ALEXIS and the Bet

Chapter Eight: The Bet

I WAS A BUNDLE of nerves on a Monday morning. Yesterday, Madie helped me baked some chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Alicia was also with us. She made batches of chocolate chip cookies—with the help of Madie of course. Alicia said it was Arthur's favorite sweets and that she was planning to give it to him. I didn't ask how she knew about what Arthur's favorite food was; Alicia had her own creepy ways of investigating things. Nevertheless, she was altogether a nice person and I and the rest of the girls support her mild insanity over Arthur, provided of course that she would not cross the boundaries of her infatuation over Arthur.

So, there I was, sitting behind my desk, waiting for lunch break and trying my very best to concentrate on what teacher was explaining to us about the relationship between sides and angles.

When the bell rang, Alicia gave me a smile and said, "Tara?"

I gave her a nod and chucked my notes inside my bag. I carried the box of cupcakes with me and walked with Alicia. Yesterday, I told Madie and Alicia about my plan to return the glasses to Benjamin and to give him the cupcakes to show I had appreciated his thoughtful gesture. From the looks they had given me they were quite suspicious about my real intentions. And Alicia, with her being adorably pesky and all, badgered me and teased me about having a crush over Benjamin. I couldn't help it but reveal that I did have this certain feeling I felt whenever I see Benjamin or whenever he crosses my mind.

"May crush ka nga sa kanya!" Alicia declared with series of giggles. She had seemed quite happy about her conclusions.

"Crush?" I asked, not even admitting it to myself that I might have a crush over Benjamin.

"Oo, ganyan na ganyan din ang nararamdaman ko kapag nakikita ko si King Arthur ko!" Alicia added.

And it felt good having nice friends around to share things like these. Alicia and Madie then volunteered to go with me to hand Benjamin the cupcakes.

We made our way to Madie's classroom and she informed us that she overheard Dave and Benjamin talking about going to the school paper office at lunch. Madie was classmates with Dave and Benjamin, which she said was really unfortunate since she would have to tolerate being in the same room with the school's bully.

"Huwag ka masyadong kabahan Alex," Madie said. "Isasauli mo lang naman ang salamin 'di ba? At magtha-thank you sa kanya."

"Masyado ba akong kinakabahan?" I asked sheepishly.

"Oo," Alicia and Madie said in unison. I just gave them a small smile.

We were nearing the school paper office when laughing voices of Dave and another guy could be heard from outside. As we neared the door that was slightly ajar, we caught snippets of their conversations.

"Dude ang bagal nyo naman maka-move on," Dave was saying. "Benj, three months na kayong split ni Ashley. Ba't parang kayo pa rin?"

"Hindi kasi gets ni Ashley na break na pala sila," another guy that I could not identify added followed by a laugh. "Sayang. Ganda pa naman. Slow lang."

Alicia was about to knock to make our presence known when I held her arm and shook my head. Alicia gave me a puzzled look. I placed a finger over my lips, indicating for us to remain quiet as I pressed my ear near the door. I wasn't really eavesdropping, technically speaking. The guys were talking aloud so one could not help but hear what they were talking about.

"Tantanan n'yo na nga ako," Benjamin said, sounding irritated. "May ine-edit pa akong article dito. Ang gugulo n'yo."

"Kita mo itong taong 'to," Dave said. "Pati tayo damay sa init ng ulo. Marco, kausapin mo nga itong pinsan mo."