CHAPTER XII

Aidan hurries to follow Josh's steps down the aisle of the school, out of the yard and sit in their usual place for lunch.

"The Aswangs usually build nests in one of the rooms in their house. The basement is their favorite place to build nests." Josh explains while chewing his lunch.

"Yeah, but how do we know the human form of these creatures?"

Josh shrugs. "Beat me. If you heard what Uncle Zac's told last night, the action to prove if someone is aswang, is very impossible to do."

"So? We have to hunt the creature in its original form?" Aidan asks with a flash of passion in his eyes.

"It seems that way" Josh glances meaningfully at Aidan. "You don't think we will kill someone, do you? It would be easier to kill the creature in its original form than to kill it in its human form. Morally easier, I mean. "

Aidan shakes his head. "My mother will kill me if that happens."

"Listen, if you were given these three choices, which one would you choose?"

"You mean?" Aidan asked in surprise.

"Amber Edmond - Miss Friendship, Teena Simmons - The Queen Bee, and Winter Smith - The Witch, who are you going to date?" Josh asks seriously.

Aidan looks at him in disbelief. "What? Why suddenly...."

Josh pushes Aidan's shoulder to make him face the middle of the school yard. Amber Edmond is in a girl group, with a plain appearance that is not flashy, but pleasing to the eyes. Teena Simmons is in a group that is the center of everything, very fashionable, right now it seems like she is busy uploading her latest selfies on her social media. On the other hand, Winter Smith is a gothic-looking girl and of course sits among other goths. Aidan feels that if he sits with them, he might feel depressed immediately. Apparently, the goths do not recognize other colors, other than black.

"Can we not talk about this?" Aidan protests.

"Your adolescence is also important. So who will you choose?"

"I do not care." Not that Aidan ever thinks about girls, but for him, these girls are big mysteries in his life. He does not know how to approach them properly, so he chose not to care about their presences.

"Come on, a little fun has no harm, right?"

Aidan sighs. "You? Who will you choose?"

"Winter Smith, a girl like that is too easy to approach...."

"What?"

"Shhh...," Josh asks Aidan to be quiet. "Such girls, they are loyal friends. They don’t have many friends. Once you are in their inner circle, everything will be easy. On the other hand, Teena Simmons is the quite opposite. Girls like her are very concerned about status, they won't be dating random person. So, this kind of girl makes me more interested.”

"So, you chose Teena Simmons? Well, fair enough. What about Amber Edmond?" Aidan says, looking at one corner of their school yard.

Josh follows Aidan's eyes. When Josh's eyes meet with Amber’s, he sees the girl quickly shifting her gaze toward one of her friends in their group. Josh chuckles. It seems that the girl has an interest in his best friend. "Sweet girl, it seems like she's interested in you. Maybe it's a good idea for you to ask her out."

Aidan shakes his head in despair. "Unbelievable, I should just leave." Aidan clears his backpack and hurries away from Josh.