by Segunda L.
Copyright© 2015 Segunda L.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means, without prior written permission.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my Mom and Dad, thank you for the endless support.
Chapter 1
Jared
My ears were ringing from a slap I received from Tricia.
Damn. The girl could slap. Hard. My jaw felt like it was going to drop from the impact. No wonder she was the captain of the volleyball club, her spike was no joke.
While I was talking with my friends, she came trudging towards me. I was about to plant a wet kiss on her oh so sweet lips but I got a big, fat slap on the face instead. I was shocked. Stunned. I stood there unmoving for a split second. I guess she wasn't as shocked as I was because she was the first one to talk.
Nostrils flaring, she said. "You! You lied to me."
What lie? Was she talking about the time I ditched our second monthsary to party with the boys in another high school with really hot female students? Nope. Probably not. I gave a pretty convincing excuse that time. Told her I had a practice game with another school which was true. Only the game ended at 12 pm. If I went home directly we could have celebrated it the way she wanted us to. I stayed for the after game party that was more of a testosterone rush than our basketball game. The girls there were smoking hot. Back to the question, did Tricia find out about Carrie? I told her she was just a friend, of course I didn't add the "with benefits" part. Or was this about how I forgot her birthday because I was busy playing Final Fantasy? There was a long list that I could come up right now so I figured I might as well ask what she was referring to.
"What lie?" I said while feigning innocence.
"Kate saw you lip-locking with Johanna last night. Don't you dare lie to me, Jared."
Johanna? Who was that? I tried to recall a girl named Johanna whom I was supposedly lip-locking to last night. Uh. Couldn’t remember. I was so wasted last night at John's party. There were a lot of girls who were after me because of the obvious fact that I was a stud. Call me arrogant but hey, when you got it, you got it. I was usually discreet about my other affairs while I was with an official relationship but I guess the booze got over me last night.
"Babe, I was drunk last night. I can't even remember her." What was the point in lying? I was already caught red-handed.
"You don't remember Johanna? Blonde hair, skinny, big boobs. Just your type." Her eyes showed irritation.
I paused. An image of a girl getting it on with me with the same characteristics that Tricia described popped in my head. Oh she was my type, alright.
"You remember now? You're such a jerk Jared. We're over." She crossed her arms to her chest. And just stood there.
Was she expecting me to beg her to take back what she said?
Hell no.
I touched the part of my jaw where she hit me and said, "Ok. If that's what you want."
Based on her reaction, I bet she wasn't expecting my reply.
"Y-you won't stop me?" She said in disbelief.
Once girls tell me it was over, then it was over. I wouldn’t ask that we get back together and besides, Tricia didn't deserve a guy like me. She deserved someone better. She was pretty enough to get my attention so I asked her out. We had been together for two months and to be fair to her, she was actually girlfriend material while I had been nothing but a womanizing boyfriend. I deserved to be called a jerk by her but the slap was a bit too much, okay, fine, maybe I deserved it after all.
"You said it yourself. We're over. Just so you know, I really was drunk last night. Hell, I vaguely remember the girl. It wasn't my intention to cheat on you in public." I knew Tricia had a reputation to protect. She was after all one of the most popular kids in school and rumors about her boyfriend cheating on her would probably affect this reputation of hers for good or for worse.
She looked apprehensive at first. I think she was debating whether to believe me or not. Or maybe she was thinking of giving our relationship another try. Well, what could I say? She just couldn’t get enough of me.
"I hope we can still be friends after this." I added a tone of finality in my voice.
That seemed to snap her out of apprehension. Forget what I said about her wanting to get back together, her face right now showed murderous intent. I thought she was going to slap me again so I braced myself for the impact.
"You never really loved me, did you?" She choked.
No slap?
Then she said, "Don't answer it."
I couldn't look at her while talking because I noticed when she talked, her voice was shaking like she was about to cry. I was never good with water works. I put my hands in my pocket and waited for her to go. "Bye, Patricia. See you around."
"You're a coward Jared. You run away when things get serious." She said, almost a whisper that I had to concentrate to hear her. She stood there for another three seconds and finally, she said, "Good bye."
~*~*~
I was feeling grumpy by the time I attended my Biology class. No matter how I tried to deny it, the scene earlier distressed me more than I thought. By lunch break, the whole school was already talking about it. Talking about me and how I got slapped by my ex-girlfriend who was a star of the volleyball team. My friends who saw the whole incident where giving me high fives for making the hottest girl in school my latest victim. Every kid I passed in the hall looked at my face and was probably wondering which side I got hit. The girls were more generous though, they asked me how I was doing and offered ice to give me first aid for my swollen cheek. But I dismissed them politely. I wasn't in the mood to be pampered right now. I wanted to destroy things! I was upset with Tricia. Running away? Why would I ever do that? And what the hell did she mean by calling me a coward? Me? A coward? I never once backed away from a challenge.
Bitter girls after break up were the worst. Obviously, she said that to have the upper hand in the situation. Power play. That was what it was. Putting the enemy off balance. Too bad, I also knew the rules of the game.
It was important that I maintain a cool form right now. If I showed even a slight hint of grumpiness then it will seem like I was affected by the incident. I decided I was going to play the uncaring devil type. But to do that, first I had to find ways to vent off my stress. I was thirty minutes early for Biology class because I wanted to escape the prying eyes of the other students. Seriously, if I stayed longer in the hall, I think I was going to act like a wild man and start howling. The door opened suddenly, startling me.
"Oh. You beat me."
Standing beside the door was probably the fattest girl in the whole school. She was so fat, I think her shirt was a size twice larger than mine. On her shirt were words YOU ARE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE written on it. Yeah, you're a fatty, that's what you want to be. Good job in stating the obvious. She was kind of tall which made her even more monster-like. She was wearing skinny jeans (skinny jeans for fatties?) which I think were actually just regular jeans when she bought them but ended up being skinny jeans because of her over sized legs. Her shoulder bag was a shade of pink and was the same color as her cheeks right now. Huh?
"J-Jared Kippling. I didn't know it was you." She said, stammering. "I'm usually the first one in class, it's the first time someone came here earlier than me."
I raised an eyebrow.
"That's why I said you beat me earlier." She continued to explain. She wasn't looking at me, her gaze was on the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. But her cheeks betrayed her, she was red as a tomato.
I was still feeling grumpy and this fatty's stammering here only added to that. Making fun of her
will surely be a great stress reliever. So I did what Jared Kippling would do when meeting losers like her.
"Move aside fat ass. People can't come inside 'cause your fat ass is blocking it." I made sure to emphasize the words fat ass to her.
"Ah- I'm sorry." She moved from the door and sat on a chair beside me.
Are you kidding me?
Some people were just into self-torture, I guess fatty was one of them. I was about to say something insulting to her when she said, "Bad day, huh."
I couldn't read the expression in her face because she was trying her best to look away. Great, I forgot that even losers loved to gossip, no, especially losers. They probably dreamed of being in those gossips if they had a chance. But hey, I wouldn't know that for sure, I'm not a member of the loser squad.
"Nothing that I'm not used to." I said.
"So…uhm, I heard what happened. Are you ok?" She asked. Fatty got a crush on me? I think I'm about to puke.
"What do you care?" I shot back.
I was disgusted by the idea that she might reveal her secret crush on me so I changed my question. "What size is your shirt?" Then she stopped breathing. "Mine's Large. I'm guessing yours is twice, no, four times larger." I think I hit bull's eye because I saw her shoulders tremble. Should I stop? No. I was just starting. "It's about to fall apart." This time, she looked at me, confused. "The chair. Poor thing. Getting sat on with you fat ass. It's a wonder why it still hasn't collapsed with your weight right now. I seriously admired the craftsmanship of our school's properties. Good to know we're not wasting our money on some half assed equipment. Which brings me to the point, how much do you weigh? Let me rephrase that, what's your vital stat? No. Forget it. Don't answer that. " I recalled Tricia's voice saying the same line. Damn it. "On second thought, maybe you should answer that." I said because it made me feel like I could have changed the scene earlier with Tricia.
She didn't give me a reply. As expected.
I looked at her and she wasn't crying or anything just playing dumb. Or maybe she really was dumb and a fatty, a great combination. Now, when you're bullying someone you actually want to get a reaction from them. This fatty here was playing deaf and it wasn't the reaction I want. So I continued.
"What? You won't tell me your vital stat? I'll just have to guess then. Let's see..." I moved my chair slightly facing her position. I eyed her from head to toe. I had to stop myself from gagging. "Thirty-six, twenty four, thirty-six." I said, with obvious mockery. "That's just the vital stat of your legs." This time I got a reaction. She flinched.
I wasn't contented by that. I wanted―.
What the hell did I want?
"Hmm. Forty, forty, forty? Come on girl, you got to help me here. Higher or lower?"
I think she was about to cry. Hah. That's more like it. I didn't care when uglies cry.
"Forty, sixty, forty? Hey now, how will I know when I'm right if you won't tell me? That's unfair."
Other students came and began filling in the room. I immediately returned my chair to its original position. Fat ass bolted out of the room as soon as she got away from my clasps. I heard her say, "Excuse me," as she fought her way out from the incoming students.
Chapter 2
Jared
I was dead tired from the basketball practice today. My body was screaming from exhaustion. I was more tired today because of the pressure to act cool, normally I didn’t need to act, to be cool was natural for me, like how it was natural for humans to breath but today was different. People were watching me (that was also natural) but they were watching me to find out if I was going to fall. I didn’t give them the satisfaction. A girl won’t cause me to break my reputation. People were making a fuss of it because it was the longest steady relationship that I had and the only official one (most were one-night stand thing). They could just add that to my playboy status.
Sarah, a cheerleader, was flirting with me the whole time in the basketball court, taking advantage of the fact that I was single now. But I didn’t give in. I preferred my girls to be the conservative type. That was the same reason why I was attracted to Patricia. Sarah was definitely not conservative. I heard rumors she screwed almost all of our team members already. I was fine with flirting, I could do it with anyone but I had standards when it came to my girlfriend.
My stepmother greeted me on the front door, I gave her a nod and I went straight to my room. I plopped down on my bed as soon as I closed the door. My eyes were halfway closed when my phone started ringing. I turned it off in school the whole day to avoid any unnecessary conversations with anyone and just turned it on when I arrived home.
“Hello?” I said half asleep.
“Jared? I heard about it.”
It was Carrie. My friend with benefits.
“Yeah. Everyone heard about it.” I wanted to sleep so I yawned to give her a hint that I was tired.
“Did she find out about me? About us?” I could sense that she was worried.
“No, Carrie. It was some other girl in the party last night. I was so drunk I can’t even remember what happened.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s good.” She let out a relieved sigh on the other side of the phone.
Carrie was my next door neighbor. We were friends since we were twelve. She was actually my first. And I was her first too. We were thirteen when we did it. We had it out of curiosity, when we were done, she cried. I guess she regretted it. She was a very emotional girl and during her darkest hours she’d call me to sleep together. We had this kind of relationship since the first time we did it.
“I’m really tired right now, Carrie. I wanna sleep.” I said, whining a little.
“Okay. Get a good sleep. I’m hanging up.”
I woke from the sound of my father’s Audi entering the garage. My father was a business man, he owned an electronics company, and earned millions from it. When his business was just starting, he was usually out of the house. That was the time when my mother, my real mother, was pregnant with my little brother. I was thirteen then, I remembered my mother asking me to call the ambulance when she had a miscarriage. The ambulance came but it was too late, they couldn’t save the baby. My mother came home the next day with an empty stomach, I tried to make her happy by becoming a model son, any mother would want me to be her child. My father rarely went home during those times, just when he was needed most. So I called him one day and told him that he needs to stay in the house more, he told me he was busy with an important business deal and he had to focus on it for the time being. I understood the fact that he needs to work to feed us, to give us a comfortable home, blah blah blah, but what could be more important than mom? His business deal probably went the way he planned it because he was so freaking rich now but Mom was gone and no money in the world could ever bring her back from the dead.
The most ironic thing of it all, was when my mom died, my father stayed in the house more and he insisted that we eat together during dinner. Two years later, he was remarried to Kiana, a blonde hottie, totally mom’s opposite (my Mom was beautiful and had jet black hair). I didn’t hate my stepmom as long as she stayed out of my business and besides, dinner was more tolerable with her around. The awkward silence of my dinner with dad during the past years was, well, awkward.
My stomach was already complaining so I went to the dining area to eat. Dad was helping my stepmother set the table. I never remembered him doing that for my own mother. I decided to sit on the table instead and wouldn’t help unless they asked for it.
“So, what’s for dinner?” I asked as I dragged a chair to sit down.
“It’s baked salmon and Vietnamese salad.”
“Ah.” I never heard of those dishes but Kiana was a great cook so, whatever.
“Jared, in case you haven’t noticed, your dad’s here.” Kiana reminded me the obvious. Dad who was setting down a plate gave me one quick glance and continued what he was doing. His long sleeves were rolled up, and his tie was loosed. He had brown hair with occasional streaks of w
hite on them. A pair of glasses hid his gray eyes. I was often told I resembled my dad. Except for his eyes, mine was blue.
“Hi, Dad.” I said while cleaning my ears with my pinkie finger.
Kiana scowled. “Show some respect, Jared.”
Kiana seemed to think that just because I’d been tolerating her for the past two years, she could actually act that way to me. She’d been getting braver these days. Maybe it was time to put her in her right place.
“Or what?” I challenged her.
She paused to think.
“Or I won’t cook for you anymore.”
I suppressed my laugh. That was the most that she could threaten me with. Another reason why I couldn’t get mad at her, she was hilarious. Very different from my all-too-serious father.
“Ohh. I’m scared.” I said, faking a shudder.
“That’s enough, you two. Let’s eat.” Dad dismissed us like we were little kids and not an eighteen years old boy and a forty something woman. “Jared, I’m sure you can do a better job in greeting your father. And wash your hands before eating.”
I snorted. But I figured he was right about washing my hands (especially my pinkie finger) first so I did as I was told.
~*~*~
Dad went on with his usual ramblings about his company and Kiana was listening intently. She used to be involved in business as well but retired when she married my dad to become a full time housewife. I could imagine Kiana as a Vogue model but definitely not a housewife or a businesswoman. But apparently, she never worked as a model in her whole life despite her good looks.
“The deal with Mr. Reyn has been going well. He’s going to sign the papers to seal the deal. I’m not sure when though. It’s very important that we get this client, his influence reaches internationally and we can use that to our advantage.” Dad told Kiana with real zealousness for his business. He was only like this when he mentioned about work and on those rare times when I caught him looking at Kiana.
The mention of Mr. Reyn gave me a familiar feeling like I heard it already somewhere. Oh well, if he was a big fish as Dad talked about, I probably heard his name on TV. I savored the baked salmon on my plate, Kiana’s cooking was seriously first class. I remembered her threat and I realized the actual damage of it.
