SEVENTEEN years to Live

13 ●○► THE WEIGE MANSION

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

●○► THE WEIGE MANSION

The lake becomes noisy when Baron shoots the ball.

Kate and Heather scream loudly beside me as if their lives have just gotten an extension of several years. I can say that they are truly overwhelmed by Emil’s Team winning; they are jumping for multiple times now with their hands holding each other. All I can do is to stare. It was no doubt Emil’s Team played excellently in the game. Especially Dave, who had scored more than his other teammates. I glance at the field. Baron, Dave and Emil are hugging each other as they cheer loudly for themselves.

“We won! We won! We won!” say the three, also jumping but not simultaneously. I smile, though I’m slightly saddened by the fact that they won the game. It was supposed to be the Blue Team who should have won. It was supposed to be Bryan’s team.

When the screaming beside me ended, and Kate and Heather decide to run toward Dave and Baron, I look at Bryan who is walking disappointedly toward me. His head is slightly bowed down; the look on his face is the look you see when you don’t get something you want and you’re angry with it. When he reaches me, I give him a hug. Immediately. I smell his sweaty scent and feel the salty water on his shirt transferring to mine. But it is okay, I think. It doesn’t matter. Win or lose, he will still be my Bryan, my best soccer player.

“Sorry to disappoint you, babe,” he says, a little melancholy.

“Shh,” I say quickly. “You don’t have to be.” I release him so that I can say the next words in front of him, so that he can know I am emphasizing it. “Just promise me to win on your second match. ‘Kay?” I put my palms over his temples and caress the hair that touches my fingers.

“Okay,” he agrees, and then smiles.

When his smile fades, my mouth opens to say “I love you.” But then I remember that I should only say that when we’re doing something magical, and this isn’t the magical thing yet. I close my mouth immediately, like my lips didn’t let the words pass any corner of my mouth. I smile instead. And I know he knows what I was about to say.

“Don’t say that,” he says, pressing his index finger on my lips. “Not yet, babe.”

I nod in ascent. And the next thing I know that happens is that . . . our lips collide like meteors colliding fast on earth.

My lips are still virgin. I have no idea what is happening. His lips feel soft, softer than cotton or even the softest feather. One thing I am aware of is that my lips don’t dance around his lips like his lips do to mine. I am just standing still, stiffed, not knowing what to do next. Instead, I close my eyes—or my eyes close by themselves—and enjoy the whole, romantic moment we are just about to have.

“Bryan?” I hear a female voice say behind me. This makes me detach my lips from Bryan. I look over my shoulder, twisting hard so I can see who the girl behind me is.

Jamela.

“Sis?” Bryan says in shock. “What’re you doing here?”

Jamela starts to walk toward us with eyes looking fiercely at Bryan. After a second, she glances at me with the same look and eyes me from head to toe then back again. Her look is so sharp it pierces me to the bottom of my soul.

“Hi, Mary,” she says very sarcastically. “May I ask you why are you doing that to my brother?”

I am suddenly tongue-tied. I don’t know what to answer her. Glad Kevin isn’t here, or else concentrating will be the hardest part in this interrogation. I take a deep breath, trying not to glance at Bryan. I want to look at him now because I feel so scared facing his sister. I hold his hand, instead. Very tightly. As if my anxiety is being transferred to him.