“Darn it, Jacky,” Drew told me as she was mingling hands with Thompson, “I won,”
Almost everyone in our school had been talking about me, even in the faculty. Students had been looking at me. I couldn’t read their faces. I don’t like it. It made feel awful, or am I paranoid?
“You’re just paranoid,” Lia told me after I narrated it, “Don’t think about it too much. Just ponder this: You, married--”
“I’m not yet married,” I insisted.
“Fine,” she said, “Engaged. There. You, engaged by a man--”
“He’s too young to be a man and too old to be a child,”
“By a guy with a lot of cash,” she finished in triumph.
Those made me feel worse and almost gave her a good punch. It looked like I’m a gold-digger. I heard one of my classmates, Abrina Harding, together with her friends Danica and Fritzie, giggled, then began whispering between each other, then more giggles, now pointing at me.
“How dare you … Lia!” Alice Drouft scowled, and then turned to me nicely. “I think you’re a hero.”
“You’re family’s hero,” Lilly agreed, so did everybody else. Well, some of them to be precise.
“OKAY, CLAASS!” our class adviser, Mrs. Saguire, declared. And that’s how our abrupt conversation ended. I waited for that subject to come back, but it didn’t. Instead, they started talking about what if they were on my place, on who could be my fiancé, on how he looks. My teacher warned us and vowed that what happened to me would be one of our deepest darkest secrets. Somehow, those made me feel lighter, like someone took the heavy burden inside me, but not on Abrina.
Three days after that …
“Miss Booke,” Mrs. Saguire called me, “You have been summoned,”
I stood, wondering who it would be.
My mind was still wandering from the lesson that was taught, words, numbers, chemical formulas and such. I keep on wondering which is which, but decided to push it all from my head. My hand reached the knob, when suddenly it banged open. Two dwarfish bodies dove on me. Both of their arms pinned my neck and chest down, my back slammed on the hard tiled floor.
“JACQUELINE!” the two squealed.
My breath huffed from my lungs. I could feel the whole classroom staring at me.
“Excuse me, kids,” I said with strands of hair on my mouth.
They both stood up. I regained my breath, rising as my hand brushed the hair on my face.
They were twins, boys. Both have faint coloured hair and deep green eyes. One of them had an earring on his left ear. I have never seen twins before, so I was fascinated.
“I’m Ray,” said one.
“I’m Rain,” the kid with an earring said.
“Are you really Jacqueline Booke?” Asked Ray.
“It’s the seventh door we’ve asked,” said Rain.
Does that mean I’m the seventh person they dove on?
“Why aren’t you wearing the ring?”
“What does it look like?”
“Have you met Atty. Frazier?”
“What kind of clothes did he wear?”
“Where do you live?”
“Why do you study here?”
“Did you have any beau?”
“Have you ever kissed somebody?” Rain asked, “Skylar haven’t kissed a girl yet,”
The hell about it?! I began to blush from head to foot.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ray nudged Rain, “She’s going to be our sister-in-law,”
I covered my face with both palms. I was really really really embarrassed. I could hear everybody murmuring, all eyes on me, then snicker. I just stood there, unable to speak.
“Isn’t she too ugly to be our sister-in-law?” said Rain. Bang!
Someone laughed, obviously Abrina, then clapped its mouth.
“She’s nice,” argued Ray, “I think she’s fine,”
“Now, now, Ray, Rain,” a soft female voice said, “Let her finish her studies first,” she came and took Ray and Rain’s shoulders. She turned to me, “I do apologize Miss Booke. I didn’t attend the kids well,”
I looked at their guardian, thinking of what to say. She was wearing a maid’s clothing. Her wrinkled eyes gazed back at me kindly. She curtsied.
“Uh, what? I-- ...” I stammered. It was the first moment an elder apologized, and curtsied, to me. Commonly, I was the first one to say sorry. “It’s okay. I was--”
“Marille, Miss Booke. Call me Marille,”
“Ma--, Marille,” I said. “Wh--, Why don’t you … uhh …”
“Ms. Marille,” Mrs. Saguire started, annoyed, “Why don’t you wait outside until dismissal?”
“No need to wait, Ma’am,” Marille smiled, “We are about to leave. We just came to see Miss Booke,” she turned to me, “Shall we?”
I just nodded.
“Why won’t we stay any longer?” Ray complained, “I want to play Frisbee with her,”
“That’s because it’s Skylar’s business, moron!” Rain punched Ray’s nose. He squirmed. “We’re only in-laws. He’ll be her fiancé,”
“We’ll see you sometime,” said Marille to me.
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” said Rain. Ray nodded, still cupping his nose.
The three of them left. I stomped myself to my seat, then cupped my face in shame. I have never experience such mortification. I wanted to punch, or be punched, just to release the explosion inside me.
“Is your fiancé’s name Skylar, Atalanta dear?” Lilly muttered to me. I folded my hands to fists.
----
My jaw dropped as I watched the silver limo park outside the house. A bald brawny man with a beard came out and wore his shades, hiding his scarred eyes. He tweaked something in his ear, and then his hairy mouth moved. He straightened his suit and scanned the house, or that is what he just did. It was hard to say, his eyes were concealed. I think I saw him shrug and walked toward our house.
Two minutes later Carter busted in my room. He found me hiding under the sheets.
“Get down there, Sis,” he said, “Don’t act like that in front of me,”
“So what? Tell them I’m sick,”
“Are you coming down or what?” he crossed his arms.
I ignored him.
“Come on!” he snatched the blanket and then took a good grip on my ankle, then began pulling me out of the bed. I wailed.
“Okay! Okay! Dammit!” I finally surrendered when I almost fell, “I’ll go change first,”
He turned toward the door, “Tough, huh?” he shook his head then closed the door.
Fuming, I washed my face, brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. I switched on my sneakers first, then faded jeans and Lincoln green polo blouse. I always so that, dressing from bottom to top. I carelessly combed my shoulder-length hair back, powdered my face and neck, pocketed my handkerchief and followed Carter downstairs.
I know. I know. I’m not so much of that girly person. Some are advised by my friends, many are from Granny, and I admit that I and Carter have many things in common when it comes on grooming ourselves, like using wax or gel on hair.
I saw the man I had seen lately. He looks heftier than I thought. There were long deep scars on his fairly tanned skin and scalp. He was talking with Uncle Mev, arguing, to be precise. If they are to be seen inside a ring for a wrestle match, it would look like Rey Misterio versus The Rock.
“Jacky,” Uncle Mev said, “There you are. Do you know this guy?”
I shrugged, and then turned to the stranger.
“Theodore Wiltt,” the man said. His voice was strong and scary, like he was the father’s bully. After he bowed his huge arm extended, I shook it. “Call me Ted, Miss Booke. Sir Bloodson’s butler. I’m here to fetch you,” he turned to my Uncle, “I already told you, Old Ramritzy knows me,”
But Uncle Mev was not convinced. But he allowed me to go.
“Be here before 7pm,” he warned.
“Maybe earlier,” I told him as Ted opened the door for me. I went in.
I was so curious of what is inside when I saw the limousine. Now that I’m inside it I didn’t touch anything. I just kept my position, absorbing the lemony scent evaporated. I think Ted noticed it.
“Anything wrong?” he asked as he drove.
“Hmm? Oh, nothing,” I told him, “I just don’t want to touch these. Every time I started tweaking something like these, I always end it up botched,”
“It’s okay,” he told me as we turned, “just ask me before you twitch it,”
But still I didn’t. So we were there in hush. I just stared at the window to entertain myself.
Luminous traffic lights floated the road. Different shops, hotels, diners, and such stood aligned, industrializing the place. Busy people scattered the street, minding their own business. I have never been at a busy place like this. I’m sort of an indoor-to-backyard type. Indoors I would play instruments I see: drums, guitar, saxophone, violin, depending on my mood. At fields, Carter and I would play table tennis (they moved the table at the backyard), lawn tennis and sometimes, badminton. Whenever we feel cocky, we would play football.
“Where are we going?” I asked Ted.
He didn’t answer. I continued to watch the events outside the window.
Later, I found myself sitting with my fiancé in a fast-food chain.
___