everyone stop what they were doing or feeling.

"ARGHH!" Jacob suddenly shouted as he died in the game again, stood up abruptly, and almost threw his phone down on the floor.

"JACOB DON'T! CALM THE F- DOWN!" I said while simultaneously censoring myself as there were kids in the house. Jacob finally realized what he almost did and breathed in relief as I had stepped in and stopped him from destroying his phone.

"Everyone. If you're frustrated, take a break. Remember. It's just a game." I announced to the group as I led Jacob to the kitchen for a drink to calm himself down.

…

[3rd Person POV]

Running quickly to the living room while making loud high heel footstep sounds, Gloria asked hurriedly, "AY! What happened?! What happened?!"

*Ding Dong*

Suddenly, the doorbell rang as the next guest had arrived. As I was in the kitchen, Alex helped me open the door instead. Gloria turned to Haley and the teen girl replied hesitatingly, "Nothing happened Gloria. The game is just too hard. That's it."

"Oh. Good. I thought something happened." Gloria breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the kitchen.

"Hey mom. Want to play it?" Manny asked before Gloria could walk away.

Alex welcomed the two girls, Jenna and Elsa, into the house. Jenna was wearing a long black skirt and white blouse that made her look like a young Mrs. Henderson while Elsa wore her tube top and jacket as usual.

"You guys are late." Alex said.

"Jenna couldn't find her fav bra-" Elsa said before her mouth was cupped by Jenna.

"Sorry. Are you guys still playing?" Jenna said as she stopped Elsa from exposing her secrets.

"Yeah. Come on in." Alex said and led the girls to the living room.

"Hey. Where's his room?" Jenna suddenly pulled Alex to the side and asked.

"What? What are you thinking of doing? He won't let you-" Alex said in suspicion, but stopped her words halfway as she remembered how easy it was for her and her sister to get permission to enter there. "...he will…probably. Anyway, it's upstairs on the right. But ask him first before going there."

"I know. I know." Jenna said dismissively as the duo walked past Abby and Haley. Edward returned to the living room while dragging two chairs in his hand before Jacob followed him from behind while carrying chairs too.

[Edward POV]

"Hey Jenna- Wait. Gloria, are you playing?" I said as my attention quickly turned to from the girls to the hot latin woman kneeling on the floor. Her sexy backside was covered by the standing Manny, otherwise the teen boys inside the living room wouldn't be able to focus on their game– not that Manny was doing it on purpose.

"Si! The game is very difficult!" Gloria said in frustration.

"Mom! Down Down. You're going to fall!" Manny said hurriedly as he badgered his mother from behind.

"Ay Manny don't disturb- AHHH!!! MALDITO PÁJARO YA VAS A VER… TE AGARRO Y TE TIRO A LA CACEROLA MALDITO HIJO DE…!!!! (DAMNED BIRD. YOU'll SEE! WHEN I GET YOU I WILL THROW YOU RIGHT INTO A POT YOU CURSED SON OF A B-)" Gloria cursed as she lost the game.

"Pfff-" I couldn't hold back my laugh as I heard what Gloria was saying. She turned to me and wondered why I was laughing, but then she remembered.

[Gloria's commentary]

"He…knows Spanish… and I cursed in front of him. Ayy! So embarrassing."

[commentary ends]

"I-I'll make some drinks." Gloria said before running away from the living room.

"Alex. Ask Gloria the questionnaire too after this." I ordered as I returned to my seat on the single seat couch and was reading the data on my laptop. Abby decided to stop playing the game and started playing around as Jenna's existence here made her feel threatened.

"Hey. Ed. Are you launching the game?" She said as she stood near me.

"Yeah. Tomorrow I'll put it on the Android and Apple store." I replied casually. Suddenly, Abby sat in my lap as the seat was too narrow for the both of us. Alex, Jenna, and Haley widened their eyes as they saw Abby's brazenness.

"Uhhh… what are you doing?" I said as I patted Abby's butt unconsciously. She perched her ass directly on my hips and was squirming in a dangerous way as she looked at the data on my laptop. I knew that she was doing this on purpose, but I didn't know why.

"Wait. Kwazy Cupcakes. Candy Crush. Angry Birds. How many games did you have planned?" Abby asked in bewilderment as she saw my folders.

"What? He has more games?" Haley said while approaching me. The lead highscore was cemented by Haley as she had reached more than 100 points with her immaculate tapping skills and she decided to play around like Abby too. She sat next to Abby– still on my lap as they both sneaked a peek on my laptop.

"Uhhhhh…." I was so baffled that I didn't know how to respond to the situation.