Chapter Six

Dominic

I spent the rest of the night trying to think for a valid reason as to why that anti-Valentine club picked me for a specific task that I’m sure I can’t do. It doesn’t make me any special from the rest, and I’m certainly not a helpless worm hooked in a fishing rod, hoping to lure and catch a big bad shark. Their agenda against Valentine was indeed promoting something very good to the society, and I commend them for having a positive motivation for forming the club, but choosing me was definitely out of the grid. First of all, I don’t think that I have Valentine’s attention when his attention is glued to someone else named Yhannie Thomas. Valentine’s straight, everyone knows about it, and I’m not certainly capable of breaking someone’s heart even if we say that I genuinely hate that person so much to force myself to do such thing.

The more I pondered about the thought, the more I push myself to believe that they all judged me for that. I don’t look gay at all, do I?

As I was about to close my eyes and force myself to sleep, I heard my phone rang loud enough to catch my attention. When I scampered to grab my phone, I saw Yhannie’s name on the screen.

“So finally, our dearest Angelina Jolie returned my call” I jeered up careful enough not to erupt at such an early stage. I bet Yhannie needs something from me, or maybe the day we have been waiting for finally came. The day when Valentine finally decides to dump her off the dumpster because he was getting bored of her.

“I’m so sorry, Nick,” She began. At first, she sounded exactly normal, so I just thought maybe she just finally realized that leaving her friends for Valentine was a very bad move on her part, but then she started sniffing, and I already knew she was crying. “I’m really really sorry”

“Yeah, you are,” I replied, feeling rather serious than sorry for her. We warned her even if we don’t have to because she knows about it, but she’s stubborn, and she jumped into the ocean of stupidity, and she doesn’t even know how to swim or much less float. I’m not taking responsibility for her foolishness.

“He…… dumped me” She wept, her words were coming out from her seemingly clogged nose.

“I know right, that’s so predictable of him!” I sarcastically shot at her.

“Huhuhu….. I know Nick, I shouldn’t have fallen for him and his chocolate tongue and I love chocolates, you know that very well, Nick! I just thought maybe I could be the one who can change him into becoming a decent person and introduce to him how love works,” She cried. This was merely headstrong of her. What is she? Some kind of love teacher who can teach a person with a thick, calloused heart to learn how to love again?

“Are fucking serious, Yhannie? Do you think you can make him love you? Do you actually think that you can flip the coin for him? Do you think you can do that, huh?” I swear if she were talking in front of me, I would be screaming mad at her.

“I’m so sorry about everything. I’m so sorry. I’m so heartbroken right now, and I really need some doze of sympathy from you,” She appealed. Now, she’s begging for my sympathy, which was pissing the shit off me. I can hear how desperate and broken she is right now. Sorry, not sorry, boo.

“I don’t know about that Yhannie. Maybe you should’ve thought about this before going out with him before letting him dump you before letting him hurt you,” I said before finally ending her call and subsequently switching my phone to airplane mode so she can bother me no more.

I woke up the next morning feeling substantially bad at myself. I think I regret those words I just said last night when Yhannie called. That’s my right as her best friend, I’m aware of that, and yes, she needed me in times of her dark times, and it’s my obligation, as her only closest friend to share some compassion for her sufferings. I felt sick.

“Are you alright, honey?” My mom asked the moment I scampered to her minivan.

“Yhannie and the group just had a little misunderstanding,” I replied, looking outside of the window as she drove down the streets.

“Well then, you should fix it before it gets even worse” She patted my shoulder. Her soft, calming voice was not helping me think, but it certainly sets the ambiance.

“I know mom, but she’s the one who sparked the fire” I sighed almost in an inaudible whisper.

“And you are supposed to wait for her to put it off?” I looked at her and shook my head in confusion.

“Hmm,” I groaned. I don’t know exactly what to do. I'm mad at her, but I also want her to understand her mistake. We had some misunderstandings back then, but it wasn’t something as profound as this, and we always make up just the very same day knowing that we can’t be fighting over shallow things.

“Honey, listen to me. If someone tried to burn down your house, what are you going to do?” My mom started again in her indirect prowess of pushing me to think for a solution to this problem. I adore her for that, though.

“I'm going to put out the fire, of course,” I answered her with something like ‘duh’ sound in it but with a little politeness.

“Exactly. You put out the fire before it becomes a conflagration and before the conflagration becomes an inferno and burn the whole country down. No one will do that other than you,” She exclaimed, and everything started to make sense. “Because it’s your own house.”

As soon as I got to school, the first thing I did was to comb every corner of the school where I think Yhannie might be, but she’s nowhere to be found, and it’s almost time for the first period. I only found Zach and Ivan talking at our very same spot.

“Have you seen Yhannie?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“Who’s Yhannie?” Zach asked, shaking his head in reply.

“She’s probably making out with Valentine somewhere,” Ivan butted in coldly. I see they are still pissed at her. I was supposed to be angry at them, but I was so focused on my plans of mending this crevice for the sake of our friendship. I don’t blame them for not seeing that.

“Valentine dumped her” As soon as I said that the walls they’d build up to seclude her just broke down.

“What the fuck!” Zach gasped. “Where’s she?”

“That’s what I’m asking for.”

“Oh yeah, we have to find her then.”

For the remaining time, we went on a panic search for Yhannie.

I saw Valentine hanging out with his usual circle, and he seemed pretty reasonable. Of course, he was. It’s not like he’s going to cry about it. This whole thing was just a silly game for him that made me realize that he was more of a game maker than a player because players don’t always win, but game makers do. They create the game, and when they decide to stop it out of boredom, they will just quickly end it. The sick bastard! Part of me wants to jump there and confront him up front, but the part required to fix things first won.

After some time of searching, Yhannie was still nowhere to be found, and even when the bell rang, and we all entered the room, she’s still nowhere. She didn’t enter, which lead me to begin catching the fall.

This was my entire fault. If only I let her talk and explain more about her side last night, our circle would probably be a circle again. Fuck my stupid pride.

During the lunch break, the three of us ate surprisingly quiet for a change. The chair where Yhannie was supposed to be seated felt relatively empty, unlike the days when she was still hanging out with Valentine, that space was filled with hatred towards her, but now it was just blank. I can feel how sorry Zach and Ivan are for Yhannie. No one had the guts to open their mouth before I felt my phone vibrate under my pants.

I struggled to reel it out of my tight jeans' pocket, and when I finally had it, I saw a text message from Yhannie’s mother saying that she’s in the hospital because of overdosage. An overwhelming surge of panic pinched me in the ass.

Now, what could’ve she done to herself? Did she try to commit suicide?

Fuck, the idea might seem absurd and exaggerated, but it could be true. I know Yhannie, she tends to be very sentimental over petty things, and her breakdowns sometimes make her crazy to the point that she considers killing herself. This is entirely my fault.

I feel sorry for Yhannie, frustrated at myself, and very pissed at Valentine. I showed the text message to Zach and Ivan, and as I was expecting, they both went berserk. In the end, we decided to visit her at the hospital.

“I think you should go ahead first. I’ll just catch up later,” I ordered for both Ivan and Zach. We are supposed to go to the hospital.

“What? I thought we are all going to visit her,” Ivan asked, struck with confusion.

“I have something important to attend to,” I said then gave them both a final glare.

“Okay, but be sure to catch up fast.”

I don’t know what’s going on inside my head; maybe it was the prevailing maelstrom of anger boiling inside me or the bottomless glass of desperation on wanting to fix things to the right lane or maybe the inexplicable combination of the two. I found myself sitting in a chair inside the room of the drama club.

“Are you sure you’re going to do it?” Anna calmly repeated scrutinizing me for some possible second thoughts. In my peripheral vision, I can see Valerie and Bruno were smiling from ear to ear.

“Yes, I’ll do it” Disregarding all of the possible repercussions of my senseless actions, I nodded with firm conviction and dedication that I’m going to break Valentine’s, playboy heart.

I was sure about doing this thing knowing about what happened to Yhannie plus the coming days when Valentine would go out on the streets and break anyone’s heart without caring about the aftermaths of his actions. My gay soul will be more than happy to see Valentine cry, and maybe he’ll kill himself for the society’s good. Although I admit, I didn’t have much time to ponder about it properly, but if breaking Valentine’s heart will set everything back to the right line, then I’ll fucking do it with full force dedication. I’m just overwhelmed by my frustrations that I don’t care anymore if my sexuality will be put at stake. This decision is not just for Yhannie and me but for everyone else. I’m doing a good deed here.

“We just want you to know that once you agree to this, there’s no turning back,” Valerie reminded me as she pulled out a piece of paper from her file case and then placed it on top of the table.

“Yes, I’m fully aware of that. What is this?” I asked with a partial attempt to read what’s written on the paper.

“This is the ODV contract,” Bruno cleared, giving me a pen designed with feathers and glitters. “Sign here.”

“And then?” I asked, giving them a look after signing on the paper. I didn’t even read everything written on it. All I know was I’m doing a good deed here. I just put my signature in it, and then it's done. I’m already a part of this shit. This Anti-Valentine Grande seemed pretty serious about destroying Valentine. I guess that’s how much of a jackass he was that everyone he hurt began organizing their very revenge.

“You may start the Operation Destroy Valentine’s heart” They all sang in unison, siding it with some rehearsed dance steps with their hands on their head and waist that seemed pretty awkward if I was to do it.

“So what are the things I have to do,” I asked getting comfortable on my place as Bruno started writing the things I have to on the board.

How to Destroy a Fuckboy

1. Steal his attention.

2. Make him kiss you.

3. Make him want more.

4. Surprise him.

5. Go on a date with him.

6. Make sure that he will remember your first date.

7. Seduce him but make sure to leave him hanging.

8. Make him introduce you to his parents.

9. Be his boyfriend.

10. Destroy him.

“Do I really have to ki----“ I’m about to protest on that kissing thingy, but someone shushed me off.

“Shhhhhh! We said there was no turning, and that also means no complaints about the things you need to do” Valerie volleyed strongly, shushing me down before I even finish my sentence.

Why do I have to kiss him? His mouth’s probably overpopulated with sexually transmitted whatsoever disease out of kissing multiple girls. But I signed up for this, and I think I might as well do it.

“Do I need to copy all of that?”

“We'll provide you a copy of that. Oh, and we only have one rule that you must abide if you don’t want to fail at this,” Anna spoke, sounding more serious.

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll abide by that. I’m doing well at abiding rules.”

“Well, let’s see about that,” Valerie smirked.

“So, what’s the rule?”

“DON’T EVER FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM”