Chapter 3

Tekna, thinks Mia as she stares intently at the laptop in front of her. The word has been hovering in her mind for hours now but she never seems to be able to make any sense of it; developing into some sort of enigma for her ever since she accidentally overheard it the previous night when her parents thought she was asleep.

However, finally admitting that her mind is obviously not going to get her anyway, Mia turns to the one thing everyone does when they're confused: the internet. She puts her hands to the keyboard and is about to start typing when she realises that she doesn't even have the slightest idea how the word is spelled. 

Goddammit! She groans.

After some minutes of ruminating over it, she finally decides on a speech-to-text search method instead. "Tekna," she says and the computer brings up so many results, most of which spelled the word with a "CH;" and as expected, not having anything particularly interesting or "secrety" as her parents' tone suggested the previous night.

Mia is about to try searching for the word in another form when Dana suddenly bursts into her room shouting, "I finally found the indoor cat!"

Dana happens to be Mia's best friend. Her only friend, truth be told. It kinda surprises everyone- Mia herself included- but she and Dana have been friends from childhood. Her father works in the same construction company as Sam and it's on one of her regular visits to the place that she ran into Mia.

As usual, Mia wasn't taken by the girl that can make almost anyone fall in love with her at first glance, but after some time, and a whole lot of persistence from Dana, they're able to strike a friendly accord; and have remained friends ever since.

"Not minding that you just compared me to a furry animal, what brings you to my house so early in the morning on a weekend, Dana?" Mia asks, shutting down the laptop in front of her to fully face the redhead already making herself comfortable on her bed.

Thing is, it's no secret that Dana isn't a morning person, even on schooldays. So, Mia can easily tell that her early visit isn't all that a "visit." Thinking about it then, she realises that none of Dana's visit are ever about courtesy and they usually end up with her being dared to do things that she won't be able to look at herself in the mirror for days after.

"But can't a friend just think to visit another friend on a lovely weekend morning without having any underlying motive to it?" Dana asks with what can be termed as an innocent smile- by those who don't know her, that is- as she helps herself to a gumball lying fallow in a bowl on the bedside table.

"Not if they're a redhead named Dana," Mia returns, giving her own "innocent" smile to match. "So, why don't you drop the good friend act and spill the beans already?"

"Okay, Mia. You got me," she finally admits. She gets off the bed and starts rummaging through Mia's closet for nothing in particular. Truth is, Dana's just not used to sitting still. "Thing is, the football team is hosting a party next Friday to celebrate their unbeaten run," she says as she spills a trunk-load of Mia's clothes onto the floor without even giving them a second look, "and I think we should go together."

"No, no, no. Definitely no," Mia returns immediately, shooting out of her chair so fast that Dana backed into the closet in fright. "You know very well that I don't mix well with people. Besides, I know next to nothing about football."

"So do I and I'm still going," Dana returns with a shrug like it's the most normal thing in the world; and to her, it probably is. "Come on, Mia, don't be a party pooper. It'll be fun, and you don't even have to say anything to anyone throughout the party, I promise."

"No Dana, I won't, and not just because your promises hold as much water as a basket," she insists. "Going to this party sounds like the world's worst idea, especially with me in tow."

"Most of the ideas I come up with always sound like the world's worst but till date, none has ever come back to bite us in the ass," Dana reminds her with a lovely smile. "Look at it this way, a party means free food and handsome boys all packed up in the same place waiting to be picked. This could be a good opportunity to get your groove on."

Mia facepalms herself and crashes heavily onto her bed. No one can win an argument against Dana; she'll just insist her point till they agree.

"Okay, I'll go with you," she finally says after pretending to think about it for a while. "But a football party means that there's a good chance of me running into you-know-who."

"Andrew Cameron," calls Dana with a feigned dreamy look and smile, "your hellsent boyfriend."

Of course, she knows he's going to be there, Mia shakes her head; everybody does actually. No party in town is complete without the presence of golden boy, Andrew Cameron, especially if it's hosted by the football team. He's an unexpendable part of it.

Unfortunately, he and Mia can never sit in the same room for a minute-second without causing an explosion; and never the good kind.

"I got it!" Dana shouts all of a sudden even though she's laying right next to Mia, almost exploding the latter's eardrums in the process. "We'll go early, find ourselves a good spot to hang out but out of his reach, and if things start getting too hot, we'll leave."

Of course, Mia knows that Dana didn't really mean the "We'll leave if things start getting too hot" part of her statement but at least, it's something she can hold her to it if need be. So, she nods her agreement.

"All good Dana but I still need to ask permission from my pa-"

"Already taken care of," Dana cuts in, "and they already agreed to it. I've got to say your Mom was particularly happy about it."

Of course, she was, Mia groans in her head. Regina will agree to anything if it means that she gets to go out and meet people.

"That'll be all for now then," Dana says as she finally prepares to take her leave. "I'll be here on Friday evening to come pick you up for the party, and I'll bring the clothes. Nothing in your closet is worthy to be called a shopping outfit, not to talk about a party outfit. Believe me, it'll be fun."

Mia can only sigh as she watches her redhead friend literally skip out of the room in joy.

Dana may be wrong about many of the things she's said but she does get one thing right. The party will be fun, just not the kind they're looking forward to.