The Travel Buddy

Chapter 10 - Picture Perfect

"Stop teasing her, moron!" Bea was running straight towards me. Sometimes, Kyle's mischievous pranks on his sister is irritating me.

          We stopped over the Blood Compact Monument because the girls insisted on taking photos there when I heard Bea screaming. Her brother had thrown a lizard at her! She has been herpetophobic ever since, particularly with lizards. Good thing it did not land on her. Otherwise, I'll be nursing a feverish girl for the rest of our trip.

          Kyle just laughed and turned to pull somebody's hair strands who was posing for a photo.

          "Kyle! You idiot!" It was Emery. Kendra then tried to fix her hair. "Thanks, Ken," she turned to her friend. "Good thing he's not your boyfriend. You'd die early with stress."

           I held the trembling Bea in my arms.  Then I heard her sniffing. "It's alright, Bee. Don't go near him okay?" I cupped her face with my hands. We were standing behind the monument overlooking the majestic view of Panglao Island. 

          Click!

          "Picture perfect!" It was Kyle again holding his DSLR camera. I just glared at him as I intertwined my fingers with his sister and led her to the van.

          "You know what, Kyle? Sometimes, I'm wondering if you're really twenty years old, and not fourteen like Bea." I said as we passed by him.

"She's almost fifteen, bro." He just grinned at us.

"Enough with the picture-taking, guys. Let's head to our next destination." I said to the group while towing Bea behind me. Keeping her at a safe distance from her gregarious brother. Melissa was just staring at us.

           We stopped by at what has been left of the Baclayon Church. It was wrecked by an earthquake years ago. But the tour guide took us inside this historical church. We just took some photos and proceeded to the Bohol Python and Wildlife Park.

          Again, Kyle kept on agitating his sister with the reptiles at the park. Bea only had her photo taken with a man-made python wherein its skin was that of the real snake. But she refused to get inside the cage of a live python despite of the park staff encouraging her. She just waited for all of us from a safe distance.

           Then we headed to the Danao Adventure Park where there was a zipline and a cable car ride. We all decided to try the zipline which was 120 meters high overlooking the Loboc river below, and come back through the cable car. We were being strapped with safety harness when Kyle came near me.

          "Hey, bro, watch this." He bobbed his head towards Bea who was standing just a few feet from me. She was staring at the cable line that we will be zipping through. I can feel her getting antsy. This ride is quite high. Good thing that it will be done in pairs. At least she won't be zipping alone.

          "Melissa!" Kyle hollered. "Hey, Melissa! Would you like to zip with Enzo?"

           What the hell?

          "Sure!" Melissa, who was still being strapped smiled and gave a thumbs up.

          I saw Bea walking away very fast. I wanted to follow her but the park staff  was not yet done with my harness.

          "See?" Kyle smirked and grasped my shoulders. "She's in love with you." He whispered to my ears.

           "Who?" I got confused. Was he referring to Melissa or Bea?

          "Who else, bro... ther... dear?" he laughed and walked away. "Hey, guys, who's riding with me?" He turned to the boys.

          I looked towards where Bea was headed to but I can't see her anymore. Fortunately, the staff was finishing up with my harness. I began to walk and find her.