Shadows of Serendipity - Hambebe AU

Chapter 4

"Ako pa talaga nautusan." Gaille muttered under her breath and sighed.

"Lalim 'nun ah, Gab." A friend of hers chuckled, hearing the tall girl's deep sigh. "Nangugulit na naman siguro sayo si Sere 'no?"

"As usual, Kio. She even my crush for me to fulfill her request. Pumayag na lang ako so she wouldn't annoy me about it."

"Pumayag ka rin naman pala eh. Saka sinong nagsabi na ayaw mo rin makita kaagad si crushicaked mo? Down bad ka, bhie."

"Nagsalita ang hindi." Gaille deadpanned.

"Uy hindi naman talaga ah!" Depensa ni Kio.

As soon as she said that, a girl with wide-frame glasses, hair tied up in a low ponytail with bangs passed by their direction. Unconsciously, Kio's eyes followed the girl's direction.

"Ah hindi pala ah." Another voice intruded, spoke in Filipino, but it has a foreign accent to it, made Kio jump a little from shock.

"Kagulat ka naman, MJ!"

"Not my fault you zoned out because of Madi."

Napa-irap na lang si Kio kay MJ before facing Gaille again.

"Una ko Gaille, hehe."

"Let me guess, stalking Mackenzie again?"

"Grabe naman sa stalk, bai! 'Di ba pwedeng admiring from afar?"

MJ rolled her eyes. "You're literally sitting down on a chair at the school café next to the library where you could clearly see Madi studying from the glass door. I'd say you look like a creep."

"Nando'n din ako para sa kape nila 'no! It was only a coincidence rin na nakita ko siya do'n before kaya mas napadalas punta ko."

"Whatever you say." Gaille scoffed. "I'm gonna go na rin. I still have to get Serena's stuff from her locker. Apparently, she forgot to get her spare clothes kaya ako 'tong nautusan niya."

Napasinghap ng hangin si Kio, finally relieved that they dropped the topic.

"So that's why you're frowning more than usual." MJ chuckled. "I guess I'll go too. Syd's waiting for me at the parking lot na."

"Sige guys kita-kita na lang tayo bukas. Ba-bye!"

As Kio bid her goodbye, and so as MJ, Gaille decided to leave to get Serena's spare clothes from the latter's locker.

Her mind went back to the conversation earlier with her friends as she was putting on the lock combination that Serena gave her earlier.

"Kio's wrong though. I wouldn't be rushing immediately just to see a simple happy crush."

Gaille got the duffle bag out of Serena's locker and immediately closed it, putting back the lock on.

"Sure, I want to be noticed but I'm not obsessed or that down bad for her. Na-trigger lang din siguro ako kanina kay Serena because she thought she could use Claire to make me agree with her request."

As soon as Gaille got what she needed, or in this case, what Serena needed, she went straight to where the dance studio is located.

---

Serena and Claire arrived at the studio and not long after, Gaille did along with the rest of the members of their dance troupe.

Serena saw Gaille approaching their direction and immediately stood up to execute her plan; to make the latter's crush notice her.

Serena gave her a hug, in which the tall girl didn't expect to welcome her in that way.

"You got my bag! Thank you, Gaille! Sorry talaga naabala pa kita!"

As Serena made sure that Claire could witness their situation right now, Gaille was still on the verge of confusion as to why she couldn't get the former's arms off of her.

"Uh... It's fine, Serena. I wouldn't—"

And it seemed like her plan worked because Claire was approaching them habang nakangiti, almost making Gaille blush for how pretty she looks.

"That's really sweet of you, Gaille! It's nice to know na you're willing to spare a bit of your time para kunin 'yung gamit ni Selle kahit 'di naman kayo gano'n ka-close. Wala nang masyadong ganyan sa mundo nowadays." Claire laughed.

"I-I.. ano-"

"Diba? I kept insisting pa na 'wag na lang kasi baka nakaka-abala ako. But she also insisted na okay lang daw."

Serena gave Gaille a look to just play along without Claire noticing it. Gaille noticed but just kept her mouth shut instead.

"Bait naman! Anyway, let's get started with the practice na now that everyone's here."

Bumalik na si Claire sa pwesto niya, leaving Serena and Gaille alone to talk.

"See? I told you she's gonna acknowledge your quote unquote effort. You're welcome, by the way." Serena whispered.

Gaille rolled her eyes and whispered back. "I guess so. But that was just the bare minimum, you know? And Claire could've been just awed by the gesture. Hindi naman ibig sabihin no'n na she wants the same treatment."

"I know. Kaya nga let's try to keep it up. Just stick to doing simple acts of services like what you did. Sooner or later, let's announce that we're dating to make it more believable. Who knows? Baka hindi lang niya siguro masyadong pinansin kasi you're doing it for a friend."

"Wala naman sigurong mawawala sa'kin kung susubukan ko." Gaille thought to herself. "Pero... A fake relationship just to be noticed? That's a bit too much, diba?"

"Sorry, Serena, but it'll take a lot of persuasion to make me agree with your offer."

With that, Gaille decided to get in her position, ready for the practice to start, leaving Serena alone who gave her a determined look.

"Then I will just have to try harder."

***