Chapter 31: Yes I do the teasing!

"Thanks for giving time for us to talk..." Wendy said politely as we sat on a bench.

"That's okay... And if you're going to apologize for what had happened... You don't have to... I knew the truth already..."

"Well... I just want to know if you have a grudge on me or something like that..." She sounded serious.

"We're good... Don't worry, Wendy..." I said quite unsure why she's acting like this.

"So... We can still be friends?" She asked.

"Of course!... Luke explained everything to me... And it's my mistake to believe it was real..." I explained. So this is what it's all about.

"Oh! Thank God! I thought you hate me..." She said then let out a big sigh. I saw how her eye expression changed.

"Nah... We're cool..." I assured.

"I thought I would lose another friend... It's sad... you know... Being close to someone, building that friendship, then all of a sudden everything will go down... I almost get used to it..." She rationalized.

So Coach Demi was right. He told me that Wendy doesn't have many friends. She's being anxious right now thinking I would do to her what she thought her friends did to her. They deserted her.

"Uhm... I just want to ask... Coach Demi told me that you don't have many friends and that's why you're hiding your true self... But I want to know the real reason... I can sense that there's something more to it..."

"It seems like you can see through me... Are you a psychic?" She asked innocently.

"No... You may try to hide the truth but your eyes will never lie..."

"I see... Well... Since I was a kid... I never had friends around me... It's just my two brothers and our maids who I had the chance to play with. Eventually, my brothers grew up and they focused hard on their studies so whenever I want to play with them, they will tell me to play with our maids instead..."

"Why would they do that?" I asked a bit curious.

"My father has been very strict with us... I remember there was a time that he talked to us, telling us to be at our best at all times... The one who exceeded the most will eventually be his successor... My brothers are both competitive... So they beat their asses off to meet my father's expectation..." She explained.

"So that really happens in a wealthy family?" I asked.

"Yes... But I'm different from them... I just want to have fun as a kid... Not being able to play outside, really sucks... Then I met Luke and Alex..."

"You've become friends with them?"

"No... They're a bunch of bullies..."

"Really?"

"Yeah... They always make me cry and tease me whenever they can..."

"Well... Luke hasn't changed at all... He annoys me most of the time..." I said trying to make her feel light.

"But they never treated me differently like others..."

"What do you mean?"

"During high school... I thought I could have a circle of girl-friends... You know... I want to experience slumber parties, paint our nails together, talk about boys... But..." She stopped and looked at me.

"But..." I uttered waiting for her to continue.

"Am I talking too much?" She asked all of a sudden.

"No... Not at all... I'm here to listen..." She really has a weird personality.

"Thanks... Back to my story... I just want to do girly stuff like what a teenager should do... They treated me normally at first but then they suddenly changed... They never invited me to any slumber parties nor asked me to hang out with them..."

"Did you ask them why?" I asked.

"I did... They told me they can't be friends with a socialite like me..."

"Aren't they socialites as well?"

"They are! That's the weird thing... It's like they became scared around me for some reason... Sheila is the only one who stayed beside me till now..."

"Sheila?"

"You met her... She's the president of Luke's fan club and my best friend... But as you already know, she's crazy about Luke and we seldom see each other now..."

"Oh... I see..."

"Yeah... I've been trying to make friends with others but it's always been like that... They're friends with me for a short time then left me like I'm no one... Then I thought maybe if I'm just a normal person... I could have more friends..."

"So you pretended to be one..."

"Yes... I'm sorry..." She said as she lowered her head.

"No... That's okay... I totally understand your reason... But to tell you honestly... You don't have to be someone you're not just to have friends... If they don't like you for who you are then they don't deserve you as their friend..."

"Jenna told me the same thing..."

"Let me tell you this... I am not from a wealthy family... I made it here to this university through scholarship... Jenna and our friend Niko are very well off... But we're best of friends... You know why? Because they didn't see me differently... It doesn't matter what your differences are... A true friend will always be there for you no matter what..."

"I wish I have friends like you..."

"I know... Why don't we have a slumber party at our house..." I suggested.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Come with us this weekend... It'll be fun..."

-----

Uhm... I thought a slumber party is for girls only... But why are they here?" Pam asked as she pointed to all the boys who were chatting in the living room.

"Uhm... Luke invited them over to watch the basketball game later... Besides... I'm a guy too... You know..."

"You're the submissive one in your relationship so technically you can join us..." Miya said trying to make a point.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You're too soft to top..." Jenna teased me.

"Jenna!"

"Oh... Now that you mention it... I can see it now..." Wendy agreed to them.

"Not you too... Wendy..."

"That's okay... You don't have to be shy about it..." Pam said then tapped me on my shoulder.

"No... You got it all wrong..." I tried to defend myself.

"Huh? You're the top? That can't be..." Jenna teased me again.

I know whatever I say won't change anything so I just gave up.

"Fine... Think whatever you want..." I said then let out a sigh.

"Uhm... Kris... Thank you for inviting me here..." Wendy said as she took my hand.

"It's not a big thing, Wendy... I just want you to enjoy the night..." I said then smiled at her.

"Besides... It's good to have you here..." I added.

"I can't still believe that we will get to hang out like this after you left the cheering team..." Miya said.

She's right. I remember Claire told me that Wendy was part of the cheering team before.

"Well... I've been busy after taking over the business but I'm glad that I got to spend the night with you guys..." Wendy said with a smile on her face.

"If only Claire is here... It would be more fun..." Pam sounded so sad when she said it.

"Well... I invited her but she said she has something to do early in the morning tomorrow, so she can't be with us tonight..." I said.

"That's sad..." Miya uttered.

"Don't worry... We can still invite her some other time..." I said trying to lift their spirits up.

The girls were enjoying themselves telling stories about anything under the sun. I looked at Wendy and I'm happy to see her smile. I walked out of the room to check on the boys.

"Hey... How's everything?" I asked Luke.

"The basketball game will start in an hour so we're just playing an online game in the meantime..."

"Oh, I see... Uhm... Luke... I know you wanted us to spend the weekend together... I'm sorry if it turned out like this..." I apologized.

"Don't be sorry... It's fine... Having all our friends here is fun enough..."

"I'm glad you're having fun... After all the troubles I brought you..." I said softly remembering the past.

"What's with the sudden change of mood?..." He asked softly then cupped my face with his hands.

"Forget about it... Okay?... Everything went fine and we're all here to enjoy... Besides you're giving Wendy a big favor tonight..." He said. His voice was really comforting.

"You're right... Thanks..." I smiled to show him my gratitude.

"Come here..." He said then enclosed me within his arms.

I miss this warm feeling, the feeling of being secured within his arms. I hope it will last for a long time but it didn't.

"Get a room! Will yah!" Mike called us out.

We looked at him and saw them staring at us. It was a bit embarrassing.

"S-Sorry..." I uttered.

"Don't mind them... They're just jealous they don't have someone to hug..." Luke teased them.

"Count me out... I have a girlfriend..." Niko butted in.

"Me too! I got a lovely girlfriend!" Alex exclaimed.

"We know..." Luke and I said as we winced with his enthusiasm.

"Jealous my ass! I can have any girl to cuddle whenever I want..." Jessie said.

"Same goes for me..." Mike agreed.

"Oh... Yeah... I've known you for a while but you never introduced any of your girlfriends to us..." I said wondering why.

"It's a waste of time... We rather date different girls every week than stick to one..." Jessie

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Uhm... I haven't mentioned it to you, Kris... But both of them are set for fixed marriage after they graduate..."

"What?"

"You see... Both of them will get married to someone their parents have chosen..."

"And that sucks!" Mike uttered.

"I'm lucky that my father let us choose who to be with since he doesn't want us to go through the same thing as he did..."

"I see... I'm not saying that it's wrong... It's their family matter anyway... But I just find it... unfair..."

"We can't go against our parent's decision so we just enjoy our freedom until we get tied to someone..."

"But..."

"They told me the only way for them to escape their fate is to find someone they truly love and introduced her to their parents... But as you can see... they haven't... So they just use their time to play and mess with girls..."

"Is it that hard to find someone?" Niko asked as he joined the conversation.

"They're picky..." Luke said as he sighed.

"What! Both of you are always surrounded by different girls who are pretty as hell... But still, you can't pick one of them?" Niko asked with awe.

"We have standards..." Mike uttered while Jessie just smirked at him.

"Wait a minute... Luke... You're saying both of their parents came up with the same idea..." I said quite confused about why Jessie and Mike's parents have the same restriction.

"They're twins... That's why..." Luke answered.

"No way! That can't be... They don't look the same..." I said as I looked at Jessie and Mike's faces.

"We're fraternal twins... So we only share fifty percent of our chromosomes making us look different from each other..." Jessie explained.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" I asked Luke.

"You never asked... And I thought it won't matter anyway..." He said in a monotonous tone making me feel that it's something unimportant.

I let out a sigh and scratched my head. I just have to deal with it normally.

"Let's just move on... This serious talk makes me hungry... Let's grab some dinner before the game starts..." Mike said as he put his arms behind his head.

"Sure... Let me order some food..." Luke pulled out his phone to place orders good for ten people.

------

The food came and we all had our dinner. I accompanied the girls in my room and the boys were all gathered in the living room to watch the game. The girls were talking about their firsts and hearing their outrageous stories made them laughed out loud. The boys were having fun as well, watching the basketball game. I can hear them cheer for the winning team. Their manly screams filled the house for every point made. But what I noticed was every time the girls giggle the boys will scream as well. I can sense that Pam was getting annoyed already. I slightly opened the door and looked at the boys. I saw Mike, Niko, and Jessie looking at me and gestured for me to keep quiet. The girls laughed and then the boys shouted.  I can see it now, the boys were teasing the girls.

"Aaah! I can't take it anymore!" Pam shouted.

She stood up and went past me to the living room where the boys were cracking up.

"Could you please lower down your voices... We, girls, are trying to have fun..."

Mike stood up and leaned forward with his hands on his sides.

"Oh, yeah? You're the one who should tone down your irritating chuckles... We, boys, are trying to enjoy the basketball game..."

The rest of the girls followed us to the living room to see what's going on. Mike and Pam were staring fiercely at each other with no one backing down. Based on how they sent forth their auras, Mike was the menacing wolf and Pam was the rabbit, a foolish rabbit. She may be small but she's not accepting defeat without a fight.

"Come on, guys! We can all have fun! You don't have to fight..." I said trying to break them apart.

"Well... I think one of us should submit and I know a way on how we can settle this..." Pam said with a smirk.

Everyone lent their ears to hear what she's about to say.

"Let's play rock-paper-scissors!"

"What? I thought it was something cooler than that..." Mike said in disbelief.

"It's a battle of strategy and luck... So we choose Kris to play for us and you can have Luke to play on your side..." Pam said as she stood beside me and pushed me forward.

I just have this expression of meh all over my face after realizing how I got into this place.

"That won't happen! Luke will definitely let him win..." Mike opposed as he pointed to Luke who has the same expression as mine at the moment.

"Then I will play for the team!" Jessie suggested as he went up to the front.

"I'm feeling lucky lately so I will win for sure!" He said confidently.

"Uhm... Pam... I've never been lucky with any games, remember?" I said trying to convince her to let someone else play.

"Oh! Yeah! He got the lowest card when we play cards before and he can't even hit a single target at the target shooting game during the open school day... Speaking of luck, he doesn't have any..." Jenna shared with everyone like they have to know it. It's embarrassing.

"That's lame..." Wendy said with eyes of mockery. It felt like an arrow hit me from the back. First strike.

"So lame..." Pam uttered as well. Second strike.

"Can we not talk about it?" I said as I try to stand up after getting run down by their comments.

"You may be unlucky with games... But you're still lucky... You got me..." Luke said. Did he just pick me up from the ground like a knight in shining armor?

"Ooooh! There goes the cheesy bomb!" Jenna poked fun at us. I just looked at her with burning eyes.

"You're making me feel bad for being single..." Pam stated.

"Whatever! I can't play for the team... We'll lose for sure if you will let me..." I said as I regained myself.

"Then... As a fellow footloose and fancy-free in our group... You will play for us... Wendy!"

"What? Why me!" Wendy uttered in surprise.

"You can do it... Raise the flag of the single ones..." Jenna said encouraging her.

"O-okay..."

Jenna pushed Wendy until she's face to face with Jessie.

"H-hi!" Wendy greeted him. She seemed to be very shy and nervous. Her face is turning red and she kept rubbing her hands together.

"Okay! Let's do it!" Jessie exclaimed expectantly.

-----

After three rounds with a score of 3-0, the girls won.

"Yey!" The girls screamed. They went up to Wendy to congratulate her.

On the other hand, the boys were laughing at Jessie's defeat. Just like what we agreed on, the boys kept their voices down until the game was over. The girls continue with their chit-chats. It's getting late, Jessie and Mike decided to go home. Niko also went home and will just come to pick up Miya and Pam tomorrow. Alex decided to stay and he was in Luke's room. Luke was washing the dishes at the moment. I left the girls alone in my room and I was standing by the window in the living room, sipping on my coffee, with Wendy.

"Thank you so much for having me here..." She said.

"You're welcome... I told you it would be fun..."

"I did have fun... Thank you... I'm going to your room to join our friends... What about you?" She asked.

"I'll stay here for a while... I'll be with you in a bit..."

She nodded and went inside my room.

"So... What did she say?" Luke asked as he joined me.

"She's happy and she's thankful for what I did for her..." I walked past him and put down the coffee cup on the center table.

"I just want to ask... Why did you decide to do all of this?" Luke asked seriously.

Since he's the only person I fully trust with my heart, I can tell him what's the reason.

"When I was in the hospital... I saw everyone was worried about me... I felt bad... But when they began to smile... to laugh... It made me so happy... So I promised myself to do everything to make all that matters to me... happy..."

"I see now... Uhm... Kris..."

"What?"

"Do I matter to you?" He asked softly.

"Of course, you do! You're the one who I care about the most..." I said as I moved closer to him and gently pinched his cheek.

"So... Can you make me feel happy now?" He said gently then bit his lip.

He looked deep into my eyes. I know that look. He wants something. I felt my heart fluttered. He moved closer to me and his face was just inches away from me. I need to get away from him. I'm afraid that someone might see us if I do what he wants.

"Uhm... Wait... I know..." I quickly moved away from him and picked up the marker on the center table.

"What will you do with that?" He asked.

I walked up to him and grabbed his hand and I began to write my name on his palm.

"The girls at school were happy when I gave them my signature... So you would be happy as well to get one..." I said.

I put back the cap on the marker as I finished writing my name.

"That should do it..." I said then smiled. I put the marker down on the center table and made my way to my room.

"Hey... Kris! What would I do with this?"

"Huh?"

"I don't want your autograph... I want something else..."

"Then use that hand to make yourself happy... Think of me when you do it..." I said then winked at him.

I immediately went inside my room and closed the door before he can say anything back to me.

"Oh... What happened? Why are you in a hurry?" Jenna asked me.

"N-nothing..."

"Okay... Since you're here... Let's watch a movie then we can hit the sack after that..." She said.

"Sure..."

The night went on and after we watched the movie, the girls took a rest and slept. When everyone was already asleep. I snuck out of the room and laid down on the couch. I'm still a guy after all. I can't sleep with the girls, as respect to them. This night was full of surprises and it excites me so much to anticipate what the future offers to us.

-----

Three weeks to go, and it's the end of our school year. Two weeks from now will be our final exams. For the past, three days we, Jenna, Niko, and Luke always go to the library to study. We need to make sure we do good this year, especially, me. I need to secure my scholarship for next school year. It's our last year and getting that scholarship will help me a lot. Luke told me he can take care of my tuition fee but I told him not to. I want to achieve and receive my diploma with my hard work. That's the promise that I made to my family and I want them to be very proud of me.

I'm at a table with Niko and Jenna, focusing on one of our subjects. Luke was looking for a book on the shelves when I received a text message.

"Gotcha!" I blurted out.

"Who's that? Is that Luke?" Jenna asked being nosy.

"Uhm... Yes..."

"You two are in the same room... Only a few steps away from each other... And yet... you still flirt like teenagers..." She said raising a brow at me.

"You're just jealous..." Niko taunted her.

"Huh!... At least, I have a reason... Alex is miles away from me... But... I will say... A message from him will make these numbers and figures easy to understand..." She said then rested her face on her hand. She's sulking.

"You will get to spend time together with ease during the summer break..."   I said to console her.

"You're right... Do you guys have any plans yet?" She asked as she changed her mood.

"Me?... I want to go to the beach... I miss the waves..." Niko looked up the ceiling and imagined the beach.

"Oh... I can ask Luke to let us have a vacation at their villa again..." I implied.

"That's great! I can't wait to try a new swimsuit on..." Jenna was so excited.

"But you have to pass all the subjects... Those who have failed a subject can't come..." Luke inferred as he joined us back at the table.

"What?! That's absurd!" Jenna blurted out.

"Well... That's a way to motivate you girls to study hard..." Niko teased her once again.

"Why only us?" She asked.

"Well... We guys will surely pass... I will help Miya with her studies so she could pass too... That leaves you and..." Niko was cut off by Jenna.

"Pam! Oh no! I have to warn her now!" She said as she pulled out her phone.

I just laughed at how she took it seriously. I know Luke was just poking fun at her. But, I guess, that's a good way to motivate them. And I thought this would be a great opportunity for me.

After our class, Luke received a call from Manager Ben so he left first. I told him I will drop by the cafe but I need to wait for Jenna. I was at the front gate of our school waiting for Jenna when a luxurious car pulled over in front of me. A gentleman in a black suit got off and walked towards me. It was a bit nerve-racking, I thought I might get kidnap or something.

"Greetings, Sir... My master wants to have a word with you..."

"Master?" I got confused.

The gentleman moved aside and I saw the car window went down. I saw the man, that he called his 'master', and somehow I managed to recall his name.

"Mr. Benjamin?"

Wendy's father. What is he doing here?

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