As expected, the McCoy's arrival shifted her mother into a home news reporter with the headlines being the obvious; The McCoy's in town. The news in full mentioned their visit to the new neighbors on Sunday after church service, baking a cake or a pie— whichever she ended up settling with, and giving her and Petra behavioral lectures. Her, Gianna, most especially, given her striking hate to the family over the weeks. Now she was glad, short-lived but effective; away from her born again McCoy praising mum, where her ears could rest and where she discovered where Petra got her endless blabbing gene from, Gianna checked herself for the nth time in front of Mimie's floor length mirror. Because she wasn't a fashionista or a dress-up guru, she appreciated the little effort she'd made to look a little out of the ordinary. First of all, her curly hair was unusually loose, too voluminous that it made her face almost non-existent and barely recognizable. Incognito mode 1 was checked. Her low
"I'll be back in a minute. I'll need your help, Amy." And the two matched out. Ciara held on Gianna an emphasizing gaze, but the latter suggested that they waited for the others although with or without them she will say not a thing. Hadn't four minutes passed? She pondered as she slanted to the side to grab her phone. Being the sole source of harsh lighting in the room, the gadget displayed 9:43 pm. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even get to time herself from the moment Elodie pulled her away. But if her sixth sense was right, five minutes must have long passed. She twisted her lips from side to side in contemplation after sliding the phone back into her back pocket. She had to leave. Very soon. Before her mother called for the fourth time. It was already a huge relief so far that the red-haired hadn't buzzed her phone since infiltrating the party provided the ten-minute intervals she'd pinned on maintaining instead of five, thanks to her father, as always. "Three minu
When Elodie saw Adam furiously stomp toward her, her lips immediately constricted from the laughter that previously added to her glow. "Where's Gianna?" Elodie smirked, "having the fun of her life." She sipped the liquid that later splashed on her dress as a result of Adam ungraciously pulling her by the arm and heading upstairs. "Stupid creep, get your hand off me." "Until you tell me where Gianna is." The party, at this moment, froze as hundreds of eyes concentrated on the four individuals. "What part of having fun don't you understand? Leave me alone, you're embarrassing my personality," Elodie cried. "What direction did they take?" He referred to Mimie, at the tail of the line. "That way." So did the line bend into a long corridor of doors. A boy walked out of one of them struggling with his zippers while a girl followed cue with a bird's nest in the name of hair. The two regarded them like aliens from planet non compos mentis "Which room?" Now he referred to Elodie. "A
Gianna knew not whether to be disturbed that her phone was in Adam's hold or not, given that it was password free since she still hadn't come across that one person who will graze her phone without permission. So yes, she saw no need for that, well, until last night. Not that she had anything to hide. She simply was among the few who cherished privacy to the last grain although it hadn't been on her side for quite a while. Gianna swiped through her gallery. Adam had come earlier that morning, before being picked up by her mum, to deliver her screen-cracked phone which, no doubt, was from Sean's impetuous attitude. His somber profile was electrocuting, so to say, that made Gianna wonder if it had anything to do with her phone. But when he swore to not have peeped, even when her mother called her phone that morning, she succumbed to believing him. But something still didn't sit right. She scrolled. Sometime before he left them, to get ready for his masqueraded date with Mimie, he hi
The aura around Adam had shifted as she had twice noticed—when he forbade Gianna from going to Elodie's party and the night he'd shown up after Gianna's danger alert. He looked like a whole different person behind his glasses. "Did you ever notice something strange with Gianna?" Mimie's heart cooled a bit, however, hurt. She'd expected more critical but she'd not expected Gianna to be the source of the cause. Like the other times. "What do you m-mean?" "You know, I was able to delve into her bag the other day in search of a pencil and...I saw this unusual stuff in there. Something like a square or was it a rectangular leather case? Well, she sort of looked...protective of it, is it?" His question was rhetoric and more to himself as if he'd not used the proper descriptive word. "Have you seen it before?" Mimie nodded. "She said it wa-was a pencil c-case. Customized." "Ditto," a heartbeat silence reigned. "But I don't think so, not that I ever seen such before. Why would she be so
Gianna felt a presence. Immediately, she knew who it was. Even though her head was still lowered in the pretense of reading, to avoid the ogles that came with the whispers, Mimie's grip on her hand somehow inoculated bravery in her. However, it wasn't as sufficient as displacement was concerned. She would skip lunch. Mimie didn't say anything but inserted a hanky into Gianna's hand, who hadn't realized her wet cheeks until then. She whispered a wobbly appreciation and dabbed the teardrops off. Gianna sniffed. "Where is Adam?" "He did-didn't show up to-today." "Can't join you for lunch, sorry." "I'm not ev-even hungry. Can I s-sit with you throu-through lunch?" Gianna wanted to say yes but the fear of Sean hurting her again overshadowed. "No. Get something else to do somewhere but don't stay here. It's not safe." "I learned some k-karate moves while I-I was on my sick bed." She demonstrated despite the eyes that watched, causing Gianna to lightly laugh. "Thanks, Mims," She felt
Her mother was still hell-bent furious as they rounded up with dinner that she'd failed to drink water before eating, as per her meal habit, and had spat fire to every question bombarded her way despite it being part of a harmless table conversation. Siesta was a do-or-die with the lady, another contribution to the sour temper. Especially with her finals at the doorstep. A little she could understand there.Gianna had learned that afternoon that her father was the ongoing building project's designer. It did not stun her much. The man was excellent at what he does. However, it was a perfect chance to know what the construction really was. She'd asked.'A little bit of everything,' her father had replied. 'Love hotel, Casino, Night club, and all that.'Gianna scrunched her face. 'Sounds heinous. What about here? What are you up to?''Workers quarters and a wine brewing factory,' her father had smiled, admiring the progressing construction, extremely proud of himself than anyone was of
Adam had insisted they rode in his new car, which of course wasn't similar to that which he showed up with at Elodie's messed up party. This was a white Lexus, no doubt the latest model. They hadn't talked much since his confession to instructing Jay to take down every article concerned with him, her—Gianna—and the party. And as time passed, Gianna's head began to assemble some haphazard puzzles. It was an extremely tough task to walk with the new Adam, especially with the troop of shameless girls whirling around him. Who would've dreamed? Imagined? Thought? that someday, Adam—the stick wimp, the nerd no one noticed—will be chased after. A girl even dared to shove Gianna away just to flirt with Adam. The latter gave her a cold shoulder but the girl did not take the hint. If she ended up leaving, it was as a result of Adam's verbal assault ribboned with a layer of acerbity. A phase of Adam she'd witnessed before.It ached her to admit it complimented his new look as it gave promine