Choker girl and Fake Earrings Girl

Miru sat beside his friend Katheena while sipping on his boxed fortified milk.  

The small bell attached to the entryway of the cafe they were at jinggled, but the two ignored it and continued on with their conversation.

"Yes, and last week was total chaos hahaha. Teachers were having some kind of problem, and man did they vent on us. "

"They always vent on students. Are we at fault that they can't pay their electricity bills? " Katheena chomped on a peeled peanut and shook her head in disappointment.

 Miru neither nodded nor shook his head, he had no side comments.

Katheena ignored his lack of response and watched the newcomers who entered the cafe earlier. Two short girls, in high school uniforms, black bags with dangling key chains, hair curled artificially and lips smacking red. 

Katheena thought of one word after assessing their get-up; teens.

"Ah teens, what I'd give to be young again. " Miru could almost hear her upcoming rumbling and complaints about her age. He quickly attempted to switch the conversation back to her college-hardship story.

"So? Did you find out what caused the commotion?" Miru placed the emptied box on the table and leaned his back on the chair. Katheena did not spare him a glance and bore a hole in the teens, though she replied nonetheless.

"No, we still don't know for sure, but some claims some students violated some university policies."

'Eh, that's unusual; she usually gets the gossip before the news can reveal it,' Miru thought.

He took the empty box again and sipped on it one last time. Draining it to last bit till he ended up sucking nothing but air. By then he stopped and placed it back on the table again.

Katheena watched as the teens placed their bags on the chair. They then pulled it closer towards each other and sat on it demurely, as if afraid that someone could tell they had never been to a cafe. One of the teens took out her phone and ignored Katheena's unwanted stares.

The two pairs were literally seated right beside each other. Only blind people would remain oblivious to Katheena's obvious stares.

Katheena squinted her eyes and tried to peek at their phone. For some odd reason, the two were sharing one phone, as if they were about to watch a movie.

"Where's the earphone?" One of the teens with a choker asked. The other one with fake earrings on her nose shrugged.

Katheena found these girls' interaction interesting, and so she shamelessly eavesdropped and pried into their conversation. She loves gossips, and high school---high school was that time of one's student life where scandals are prominent. 

"What university policy would they break that they'd get expelled? I mean, are people in your place so unrestrained?" Miru asked, interrupting her.

Katheena waved her hand over Miru to silence him. She wants to peacefully focus all her attention on these two teens, and Miru asking about another topic is not going to help.

Miru sighed and relented. He ignored her and switched his attention to his watch. Counting the seconds so he wouldn't miss 9am.

The choker teen asked in a whisper, which of course Katheena heard.

"Is this on full volume?"

"No, it's not.....probably" The fake piercing teen spoke in a whisper, that was anything but a whisper.

If you get what that means.

The choker girl glared at the fake piercing girl but tapped on the phone anyways.

'Oh she's playing it' Katheena wiggled her brows in excitement and pulled Miru's hair to watch the awaited video slash gossip.

"What?" Miru pulled his black hair back from her tight hold and went to where she was voluntarily. Not because he too was interested in whatever gossip they might hear, but because he didn't want his hair yanked again.

The two teens were at the next table but Miru and Katheena could clearlt see the screen of their phones, given their close proximity.

"What is so enjoyable with gossipping?"

"Everything. Now shhh." Katheena raised her forefinger in front of his mouth. That prompted Miru to shut up.

The two waited for the teens to do what they ought to do and to have their awaited gossip, or if chance forbid, some juicy scandal--she does not mean sexual. A fight would do.

The Choker teen tapped on the phone, opened her messenger, and a weirdly named GC, Online Groupies.

At that time, Katheena knew she had hit the jackpot.

"You're really watching it here?" The fake-earring teen whispered again, though it was audible to both Miru and Katheena.

"Yes, they told me this was trending 2 years ago" 

Katheena watched as the choker teen tapped on the video, that has nothing visible in the thumbnail aside from pure black, with her head playing some drumroll sfx.

When the video played, what they first heard was

[You fucking-hic-small---dick ba-bastar---] Before the sentence could even come to a conclusion, the choker teen turned the phone off.

"YOU SAID IT WASN'T FULL VOLUME!" She shouted at the fake-earring girl, who was as embarrassed as she was. The two thought the phone was on mute and played the video right away, but it turns out it was on full volume.

The fake earrings girl gulped and thought of why her phone wasn't on mute and upon realization, she smacked her forehead.

"Right! I forgot I just listened to Billie Eilish' song!"

The choker teen frowned and pulled her closer, but not without packing her things to get ready to leave.

"What does that have to do with the volume, Patricia?"

"Karen, calm down" The fake earring teen tried to calm the Choker teen, who happened to have 'Karen' as her name.

"Answer me!"

Patricia slashed fake earrings girl leaned in closer. She couldn't afford to raise her voice. She doesn't want to attract more attention than they already have.

"You see Billie Eilish's songs, are like whispers. I could barely hear them, so i had to go full volume"

The two teens left in a hurry right after. Those that were disturbed by the sudden audio of the video went back to their own business, though two people who were well aware of what had happened went stiff in their spots.

Miru's face paled and he glared at Katheena, aware of how the girl might react.

"No, stop, Katheena....Don't you dare--" 

"Pfft"

Miru's face paled even more as he watched Katheena try to hold in her laugh. He had the urge to shove her out of the cafe and save the rest of them the embarassment.

"Kath, don't you dare," Miru warned.

The corners of her lips curled, her mouth shook as if something was about to burst out--and as if she was fighting it back. Her struggles to keep her laughter in caused her cheeks to swell momentarily with the pressure--but all her attempts to keep a poker face fell apart in the end.

"Kek Bwahahaha..."

Katheena burst in laughter and Miru just wanted to bury himself underground. 

Her laughter erupted inside the cafe after so much struggle, echoing down the corridor as she bent over, slapping her knee repeatedly. The corners of her eyes teared up and she almost turned her guts upside down.

Miru buried his head under his folded arms and internally reminded himself that Katheena was his friend. He shouldn't ever think of shoving the empty box of fortified milk in her mouth just to shut her up.