THE LIST

What the hell?

Lily so badly wanted to swear but she resigned to politeness and tolerance. "It's time, Jean. Go outside, talk to people, and complete the List."

What she got in return, as she expected, was a pout from her best friend.

The List was a campus poll of the popular students in Fram Hill High. Every school year, The Bugle, the school paper, conducted a survey among students, and its results were published. Conducting it should not require too much effort and energy from Jean.

The way things currently were, the List proved to be problematic and disappointing as time went by.

Deadline - tomorrow night. Input – blank. Process – Jean's mouth and long eyelashes. Output – Nah. Forget about it.

Jean, light-hearted as ever, replied, "Come on, Lil. Don't worry. I still have the entire afternoon tomorrow to do the survey. Right now, I have other plans. More interesting plans."

Though distracted by her friend's stunning red hair, Lily glared at her.

Tossing her hair to tease, Jean added, "I promise. Cross my heart. Swear to die later. Just let me do some other things today other than the survey."

There went another toss of hair.

Lily had always envied her best friend for the latter's crowning glory. Compared to her own, her hair was the typical long, black hair. Straight and unadorned--not exactly shampoo model material.

And Jean... she loved it that Lily was envious.

Nice try distracting me, Lily thought. "No. It can't wait, and you know that. What are these more interesting plans you're talking about now anyway?" She sat and sorted all the submitted feature articles for the next publication. She almost forgot that she still needed to write her own article.

"Jean, please don't make me worry about the List. Duncan's been reminding me since this morning, and I'm busy. I have this Physics tutorial with some kids, and guess what? It's happening today too. We are talking about pressure from Mr. Simpson here. It's killing me."

The pressure was due to the fact that she was not sure if whatever she researched was anything helpful. Of all the seniors in school, why did she have to be one of the student tutors? She was a student tutor for the frustrating reason that she agreed to it in the first place.

She wanted to pull all her hair off so badly for being a sucker for grades.

Jean blinked. "Nice! Since it's already killing you, you can just play dead."

The she-devil! Lily rolled her eyes, giving up on the fact she could never against her friend.

Leaning closer to Lily, that she-devil pleaded, "Please, Lil. I promise I'll do it tomorrow. Here. A pinky promise."

Before Lily could make a reply, someone knocked on the office's door.

Both responded at the same time, "Come in!"

Lily thought that it must be Duncan Teller, a good friend, and The Bugle's Editor-in-Chief. It should be him. If he is here, he can help me get rid of Jean's dilly-dallying and get her ass to work, she prayed.

However, it was a moot point. It wasn't Duncan.

"Hi!"

Right there and then, Lily knew why Jean had other plans for the afternoon because those plans involved none other than Frankie Bosworth, who Lily thought for a second there, was a certified heartthrob with his surfer blond boy looks and an athlete's lean body.

And he just made everything impossible for Lily.

She looked at Jean and raised an eyebrow. "More interesting plans, I see. Like unbelievably interesting. Who would have thought, huh?"

Jean gave a guilty look. "Yeah... yeah. So, Lil, I guess you know Frankie, right? Hello, Frankie."

Unbelievable. Was she kidding her? Lily did not know if she should be upset or impressed.

Of course, Lily knew him–the baseball team's most popular blond jerk and Jean's ultimate crush. In the flesh, he was gracing both girls with his presence.

And Lily felt like shielding her eyes from his superstar sparkles. Insert sarcasm.

Deep inside, she was trying hard not to frown. Jean's blushing was too obvious that Lily couldn't help but pinch the fool's forearm. Sometimes, Jean having a super crush was bad news. She couldn't be stopped from flying straight to the clouds, daydreaming. She was a romantic to a fault. A loyal fangirl to Frankie Bosworth.

Great! Jean is smiling like an idiot now. Oh, god, no! Spare me. Lily could not wait to get away from it all, from Jean and Frankie in the office. The atmosphere in the room was awkward. The three of them waiting for one another to move, looking at each other.

She observed Frankie Bosworth, who had a particular smirk on, to be an attractive yet playfully conceited guy. She had to admit that he was not good-looking but way too good-looking. He was also an asshole who got intolerable fangirls, and she always felt that he did not like her. Much of it was her opinion--no proof or whatsoever of that dislike. She just knew that whenever he looked at her he saw a wall, flat and just there.

Lily could write a list of adjectives to describe the guy but the number one would always be: jerk.

Frankie broke the ice, a smirk on his face. "Just so you know. Jean invited me for a little chat this afternoon. She told me it has something to do with the school paper. This may be one of the only few occasions that you get to do interviews, properly. I remember you used to eavesdrop inside the team's locker room. Or was it in the shower room?"

He smirked, wider and provoking.

Oh. Lily blushed.

It was not really a secret that The Bugle did some spying or snooping, whatever it was called. But in the shower room?

Okaaaaay. Lily did sneak into the shower room a few times but that was before she became one of the senior writers. It was in her first and second years in high school.

The editor at that time was still Duncan's older sister, Becca, who was notoriously bossy and nosy.

During that time, Lily was sure that Becca asked her to do all those embarrassing shower room "missions" because the latter wanted to spy on the football team captain, Kerr Hapman.

Kerr Hapman was Becca's boyfriend.

And what is this? Did she hear him right? An interview for the school paper? What the heck?! Lily shot Jean a questioning stare.

Jean shrugged and spoke to Frankie instead, "Lily and I were just talking about the chat with you. We're sure the interview will be great for The Bugle. Let's have it somewhere else, right, Lil?"

Jean didn't give Lily enough time to argue and said, "We can do it in the library. It's quiet there. Perfect."

Frankie Bosworth was Frankie Bosworth. "Library would be nice because I am not in the mood to handle fangirls today. Hey! Maybe you can also help with some homework." He winked at Jean, "I'll just wait outside," and went out of the office.

"Did he just... did he just flirt with you?" Lily turned to Jean. "What is this? Tell me. No. I changed my mind. Don't tell me that this is your idea of getting to know Frankie Bosworth."

"Lil, I have been waiting for this since summer. You know how much I like him. Just today, please let me go," she pleaded like a five-year-old kid and kissed Lily on her cheek. "And yes, this is my idea of getting to know him, and he did just flirt with me. Best day of my life!"

"Right, you're number 1 in your 'Boys I'd Like To Kiss' list. Achievement unlocked."

"Yep! I am so happy when he agreed to an interview. To talk to me! You got my back in this, right? You support me. I know you love me."

"And I hate myself that I do." Shaking her head, Lily added, "I guess I have to save your ass again from Duncan. I may be the senior writer here but he is still the boss. We're lucky he's not as bad as his sister."

Jean let out a squeal, "Yay! Thank you. Thank you." and excitedly hugged Lily. "And yes, we're lucky Duncan is not as batshit crazy as Becca." She then searched for her tote bag, grabbed it, and headed for the door to meet with Frankie.

"I love you too, Lil." Her eyes as green as emeralds, she winked at her best friend. "And always remember, you are the best sidekick."

Then, she was gone like a heroine out to rendezvous with the love of her life.

Did she just call her a sidekick? Lily could only smile at the idea. She was supposed to be the boss and not the other way around.

The great Jean Marie Brown Appleton always kept her promise but Lily did not want to risk getting late for the deadline. She decided to do the List herself instead.

If she was a sucker for grades then Duncan Teller was obsessed with deadlines.

In the end, she made mental rants. To hell with her tutorial session! To hell with Mr. Simpson because he made Physics sound like a migraine! She shook her head and sighed. Her mental rants would not reach the teacher's ears.

Resolved to forget her duty as a senior for only a little while, she grabbed her stuff–bag, notebook, the General Physics module, and the survey questionnaire–and headed for the door. She had also decided that Physics students could wait. Who wanted to die of being "Pee-sick" anyway?

Certainly not her.

***