Red Stars

Chapter 5: "To The Golden Rule"

"So you're telling me that you said yes right away?" asked Anna, who clearly didn't seem to approve of it.

"I mean, what's the harm in that, right?" I carefully countered her question. I wished she'd just support me instead of making this more difficult on me. But then, she was just looking out for me and I had to appreciate that.

She held up my chin in her hands and looked at me with a motherly look in her eyes. "Listen here, hon. Never say yes to a man right away. That's rule number one."

I stared at her, ever so puzzled. She seemed to have sensed my confusion thus softened her expressions even more. She laughed a little to ease the tension before continuing to explain.

"I know you like him, obviously it feels like the right thing to do to agree right away. But every man I've met in my life- and take my word for it- finds it more attractive when a woman shows some reluctance instead of agreeing to anything right away... Gives him some sorta challenge to prove his manliness. It's the golden rule, works like a charm each time."

I let out a laugh and she started laughing with me. We raised our cans of orange soda for a casual toast.
"To the golden rule," we said together, still laughing.

"For somebody who is still VERY single, you sure have a huge stash of attraction formulas," I said sarcastically.

Anna grinned. "The coach doesn't play, sis."

When the laughter died down a little, I took out my phone to check my schedule for the next class. It was History which, frankly, happens to be my favourite subject. Professor Winslet is one of the major reasons that I fell in love with history, for he makes it all sound ten times more interesting than it really is. If there's ever a Best Teacher Award at the Grammys, I would like to nominate him. He deserves acknowledgement for all the tireless efforts he puts into revolutionising the class for us. Be it his self-designed model figures of important personalities from the history or his carefully crafted fun documentaries, everything about his teaching style is praiseworthy.

"I need to take History up next. Will you be going home?" I asked Anna, who was texting someone on her phone.

She looked up to reply, "Yeah, I'm done for the day. You come over at the Sinclair house around 4 ish, we will make you date-ready." She winked.

"I think I'd need more help calming my nerves than getting ready though."

"I'll take care of both." She got up to give me a quick hug and a peck on my cheek before leaving the college cafeteria. I took my bag and started walking towards Professor Winslet's class as well.

On my way, I kept wondering if that night was going to end up being one of the most happily memorable nights of my life or one that would bitterly take an entire lifetime to forget. Guess I was going to find out in another seven hours.

.....