Chapter 7: Deja vu

The following day back on Campus...

It was a normal lazy afternoon. A peaceful and quiet day to relax and rest after the tiring first half of morning class. The serenity of the campus was interrupted when Edward rushes to the school building and furiously looks for Joaquin. 

Everyone who crosses paths with him moves away or heads in the other direction and gives way as he walks through the hallway. They can feel his anger with every footstep that echoed sharply around the place like the booming heartbeat of a condemned prisoner. His piercing eyes were scanning every corner of the hallway until he finally sees his target.

"I am so going to kill you!" Edward rushes towards Joaquin. He grabs Joaquin's collar and pulls him closer to him. Edward clenched his fist on Joaquin's shirt and glared at him with gritted teeth.

"Hey, hey, calm down. What's going on?" 

Joaquin is looking at him with a feeling of confusion. He has no clue about Edward's rage. 

"First of all, It's not her!" Edward furiously said to him. "Second, that chick is a psychopath!" 

"Chill bro, tell me what happened," Joaquin looks surprised and tries to calm his friend.

Joaquin drags his friend out of the crowd before everyone notices them. They went to the usual place behind the school building where nobody is around. As soon as the coast is clear Edward went on ranting.

"It's fake! Her ass is fake!" he sounded disappointed, and he swallowed down his frustration.

"How can you tell?" Joaquin looks so curious and his brows drew together.

They both sat down on one of the benches in the schoolyard. Before they continued with their conversation. Joaquin knew that it was going to be a long one.

"The same thing happened, we had our dinner then, and I brought her to the wine cellar to see her reaction if she can recall the first time we met, but she does not react at all. I thought she was just pretending not to remember, so I played along and things got intense we started to make out. Her ass was amazing I can't help but give her a little slap..." 

Before he continues Joaquin interrupts him with his eyes wide open plastering a big smile on his face.

"My oh my, you little devil, such a naughty boy I bet you even ask her to scream your name while you're yelling who's your daddy?" Joaquin laughs.

"How did you know that she had a daddy issue?" Edward gave him a once-over.

"Dude, how would I know? I have never gone out on a date with her. Her caliber is too high for someone like me," Joaquin responded.

Edward looked at his friend and checked any sign of deceptiveness and when he confirms that Joaquin is being sincere in his innocence about Martina's true nature he continues with his story.

"The whole time she was calling me daddy and acting like a different person. I mean when we had dinner she was so nice, decent, and eloquent.

"She seems like a bipolar to me. I'm sorry, but I have no idea that she is like that at all," Joaquin sincerely said. 

"But that's not what happened, I was petrified that when I slap her ass it got deformed and my hand printed on her ass cheeks. I got scared that I immediately rush her to the hospital to have it fixed and checked" Edward looked tense rubbing his fingers over his pendant.

Joaquin notices how worried Edward was afraid that things would escalate especially if Martina's parents would found out what happened. Not only that, they will be the talk of the whole university. 

"Bro, chill, don't be so stressed, her parents were the best plastic surgeon in the province, no wonder, her ass was fake," Joaquin said. "I remember Martina was telling everybody that her ass was real. So, don't worry about it because I don't think they will allow this incident to spread out," Joaquin tries to comfort his friend.

"I hope you're right. I wanted her to be the one, but she is not," he sadly said to him.

Joaquin places his hand over Edward's shoulder and gently pats it.

"Never lose hope because your only best friend is here to save the day! Yesterday, I met this girl in yoga class. She has beautiful big brown eyes." Joaquin said excitedly.

"Since when did you like yoga?" Edward looks suspicious.

"Never, I just like to watch girls in yoga pants. They look so sexy especially when they bend over while their sweat starts to drip in their yoga pants!" Joaquin is making a big smile. "Plus, I happened to have a gold membership card to the top yoga studio in this town."

"You're such a maniac. I don't even know why I became friends with you," Edward said in disgust.

"You can't blame me. I'm only human. Girls are my weakness and I have two words, buddy, "yoga pants" and "camel toe" those two are hard to resist," he said drooling about it.

"Ewe! That's four words and you're not making any sense," Edward said rolling his eyes.

Edward looks at the time on his wristwatch and stood up from the bench. Edward signals his friend to get up on the bench because they are going to be late on their next subject. While they are walking back inside the school building, they continue with their conversation.

"It doesn't matter, who's counting anyway? What matters is she has a great body, firm thigh, nice ass, and huge rack and you know what captivates me the most?" Joaquin said seriously.

"Hmmm… let me guess her big brown eyes?"

Edward stops from walking and gleamed at Joaquin expecting a decent answer.

"Her camel toe! And yes of course her big brown eyes! She may be the one you are looking for. She is the daughter of the Pastor. Her name is Guadalupe Purification. She looks so innocent and the name itself sounds immaculate," Joaquin said trying to convince his friend.

Edward shook his head and waves his hands across each other as a sign of dispute.

"I give up," Edward firmly said. "I am never going on another blind date again."

"Who says about a blind date?"

"If there is no blind date then why are we having this conversation anyway?" Edward confusedly asked him.

"It's because Guadalupe's family is having a masquerade party on Saturday. It's a win-win situation it's either she is the one you've been looking for or the mysterious girl is going to attend that party too."

The corners of Edward's eyes crinkled upon hearing Joaquin's bright idea. The excitement on Edward's face slowly fades away when he saw the commotion going on in the hallway. They were about to enter the classroom when they saw Ella running in the hallway. She is being chased by female students. One of the students was able to catch up with her and pulled her hair to stop her from running. The other students ganged over her and push her around.

Edward was about to rush toward the women and stop them from hurting Ella when Joaquin grabs his arm.

"Don't you dare," Joaquin firmly said to him? His face turns into serious mode.

"She is outnumbered," Edward worriedly said. He tries to remove Joaquin's hand from his arm, but Joaquin tightens his grip on him.

"You are the reason why she is being bullied!" Joaquin exclaimed.

Joaquin forcibly drags Edward inside the classroom and asked everybody to get out of the room, so they can have privacy. The students immediately rush out of the room as soon as they hear Joaquin telling them to get out. They are all intimidated by him because of his wide connection with the most powerful and influential students of the school. As soon as they all left, Joaquin closes the door.

"Why me? I have done nothing wrong!"

Edward spread his arms showing his empty hands as a sign of his innocence.

"Don't you think I don't know that you are hanging out with her?" Joaquin pushes Edward into the wall. "Dude people are talking about you two," he furiously said to him.

Edward gets back at him and pushes him back.

"Dude, you know me. I am not interested in Ella. We are just friends," he said trying to reason out with Joaquin.

Joaquin grabs Edward's collar with his hands and clenches his fist on his shirt. 

"I know, but you can't stop them from gossiping about you and putting malice over your friendship with her," he said trying to nail his words through his head.

Edward suddenly had a realization and finally understands what Joaquin was trying to tell him. He felt like all of his energy was drained from his body as he depressingly sat down on one of the chairs.

"Why are they so mad if I am friends with her?" he said with a gloomy sigh.

"You are one of the most eligible bachelors in the province, and women get jealous of your closeness with her. Especially with her poor status, they are thinking that she is only after your money."

Joaquin pulls one of the chairs closer to his friend and sat beside him.

"Ella is not like that," Edward sincerely said to him. He means every word more than it sounds. 

"How can you tell?" he immediately asked with a doubtful look in his eyes. "Even if you're right, what would your family say about being close with someone like her? Your family will not allow your name to be tarnished by a low-life," he bluntly said to him.

"I have enough of this conversation. I won't allow her to get hurt only because she is my friend."

Edward immediately stood up from the chair and head straight to the door.

"Edward, stop!" Joaquin tries to knock the senses out of him.

"You can't stop me." He glared at him.

Joaquin warns his friend one last time before Edward walks out on him.

"Stop toying with her. If you care for her safety, just stay away from her and let her be invisible to everybody's eyes like she always has."