~ 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.
The speech mostly described the goodness of this charity and some instructions on how to behave with the children.
It was an achievement to be a volunteer for a charity event because it helped to gain our academic grades and also added valuable skills to our resumes.
"So, I guess it's time for me to cut short my speech and for y'all to start with your job. All the best, students."
With that, we stood up from the seats, and Derek was excused to fetch our personal schedules because apparently, he was our leader. Because, why not?
He came back with a guy.
"Look, I found the missing piece in our group." Derek grinned proudly while our attention now turned towards the new guy.
To describe him vaguely, he was a tall guy with brown eyes and matching hair.
"Hi, I'm Zac Foster, and you are?" He said, flashing a confident smile while shaking Emily's hands.
I didn't know why, but I didn't have a good feeling about this Zac, whatever guy. It might be because of his latecoming.
"Emily." She said while politely tugging her hand from his.
He repeated her name in a hushed voice. "That's a nice name, and you are?" His attention was now diverted towards Skyler.
Only God can help this guy now.
Skyler beamed and shook his hand, "It's Skyler, and unlike Emily, I'm not a very open-minded person who tolerates flirting. You can ask Derek for assurance."
Zac looked taken aback by her unexpected statement.
Unexpected, only for him.
"Woahh! I didn't mean it that way." He looked genuine, though.
Then, it was good for him. No. I didn't just think that!
"Better for you, Foster." Skyler gently punched him on his shoulder.
"And you, I didn't catch your name." Zac directed it towards me. "Nevertheless, nice to meet you." He forwarded his hand.
It doesn't seem like that, though.
"Vincent,.. Vincent Zaphyr." I shook his hand.
His eyes widened. "Zaphyr as in the watch brand The Zaphyr's?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"So you're the heir to the company. Woah! Now, I've got one more reason to be jealous of you." He mumbled the last part to himself.
May I know about the other reason?
As if an alarm went off, Derek got in between quickly, thereby preventing me from asking Zac any questions.
"Alrighty guys! Let's begin with our job. Now shall we?" Derek announced.
"Sure." Skyler said enthusiastically.
Shortly, a blonde woman, who looked to be in her late thirties, approached our volunteering group with a stack of books and distributed it among us while we mumbled thanks.
I traced my finger along the title of the book that I was supposed to read in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program.
"Little Hearts." I breathed out as nostalgia washed over me.
I distinctly remember that my grandma used to read it to me as my bedtime storybook when I was in elementary school.
Oh God, how I miss her.
"Emily picked that one." I heard somebody say.
"Huh?" I asked, facing Derek.
"Emily picked that book." He pointed to the rich red-hued book in my hand. "She said that it is her favorite book among the ones she had chosen for the event."
"Oh, so, should I return it to her?" I asked while looking for Emily, who was also a part of the conversation between Skyler and Zac.
All of a sudden, she caught me staring at them and gave me a small smile as usual.
Unlike every other time, I returned the warm smile genuinely.
"No. No. She will be happier if you read it. Uhm, you know Emily, she's a selfless girl." He chuckled in nervousness.
"Huh?"
"Oh Jesus! When have you started, zoning out?" He shook me by my shoulders.
"Uhm, I think we should head to the classes assigned to us."
"You're right. We should." He agreed.
When have you started, zoning out?