I Bet I Would

Chapter 59: Taking Chances

PAULENE

"haha! just feign friendliness. remember that ur there for your granny. besides, nash s there 2 ryt? dont make it hard 4 the kid. hows ur grandpa?"

I send the text to Ashton and wait for his reply.

Silly guy. Well, I can't blame him if he hates his mother so much.

He can't even call her "Mom". He has a lot of substitutes for the term like Woman, Wretch, Witch, plus a number of negative adjectives. At least, he doesn't go as far as Whore and Bitch. He clearly still has some respect left for Vicky.

Ashton and his family are at Orlando right now. They will be there for a week or so. His grandmother in his mother side passed away. I feel bad for him. He told me that his grandma was his favorite person and that she makes the best blueberry pies in the world.

I then remember my own grandmother, Julienne. She passed away a few days before I turned seven, though.

We used to live together with my grandparents then.

Exactly on the day of my birthday, there was a coffin at our house. 

Maybe that's why I seem to have a lot of guests then.

Trust me, I was still having my birthday party with a coffin in the house.

I remember blowing my number seven candle on my Little Mermaid-themed birthday cake.

For quite a while, Ariel was my favorite Disney Princess, but, I switched to Snow White when I had a dream that I turned into a mermaid. That wasn't exactly a pretty dream.

I was startled when my phone vibrated on my hand.

"yeah. trying my best 2 be civil around her. dads doing fine so i guess i should do better. i guess its good we stay here 4 a week cuz grandpa has a hard time dealing. at least he says he is happy 2 see us. i feel bad when he said that if grandma didnt die before him, he might have not seen his grandsons before he dies :| "

I let out a laugh.

I quickly typed a reply,

"hahahahahhahahahahaha!"

"Uhm, excuse me, Miss Josiah?" Professor Crawford called my attention.

I straightened up and slipped my phone inside my bag.

She went on to say as everyone else in the class looked at me, "I do not mind students texting in class, although, I can't help but get distracted seeing you chuckle to yourself there. Mind sharing to the class the message that made you laugh?" 

"I am sorry, Ma'am," I answered politely.

Damn it.

She then continued with her discussion.

I let out the breath I was holding.

I then felt something buzzing inside my bag.

Can't help it.

I hold my bag close and put a hand inside and reached for my phone. I opened the SMS from Ashton with the phone still inside the bag, trying to be as discreet as possible.

"its not supposed 2 be funny."

Double damn it.

I have to quickly reply sorry!

"Miss Josiah--"

I froze.

I then dropped my phone inside my bag and slipped out my hand as naturally as I could.

"I am a Psychologist, remember? I know you were texting from inside your bag. I am afraid that I will have to ask you to hand me your phone. I will return it to you after class."

I bit my lip as I tried to reach for my phone. I then stood, walked towards her, and handed her my phone. 

She examined the cracks as she took it before placing it on the teacher's table.

I had to guiltily look down as I went back to my seat, trying to avoid any eye contact with my classmates. 

Triple damn it.

When I looked up, I saw Tiffany's head turned around to see me.

The freak.

I have a silent love-hate relationship with the girl and she is completely unaware of it. 

She then faced the professor again.

Crazy girl. Wearing all black since yesterday. She announced that she will be wearing black the entire week to mourn for Ashton's grandmother.

I would not be surprised if she started a fund raising project.

She even created that Ashton Harding fan club Facebook page and there's a campaign to wear black.

I shudder to think of more Ashton-crazed Tiffanies.

Okay, I subscribed to the page only because I was curious.

She is just so creepy. What she has for Ashton is not something normal. It is an obsession.

The psychiatric kind of obsession.

I wonder if she will find out that she is mental after taking up this course.

FRANZ

I do feel bad for Ashton. Yet, I can't help but feel that this is a blessing in disguise.

I should take this as a chance to make a move on Paulene without any competition.

I wonder what I should do.

Hmmm.

I then saw a preview of an SMS that popped up on my screen.

It's from Levi Jacobs, my friend from the Miami Freethinking Society, a law professor here in ASU.

"Good that you followed my advice and joined the Paideia. :) See you tomorrow night for our first dinner. I believe that you have Prof. McCullough as your professor? He will also be there. 8pm at the Orange Falcon's Restaurant. You know where it is. It's inside the campus, near the Beckingham building? See you."

Awesome! Paulene is a member of Paideia too! I don't think she will be too happy if she finds out about McCullough, though. Well, I can leave out that detail when I invite her.

I sent Levi a reply,

"You already informed the other members?"

He then quickly replied,

"I just sent a mass e-mail."

I hope Paulene doesn't get that e-mail. Well, I hope that e-mail does not mention anything McCullough. Well, if it does, I can convince her that it's a way to befriend McCullough. She's doing better in class anyway.

I am quite excited to invite her. 

I can't suppress a chuckle. 

I then see her enter the classroom.

She was followed by our professor, David McCullough, the man we will be having dinner with tomorrow night.

Okay, I'll ask Paulene after class.

I gave her my boy-next-door smile as I caught her eye.

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I am on a roll! :D 4th update for the day! I'll "try" to make the 5th. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :) Remember to vote and leave a comment if you think it is well-deserved! I would really appreciate it! :D

This chappy is dedicated to cookies1621! Thanks for the votes and comments! :D Yay! I hope you catch up on the chapters and get to read up to this point! ;)