Once Upon He Was Mine (Good Girls Series #4)

Chapter 17.1: Thank You

Chapter 17.1: Thank You

"Cheers for the love teams we never had!" sabi ni Gabby na inaasar kami, she raised her milk tea and we all raised ours. After our performance, we went to the nearest milk tea shop. It's already 9:15 pm and here we are, laughing while talking.

I sipped on my taro flavored milk tea, it tasted good. And as usual, it was Zeus who treated us.

"Pero seryoso, nakakakilig 'yong performance niyo kanina, Matthew, Brey," Janee said while giggling. I just rolled my eyes heavenwards.

Everyone's in their hyper state while here's Audrey beside me. We all know that she's one of the noisiest in our group; she's at the top, actually. But right now? She's just smiling and chuckling a bit with their jokes. She's not our usual Audrey Marlia, and that made me anxious.

"Audrey." I nudged her and she looked at me with a smile. I can clearly see the red mark on her face. It was vivid and I don't know why they couldn't see it. "What happened to your cheek?" I seriously asked her and the smile on her lips suddenly evanesced. Everyone in our table became silent as we stared at Audrey, waiting for an answer.

"Blush on," she answered frugally so I shook my head,

"No, I'm certain, it's not. Care to share it with us?" I asked and she heaved a sigh before putting a small smile.

"It's not that serious. Magpatuloy na tayo sa pagkain." She took a Hawaiian pizza from the box and nibbled it.

"Audrey." She stopped when Zeus called her name. "Tell us, we'll listen," Zeus said and I saw the hesitation on Audrey's face. She heaved a sigh again before putting down her pizza.

"Ayokong mag-alala kayo, maliit na bagay lang 'to," sabi niya na inilingan ko.

"Whether it's a big or small one, as long as it's a problem you should tell us at least," Vince said while patting Audrey's shoulders.

"Sinampal ako ni Dad." It was a long silence. Vince and I exchanged glances. I heard Demi and Iryn gasping."Sorry to say, pero hindi talaga ako dapat narito ngayon kasi may gathering sa amin. Sinabihan pa ako ni Dad na bastos at walang modo dahil umalis ako sa party. As the only child daw, dapat nandoon ako. Dahil gaya nga ng sinabi ko sa inyo noon, gusto niyang ako ang maging governor ng probinsya natin." She heaved a sigh again for the third time. I tapped her shoulders.

Her Dad is so strict to the point that he will not let Audrey go anywhere without his permission, I mean, all parents are like that. But Audrey's Dad is stricter than the usual parents. As long as he doesn't want the place where Audrey's going, he'll do anything to stop her. He's also pressuring Audrey too much, since Audrey is the running Valedictorian in our batch, his expectation on Audrey is so high that Audrey's being so stressed out. Audrey looks like a carefree and happy-go-lucky person but she's serious when it comes to studies.

"Tsk," Zeus hissed, he's on my right side, while Audrey's at my left side. "Dapat kasi hindi ka na pumunta rito, puwede namang i-video na lang namin tapos ise-send namin sa 'yo. Pasaway ka talaga kahit kailan," he said while glaring at Audrey.

"Iba pa rin kasi pag actual mong napanood. 'Tsaka ano bang gagawin ko sa party na 'yon? Wala naman mga kaibigan ko roon!" sagot ni Audrey, nagkatinginan naman kami nila Ken, Iryn, Coach, Demi, at Vince.

"Oo nga, pero may next time pa naman 'di ba? Maiintindihan naman nila Brey at Matthew na wala ka," Zeus said with prominence, he really is concerned with Drey, huh? And they're really arguing, with me in between them? Seriously?