Page 21 of Chasing Mr. Prefect
I finishedmy food in peace and he insisted on walking me home after that. I felt a bit awkward at first because, duh, we were hardly friends before this, but I just let him be. I did think it would also be safer to have him around as it was nearly 5 a.m.
“Want to bet on the next Finance exam?” he asked, just after he pointed out his street, which was nearer to the fast-food joint than mine.
“Absolutely not. And you just had to pick my worst subject,” I scoffed. “Marketing na lang.”
“Asa ka. Patsy likes you more than me. I won’t stand a chance with 170.”
“It’s an exam, not a recitation. And it’s not like she favors me. Not my fault if I write better than you.”
“Oh, shut up, Vinnie. Just you wait.”
I stopped in my tracks and laughed.
“O, ano na naman?” he asked, pausing to give me an annoyed look.
“Cholo, that’s the first time you ever called me that!” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “It’s always ‘Lavinia,’ in varying states of annoyed, patronizing, or inconvenienced, but never ‘Vinnie.’ Are we close now?”
“Close? Tss. It just took some getting used to because you weren’t Vinnie in grade school. But everyone calls you that now so I guess I’ll… Wait, hold that thought, who came up with that nickname, anyway?”
“Gian did.”
“You’re that close?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.
“We deny being friends to anyone who asks but we have each other’s backs. It’s because of you that we even ended up being friends.”
“Because of me?” Cholo said like I had insulted him.
“You and the rest of the class bullied us a lot so Gian and I bonded over that. I hated my name after being teased every day for it so he started calling me something else,” I told him, walking towards the general direction of my street.
“You know what? I think I’ll stick with Lavinia,” he said, making a face and following me.
“Alam mo, we should settle this once and for all. I’m game for a bet but let’s do 161.”
“Shit, Business Law?” he sputtered, which caught me by surprise as I wasn’t used to hearing him swear.
“Yeah, I mean, we both suck in that class.”
We both got floored by the professor the other day: we were talking about Ephemere in low voices and out of nowhere, Professor Villafranca asked me a question. I answered his question the best I could but he was not satisfied so he picked on Cholo next.
“We both suck in the class so you want a bet on it? So whoever gets the lower score wins?” Cholo asked me, and I made a face at him.
“This bet will motivate us both to study more and do better, given how it’s not our favorite subject.”
“Me? But I like 161.”
“Cholo, you use the class to talk to me about Ephemere. You hate it as much as I do.”
“Fine. I can never hide anything from you.”
“Here’s what we’ll do. If I get a higher score, you stop being a bully. Forever.”
“I’m a bully?” he asked, stopping in his tracks again for effect, which was convenient because we did have to stop as we reached my street.
“Yes!” I said with all conviction, folding my arms and taking the familiar steps towards my house. “If I win, you’ll stop calling me Lavinia and reminding me of my days as the perennial school play witch. You’ll stop being such an asshat towards me, too.”
“Excuse you, I’ve been nothing but nice to you the past few weeks.”
“Nice? Calling me a ‘piece of work’ every day isnice?”