Post by Blessed Devil on Apr 21, 2008 9:39:22 GMT 7
A/N: This is a series of stuff that's been happening ever since Dianne and Jack, from that Other story of mine, got together and became a couple.
There are two barkadas here:
Jack's barkada: Jack, Mikhail, Rei, Jerald
Dianne's barkada: Dianne, Martha, Natalie, Marilyn
Inanity
Episode 1: Secret Admirer
Dear Jerald,
With your cute eyes,
With your amusing innocence,
And with your romantic voice,
I think you’re a total hottie
Sincerely yours,
Your secret admirer
Jerald blinked dumbly as he folded the love letter and slid it back in its envelope. His aquamarine eyes were fixed blankly at the school hallway, and the people passing by him were whispering to each other because he looked like his mother had died and was in a state of shock. But he couldn’t help it. He really was in a state of shock. Who would have thought he’d actually have a secret admirer?
Still caught in a trance, he slowly leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position with his legs spread out into the hallway. He didn’t seem to notice that his feet were disturbing the flow of people walking back and forth. He was too preoccupied with finding out who his secret admirer was. Any one of these passers-by could be a suspect. Even that girl with the miniskirt. Or the one with the curly hair. Oh, but it couldn’t be that girl with a mole on her chin. Eek, she was way too hideous to write it.
** ** ** ** **
“So why isn’t Jerald here?” Jack asked before chomping down his slice of extra large pizza. He and his friends were in the Pizza Palace, and Dianne was tagging along for fun.
Rei was chewing on his slice as well. After a bit of struggle to swallow what he bit off, he spoke. “Probably, he’s still at school trying to find out who his secret admirer is.”
“Jerald has a secret admirer?!” Dianne’s head whirled to face Jack so quickly it almost startled him. “Oh my God, that’s so cute!” She grabbed Jack’s hand, pressed it against her cheek, and then gave it a light kiss, as if she was the one who was sent a love letter and Jack was the sender.
“Obviously, Rei wrote it to mess with his head,” Mikhail smartly alleged.
“Hahah, no I didn’t,” Rei replied. “But you just gave me an idea for April Fools next year.”
“You know,” Jack began as he swallowed the last bite of his pizza slice. “We have to get to Jerald quickly before this secret admirer thing liquefies his brain.”
** ** ** ** **
“Oh no, we’re too late.” Jack said as he and his friends saw a very still Jerald, who was sitting in the hallway staring blankly in front of him. His mouth was open and he wasn’t blinking at all. His bag was lying beside him drearily, uninterested in whatever he was doing. It could get snatched away without Jerald noticing a thing because he was so drifted away in his fantasy that Jack even half-expected him to start drooling. “It looks like the brain liquefaction has begun.”
Mikhail crouched down until his head was level with Jerald’s. ”Jerald?” he called out, waving at his dry aquamarine eyes in hopes that they’d at least blink. “I think I’m going to stick my fingers in his ears so his liquid brain doesn’t leak–”
“I know who my secret admirer is!” Jerald suddenly shouted. Mikhail was startled so bad he fell flat on his butt, Rei let out a shriek of panic, and Dianne abruptly ran behind Jack as if to use him as a protective cover. “It was Dianne’s friend! Martha!” Jerald continued.
Suddenly, an angry voice was heard from behind. “MAJOR brain liquefaction, kid.” Martha was walking towards them with the scary face they all knew and loved.
“But I saw you earlier looking at this letter!” Jerald accused, pointing at Martha rudely. “You even put it on my bag when I accidentally left it here.”
“I didn’t write that!” Martha snapped, folding her arms and raising one eyebrow. “I just got to the letter before you did.”
“I know who your secret admirer is,” Jake cut in before the two could start yelling God-knows-what-words at each other. “No one! The writer of that letter is probably watching from afar right now snickering and whispering to her friends.”
“Or maybe it was meant for some other Jerald,” Rei suggested.
“Or maybe his mom wrote it to boost his confidence,” Martha proposed smugly.
“Hold on just one minute!” Jerald stood up quickly, the irritation clear in his voice. “Are you guys saying that it isn’t possible for me to have a secret admirer?”
“No, of course not!” Rei replied sarcastically.
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “We’re practically just grinning and giving meaningful glances to each other.”
“Hmph! Well I’m going to prove you guys wrong!” Jerald retorted, pointing a finger upwards to indicate that he was, in fact, making a point. “I’m going to find out who this secret admirer is, and show her to your ugly faces!” he said as he stormed off the hallway.
“That was really mean, Jack,” Dianne scolded her badly behaved boyfriend. Jack could sense the fear in her voice. “Now he’s angry.”
“Oh, he’ll be back,” Jack calmly replied as he rubbed his hand against her arms in an attempt to ease her fear. “Let’s count down from five… four… three… two…”
The exit door suddenly burst open again and they saw Jerald running towards them with a slightly worried face. After apologizing to a small guy he accidentally knocked over in his haste, he came to a halt right next to Mikhail, who was looking intently at him waiting for whatever it was he had to say. “By the way, where do I start looking?” he asked in a friendly tone.
** ** ** ** **
Dianne had never liked the canteen food in school. They were expensive, they looked gross, and tasted just as bad. This is why whenever she and her friends had their lunch break, they would go out and order in a fast-food restaurant nearby. Unfortunately, today was not her lucky day, because a fire had caught the fast-food restaurant they had always gone to, and now they had no choice but to eat cafeteria food. The very thought of having to devour such grotesque cooking made her shudder.
“What is this?” she asked as she poked her plate of… whatever this was.
Natalie tried to chew her food as hard as she could but the damn thing must have been made of rubber or something. “I think it’s… beef.”
“Yuck!” Martha closed her eyes. “It doesn’t look like beef!”
“This isn’t beef,” Marilyn protested, eyeing her food and not daring to touch it. “This looks like burnt wood or something.”
“Anyways,” Dianne started, trying to forget the nasty food in front of her. “Did you guys know that Jerald has a secret admirer?”
“Yeah,” Marilyn said. “Martha showed the letter to me when she found it.”
“And what did the letter say?” Natalie asked before struggling to swallow her so-called ‘beef’, which was definitely not chewed well. She immediately grabbed her glass of water and gulped down the whole glass before she could choke on her un-chewed food.
“I don’t remember exactly,” Marilyn said as she looked upwards trying to remember what was written. “There were a few words that–“
“With your cute eyes, your amusing innocence, and your romantic voice, I think you’re a total hottie,” Martha recited, complete with feelings.
“Wow, maybe I should write to Mikhail too,” Marilyn mused. “With your long hair, your chubby cheeks, and your being afraid of me, I think you’re a total hottie!”
“Too bad Mikhail isn’t here to hear you say that,” a male voice suddenly spoke from behind Dianne, and everyone’s attention turned to where they heard the voice. It was Jack, holding a tray of his food, with Rei and Jerald standing behind him. “Look whose eatery caught fire. Do you mind if we sit with you?”
“But Jack, there are only four chairs here,” Dianne said, looking around the table as if a chair would materialize if she looked hard enough. “Where are you going to sit?”
“Mikhail’s getting our chairs as we speak… if that’s okay with you,” Jack replied. Martha looked at Jerald, who was carrying two trays with him, indicating that he was carrying Mikhail’s food.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Martha announced before hurriedly standing up and making a beeline to the bathroom.
Dianne gave Jack a mischievous smile. “No,” she said. “It’s not okay to sit with us. Not until you–“
But before Dianne could finish that sentence, Jack quickly lowered his head and then pressed his lips against hers. Dianne could feel a very comforting warmth from his lips that seemed to have made her forget that she was having a bad lunch break and was forced to eat these burnt wood they call cafeteria food. For a lengthy three seconds, it seemed as if she and Jack were the only two people in the world. She closed her eyes to feel his lips better, and she could tell he was doing the same.
And then he let go of her lips. Everyone else began to exist again.
Giggling, Dianne said to Jack, “Nice try, Jack. But that’s not what I wanted you to do.”
“I got the chairs,” Mikhail declared as he brought to the table four plastic chairs.
“Oh, don’t worry Dianne, I could tell it’s what you wanted,” Jack haughtily alleged, pulling one chair close to Dianne and then taking a seat. His three other friends followed in suit.
“Oh, really?” Dianne snapped back, Jack’s arrogance suddenly reminding her of her predicament. “Are you sure the food didn’t poison your brain or something?”
“Ow!” Jerald shrieked when a paper airplane hit him on the head. “What the heck?” He grabbed it and turned to look at whoever threw it at him, but no one seems to want to claim it. He looked left – lots of people eating their lunch. He looked right – that was the exit, and the door was swinging back and forth because the people just keep coming in. But there was no sign of the paper plane’s owner.
“It looks like you have another love letter, Jerald,” Mikhail notified Jerald.
Jerald, who at first hadn’t noticed that it was a love letter, quickly unfolded the paper airplane and read what it says.
Dear Jerald,
I think you are the most talented person I’ve ever met. You’re so amazing.
Love,
Your secret admirer
“The sender couldn’t have gone far!” he stood up shouting, and his friends didn’t know if he was telling it to them, or to everyone in the canteen. “I want all exits locked! I want road blocks! Sign boards! Police cars patrolling around!”
His seven other friends stared dumbly at him.
“Well come on, people! Move, move, move!”
They just stared some more for a good five seconds, and then they burst out laughing.
“Rats, she probably got away by now.”
** ** ** ** **
After class was the time of any normal day that Jack loved the most, because it was a time when he walks Dianne home with their hands clasped together. The best thing about this was the feeling that he and Dianne were the only people in existence during this time. If they had no date or event to go to, this was what Jack would consider the most romantic time of the day.
“Your head’s really broken, you know that?” Dianne said to Jack as she smacked him softly on the forehead. “Really, really broken.”
“But Dianne, it’s true!” Jack replied. “I really looked cute with eyeliner!”
Dianne shook her head. “No! You look stupid!”
Romantic indeed.
The traffic wasn’t moving at all. There was a nice variety of cars in the street, but Jack wasn’t interested in their model. He was more interested in their glass window and his reflection on it. Every car that he and Dianne would pass by, he wouldn’t miss the chance to check if his handsome face was still handsome. He could see that Dianne was looking at her reflection, too.
But there was one car that caught Jack’s attention. It was a red, roofless car. And because it didn’t have a roof, it also didn’t have windows, which was upsetting. The driver probably had a plug of dirt stuck in his eardrums, because his radio was at its maximum volume. Annoyed people on the streets were shouting at the driver, who didn’t seem to be listening to them. Regardless, Dianne quite enjoyed the music, and it was something she wished Jack would sing to her.
When she cries at night
And she doesn’t think that I can hear her
She tries to hide
All the pain she feels inside
So I pray, this time
I can be the man that she deserves
‘Cause I die a little each time
When she cries
“Wonderful song…” Dianne softly said, blushing a little as she imagined Jack singing it to her.
“Dianne?” he called, tightening his grip on Dianne’s hand. “You want to hear about the first time I heard this song?”
“Hm? Okay, sure,” she replied.
“It was on the radio, that one night,” Jack began, facing upwards as he recalls his story. “That night, Ron broke up with you, and you and I were talking on the phone. You were crying to me, and I was trying my best to comfort you. We put the phone down when you stopped crying, but I was still hurting. You deserved better, I thought.”
Jack slid his arms around Dianne’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “And then that song played on the radio. I wondered when I would ever get the chance to sing it to you.”
Dianne felt a mixture of sympathy and happiness. She was so damn lucky to have met someone like him. She didn’t know how to repay what he did for her. He waited three years for her love, even after all the aches she had given his heart. Nothing she could do for him even came close to that. There was only one thing she could do now.
“Jack, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” she said, enjoying her boyfriend’s half-embrace. “This time, I’ll love you even more, and I’m gonna make sure I’m worth the wait.”
And then, she gave Jack a kiss on the cheek.
Most romantic time of the day, indeed.
** ** ** ** **
Being in the park alone, sitting on a bench offered Jerald the concentration he needed to start thinking about the many problems he had in life. He had a lot of problems, and moments like these offered enough tranquility for him to come up with the solutions. Let’s see, there’s the pressure of getting good enough grades in school. It’s hard when you’re a scholar and the worst grade you’re allowed to have is a 2.25. He also has a problem with money, because he and his friends keep going out during weekends and he’s forced to spend all his savings. He also has a problem about his future, because what if there were so many nurses in the world already, that it didn’t have enough room for someone like him? Also, the president of his country is corrupt, and he’s worried that the nation would fall. There’s also this problem about his contribution to society, because the community is like a very delicate clock and it is at its best only if the cogs are all working perfectly, or so his father says.
But more importantly, his secret admirer. Who was she? Where did she come from? What did she look like?
The most obvious suspect would be Martha. She put the letter in his bag, and he recognized the scent of her perfume on it. Also, earlier today in the cafeteria, after she went to the bathroom he got hit on the head with the second love letter. But it couldn’t be her.
It’s not that she was unattractive, and it’s not as if she didn’t stand a chance at getting him, but she had always been a natural enemy of his. Their viewpoints in life are probably best represented by two magnets of the same pole – they can never work together. One time, he had a DVD copy of Death Note – a show he loved almost more than himself – and he said to Martha that she should watch it, but the next morning she returned the DVD saying 'Gawd, kid, that show was hideous! I want the two wasted hours of my life back!'. And it wasn’t enough to say that the show was bad – the DVD she returned wasn’t working anymore.
It couldn’t be Martha. She hated every fiber of his being.
Jerald took the letter out from its envelope and read it again. From her handwriting, he could tell that this girl was cute. She was probably about five feet tall, her hair was probably straight and long, oh, and she’d probably approach him wearing pink tank tops, and a skirt. Then she’d hesitantly say, “Jerald, I-I have something to confess…” and he’d be all, “Yes, what is it, darling?” and she’d be all “I wrote that letter… I…I’m your secret admirer!” and after that, they’d be a couple and then they’d get married and have cute-eyed, amusingly innocent, romantic-voiced children.
Oh, who am I kidding? Jerald thought, placing his elbows on his laps and burying his face in his palms. Maybe the guys were right. Maybe this letter WAS just to mess with me.
“Hey kid?” someone called, snapping the face-palming problematic guy out of his misery. He dropped his hands and looked at who called him. It was Martha, with her hands behind her back and her left foot brushing the ground in front of her. “I-I have something to confess,” she continued, sounding a little too shy for Jerald’s comfort.
Jerald’s eyes widened. Martha was more than five feet tall, her hair wasn’t straight, and she wasn’t wearing pink tank tops and a skirt, but she was acting just like the girl in his imagination.
“Uh, w-what is it?” he hesitantly asked, too nervous to say ‘What is it, darling?’
“I wrote that letter,” she answered, her eyes locked on Jerald’s face.
Jerald was, to put it mildly, unreservedly flabbergasted. He looked at Martha in the eye, and there was a look of sincerity in it that he had never thought possible for her. The same girl who kept calling him ‘kid’ instead of his name. The same girl who mocked him about his childishness. The same girl who hid his towel while he was taking a shower. The same girl who told everyone he had a secret crush on his classmate, Danica.
Those brown eyes seemed so affectionate. Suddenly, she didn’t seem to be so bad anymore. Sure, she bugged him sometimes, but now that she’s here with him, staring at him with those beautiful brown orbs, she seemed kind of… cute.
“…but I will never be you secret admirer!” she exclaimed, and suddenly her affectionate eyes transformed into something contemptuous and condescending. “I just wrote that to mess with your head!” she explained, laughing profusely afterwards. “You should have seen the look on your face! Ha, ha, ha!”
And then she walked off, still laughing, leaving an upset and dumbfounded Jerald sitting on the bench, staring blankly in front of him yet again.
She wasn’t cute at all.
End of episode.
There are two barkadas here:
Jack's barkada: Jack, Mikhail, Rei, Jerald
Dianne's barkada: Dianne, Martha, Natalie, Marilyn
Inanity
Episode 1: Secret Admirer
Dear Jerald,
With your cute eyes,
With your amusing innocence,
And with your romantic voice,
I think you’re a total hottie
Sincerely yours,
Your secret admirer
Jerald blinked dumbly as he folded the love letter and slid it back in its envelope. His aquamarine eyes were fixed blankly at the school hallway, and the people passing by him were whispering to each other because he looked like his mother had died and was in a state of shock. But he couldn’t help it. He really was in a state of shock. Who would have thought he’d actually have a secret admirer?
Still caught in a trance, he slowly leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position with his legs spread out into the hallway. He didn’t seem to notice that his feet were disturbing the flow of people walking back and forth. He was too preoccupied with finding out who his secret admirer was. Any one of these passers-by could be a suspect. Even that girl with the miniskirt. Or the one with the curly hair. Oh, but it couldn’t be that girl with a mole on her chin. Eek, she was way too hideous to write it.
** ** ** ** **
“So why isn’t Jerald here?” Jack asked before chomping down his slice of extra large pizza. He and his friends were in the Pizza Palace, and Dianne was tagging along for fun.
Rei was chewing on his slice as well. After a bit of struggle to swallow what he bit off, he spoke. “Probably, he’s still at school trying to find out who his secret admirer is.”
“Jerald has a secret admirer?!” Dianne’s head whirled to face Jack so quickly it almost startled him. “Oh my God, that’s so cute!” She grabbed Jack’s hand, pressed it against her cheek, and then gave it a light kiss, as if she was the one who was sent a love letter and Jack was the sender.
“Obviously, Rei wrote it to mess with his head,” Mikhail smartly alleged.
“Hahah, no I didn’t,” Rei replied. “But you just gave me an idea for April Fools next year.”
“You know,” Jack began as he swallowed the last bite of his pizza slice. “We have to get to Jerald quickly before this secret admirer thing liquefies his brain.”
** ** ** ** **
“Oh no, we’re too late.” Jack said as he and his friends saw a very still Jerald, who was sitting in the hallway staring blankly in front of him. His mouth was open and he wasn’t blinking at all. His bag was lying beside him drearily, uninterested in whatever he was doing. It could get snatched away without Jerald noticing a thing because he was so drifted away in his fantasy that Jack even half-expected him to start drooling. “It looks like the brain liquefaction has begun.”
Mikhail crouched down until his head was level with Jerald’s. ”Jerald?” he called out, waving at his dry aquamarine eyes in hopes that they’d at least blink. “I think I’m going to stick my fingers in his ears so his liquid brain doesn’t leak–”
“I know who my secret admirer is!” Jerald suddenly shouted. Mikhail was startled so bad he fell flat on his butt, Rei let out a shriek of panic, and Dianne abruptly ran behind Jack as if to use him as a protective cover. “It was Dianne’s friend! Martha!” Jerald continued.
Suddenly, an angry voice was heard from behind. “MAJOR brain liquefaction, kid.” Martha was walking towards them with the scary face they all knew and loved.
“But I saw you earlier looking at this letter!” Jerald accused, pointing at Martha rudely. “You even put it on my bag when I accidentally left it here.”
“I didn’t write that!” Martha snapped, folding her arms and raising one eyebrow. “I just got to the letter before you did.”
“I know who your secret admirer is,” Jake cut in before the two could start yelling God-knows-what-words at each other. “No one! The writer of that letter is probably watching from afar right now snickering and whispering to her friends.”
“Or maybe it was meant for some other Jerald,” Rei suggested.
“Or maybe his mom wrote it to boost his confidence,” Martha proposed smugly.
“Hold on just one minute!” Jerald stood up quickly, the irritation clear in his voice. “Are you guys saying that it isn’t possible for me to have a secret admirer?”
“No, of course not!” Rei replied sarcastically.
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “We’re practically just grinning and giving meaningful glances to each other.”
“Hmph! Well I’m going to prove you guys wrong!” Jerald retorted, pointing a finger upwards to indicate that he was, in fact, making a point. “I’m going to find out who this secret admirer is, and show her to your ugly faces!” he said as he stormed off the hallway.
“That was really mean, Jack,” Dianne scolded her badly behaved boyfriend. Jack could sense the fear in her voice. “Now he’s angry.”
“Oh, he’ll be back,” Jack calmly replied as he rubbed his hand against her arms in an attempt to ease her fear. “Let’s count down from five… four… three… two…”
The exit door suddenly burst open again and they saw Jerald running towards them with a slightly worried face. After apologizing to a small guy he accidentally knocked over in his haste, he came to a halt right next to Mikhail, who was looking intently at him waiting for whatever it was he had to say. “By the way, where do I start looking?” he asked in a friendly tone.
** ** ** ** **
Dianne had never liked the canteen food in school. They were expensive, they looked gross, and tasted just as bad. This is why whenever she and her friends had their lunch break, they would go out and order in a fast-food restaurant nearby. Unfortunately, today was not her lucky day, because a fire had caught the fast-food restaurant they had always gone to, and now they had no choice but to eat cafeteria food. The very thought of having to devour such grotesque cooking made her shudder.
“What is this?” she asked as she poked her plate of… whatever this was.
Natalie tried to chew her food as hard as she could but the damn thing must have been made of rubber or something. “I think it’s… beef.”
“Yuck!” Martha closed her eyes. “It doesn’t look like beef!”
“This isn’t beef,” Marilyn protested, eyeing her food and not daring to touch it. “This looks like burnt wood or something.”
“Anyways,” Dianne started, trying to forget the nasty food in front of her. “Did you guys know that Jerald has a secret admirer?”
“Yeah,” Marilyn said. “Martha showed the letter to me when she found it.”
“And what did the letter say?” Natalie asked before struggling to swallow her so-called ‘beef’, which was definitely not chewed well. She immediately grabbed her glass of water and gulped down the whole glass before she could choke on her un-chewed food.
“I don’t remember exactly,” Marilyn said as she looked upwards trying to remember what was written. “There were a few words that–“
“With your cute eyes, your amusing innocence, and your romantic voice, I think you’re a total hottie,” Martha recited, complete with feelings.
“Wow, maybe I should write to Mikhail too,” Marilyn mused. “With your long hair, your chubby cheeks, and your being afraid of me, I think you’re a total hottie!”
“Too bad Mikhail isn’t here to hear you say that,” a male voice suddenly spoke from behind Dianne, and everyone’s attention turned to where they heard the voice. It was Jack, holding a tray of his food, with Rei and Jerald standing behind him. “Look whose eatery caught fire. Do you mind if we sit with you?”
“But Jack, there are only four chairs here,” Dianne said, looking around the table as if a chair would materialize if she looked hard enough. “Where are you going to sit?”
“Mikhail’s getting our chairs as we speak… if that’s okay with you,” Jack replied. Martha looked at Jerald, who was carrying two trays with him, indicating that he was carrying Mikhail’s food.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Martha announced before hurriedly standing up and making a beeline to the bathroom.
Dianne gave Jack a mischievous smile. “No,” she said. “It’s not okay to sit with us. Not until you–“
But before Dianne could finish that sentence, Jack quickly lowered his head and then pressed his lips against hers. Dianne could feel a very comforting warmth from his lips that seemed to have made her forget that she was having a bad lunch break and was forced to eat these burnt wood they call cafeteria food. For a lengthy three seconds, it seemed as if she and Jack were the only two people in the world. She closed her eyes to feel his lips better, and she could tell he was doing the same.
And then he let go of her lips. Everyone else began to exist again.
Giggling, Dianne said to Jack, “Nice try, Jack. But that’s not what I wanted you to do.”
“I got the chairs,” Mikhail declared as he brought to the table four plastic chairs.
“Oh, don’t worry Dianne, I could tell it’s what you wanted,” Jack haughtily alleged, pulling one chair close to Dianne and then taking a seat. His three other friends followed in suit.
“Oh, really?” Dianne snapped back, Jack’s arrogance suddenly reminding her of her predicament. “Are you sure the food didn’t poison your brain or something?”
“Ow!” Jerald shrieked when a paper airplane hit him on the head. “What the heck?” He grabbed it and turned to look at whoever threw it at him, but no one seems to want to claim it. He looked left – lots of people eating their lunch. He looked right – that was the exit, and the door was swinging back and forth because the people just keep coming in. But there was no sign of the paper plane’s owner.
“It looks like you have another love letter, Jerald,” Mikhail notified Jerald.
Jerald, who at first hadn’t noticed that it was a love letter, quickly unfolded the paper airplane and read what it says.
Dear Jerald,
I think you are the most talented person I’ve ever met. You’re so amazing.
Love,
Your secret admirer
“The sender couldn’t have gone far!” he stood up shouting, and his friends didn’t know if he was telling it to them, or to everyone in the canteen. “I want all exits locked! I want road blocks! Sign boards! Police cars patrolling around!”
His seven other friends stared dumbly at him.
“Well come on, people! Move, move, move!”
They just stared some more for a good five seconds, and then they burst out laughing.
“Rats, she probably got away by now.”
** ** ** ** **
After class was the time of any normal day that Jack loved the most, because it was a time when he walks Dianne home with their hands clasped together. The best thing about this was the feeling that he and Dianne were the only people in existence during this time. If they had no date or event to go to, this was what Jack would consider the most romantic time of the day.
“Your head’s really broken, you know that?” Dianne said to Jack as she smacked him softly on the forehead. “Really, really broken.”
“But Dianne, it’s true!” Jack replied. “I really looked cute with eyeliner!”
Dianne shook her head. “No! You look stupid!”
Romantic indeed.
The traffic wasn’t moving at all. There was a nice variety of cars in the street, but Jack wasn’t interested in their model. He was more interested in their glass window and his reflection on it. Every car that he and Dianne would pass by, he wouldn’t miss the chance to check if his handsome face was still handsome. He could see that Dianne was looking at her reflection, too.
But there was one car that caught Jack’s attention. It was a red, roofless car. And because it didn’t have a roof, it also didn’t have windows, which was upsetting. The driver probably had a plug of dirt stuck in his eardrums, because his radio was at its maximum volume. Annoyed people on the streets were shouting at the driver, who didn’t seem to be listening to them. Regardless, Dianne quite enjoyed the music, and it was something she wished Jack would sing to her.
When she cries at night
And she doesn’t think that I can hear her
She tries to hide
All the pain she feels inside
So I pray, this time
I can be the man that she deserves
‘Cause I die a little each time
When she cries
“Wonderful song…” Dianne softly said, blushing a little as she imagined Jack singing it to her.
“Dianne?” he called, tightening his grip on Dianne’s hand. “You want to hear about the first time I heard this song?”
“Hm? Okay, sure,” she replied.
“It was on the radio, that one night,” Jack began, facing upwards as he recalls his story. “That night, Ron broke up with you, and you and I were talking on the phone. You were crying to me, and I was trying my best to comfort you. We put the phone down when you stopped crying, but I was still hurting. You deserved better, I thought.”
Jack slid his arms around Dianne’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “And then that song played on the radio. I wondered when I would ever get the chance to sing it to you.”
Dianne felt a mixture of sympathy and happiness. She was so damn lucky to have met someone like him. She didn’t know how to repay what he did for her. He waited three years for her love, even after all the aches she had given his heart. Nothing she could do for him even came close to that. There was only one thing she could do now.
“Jack, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” she said, enjoying her boyfriend’s half-embrace. “This time, I’ll love you even more, and I’m gonna make sure I’m worth the wait.”
And then, she gave Jack a kiss on the cheek.
Most romantic time of the day, indeed.
** ** ** ** **
Being in the park alone, sitting on a bench offered Jerald the concentration he needed to start thinking about the many problems he had in life. He had a lot of problems, and moments like these offered enough tranquility for him to come up with the solutions. Let’s see, there’s the pressure of getting good enough grades in school. It’s hard when you’re a scholar and the worst grade you’re allowed to have is a 2.25. He also has a problem with money, because he and his friends keep going out during weekends and he’s forced to spend all his savings. He also has a problem about his future, because what if there were so many nurses in the world already, that it didn’t have enough room for someone like him? Also, the president of his country is corrupt, and he’s worried that the nation would fall. There’s also this problem about his contribution to society, because the community is like a very delicate clock and it is at its best only if the cogs are all working perfectly, or so his father says.
But more importantly, his secret admirer. Who was she? Where did she come from? What did she look like?
The most obvious suspect would be Martha. She put the letter in his bag, and he recognized the scent of her perfume on it. Also, earlier today in the cafeteria, after she went to the bathroom he got hit on the head with the second love letter. But it couldn’t be her.
It’s not that she was unattractive, and it’s not as if she didn’t stand a chance at getting him, but she had always been a natural enemy of his. Their viewpoints in life are probably best represented by two magnets of the same pole – they can never work together. One time, he had a DVD copy of Death Note – a show he loved almost more than himself – and he said to Martha that she should watch it, but the next morning she returned the DVD saying 'Gawd, kid, that show was hideous! I want the two wasted hours of my life back!'. And it wasn’t enough to say that the show was bad – the DVD she returned wasn’t working anymore.
It couldn’t be Martha. She hated every fiber of his being.
Jerald took the letter out from its envelope and read it again. From her handwriting, he could tell that this girl was cute. She was probably about five feet tall, her hair was probably straight and long, oh, and she’d probably approach him wearing pink tank tops, and a skirt. Then she’d hesitantly say, “Jerald, I-I have something to confess…” and he’d be all, “Yes, what is it, darling?” and she’d be all “I wrote that letter… I…I’m your secret admirer!” and after that, they’d be a couple and then they’d get married and have cute-eyed, amusingly innocent, romantic-voiced children.
Oh, who am I kidding? Jerald thought, placing his elbows on his laps and burying his face in his palms. Maybe the guys were right. Maybe this letter WAS just to mess with me.
“Hey kid?” someone called, snapping the face-palming problematic guy out of his misery. He dropped his hands and looked at who called him. It was Martha, with her hands behind her back and her left foot brushing the ground in front of her. “I-I have something to confess,” she continued, sounding a little too shy for Jerald’s comfort.
Jerald’s eyes widened. Martha was more than five feet tall, her hair wasn’t straight, and she wasn’t wearing pink tank tops and a skirt, but she was acting just like the girl in his imagination.
“Uh, w-what is it?” he hesitantly asked, too nervous to say ‘What is it, darling?’
“I wrote that letter,” she answered, her eyes locked on Jerald’s face.
Jerald was, to put it mildly, unreservedly flabbergasted. He looked at Martha in the eye, and there was a look of sincerity in it that he had never thought possible for her. The same girl who kept calling him ‘kid’ instead of his name. The same girl who mocked him about his childishness. The same girl who hid his towel while he was taking a shower. The same girl who told everyone he had a secret crush on his classmate, Danica.
Those brown eyes seemed so affectionate. Suddenly, she didn’t seem to be so bad anymore. Sure, she bugged him sometimes, but now that she’s here with him, staring at him with those beautiful brown orbs, she seemed kind of… cute.
“…but I will never be you secret admirer!” she exclaimed, and suddenly her affectionate eyes transformed into something contemptuous and condescending. “I just wrote that to mess with your head!” she explained, laughing profusely afterwards. “You should have seen the look on your face! Ha, ha, ha!”
And then she walked off, still laughing, leaving an upset and dumbfounded Jerald sitting on the bench, staring blankly in front of him yet again.
She wasn’t cute at all.
End of episode.
<--- Mah boss. OH YEAH. 
