Chapter 7 (2012)

PEARL

“You didn’t pick up your phone when I called you last night, Pearl,” Lyla complained as she sat opposite me in the cafeteria. It was lunchtime and I arrived earlier than any of us. I wanted to avoid meeting Lucas in the hallways.

“I was too tired to do anything, I practically slept like a log of wood after I got home last night,” I yawned, placed my head on the desk, and groaned, “I still feel sleepy,” I told her.

“Why? What happened with Lucas?” At the mention of Lucas’s name by Lyla, I lifted up my head, brought out my phone, and show her the text I received from the unknown number yesterday.

“Do you know this number? Can you check on your phone if it’s for Lucas?” I requested. I had that on my mind throughout this morning and I made the conclusion that it was Lucas because of the initial he used.

Lyla wiggled her eyebrow. “Why are you acting surprised? You know I know you both know someone mutual called Henry and from the way you both acted yesterday, it is crystal clear that you know each other for a longgggggggggggggg time,”

“I’m sorry I kept it from you guys, Henry is my brother and he’s a friend of Luke’s. He usually stops by at our place sometimes. Not sometimes but like five times in a week. He’s like a best friend to my brother…”

I stopped her before she could continue.

“Ma’am, I didn’t ask for your historical background or the plot outline of your family story or relationship with Luke. I don’t care. Just help me to check this number,” She nodded frantically before collecting the phone from me. She brought out her phone and after a few seconds, she gave me my phone back.

“He’s the one. It’s Lucas,”

I wasn’t surprised. “Great, now I can block him,” I did as I had said.

“Can you please keep it from Aurora and Jeremy that I know Lucas,”

I glanced at her from my phone. “I will. It’s not my business like I said so why would I tell them?” I asked her.

Soon enough both Aurora and Jeremy joined us with their tray of food. Aurora only had a small pack of juice in her tray. I frowned at her and she shrugged her shoulder. She had been complaining about feeling light-headed and not having an appetite these days. Mom has told her it was probably because she was always pressing her phone and for days, I tried to make mom see there was no correlation between the two but she never listened and I always ended up with a smack at the back of my head.

I looked at Jeremy’s tray and could only shake my head.

“Such an irony. Life is indeed an irony. If only Jeremy’s sense could be as much as the amount of food he consumes, his life would be better than this,” I shook my head again.

Jeremy dropped the spoon noisily and turned to glare at me. “Repeat that again,” He demanded.

“We both know your brain is the size of that of a cockroach, oh wait, does a cockroach even have a brain?” Acting surprised, I covered my mouth with my hand. “Does that mean Jeremy is brainless?” I asked.

Lyla was already laughing her butts off loudly.

“I will stitch that month of yours together one day, Pearl. I promise you,” I stuck my tongue out at him.

After a few minutes, Lyla asked again. “What happened with Lucas yesterday?”

I hit my head on the table and punched my thigh. “Don’t even remind me” Aurora went on to narrate to them what transpired between me and Lucas yesterday which could also be tagged as a painful nothing. I had told her everything after I got home excluding Lyla’s part.

“I think you should stay away from him, Pearl, we all know how dangerous that guy can be. He’s psychotic and you might think he’s just messing with you when he might be playing some sick games of survival with you,” Jeremy advised.

I snorted. “Well, guess who got me into this sick game in the first place?”

“I didn’t ask you to crush on the guy for as long as I can remember,”

“Why are you so dumb, Jeremy? That isn’t enough excuse for what you did. You didn’t even apologize to me about that,” I called him out.

“Enough guys,” Aurora interrupted. “What Jeremy did was bad but we shouldn’t focus on that, we should focus on how to help you resolve this and Jeremy is right, Pearl, you should try to avoid him,”

“DO you see me dancing after him?” I asked angrily. I picked up my lunch tray and dropped it off before walking out of the cafeteria to my next class.

Lucky enough, I ended up getting paired to Sticky Charlie who knows how to stick his hand in his nose more than to use it to count his alphabet. I almost puck in class and wished it was over. I ended up having a B because Sticky Charlie won’t stop picking his nose.

School ended and I waltz down the stairs to my locker, getting ready to go home and binge-watch High School Musical all over again. That movie is the only reason why I still have hope in high school. I stopped as I suddenly saw how Lyla, Jeremy, Pearl were staring at me as I was walking towards them. They were already standing beside Jeremy’s locker and when they turned, I did too with my eyes to see the devil in the leather jacket leaning against my locker.

I cursed my luck before walking towards him. I didn’t even get the courage to speak. I swallowed hard.

“Can you please excuse me? I need to pick something from my locker,” I begged.

He placed his hand in front of me. “My soda,” He asked.

I quickly rummaged through my bag and brought it out, thanking the stars that I hadn’t gotten rid of it or drank it. I placed it in his hands and he collected it, opened it, and walked towards Jeremy.

Right in front of everybody, he dumped the soda on Jeremy’s head. A number of students gasped. I watched as the liquid ran down his body, I was mortified for Jeremy.

Lucas suddenly shoved Jeremy into the lockers, grabbed him by the collar. “That’s for my jacket, loser, and the next time you mess with me, you’ll never be able to use that hand for anything good, ever again,” He threatened. He moved back a little from Jeremy and turned to me, “See you later, Augustus,” He winked and my eyes went wide.

How the heck did he know it was Jeremy? Only one answer was in my head as I watched both Aurora and Lyla help him out. How close are Lucas and Lyla exactly?