Chapter 3

B for Baffling

Flashback

It was 4:30 pm, and I’m supposed to be at home. This girl who showed up from nowhere dragged me into one of the empty classrooms. We were on the third floor, and the hallway was already emptied. No one was there except us. She found her way on the windows. I followed her, just like what I’ve been doing ever since she talked with me in the locker room. I was curious about who she was looking into below. I saw the bench where I was taking my snacks, the first time I saw this girl. You can also see the baseball court more clearly, and there he was. Jim, the baseball boy I said I knew earlier.

“Are you…”

She didn’t let me finish my sentence. She cut me off like she knew what I was going to say.

“He’s not my type,” she said. Clear as the sky, she saw right through me. I was supposed to ask her if she was one of those girls who admired Jim.

“I was going to ask you if you are somewhat related to him,” I lied. Of course, my ego doesn’t want to admit l lost at this moment.

“We’re cousins. I’m looking out for him.” That put me into silence. I don’t think if that was just her voice or it was naturally lifeless or unenergetic as it is.

How come a girl was looking out for her cousin who looks like a boy who can overthrow any gang leader? This girl is shorter than me and even shorter than Jim. Does she know any martial arts? Is she that strong that she has the confidence to look out for Jim? She doesn’t look like it.

I was right. A guy like me having a conversation with a girl like her is a mess. There was a long silence between us, and I already have a list of questions I want to ask her, but it’s not going to happen. I don’t want to get into someone’s business. Later on, she broke the silence. Thank God for doing that.

“Now, give me the paper,” she said as she faced me. I was a bit surprised, her tone changed, but I did hand her over the paper Audi gave me earlier.

“Audi didn’t do this,” she said like she was sure of it.

“What?”

I thought Audi did this since I saw her this morning running away from our Prefect. She smiled. Not your typical smile, though. It was a bit wicked. There was something hidden behind that smile. It gives me chills all over through my spine. I think something bad is going to happen.

-0-0-0-

Present

“Oh yes, that part was so funny. I really laughed my heart out at that time.” She can still maintain her elegance despite talking while her mouth is full.

We talked about some things like the movies we watched, the music we hear, the artists we like and some other things to talk about. She’s a Potterhead, and she’s a Hufflepuff. She likes Taylor Swift since Tim McGraw. Cycling is her type of exercise since she likes to wander around and discover places she has never been before. She’s a lawyer, but she can easily forget, so she has to familiarize things pretty well. She has never been to New York, and she wants to go there before she turns 30. She’s a woman with an unending list of facts about her. She’s a dreamer, and she knows herself pretty well. She’s perfect, unlike me. I’m an antisocial lazy guy who wants to spend his weekends alone in his apartment. She’s amazing in everything she does, even if it is silly. I knew many things about her by just having this sudden lunch date our mom set up for us.

“Some find her accent funny, but I find it cute. It goes well with her personality,” I told her.

“She goes so well with Reese Witherspoon. They’re legends,” she remarked. Amusement’s written all over her face as she eats her last serving of pasta and drinks her red wine.

We were talking about a movie, Hot Pursuit. We found a woman on the other table that looks like Sofia Vergara, one of the protagonists of that story, and that’s how we ended up talking about it.

“Yes. If she was my mom, my aunt, or a friend of mine, I guess all we could do is laugh,” she said, almost choking her food inside her mouth.

“That movie made me laugh so hard that my mom threw me the spatula she was holding because I was so loud.”

“My mom almost threw me out of our house that night.”

I think we’re the only one who talks so loud inside this restaurant. Everyone’s looking at us like we’re some weirdos having some lunch, and we’re not supposed to be there. Who cares? We’re customers just like them.

“I think the time we finish eating this dish, they could throw us out and be banned here forever since we talk so loud,” she whispered. I nodded. We have the same thoughts.

“Yeah. We looked like an old friend who met up for the first time in 10 years.”

“You’re the only guy who I laughed with like this.” She has her way of making a guy fall in love with her words.

“And you’re the first one I made friends with from all the ladies my mom set me up with.”

“Oh! Audi told me you never had a friend before them. Is that true?” she asked.

If it’s not she’s talking to, maybe she could offend the other person, but that was true, so I had no defense with it. I nodded my head and smiled.

“Really?  So you made friends when you’re already a senior? How could you survive evil during those years?” She couldn’t believe what I told her.

“Luckily, I got no friends. I didn’t get attached to any of the students. I’m not that smart also, so teachers and students come and go. No one stayed,” I said.

Her eyes went a bit softer, and she flashed her warmest smile. “If we were schoolmates, I think I’ll pull you out of your shell and force you to make friends with everyone,” she said.

“Gladly, we’re not.” I laughed, and that made her put up a sour face.

“But someone did,” I added.

I remember that face, and it flashed before me in my head. She’s one of the people I couldn’t forget during high school. She and those weird cards she’s playing.

“What’s her name?” Kitchie asked in her amusement.

-0-0-0-

Flashback

“I’m Rev, by the way,” she said as she scanned the piece of paper I gave her.

“I’m Jarren.”

She didn’t respond. ‘Yes, Jarren, nice to meet you.’ She made me talked with myself.

She’s alone in her thoughts, and I was there patiently waiting for her to talk or say something about Audi and this piece of paper.

She stared at me for a minute and grabbed something from her pocket. It looks like a set of cards with a letter W and F written on its back in an Old English font style. Suddenly her face went pissed in a split second. Or is it just me? She sighed and put those cards back in her pocket. She looked at me again like a mother looking at his failure son.

“I made a wrong move,” she said in her soft voice.

I don’t know what she’s talking about. I don’t even know why I was dragged up here. If Audi didn’t steal the answer key, who did? Is she related to Audi? Why does she know Audi didn’t steal it? What are those cards about? Why am I talking to a weird girl whom I never saw before? Why am I talking to myself at this moment?

“What move?” I asked her.

“You,” she said.

I had a stare fight with this strange girl named Rev. She didn’t even flinch with her poker face. I heard the big crowd cheering outside at the baseball court. I think Jim or one of his teammates made another home run. Jim is quite popular when it comes to baseball.

“Why? I mean, how did I become a wrong move? You…”

She didn’t let me finish my sentence again. She looked away and stared at the window where the baseball court is and didn’t even bother to answer any of my questions. Just as how I was about to get annoyed by this girl, she smiled. Not at me, though. I looked down from the window, and my guess was right. Jim’s team had another victory on their list.

I’m not sure what I saw, but I think I saw Audi tapped Jim’s back. She’s still here?

“I know you, Jarren.” I look at her. Her statement gave me another question on my mind.

“I know you since before,” she added. I want to hear more from her, so I stayed quiet.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” she said as she moved her feet, filling the gap between us.

“I believe some things are meant to happen. Our decisions might affect some factors. We have to make a move, and so is fate, but...”

She moved her right hand forward, offering for a handshake. “Nice meeting you, Jarren.”