Chapter Four

Jayler

The never ending knocking on my door forced me to wake up and immediately suffer from the hangover that was just waiting to swoop in. I jerked upright and the headache struck me almost instantly the moment I opened my eyes. I forgot to close the blinds last night and my eyes burned with the brightness of the day. I shoved the thick blanket out of my body eventually scratching my head out of pure irritation. I don’t know what time I got home or how did I even got home in the first place but I’m pretty sure I needed more time to sleep. Whoever’s knocking on my door just won’t stop knocking even after a few knocks and it’s honestly infuriating.

My head felt heavier when I stepped out of the bed. I waited for several seconds just to get my shit together before eventually trudging towards the door.

"What?!!!" Evidently pissed, I scoffed at the old lady who showed up the moment I pulled the door open.

"You came home drunk again last night.” The old lady uttered with utmost concern gritting in her tone. “I cooked breakfast for you." It was Lala, our housemaid. She was holding a tray of food, her soft concerned voice lingered like a soulful music in the background.

"What time is it?" I yawned asking for the time. The feeling of irritation that I had was immediately dissolved by her soft tone.

"It's already past 10." Lala answered quickly without even looking at something for reference of the time. She must’ve been waiting for me to wake up.

"I think I need more time to sleep." I replied almost sounding dismissive of her efforts.

I was about to slam the door shut but then I thought about the food that she had prepared just for me. I don’t know what came over me, perhaps it was the sudden realization of the fact that I’m no longer that ten-year-old pesky brat who just don’t care about people’s feelings. I stared at the freshly cooked French toast and even though I didn’t want any of it, I took the tray from Lala’s hands and thanked her before eventually closing the door. I laid the tray of food on my study table and the first thing that came to my mind was to go back to my bed and sleep.

The heavy dosage of alcohol that I drank from last night made me weak and dehydrated. In fact, I’m too weak to even move and get something to drink. I’d rather sleep thirsty than to crawl downstairs just to grab some ice-cold water in order to quench my thirst.

I was about to close my eyes and fall back to sleep when a familiar ringtone prevented me from closing my eyes. I lazily snaked my arm to the far side of the bed and grabbed my phone only to see Kenneth’s name on my phone screen.

"What the fuck dude!! Why are you calling me this early? I’m still fucking sleepy." I spat over the phone, my voice was already coming off hoarse.

"Have you seen it already?" Kenneth spoke to which instantly caught my attention. Kenneth almost never calls me just to gossip about something that I don’t care about. He usually just waits until we see each other again at school before telling a joke that he had thought of.

"Seen what?!" A mix of curiosity and nervousness swept over me. This must be something important that Kenneth had to call me this early.

"The photos." Kenneth trailed.

"What pho--- oh shit!!!" The verge of sleepiness suddenly vanished. My brain seemed to wake up and it suddenly remembered what happened last night in quick flashes.

While I was under the influence of the lustful alcohol, I may have made out with some random girl at the club. It’s not something entirely new about me but when I heard the word photos I knew I was about to be doomed. I had made out with a lot of girls before but never in those moments that someone took a photo or even a video of me actively doing it. That’s one of the things that scares me the most, someone taking photos of me doing something that might be detrimental to me.

“It’s on Facebuk.” Kenneth added as if I’m not thinking about it. My mind was already thinking it but Kenneth just said it basically confirming the fact that someone posted these photos on social media.

I immediately ended Kenneth's call without saying goodbye and then quickly logged in to my account. My hands were shaking out of the sudden agitation.

Kenneth Sy mentioned you in a comment, my notification read.

“Fuck!!!” I cursed under my breath knowing that this could put me in a bad situation.

I clicked the notification then I was immediately redirected to a photo of me kissing a girl wearing a backless blouse and some ripped jeans.

Who was this girl again? I asked myself as I felt the stress of being caught with these photos. The gears inside my head began turning in hopes of recalling who the girl was. My subconscious had become entangled with what happened last night at Fountain of Youth club; it was a surprise and a little bit strange to me that I got home safely when I’m totally fucked up. I got immensely drunk right after Allyssa gave me shots of vodka one after the other. I tried declining most of them knowing that shouldn’t be fucked up because I might puke but Allyssa was just the super persistent type of girl. She’s not taking no for an answer and it almost made me feel less of a man to say no to her offering the shots.

Those are the only small things that I could remember after I came back from trying to buy a pack of cigarette for the crew. Everything else was fuzzy and even when I try harder to recall what happened, I can’t fucking remember a thing in details.

"Who the fuck is this girl?" I asked myself once again. Perhaps I met her at the dance floor or somewhere but damn she’s sizzling too. How did I even ended up making out with a girl like her? She looks older than me but she’s way too pretty to be making out with someone like me.

I started scrolling down to the comment section and it was pretty wild to read people commenting on it. The comment section was blasted with lots of comments and more of them are still coming.

"F***ing bitch! I'm going to kill her." One comment said.

"This is edited!" Said another one.

"Wow! Jayler, you’re a rock star!"

"The girl looked cheap, I don't mind giving her my credit card."

"Ambitious bitch, I'm going to pour a hot coffee on her face when I see her."

The comments kept on coming as if this was a huge news and it is a big news. Everyone at school knows who I am and everyone knew I was a good boy. I was the good son that everyone wants to be but from this point on, that narrative will now change.

“Fuck!!!!!” I grunted once again and I just shut my phone off to give myself a break.

For a brief moment, I didn't know what to do or how to react. My head felt heavy because of the hangover and with the addition of stress coming from these photos, I couldn’t get myself together. There are a lot of things going on and I can’t even get my head to think straight. Most of the comments are coming from these thirsty girls bringing the woman on the photo down but that’s the least of my concerns. The photos could reach my school and it will be the eventual death of me. Luckily, my parents don’t know I have a Facebuk account so it’s pretty much clear that they haven’t seen these photos yet. At least, I still have some time to get this shit removed. However, if the photos reach my parents then it will surely be a double kill for me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep and long sigh. At this point, it’s very clear that everyone at school had seen these photos. The comment section is going berserk and I felt uncomfortable. I guess it’s a bit of a blessing that today’s a holiday giving me at least a day to prepare to face this shitty scandal.

I don’t regret going out and partying with my friends last night but I do regret taking all of the shots that Allyssa gave me. That fucked me up. That girl was the true devil of the night. I thought I was strong enough to take all of the shots without being wasted that I can’t even remember anything that happened after that.