Freshman

Chapter 25: The Iconic

After the brawl my parents and I had the night when I decided to go off to The Pineapple with my newfound friends and undecided boyfriend, our terms between each other wasn't so stable anymore. My parents didn't trust me all that much, their temper became very short, and somehow they've always had the time to spy on me. To say the least, it was like freakin' prison without the orange uniform.

However, there are some times I could sneak my way into my friends' houses. I wouldn't tell my parents that I would go off somewhere else after school, and besides, they weren't always at home in the day. They come home from work in the evening.

I can't say I had a clear conscience. It still renders me guilty after the lies that I told, the mischief that I made, and the disobedience that I've committed. I knew that someday karma will eventually come back to me, and I guess, it was inevitable. Did I forget to mention I was superstitious?

Before I'll be able to bite the dust, why not enjoy my freshman year, eh?

I was expecting Mejel on the school grounds. Waiting for her was awfully and terribly long. A couple minutes had passed, but I still hadn't seen her going down the stairs. It took second upon second, minute upon minute, until it nearly felt like an eternity to wait. I was considering leaving when I spotted Mejel with a familiar face.

Her dark skin, hazel hair, sharp eyes, studious glares, well shaped body, and patented hair flip with the voluminous bounce was all that I needed to see to be able to shudder on the spot. She was well-known around these parts, but will only go by one name, and that was Mavie.

[Mavie, from class 7A. Vauld's famous girlfriend.]

I immediately recognized her from the way she stared at Vauld when he passed by earlier. Jia and Mejel alone have told me more things than I should know about her. I hadn't distinguished it from the usual rumor, or the real gossip, but all the information they gave me was granted fundamental. Besides, it all came from Mavie, and who would deny a word that would come from the person herself?

Mejel was holding Mavie's laptop, as they talked about an esoteric topic. Well if they didn't, then they wouldn't be standing so near Mavie's car that was separated from all other cars and people now, would they?

I waved at Mejel. Luckily, she saw and waved back to me. She gestured me to come over, and there I felt my legs stiffen. I've never been able to get anywhere near Mavie for less than two meters except for the occasional walks on the hallways and unwanted compression of students when entering and exiting a classroom.

I trudged over with a brittle grin and a sparkle in my eye. I thought of Mavie as a cool, popular, and a too-famous-for-someone-like-me kind of girl. It would only be a miracle if I got involved with her, much more if I became friends with her. It was all too sweet to dream, but a mirage isn't what I needed right now.

"Hey, Ari!" Mejel grinned. "This is Mavie, I guess, you already know her."

"Hey," I waved sheepishly, while the girl hadn't even flinched.

"Mavie invited me to the mall," Mejel said proudly. "And I wanted you to be my plus one, that is, if you're cool with it?"

"Oh," I glanced at Mejel. "Well...."

For some off reason, which I had forgotten, I agreed to go on this 'trip' to the mall. I hadn't planned on going with someone like Mavie, or wasting my time there for nothing, but when Mejel mentioned she was paying for food- I had to comply. I mean honestly, who could say 'no' to free food?

"C'mon in," Mavie, for the first time I've ever heard her, spoke. "We have to go before-"

"Oh hey!" Maia, who was apparently not so far away, saw us about to enter Mavie's probably-more-expensive-than-my-life car. "Where 'ya going? Mavie? Mejel? Aria? Surprised to see y'all together."

"To the mall," I blabbered.

"Aw," Maia pouted. "Can I come too?"

"No." Mejel, nearly shoving me back, declined. "Not a chance."

"Uh, it's okay," Mavie spoke again. Gosh, that's the second time today. "She can come, let her in."

Scowling, Mejel reluctantly opened the car door and let Maia in. Maia sat beside her giddy and ecstatic like a school girl meanwhile our party planner, Mavie, gave her private driver some orders to drive us to the mall. The mall was practically just beside our school, so I expected the drive to be swift, but wouldn't you know it- the travel was ten minutes more than it should've took. My calculations weren't wrong, it was just that the car took a little detour to the roof top parking lot 'cause her highness said so. Although, I've gotta admit, Mavie has style.

We ventured off inside and got ourselves some snacks with Mavie, of course, paying for everything. It was a quiet, serene, and definitely delightful stroll in the mall and the kiosks. Mavie, being the most silent, was especially mysterious in my point of view. Well, that was until she asked us if we could go visit her house.

It was no problem at all. Her house was literally just beside the mall inside a little village called Theodore Village. It was the quaintest little thing, really. It was small, dainty, and far more peaceful than anywhere I've ever went to. There were well-trimmed grass lands for as far as I could tell, and not to mention its ambience. It was very humid and far more cleaner than the smoke and fumes in the road just outside of it.

You'd think no one lived there, with everything so clean and tranquil. We did the same thing we had done when we were in the mall. We walked around and leisurely gazed upon this new environment. I, for one, am new to this kind of place especially somewhere so near the city pollution.

It was all too perfect until Mavie decided to stop by a tree and dig deep down her pockets. When she finally took a hold of the object she was looking for, she pulled it out and raised it just so perfectly that we could see it.

A small box of fine cigarettes and a small lighter.

I took a step back, but hadn't said a word. I was with the cool kid with a high reputation, and with the greatest of prestige. I can't show her my weak spots, or it'll all be over.

She made a small smirk and lit a stick with ease. She started to whiff a couple of times for herself, and blew some out into the air. She acted as if all were normal and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her smoking in a public yet deserted place. Now if you thought about it, if no one was around, then she wasn't doing anything wrong, am I right?

She offered us some, and that's when Mejel and I tensed. Mejel declined, and of course, so did I. Astonishingly, Maia grabbed the opportunity and took a stick for herself. Maia she has smoked for at least two times in her lifetime, this being supposedly the third. She whiffed once, and threw it on the ground. I couldn't help but laugh internally at how chicken she was to take on something so daring and end up backing out.

Meanwhile, with Mavie, she continued to smoke. She inhaled and exhaled as she spoke, and that's when Mejel and I had started to ask her questions about Vauld. In spite of changing the topic of smoking and essentially to ease the mood. It was already more tense than it was supposed to be, the least we could've done was to break the ice.

By God's way, I bet I'll see more about Mavie than what I have already seen, but I hope I won't take them on myself, hopefully.