Wish I Were Heather ✓

T w e n t y

~ Vincent ~

"Woah! You didn't disappoint us, bro." Skyler stated.

"Appreciation accepted." Derek nonchalantly said.

"Heyy! That's wasn't even remotedly close to an appreciation." She argued with him.

We were at the fundraiser program.

This place was swarming with more and more people, with every minute.

No wonder, why there were 20 groups of volunteers with five members each.

We were yet to see our fifth member because he didn't show up yet.  On top of it, our goodie pair of shoes didn't arrive either.

"Where's Emily?" I asked Skyler.

She turned her attention towards me, stopping her bickering with Derek temporarily.

"She just texted me that she'll be here in 5." She said and took out her phone from her bag.

Great. Five more minutes in this busy school garden.

"Derek, do you have any idea of our remaining member?" I asked him while he was juggling a football, which he got all of sudden.

"He should be here, at any moment." And that was Mr. Derek's huge explanation.

"You don't need to show off your skills like this." Skyler said while occupying the empty bench. "Because honestly, nobody cares." She snickered.

"You don't -" His whatever comeback was cut off by Skyler's squealing.

"Oh, Emily! You're here." She jolted up from the bench with lightning speed and engulfed her friend in a hug.

They looked like people who were meeting after a long time.

Emily awkwardly returned her hug while looking around to check whether anybody had noticed their public display of affection.

"Vincent's here?!" Emily exclaimed in surprise. Or more like shock.

"Surprise, surprise, Emily." Derek shrugged.

She didn't know?

"Where the fuck were you?" Skyler asked as politely as ever.

Emily swiftly glanced at me apologetically on behalf of her friend while I nodded in understanding.

"I messed up with the timing. I thought it would start only at 9:30." She smiled nervously. "Did I make y'all wait for long?" Her forehead creased with worry.

"No, Emily. It's fine." Out of all people, it was my voice.

I was surprised with myself.

She heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

Derek received a call at that moment, and after a minute, he hung up.

"Guys, we're supposed to be in the hall for a brief meeting and -" He grinned and added, "hopefully we'll meet our missing member there."

.

*
.

"Good morning, dear students." a man dressed in a black suit announced through the mic. "I'm Jacob Hendrix, the organiser of this honorable event."

I realized that he was Derek's father.

"Firstly, I would like to appreciate y'all for signing up for volunteering, and,"

And just like that, he prolonged his speech for the next ten minutes, which I may or may not have been listening to.

In my defense, Derek looked like he wasn't even giving the slightest bit of attention to the speech either.