CHAPTER 05: Envious Moments

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 friends are for, right? Don’t worry. The next time would probably be better than the first. I’m making sure that you two are going to have the best experience ever.”

       I smiled towards her and she did the same. We continue to chit chat about some random stuffs while watching television. Claire and I are currently here at my house again, for another sleepover. Tomorrow will be Monday, meaning that I could see Gabriel at our school again. I blushed at that thought.

“Hey, what are you thinking, tomato face?” Claire teased.

“Nothing!”

“So you’re keeping secrets to me now, huh?”

“Maybe,” I stated before chuckling.

“Whatever, Gab.” She rolled her eyes towards me.

“Please don’t call me that,” I strongly disagreed.

“Why? It sounds cute. And besides, you are going to be his girlfriend pretty much sooner or later so you better get used to it.”

        Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes towards her. I also threw a pillow playfully over her direction. She did the same to me, but this time, it was with two consecutive throws.

“Hey! That wasn’t fair!” I complained. She just chuckled.

“Kate and Gab, sitting on the tree...” she sang, making me puke.

“Ewws! Seriously? That song?” I heard her laughed.

“So, are you up for another romantic movie?” she asked menacingly, changing our conversation.

“Do what you want to do. I’m going to sleep now. We need to be early tomorrow.”

“For what?” she asked innocently.

“For school.”

“Oh. I thought you said that we should be early tomorrow for you to see your first love, Gabriel.”

        I just mimicked her words, not wanting to let her see how uncomfortable I am when she said that statement. I smiled to myself, thinking that another day full of surprises is waiting for me tomorrow.

         Monday morning. After our opening ceremony, Claire and I got separated from each other. She made her way to their classroom where Gabriel’s surely waiting right now. How I wish that I could be their classmate too. I can’t help but to be envious of my bestfriend as I went to my respective classroom as well.

         Our classes started without me even noticing it. The discussion of our professors doesn’t make sense to me and it also doesn’t want to go through inside of my mind. It was already fully occupied by something else. I couldn’t help but to think of what Claire and Gabriel are currently doing right now.

“Ms. Frias! How many times do I have to call your name just to get your attention?!” our professor scolded me.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“I’m asking you, Ms. Frias. But it seems like you aren’t listening to my discussion. Are you even interested in our lesson for today?” she asked, looking like a mad cow.

“I’m really sorry, Ma’am.”

“Please answer my question. What are the three types of measures of position that I’d just discussed earlier?” Ugh, I hate math.

“I uhm... I don’t know.”

“It’s already written on the board!” she shouted. “That only proves that you aren’t paying any attention to my class. Now sit down and listen very carefully... Or else, I’ll give you a detention slip.”

         I nodded, secretly rolling my eyes before sitting down on my chair again. Our professor continue to discuss about something, before she asked another question for our graded recitation.

“Now, can someone please tell me the answer to my question earlier?” she asked, and one of the guys from my class raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Elijah Ramirez?”

“The three types of measures of position are quartile, decile, and percentile,” he answered confidently.

“Correct. You can now sit down.”

        He did what our teacher told him to do, before glancing towards my direction. He winked at me and I just stick out my tongue at him.

“Show off,” I muttered under my breath. I heard him chuckled, before he continue to listen to our teacher’s discussion.

           Out of frustration because of what happened in our class, I quickly picked up my stuffs as soon as the bell rings. I badly wanted to tell my bestfriend about that annoying guy in our class. But to my dismay, I didn’t see her nor Gabriel inside of our school Cafeteria. Because of that, I just decided to wander around our school grounds hoping to find them both.

        My mood dropped down as soon as I saw them walking by our school garden, laughing with each other while Claire holding a piece of paper. I couldn’t help but to feel jealous at how Gabriel look at my bestfriend. I clenched my fist, hoping that it will help me ease the annoyance that I’m feeling right now.

“Hey, Kate!” I heard Claire called my name.

        I took a deep breath, my mind still debating if I should just walk away and let them enjoy their moment or stay and play unaffected in front of my bestfriend. The latter wins and as I looked up to her, I forced myself to display the sweetest smile I can on my face.

“Yes? You’re here. I didn’t saw you in the Cafeteria so I decided to wander around our school ground hoping to find you guys.”

“I’m sorry. Our teacher in Biology told us to finish this task so we weren’t been able to eat lunch anymore,” Claire casually explained.

“We are partners, anyways,” Gabriel stated, making be blink several times in shock.

“Oh. So you’re partners now, huh? I see... Anyways, how does it going? Are you already done?” I asked curiously, badly wanting to change the topic of our conversation.

“We’re almost done, so don’t worry now.”

“Actually, our teacher also told us to write a report about our observation in this activity. So I think it would be great if Claire would come over to my house for us to finish it later tonight,” Gabriel stated, making me more furious.

“What?” Claire looked up to him, and he just smiled.

“What’s the matter? It’s fine if you don’t want to. I’ll just do it all by myself,” he said, not bothering to remove that smile on his face.

         I really love that smile of his, but now it looks so annoying specially if it was for Claire and not me. I’m not blind, and I could see what he’s doing to her. He’s making my bestfriend feel guilty so that she would come over to their house like what he wanted to happened.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go, since I will also benefit from that report,” Claire approved and I saw how Gabriel’s eyes lit up.

“Really?! Then I’ll fetch you up later tonight...”

“Sure.”

       I cleared my throat before saying another word.

“Uhm... Excuse me? Can I borrow my bestfriend for a moment, please?” I asked, and I could see the surprise on Claire’s face as she heard the annoyance in the tone of my voice.

“Yeah, sure,” Gabriel casually stated, like nothing happened between the both of us.

         I pulled Claire away from him while walking toward the opposite direction. My bestfriend’s face was priceless, she looked so surprised specially when I harshly let go of her arm a few meters away from Gabriel.

“What was that?” I asked furiously.

“What was what, Kate?”

“That! Oh come on, Claire. You know exactly what I’m talking about so please stop acting innocent!”

“No, I don’t. Would you please calm down and start acting matured before pulling me out here?”

“Matured? Wow, Claire. You know that I like him, right? So maybe it would be matured if you just stepped away and avoided him in the first place.”

“Oh, I see... So this is about Gabriel now? You know that I can’t do that, Kate. He’s my classmate, and a friend.”

“Really? Just a friend?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yeah! And this?! This is just a stupid school activity for Pete’s sake, Kate...” she explained.

“Then stop flirting with him!” I almost shouted if only Gabriel wasn’t around us.

“What?! I am not flirting with him, Kate. You know that.”

“I know what I saw, Claire! And that’s what you’re doing...”

“Whoah. So you’re jealous now? After I helped you two? Do you think I’ll do that if I really like him? Of course not! But I did it ’cause I don’t.”

“Whatever, Claire.”

        I started to walk away, not wanting to admit it to myself that I am wrong. I shouldn’t have attacked my bestfriend just like that. I was about to leave when she pulled my arm to stop me from getting away. Out of frustration, I shouted some words that I know I’m going to regret pretty bad lately.

“Don’t touch me, Claire! I don’t freaking care if you’re gonna sleep with him tonight or not!”

         I received a hard slap from her right after I said those words.

“Do you really think that I can do that to you?! You’re my bestfriend, Kate. I treated you as a sister and I just don’t understand the reason why you’re so mad at me... Don’t you trust me?”

         I could see that she’s trying to suppress her tears before she shook her head and walked away from me.

“I guess not,” she whispered.

        I was left there all alone. I feel guilty, my conscience is grilling me. I shouldn’t have let those envious moments ruin my friendship with Claire. Now she’s mad at me and I don’t know what to do anymore. I ran towards the opposite direction, bursting in tears as I realized what I just did to our friendship.