KATE’s P.O.V.
My driver parked our car in front of Claire’s house. It’s been a week since our first encounter with that Gabriel guy. But even so, I can still remember his face, the sound of his voice, and everything about him.
“Kate! You’re here!” Claire bounced happily towards me.
I beamed at her, thankful that I could spend every lunch with the man I like because of her being so much friendly to everyone.
“I’m here to borrow you again from your parents.” She laughed at my statement. “Just kidding. But you know, weekend is...”
“Bestfriend time!” we both shouted before we did our secret handshake.
“So... Are you ready?”
“Uhm, yeah. I’ll just get my sleepover stuffs. Do you want to get inside?” she asked.
“Sure!”
We walked inside of their house. It was just simple and small, yet very cozy and tidy. I’m sure that everyone will feel at home in here. As we passed by their small hallways, several photos of their family bombarded me. How I wish that I could literally be part of theirs. Looking at those pictures, it made me feel so envious. I hope Mom and Dad could be this happy too, whenever they are with me.
“Hi! You’re here again, Kate!” Claire’s Mom greeted me with a big hug and a kiss on my cheeks.
“Good evening.” I smiled to her.
“Come and have a seat while Claire is preparing her stuffs.” She offered a plate of homemade cookies and milk.
“Thanks.”
“Anything for you, dear.”
Claire just winked at me, before she started to make her way upstairs.
“So... Claire told me that you two are very close to each other.” She smiled at me.
“Uhm, yeah...” I shyly answered, before blushing.
“Oh please, don’t be shy with me. Because you are Claire’s bestfriend, I’ll treat you as my own daughter as well.”
I felt overwhelmed by her kindness. This kind of mother figure is the one that I’ve been I’m longing for ever since the beginning.
“Thank you so much.”
“You are always welcome. You can come here at our house any time you want, hija. How I wish I could let you two have a sleepover here. But I can’t. Our house is too small,” she stated, chuckling.
“That’s fine. As long as you’re letting me spend some time with Claire, I’ll be alright.”
“How sweet of you.”
She’s about to start another conversation when Claire climbed down the stairs, carrying her bag of sleepover stuffs.
“I’m ready!” she happily announced.
“So, I let you two leave now. And please, Kate. Don’t spoil my daughter too much,” her Mom stated.
Claire jokingly glared at her Mom, and she just laughed before giving her a tight hug.
“Bye, Claire. I’ll see you in the next day. Please behave at their house, okay?”
“Mom, I’m not a kid anymore.” She roll her eyes.
“Whatever, kiddo. I just wanna make sure that you’re always safe. I’ll tell your father about this when he arrived home later.”
Claire smiled at her Mom then nodded. She gave her a quick kiss before tugging me outside of their house.
“Let’s go! I can’t wait to spend some time with you again.” She winked at me before smiling mischievously.
I instantly got nervous knowing that she will grill me about something later. She chuckled to herself, before hopping inside of the car. I did the same before telling my driver to go.
“Let’s go.” Our driver just nodded before starting the engine.
Claire and I just talk about some random stuffs during the whole trip. I’m very lucky to have this kind of friend that respects my privacy. She knew that I don’t want our driver to hear any of my nonsense drama in life that’s why she didn’t dare to start and talk about “that” certain topic. But I know that she’s still gonna asked me about it later.
“We are here now, Ms. Kate.” The car stopped moving.
From the corners of my eyes, I saw how a smile slowly formed at my bestfriend’s lip. She excitedly hopped down from the car, looking at me mischievously. She pulled me outside as well, and I know for an instant that this is it.
We ran towards the stairs, giggling softly as we climbed up. I opened the door of my room for us to get inside. I locked it. I don’t want our maids to gossip about our conversation.
“Come on, tell me now!” Claire exclaimed excitedly.
“Right now? Can we just eat or something before I share my secret to you?” I asked, blinking several times, trying to look cute.
“Nope. Tell me now. I badly wanted to know about it.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“So... You’re keeping secrets to me now, huh?”
“No. That’s why I’m going to tell you about it right now. It’s about–”
“Gabriel, isn’t it?” She chuckled.
“I know you already knew.”
“Of course I do! How do you expect me not to get so suspicious? I can see it in the way that you stared at him and–”
“Stop! Okay, okay. I like him... So much.”
Her eyes lighten up in amusement. She sat beside me before combing my hair using her fingers.
“You’re already a maiden.”
“Stop it. I don’t want to hear that word. It was so weird and awkward.” She laughed.
“You know what, that’s fine. Every girl in our school likes someone. I’m glad that finally, you’ve been feeling something normal.” Now it’s my turn to laughed at her response.
“Normal? Does that mean that I wasn’t normal before?”
She lay down on my bed, suppressing her laughter. I did the same before looking at her. I wish I could act as natural as Claire in front of the boys.
“Of course you are normal before... I just... I didn’t saw you this happy before. Looks like you finally had a purpose going to our school everyday because of Gab. I hope that you will be inspired because of that feeling.”
“How did you know?” I asked curiously. “Have you been in love before, Claire? No secrets allowed, please.”
She chuckled before answering me.
“No. I haven’t been in love before. But if I were to be, I know that moment would be far long from our current time right now. I think I’m not yet ready to fall in love as of now.”
“You think so? Then how can you make sure how love feels?”
“I just feel it. Love from my family. Love from friends... Just like you. Those love from the people I value the most is what inspires me to be better each passing day. And of course, self love. You need that, Kate. Love yourself the way you did to others.” I looked at her intensely.
“I wish I felt that love from my Mom and Dad.” She patted my back sympathetically.
“Of course they love you. Maybe you can’t feel it right now but I know whatever it is that they’re doing at this moment are all for you and your future.”
She smiled at me and I did the same.
“Let cut the drama,” I stated before laughing.
“Sure... So what now, Kate?”
“What what?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Hello?! Gabriel thing, you know. Are you just going to sit there and wait for him to confess, or are you going to take the lead?” she asked.
“Well... I don’t really know.” I looked down, blushing. “I’m not as confident as you to go ahead and talk to some guy like him.”
“I just told you earlier. Learn how to love yourself. Other people will follow. Just... Be yourself, Kate. I’m rooting for you two.”
I shrugged my shoulders before smiling to myself. I’m so lucky to have a bestfriend like her. If I was with her, I can do anything I would like. Together, we are unstoppable.
“Then... Maybe I would take the first step. I’ll start talking to him and get myself closer and closer each time.”
“That’s my bestfriend! Your plan is very great... Though...”
“Though what?”
“You two needs to be alone together.”
So that means that Claire wouldn’t be by my side when that moment happens? I doubt that I can do that without her help.
“But...”
“Shhh... Don’t worry. Just leave it all to me. I’ll do anything for our plan.”
“But, Claire... I don’t know what to do without you,” I stated nervously.
“There is no other way that you could go with me. You need to cherish those moments with him alone. I promised that it would be worth it.” She smile widely towards my direction.
“Thank you, Claire. But how will you set us up?” I curiously asked.
“You are always welcome, and... It’s a surprise. So just sit back and relax, wait there, and see it for yourself,” she stated, smiling at me mischievously.
KATE’s P.O.V.“So... Where are we going to meet?” Gabriel asked excitedly.“We can meet by the coffee shop nearby our school,” Claire answered confidently. “Is that okay with you, Kate?” she asked, before winking at my direction. We are currently eating our lunch at the Cafeteria. Gabriel decided to sit with us again and because of that, my bestfriend finally got the chance to set up her plan. She invited us to go to the mall, hang out or do anything that we can out there.“O-of course, i-it’s fine with m-me,” I answered, stuttering.“Great! Should I pick you up, Claire?” Gabriel asked to my bestfriend. I looked down, trying to ignore the fact that the man I like just offered a ride to my bestfriend without asking me first.“Silence means–”“No!” Claire exclaim
KATE’s P.O.V. Today is the day that I've been waiting for. Whenever I’m thinking about it, I still feel nervous. But of course I wouldn’t chicken out. I promised that to myself... I promised that to my bestfriend. Claire worked very hard to set this up and I wouldn’t let that hard work of hers to be wasted. I owe it to her to at least do this on my own. I promised to make this day count.“Ms. Kate? Someone is looking for you outside,” one of our maids stated. I ran towards the mirror in my room to check out myself. I’m pretty sure it’s Gabriel. He won’t be late, I guess. I’m currently fixing myself up before I heard another call coming from one of my maids.“I’m coming!” I went downstairs only to find Atty. Gomez. He is one of my f
KATE’s P.O.V.“Then he winked at me! Can you imagine it?! Gabriel winked at me and then he touched my hand and he... He...”“Okay, breathe, Kate,” Claire stated while suppressing her laughter. “You told me that a hundred times on the phone already.”“Sorry! I just... I couldn’t help but to think about it, Claire. That was probably the best date I’ve ever had in my whole life!”“Best and first, you mean. And I’m gonna make sure that it wouldn’t be the last,” she stated, before winking at me.“What do you mean? Oh, my, God! Are you saying that you’re gonna help me again to set up another date with Gabriel?!” I asked hopefully. Claire nodded, making me jump and ran towards her to give her a tight hug as a sign of gratitude.“Thank you so much!” I squealed.“Hey, that’s what
KATE’s P.O.V. Two weeks had passed. Two weeks without me talking to my bestfriend, or either way around. She’s not talking to me anymore, nor to Gabriel. Speaking of that guy, he always hangout with me even without Claire. I don’t know what happened between the two of them but suddenly, they became distinct to each other. Maybe because of the fact that Claire was avoiding him or something.“Ms. Frias, your partner for your last project this year which is the research paper is Mr. Elijah Ramirez.” I was dumbfounded when I heard that name. That guy, he always sticks around like a used bubble gum. Though it wasn’t his fault that our teacher chose him to be my partner for this project. In that way, I wouldn’t lift even just a single finger for this paper.“Hey, let’s talk about our paper later, Ms. Frias,” he stated, before winking at me.
KATE’s P.O.V. If only I can count the bucket of my tears... Maybe that wouldn’t sound absurd at all right after what happened to my friendship with Claire. I can’t even remember how it all started. Me loving Gabriel and him loving my bestfriend. For a moment, I thought I was the one. I thought he likes me back now that Claire isn’t hanging out with us anymore. But I was wrong. So wrong. I shouldn’t have let myself be driven by these weird feelings. Now I realized it. Maybe Gab just hang around with me for he was left with no choice, since I was just the one who can lead him to Claire. Sadly, as time passes by, he knows that I wasn’t planning to tease him to Claire or even help him get close to my bestfriend.“You’re here... I was looking for you for apparently an hour now... Also, I almost check every place
KATE’s P.O.V. Graduation practice. I don’t know how, but thankfully, I passed all the requirements needed without Claire’s help. Elijah is there, and he gave me a very useful hand in everything that needs to be done. And now, I can proudly say that I’m one of those graduating students ready to march at stage and get our diploma.“Braganza, Claire,” the emcee announced and she climbed up to the stairs, shaking that hands of those who act as the honorable guest and teachers.“Excited to be called? Remember, this is just a practice. Don’t be so emotional,” Elijah teased me.“Ha, ha. Whatever, Elij. I just wanted to get this over with so that we can finally have the real graduation thing.”“Well, that’s very enthusiastic. If only you asked for my help earlier than when we’ve met then maybe you could’ve also enter the top students
KATE’s P.O.V.“I’m sorry, Kate. Something came up and I need to get that deal. Don’t worry, your Mom is already on her way home. She’s gonna make it, sweetie.” I wiped my tears away out of disappointment. I thought that Mom and Dad could make it to my graduation ceremony, but they couldn’t. I tried to act tough for Mom is going be here sooner or later... They promised.“I’m really sorry, Kate. I feel bad not attending your graduation as well... But you know I’m only doing this for your future,” Dad explained.“It’s okay, Dad. I’m fine. I’m still thankful that Mom could make it later today.”“Enjoy that moment, Kate. When I came back, I promised to treat you anywhere you want.” I nodded, before turning off the call. I’m supposed to be delighted, hearing those words. But I cou
KATE’s P.O.V. Eight years had passed. I can say that so many things had changed and I’m not the weak, silly teenager anymore. I’m now stronger, wiser, and tougher than before. And I love myself that much to be able to say it. Those past few years, I used the time to change everything about me... I dyed my hair blonde, so that I wouldn’t be compared as similar to Claire or to anyone else in our country. I worked on everything I can just to change my physical features except for doing a surgery, of course. I’m still me, but not the way I am before. I used to think that maybe, maybe if Claire and I met again someday and I’ve been completely different from her, she wouldn’t underestimate my capabilities anymore. It was almost a decade but the pain she and Gabriel had caused to me still remained cristal clear on my memory.