In This Crazy World of Ours

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

***Author's note: You may have noticed that the previous chapters are written in the present tense. This one's in the past tense. Just trying out different techniques. =)***

[Damian Phillips as the narrator and you're in 'Spectator Mode' hahaha! :)]

Earlier in Starbucks, there was this girl who sat in the farthest corner of the room. She was typing rapidly on her laptop. Her brows were furrowed, her cheeks beet red, and it looked like she was ready to burst at any minute. Some of the other people inside the cafe threw her covert looks. They were a bit worried about her, but they couldn't muster the courage to stand up and ask her what was wrong. 

Well, of course, we couldn't blame them for that. It is actually rude, for some, if others just barged in their situation and asked them what's wrong. It may seem like the others are invading their privacy. And in this day and age, privacy is hard to achieve unless you have a lot of money. 

But we aren't talking about privacy here. We're talking about the girl in Starbucks.  

Now, there were two guys, a Filipino and a German, who sat down in front of her. The Filipino, whose name is Anthony, handed the girl a warm mug of coffee. "You look like hell," he said with a tone of concern in his voice. "You should take a break from...that." 

Oh, they were the girl's close friends, by the way. 

"I can't Tony," said the girl, pushing the mug back. "This is my dignity they've damaged." 

"Well, there's not much we can do now. The man has lots of money," the other guy spoke up. His name is Franz. 

The girl suddenly glared at him. Obviously, Franz had not been tactful with his words. "I've worked hard on this thing for years. This bastard stole my work and the world doesn't even know about it. Franz, if you were in my situation, would you just let it go? Would you just let some random ass claim ownership on your masterpiece?" 

Franz looked down. "I'm sorry," he said in a small voice, "I was just trying to be realistic." 

"Realistic or not, we are going to find a way to let the whole world know the truth," she replied with an edge in her voice. 

The trio were silent for a while. Then finally, Anthony spoke up again. "What are your evidences against him?" 

"Well, I have my journal. I mean, that's where it all started." She grabbed something from her open backpack and showed her friends a light blue moleskine. "Chapters 1 to 50, guys. It's all written here. And I've been stupid to let him borrow it." 

"Did he copy everything? Like, word per word?" Franz asked. 

"Not really. He rephrased some sentences and changed the name of the characters." 

Anthony examined the notebook for a while. "Damn, you really worked hard on this." He then looked at the girl with determination in his eyes. "I know a lawyer and I'm talking to him later. Maybe there still is a chance to right this wrong." 

Franz sighed and looked at his two friends hopelessly. "We're dealing with a big man here. And besides, shouldn't we have filed the case 5 months ago? That was when the book was released. In that way, we would've looked more credible. It's a bit too late for us to be filing now. We're only going to look like we're suing him because we want public attention and money." 

"Yeah, like that roommate of Stephenie Meyer..." The girl's face fell. "But this is my masterpiece we're talking about. I wouldn't give up now." 

She closed her laptop and put it inside her backpack. Then, she stood up and carefully hoisted her bag over her shoulder. She downed her mug off coffee in quick, big gulps. "Guys, I'll see you later. I'm going to the library to check out the Law Section."