ALEXIS and the Bet

Chapter Nineteen: The Echoes of Revenge

The recorded voice kept on repeating the same sentence all over and over again, I thought my ears already bled. Benjamin slowly released his hold on my hand.

"Now you know what I mean, Benj?" A section of the crowd parted and gave way to Bianca and two of her friends, Georgina and Ashley. The three sauntered towards us. Bianca and Georgina were both wearing identical smirks on their faces, while Ashley was looking at me with intense hatred.

"That's what you get for not listening to your twin," Bianca added. "I told you she's just fooling around."

"Benj--" I was not able to finish what I wanted to say for Benjamin glared at me before he addressed his twin.

"Stop the riddles Bianca. Get to the point, will you?"

I saw Bianca smiling. She resembled a devil disguised as an angel. Her angelic and pretty face could not hide the fact that she was pure evil. Her tone was sweet and syrupy, but the words coming out of her mouth were deadly poison.

Bianca rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. "If it's not obvious to you, dear twin of mine, ang boses na narinig mo belongs to that girl --the one you just asked to be your girlfriend. Ashley passed by their club room, to spy of course, and she was able to record their conversation." She flashed a smirk at my direction. "Don't you see, Benj? That girl knew that she was part of the bet from the very beginning. Kaya naman napag-isipan ni four-eyed nerd at ng kanyang equally nerdy friends na gumanti sa 'yo. She was planning to hurt and dump you actually. You deserved it of course for hurting my friend Ashley. But you're my twin and I just have to rescue you from making the biggest mistake of your life." She gave her sweetest smile and blew me a kiss before she left with her friends.

I grabbed Benjamin's hand with a desperate need for him to listen to me, but he shrugged his hand off mine. I saw the anger that flamed in his eyes. I saw the hurt that mingled with his anger. He threw the flowers on the ground and stormed away, leaving me in the middle of a very fuming crowd. The students were closing in around me, and my feet were too weak to ran and hide from the angry mob.

My vision was blinded by the tears that began to pool before my eyes. Then hot tears started to fall like rain. I felt cold, empty and hollow. And I did not mind that someone was pulling my hair or that someone was shoving me from one person to another. I just stood there with a blank look on my face.

I felt someone tugged my hand and pulled me out of the mob. My feet moved at a very fast pace, matching the speed of the person who grabbed my hand. My vision was still hazy but I saw the back of Peter's head as he led me to a safe place.

It was a moment later when I felt several arms wrapped around me. I heard soothing voices calming me down. I even heard someone crying with me.

I blinked the tears away and saw my friends' worried faces. Alicia was crying, her eyes looking red and puffy like mine. Both Joey and Madie looked hurt. Robyn looked angry, but I knew that anger was not directed at me. Only Peter appeared to be calm.

"Tama na, Alex," Madie said. "Tama na ang pag-iyak."

Joey patted my back. "Sorry Alex. Kasalanan namin ito dahil pinilit ka naming gawin ang gusto naming paghihiganti sa grupo nila."

"May sira kasi sa ulo 'yang si Bianca at mga alipores niya, eh," Robyn said angrily. "Ano ba problema nila at mahilig silang gumawa ng eksena? Humanda sa akin ang grupo nila."

Alicia choked back a sob. "Sorry talaga sa inyo. Alam niyo naman na sa umpisa pa lang, galit sa akin ang grupo ni Bianca. Kaya pati kayo dinadamay niya kasi mga kaibigan ko kayo."

I knew that the Pink Angels held a grudge over Alicia, but up until now I didn't know the reason why or what happened between them in the past. Alicia wasn't ready to tell it to us, and we allowed her to keep her secret.