EMPRESS
It was three in the afternoon when Jeon and I finished our shoot. I was looking for Kaylor. I wanted to go out, driving my car today, and wondered if I can interest her to join me at the local festival. She'd be the best tour guide around. I spotted the shorter girl unlocking her room while carrying what maybe leftovers from their food photography.
"Kaylor, do want to go for a drive?" I asked with a smile hoping she would say yes. "You know -see the summer extravaganza celebrated along the shores of beautiful the bay before dinner? I heard that there's a whole range of activities kicks off with a parade and an impressive fireworks display during the first week of April."
Kaylor looked up and saw me leaning on the wall beside her. "Oh, you mean the Pangalipay sa Baybay." she sighed. "I'd love to but I can't. I'm hanging out with Morgana because she'll help me how to use the manual setting." She said.
I hope she didn't catch the look of disappointment on my face. I don't want to appear as a whiny and clingy person to her. I was about to suggest that I would gladly offer my help instead when Morgana walked towards us.
"If you made me wait for more than five minutes, I'm locking my room. Bring your luggage to your room and hurry up." Morgana said before she walked past us without even acknowledging me and went to her room.
As soon as she was out of sight, I asked rather disbelievingly. "Morgana will tutor you? What had gotten into her? Was she possessed or something? Morgana Cross never offered to tutor anyone before. That stuck-up girl will never do anything like this. What's going on between you guys, eh?"
"Err... we ah, um-we sort of in good terms now," Kaylor replied uneasily as she opened her door and placed her luggage inside by the small refrigerator.
I eyed her doubtfully. "Yeah, and I was born yesterday and the crows flying outside are white."
She slowly locked her door, refraining from closing so fast. "Um, I have to go now. Enjoy the festival and I will - see you later." Kaylor bid me a hasty retreat and disappear to Morgana's room.
Well, that was weird. If Kaylor needed help in the manual settings why didn't she come and ask me? I thought we are friends now? Why did she go to Morgana instead? I sure that I am smarter than Morgana, and why on earth would Morgana agree to tutor Kaylor?
I thought they hate each other? I didn't like the thought that she prefers Morgana's company to mine.
Wait, what was I thinking? Kaylor is free to spend her time with anyone she wants. Why am I being possessive? I was tempted to eavesdrop from the door but quickly changed my mind.
Still confused, I walked back inside my room.
KAYLOR
"Oh, how could you be so stupid?" Morgana had her arms crossed, quickly losing patience.
"You don't have to yell at me!" I shot back.
We had gone through the difference between the higher and lower of F and its effect of the size of the aperture over and over again and yet I still couldn't grasp it because it was fractions and hell, I was worse in anything related to math. I even wondered how I graduated from high school or even made it far into college.
"How could someone like you be accepted into a prestigious newfound club such as Mr. Ainsley's? You must've bribed him!" Morgana accused me.
I was totally hopeless in math in the manual settings even with two models of camera present: Nikon and Fujifilm.
"That must be the only reason why someone this dumb can be accepted here."
"They did not and please lower your voice before the whole loft could hear you." I hissed.
"How well do you even know your camera?"
"How well do you know yours?"
"Look, it wasn't easy for me to get out of my usual routine, especially; I ate loads of carbs for lunch. So you better don't waste my time and do this right!"
Morgana glared. It had intensified the pressure placed upon me. I had not been making any progress for the last two hours which only frustrates her more.
"So... have you talk to Jeon yet?" Morgana asked, changing the subject or fully accepting the fact that I can't understand such simple camera settings.
"I will talk to him later. Don't worry about it." I assured her. I was sweating inside and trying to figure out how to fix the situation. I didn't have the heart to tell Morgana that Jeon has his eyes on someone else. "Anyway, if you like Jeon so much why don't you ask him out?"
That would make things a lot easier for everyone.
"What? No! It's not proper for a girl to ask a boy out. It should be the other way around. Morgana Cross does not, ever, ask boys out. Ever since I was young, I never had to fight for boys' attention. Boys fight for me, not the other way round."
"That's... very old fashion of you," I said.
"It's not old fashion! I'm being romantic."
Her statement caused me to roll my eyes. "And here they say that Filipinos are dramatic romanticists. I reckon you can have any boys you want. Why personally pick Jeon?"
Her expression softened. "You see, Jeon isn't like the other boys. He is sweet, good-looking, and a gentleman. Plus, he's Irish. He's cute when he fumbles, deciding which accent he should use when he meets people."
I couldn't argue with that. If girls like Morgana aren't around, I would probably fancy Jeon too.
"How could you be so sure? You don't even know him that well yet." I countered.
"I just know okay. You just can't help it when you fall for someone."
I just had a major discovery. Morgana Cross is really a romantic at heart.
Oh, man... I felt really guilty now. My brain began to throb. All these stuff are the perfect ingredients for making teen drama. Girl likes boy, boy likes another girl, and I, a simple girl who doesn't want anything to do with it was caught in between. However, we were young adults and not teenagers for heaven's sake. So that would mean that the setting of our story is young adult fiction.
I promised myself never to agree to meddle with love lives anymore because they are so complicated. Why don't they just be honest with one another? For goodness sake! They see each other almost every day. Just be honest and it will save all the unnecessary angst and drama.
Oh, wait! I might just have a solution to this problem.
"I have something that might interest you." Kaylor reached into her pocket and pulled out two basketball games she received from Jeon earlier. "Tada! A ticket for a basketball game that Jeon's going to watch as well" I waved the tickets in front of Morgana's face.
"He invited me to come with him."
Morgana slapped the offending hand. "I don't need a silly ticket. I've been invited to come by local cheerleaders. But if you come to the game, I can hang around with you and get close to Jeon. Since the only thing I had in common with Jeon being friends with you." She took the ticket. "Don't you have an extra ticket?"
I smiled, I am hiding the second ticket since Jeon asked me to give it to Empress and invite her. "Don't worry; I'll buy my own ticket."
"You're sure?" Morgana stared at the paper. "The tickets he gave you are for the VIPs ones. You will get the best seats in the court and you will be supporting a local private school."
"Unlike you who just had got lucky because locals invited you, I can invite myself in. If you hadn't known, it's not my first time here in this city."
"Listen, why don't you persuade Jeon to hang out together after the game?" Morgana asked. "I can recommend you to those cheer dancer boys or even Mr. Ainsley if older men are your type. It would be like a double date!"
"Uh, thanks but no thanks," I said. I'd like to watch the game but then I would buy a ticket for Mr. Ainsley. It'd be too much if I ask my long-time-no-see friends with two tickets. I need to save money. Plus, I wasn't even sure if Empress likes basketball or not. But by going to the game, Jeon got to see Empress. Morgana got to see Jeon. It will fulfill my agreements with both parties for the time being. After that, I will find a way to get out of these stupid help-you-help-me agreements.
"So, what do you say?" Morgana nudged.
"Thanks for the offer but I planned to invite Empress to the game." I really had no interest in dating men with a great age gap or any boy I haven't even met yet.
"That ice queen? I bet you a hundred dollars she wouldn't come."
"Hey, don't talk about her like that."
"But she is an ice queen. That girl is so uptight!"
I thought about it. Was that what Jeon meant when he mentioned that Empress was being aloof and unapproachable? But the Empress I knew is always friendly and amiable. I kept this in mind and will investigate it later.
"She will come and she's not uptight!" I huffed out crossly.
"Fine, we'll see. Now can we please get back to the manual setting? We had wasted a lot of time already." Morgana reminded me.
I checked my watch and saw that it was 6:30 pm and dinner's served in 30 minutes. We continued to work in silence except for a few curses from Morgana about how dumb I was.
"There!" she said after I adjusted the right f-stops for the aperture that depends on the light and the shutter speed to capture motion pictures and the ISO. "That's how you use the manual setting! Do you get it now?" Morgana asked me for the umpteenth time.
"I get it! I get it already! Now get your hopeless face away from me, it pierces my self-confidence. I wonder why we need to learn how to use manual settings? That is why there are new usable settings for modernity! Why do we have to learn how to use settings as old people did?" I groaned in exhaustion. I wanted to destroy the manual settings in every Camera there is.
"That's not true. We need to study so we can get good recognition. With high skills and creativity, you can be the best and become famous in no time. Hopefully, have a bright future and never study for anything you didn't like ever again." Morgana replied.
I looked at her like she just sprouted two heads. I didn't expect that kind of answer from her at all.
"What?" she asked, her eyes shot daggers. "Why are looking at me like that?"
"Nothing, I just didn't expect that answer from you." That seemed to be a wrong answer since Morgana's face was now was twisted in anger and she got up from the chair. I realized my mistake immediately. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I was being an idiot. That was rude of me. I was making assumptions and already making an ass out of myself. Please sit down. I'm sorry." I didn't mean to offend her.
"I'm not as shallow as people think you know." She said with the most unguarded look I had ever seen. The one with Morgana hating the fact that she's always being assumed as an airhead who relies on her parent's fortune. "Of course I am grateful to be born in a rich family, but that doesn't mean I don't have to work for anything. I want to be able to decide my own future and career path. I dropped out of Business Management because I'm not happy with it. But still, my father wanted me to follow in his footsteps, I'm an adult but he continues to control me around. I don't want that. I have to prove to him that even Photography can make me successful."
There was a brief silence between us after her burst of emotions.
"Do you plan to take college again?" I asked. It was refreshing to see this new side of Morgana.
"Yes, if Father would stop pestering me, then I'll take Fine Arts and Photography," Morgana answered in a quiet voice.
She expected me to make fun of her but none came. She looked up only to be met by my understanding face. I was expecting her to elaborate more, so she continued.
"I have always wanted to be a photographer. I want to express my creativity and concern and use it in making changes to the world. A picture conveys a thousand words and through those pictures, I wanted to show people what I can't express in words or sounds." Morgana admitted. "I seldom discussed my plan with anyone but it seemed harmless to share the information with you."
"That's very cool and noble. What did your parents say about that?" I asked. Somewhere back in my mind I had heard a similar dream before about saving lives and making changes.
"I have no idea. I haven't even told them yet but they had hinted strongly about me carrying on the family business." Morgana sighed, her parents always put on a lot of hopes and pressure on her, "Enough about me, how about you? What's your career choice?"
"Well... I already graduated, four years." I declared even though it's a lie and Morgana burst out laughing.
"You?" she continued laughing, her cheeks became pink. "I'm sorry but I just couldn't imagine that! You don't look like someone who can memorize names and scientific names! Wait, you're too young, did you bribe the school?" Picturing scenes in her mind, Morgana ends up giggling uncontrollably.
"It's not funny! Stop laughing!" How dare she make fun of me? I was tempted to tell the reason why I even lied to her and the fact that I can't graduate from the course just yet just to prove how much of a capable person I am even though I'm quite young, the thought of increasing Morgana's curiosity about my life 12 years ago and why I can't graduate yet, I didn't want to relive the pain.
That's the reason why I lied to her that I've graduated. That's not the reason why I'm here. It's to forget and enjoy the summer.
Morgana had calmed down and was wiping her eyes. She looked at the time. "It's getting late. Let's go to dinner."
I nodded, taking my camera as I got up.
"Anyway, I had done my part from the agreement and I expect the part from you."
"Yes, I know what to do. I'll see you tomorrow and uh, thanks for helping me today," I was really grateful for the help but I can't let her know that I was.
"Yeah and remember to tell Jeon about how nice I was to you the next day."
"Nice? You practically attacked me on my first day!"
"That was because you were messing with my man."
"Oh, whatever and I'll blame you if I fail Mr. Ainsley's questions about what I learned so far about the Manual setting."
"It isn't my fault that you are stupid!" Morgana stuck out her tongue and walked ahead of the shorter girl.
MORGANA
I can hear Kaylor cursing behind me. I knew that the shorter girl was annoyed because I had gotten the last word. I smiled at this. It occurred to me that today had gone a lot better than I had originally thought. Surprisingly, Kaylor turned out to be an interesting person. She actually listened to my ramblings about my future and career choices without making fun of me. We seemed to have reached an understanding.
Maybe the new girl isn't that bad after all. Then I remembered how awful Kaylor was at memorizing the manual settings and realized that there might be more had group work with Kaylor for the next few days.
Argh! That impudent one will give me lots of stress. All the nice thoughts I had about Kaylor Castillo were quickly forgotten.
Along the way, Empress emerged from her room. The way she emitted a radiant glow when her eyes caught Kaylor and the way her face clenched upon seeing me made my ego enhanced in this newfound situation. I can tell she felt threatened. I had an idea why and it's clearly my upper hand. These are some of those rare times when I'm more superior to my opponent.
"Come on, Kaylor." I looped my arms around hers, speaking fondly. "Do you have any preferences as to next to whom you'd like to be seated?"
Kaylor narrowed her eyes. A while ago I was being mean, now I am super sweet."What's gotten into you?"
I continued smiling while getting past, Empress. Discreetly pinching Kaylor on the arm and she must've generally got the idea.
"No, thank you. Any of those seats will do for me."
A/N
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