Page 29 of Chasing Mr. Prefect
“I told you! We were talking about K-Pop. Erika Kim just had her comeback,” I said, refusing to meet their eyes. “We both follow her from Era of Maidens days.”
“Is ‘I Envy You’ really that good then?” Seth said.
“Donotbe swayed by the segues!” Kristine told him and he shook his head like a puppy. Kristine opened her mouth to continue with her questions, but the other Ephemere members walked in at that moment.
“O, ano na?” someone said to Kristine, who was starting to look frustrated. “Did you get anything?”
I groaned.
“Stop it, you guys. ‘Di na nakakatuwa,” I said.
“Grabe,” Seth said, pouting. “Ganyan. Si Cholo lang talaga friend nito, eh.”
“Isa pa Seth, and you’re getting stripped of that ‘friend’ title,” I retorted.
“O, did you guys hear that? We’re friends daw!” Seth said to our little circle and I shook my head as our teammates laughed and joked about breaking the ‘Great Wall of Vinnie.’
These kids, I swear.
“Did he really introduce you to his family?” said Seth.
“He had to, they were in the living room!” I replied. “What was I supposed to do? Pass by them without saying hello?”
“But the kid hugged you and everything!” Kristine said. “You got the kid a present? Things must be getting serious, then? Yieeee!”
“It was the kid’s birthday party, was that not the decent thing to do? Did no one else bring a present?” I said. I really thought that I needed to do that. I always brought a present for Gian’s sister whenever they invited me over.
Crap. That was probably different.
The laughing subsided a little as the club room got a little more crowded but Kristine and Seth refused to let it go.
“We didn’t. And when Cholo introduced us, it was more of a roll call. Ephemere, names, ‘these are my family.’ Ikaw, you left last Saturday on a nickname basis with his brothers, ‘di ba?” Seth said. “Teka, that reminds me! Wasn’t it years before you let us call you ‘Vinnie?’”
“Ewan ko sa inyo!” I said, making a face.
I turned to get water from my bag and noticed that Summer was standing close by, watching us just outside of the team’s circle. That was probably why some of the teammates fell quiet just a few moments ago.
“Huy, scoot over,” I told those sitting on the sofa so Summer could have space. While I did not like her, I knew what it felt to be awkwardly standing outside like that. It did not feel right to leave her be.
“Hi, Summer,” Kristine said as she sat on the space that our teammates left for her.
“Hello. Looks like everyone had a good weekend together?” she said, student-council smile in full display. She looked at everyone before settling her eyes on me and I immediately felt like there was a target locked on my forehead.
“Yes. We finished our tasks per, uh, team,” someone from the logistics team said feebly. “Tapos, uh?—”
People shushed him.
“Oh, don’t worry. I saw some stories. Someone must have forgotten to invite me,” Summer said with a high laugh. “Well, Las Piñas is too far, anyway. Maybe next time.”
Awkward silence. I looked everywhere except at Summer as I did not know what else to say or do. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liana walking into the club room with a friend holding a stack of navy-colored cards.
“Ayun! Team Ephemere!” said Liana’s friend, making everyone look at her. She walked over to our area with Liana following her lead.
“Invites for my tweny-first,” she said with a little jump, handing people the cards.
“Grabe, every year, may pa-invitation!” someone commented.
I looked down to not make it awkward as I knew I would not be getting one—we did not know each other. I just knew her by face as one of Liana’s friends.