Picture Picture

Chapter 34: The Cheater

“He didn’t or he already made me quit my exam. And why wouldn’t you just mind your own business? Don’t worry I can never steal the valedictorian title for you even if I’d cheat.”

“This is not about that.”

“What is it then?”

Nicky sighed. She couldn’t really explain it to him, though the concept was simple. But it was so simple it might not even sound plausible to Eddie Boy. She thought he might just laugh at her. Nicky despised cheating for the mere fact that it was wrong. It was not the right thing to do. It was unfair. Some of her classmates—she for that matter—had worked and studied for the exams, and few of them could just simply cheat off—that couldn’t be any fair.

Nicky shrugged and decided to just let it go. Maybe it was not really that big of a deal after all.

It was the last week of March. Nicky had never felt so light—light as her sling bag that no longer hold those heavy school books. The final defenses and exams were done and she could relax now.  The worst part was over.

“Hello, there other girl,” Priscilla greeted her with a snarl as she walked inside their classroom.

“Is it true? Was Red a cheater?” Danica then went up to her, her face earnest with anticipation.

Bewildered, Nicky recklessly dumped her sling bag on her armchair. The ball pens inside her bag jiggled against the wooden chair. Then, she looked at the girls.

She didn’t understand. Cheater? Red? But Eddie Boy was the one I saw cheating.

“Saw your picture on Facebook,” Danica went on. “So, was it a secret affair? How long had he been cheating with you? I never thought there was something going on between you two even before that duet. That figures.”

“What figures?” Nicky asked. She couldn’t figure out anything. She was growing all the more confused. What kind of cheating exactly is she talking about?

“The song you sang together. Somewhere Only We Know was the title, right? It was the title of your tagged photo, too. A good title for you secret rendezvous,” Danica said with a shrug.

“What are you talking about?”

Priscilla then came up to her and held out her mobile phone. On the screen was a Facebook page with a picture she had seen before. That picture she thought was already deleted. That picture Eddie Boy warned her about. That picture of her with Red at the back, sitting on a branch of a mango tree. Eddie Boy said he would post it on Facebook and tagged everyone if she’d tell on him. But I didn’t tell on him.

“So, tell us, other girl, how long had he been cheating on his ex-girlfriend—on Nicole, with you?” Priscilla murmured against her ear. Her cold voice prickled Nicky’s spine.

“Other girl?” Nicky asked, still a bit loss. Her brows furrowed.

“Why are you calling me other girl?”

Priscilla scoffed at her. “Who else could you be? Clearly, you were one of the reasons Red and Nicole broke up. He was cheating on her. With you.” Priscilla’s sneering eyes darted from her then to the screen of her cellphone.

Nicky’s mouth opened but no words came out. She was shaking her head as she tried to make out any sense on what was going on. When she thought she had somehow figured it out, she exhaled and then said, “That picture doesn’t prove a thing. Eddie Boy took it for this blackmailing game he had. And now he put it on Facebook because he thought I’d tell on him.”