Winter Heat

Chapter 7 - When the Coin is in the Air

Chapter 7 - When the Coin is in the Air

We were fucking wiping the fucking floors of the fucking Grand Cabin. And I was fucking loving it. My fucking hands, dipping a fucking cloth in dirty fucking water, fucking wringing the hell out of it, and then using it to fucking rub the fucking floor.

I mean, I would've hated it less if we're, at least, not doing it with our knees on the floor. Bakit kasi hindi man lang nausuhan ng mop ang Camp Mitesco?! May sponsors, walang pambili ng mop?!

As if my knees hurting wasn't enough, I found a way to get more annoyed. Pasimple kong binuksan ang pinto sa isa sa mga kwarto sa first floor ng Grand Cabin para tignan kung may ibang tao ro'n. Kung wala, do'n ako magtatago. Patapos na rin naman kami sa paglalampaso ng hallway. Kaya na nila 'yon.

The room was empty, yes. But another room inside it wasn't. Napakunot ang noo ko nang makarinig ng mga tawanan. Hindi ko na naisarado ang pinto sa likuran ko at lumapit sa malaking salamin na nasa gilid ng kwartong 'yon. The giggles were coming from behind it. I tried to move the mirror and I was able to do it with ease.

"What the fuck?!" 'Yon na yata talaga ang unang reaksyon ng utak ko sa tuwing nakikita ko ang pagmumukha ni Avery. I didn't know there was a secret room within that room, and on normal situations, I would've found it cool, especially because it looked so cozy in there. But why the fuck was Avery there, chilling with her friends while we were burning our knees, scrubbing the floors of the Grand Cabin?!

Her expression quickly changed to annoyed too when she saw me. "What?"

"What what? Everybody's supposed to be fucking cleaning."

"Not someone like us," she said and her friends giggled. Anong nakakatawa? Avery was also smiling when she stood up and walked towards me. "Look, I don't know about you, but some of us here were born with housemaids."

I scoffed. "I don't know about your brain, but mine clearly remembers that we're all given the same task."

Inangat ko ang kamay kong may hawak na basahan at iniabot 'yon sa kaniya. Napaatras siya kaagad.

"I don't touch dirty things!"

Hindi ako nagsalita. Mabilis akong humakbang papalapit sa kaniya saka mas inilapit 'yong basahan sa mismong mukha niya. She panicked and pushed my hand away, touching the cloth in the process. Her friends gasped.

"Now, you did," I casually said and tossed the cloth towards her face. Wala siyang naging choice kung hindi ang saluhin 'yon. "Clean."

Akala mo sinisilaban 'yong kamay ni Avery dahil sa hawak niyang basahan. Para siyang hindi makahinga na ewan habang parang pinapatay niya rin ako sa tingin. "I can't stand you!"

I took a step again and stood just in front of her. Hinawakan ko siya sa magkabilang balikat saka bigla siyang idiniin pababa. "Sit then."

Wala pang nakakapag-react kina Avery at sa mga kasama niya nang maputol ang kaganapan dahil may pumasok sa kwartong 'yon. For the first time, I was happy to see my buddy.

"Winter—" Heat looked a little confused, finding me with Avery and her friends.

"H-Hi, Heat!"

Lalong nagtaka si Heat nang makitang nakaupo si Avery sa sahig at may hawak na basahan. "May mga naglilinis din pala rito."

"Y-Yeah, walang pumupunta kaya we went ourselves na lang to clean here," Avery lied. I gave her a smug look and she just glared at me.