Marked

Cookie Jar

ONE reason kids hated school is this–the boring teachers that the school offers. I knew very well that the school affords more than what they pay for, and I’m not really a fan of teachers just reciting every word they see in their textbooks. Is it so hard for them to hire good ones who will actually teach us the things we need to know? Like the one who taught us Math before. Teachers like him would be better for us. He has better techniques and better real-life applications.

Then again, I never really was an attentive student to begin with. Sophee was more active during class hours, but for some reason, I always get higher grades than her. But again, Sophee wasn’t the type who believed that she needed to review for exams. She thought it’s cheating to study because she said that we should learn them by heart. She genuinely believed that knowledge shouldn’t be forced. I guess it makes sense now that I think about it.

I looked at my notebook and stared at the scribble of a structure inspired by my teacher’s crooked nose. Not bad—both the nose and my design. Maybe I can apply my creativity in college.

“Tomorrow class…”

I looked up to our old teacher, whose voice was shaking like it was being rattled by a blender machine.

“You will…”

Her eyes were already wrinkled down with her forehead. Her cheeks dangled like it was a piece of meat slapped there. Her voice was shaking so much, almost as if she was riding the bull thing.

This.

This happens when you are forced to take classes from old people—especially Ms. Grundy’s type. I got nothing against old people wanting to teach, but at least consider their age. I’d rather have them be resting in their homes than see them here struggling to even take the steps just to reach one classroom.

“That is all…”

Finally, the bell rang, and they dismissed us. Sophee and I separated ways because she had a class in another department for her remedial, which I’m not taking. Me? I have a class—a class I didn’t particularly like. But since it’s a subject, I’m potentially gonna fail, I can’t miss it. I figured I’d make up for my poor performance with a perfect score in attendance.

“You’re crazy.”

As I was making my way to my next class, distant chatters enveloped the quiet corridor. And I can’t even ignore it because I seem to obsess over listening to other people’s conversations. It’s not that I enjoy hearing them. I just like listening when I encounter one.

“The beauty queen?”

Beauty queen..?

I heard a guy ask, so I peeped a little through the small opening of the door to see who was gossiping. I wasn’t surprised now that I see Marcus chatting with his friends.

“Why her?”

“But I thought you were going after… Who was that again?” Johnny. “Mia? Marie? What’s her name agai—”

“It’s not like that.” Marcus cut him off. “Her name’s Sophee Anders.”

Sophee?

“It’s fine as long as she won’t find out, really.”

The way his friends stared at him was the same way I stared at Marcus from the doorway—a lot more intense. It was okay if people talked about Sophee, but his group was an exception. I just don’t trust their conversation as much as I did the others.

“And if she does?”

What even are they talking about?

“I’ll just pray to God she won’t kick me in the a*s,” Marcus replied with a snort.

“Like she doesn’t now?”

He and his friends started laughing.

“Excuse me.”

I froze from my position when I felt a tap over my shoulder. I slowly turned to see who it was. Nervously, I gulped before I could even meet his eyes. Jeffrey stood behind me with a baffled expression.

“Do you need anything?”

He is intimidating.

“What’s that?”

“Did you hear that?”

My eyes blinked nervously, unable to respond to his question. I never talked to Jeffrey. I thought the rumors about his killer-voice were a hoax. It turned out they were all true. There was something in his voice that was terrifying. The glow in his skin was blinding too.

“Are you okay?” Jeffrey asked again.

After mentally slapping myself to snap back to reality, I finally straightened my back and lift my chin up. I cleared my throat, fixing my necktie loosely. “Yeah, I was just passing by.” I defended. “Just checking if there…” What am I saying? “The…” What in the world am I saying? “I-If there are vacant rooms.”

Jeffrey, as expected, figured out I was lying. He was smart, alright. “I’ve been standing behind you for two minutes. If you were checking the room, it wouldn’t take you a minute.”

I gulped hard. If looks could kill, I would have been dead. His stares pierced through my soul, and it’s deadly.

“J!”

Jeffrey looked away from me to my back and raised his hand to acknowledge his friends. “Sorry, they caught me up with committee duties.”

I took a step back, hoping I would vanish from this misery I got myself into.

“And…”

My eyes widened. I felt the sudden chill in my skin when all four of them had their eyes on me. I shifted my gaze back to the doorway, and there they were, looking at me with different expressions that could kill.

Jeffrey had a calm, confused look. Johnny was squinting his eyes as if he was trying to recognize me. Tyler leaned against the door, his eyes not on me, and Marcus looking with a wide smile.

“Isn’t she—”

“Nami,” Marcus called. “What a surprise to see you here.”

My knees were getting wobbly. I’m melting. I don’t like how they stare at me. It’s too much.

“Are you here to ask about me?”

Immediately, I frowned. “Ask about you? Where are you getting all that confidence from?” I walked closer to the player. “Not every girl wants to ask about you.”

Johnny snorted out loud, but he apologized when he realized he was rude.

“If I asked about your whereabouts,” I stopped right across Marcus and gave him a straight glare. “It’s only because I’d want to strangle you to death.”

He stared back with a fearless smile.

“I told you then. I’m telling you again now.” I leaned closer to him, gritting my teeth in anger. “Don’t you dare play your dirty game with my best friend, Marcus.”

He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I just—”

I raised my hand to stop him and show him how uninterested I am with whatever he has to do with my best friend. It wouldn’t be anything decent, anyway. I’d be only wasting my time. “I don’t even want to hear it,” I raised my chin towards him, raising my brows.

“You’ll eat your words once you listen to what I have to s—OW!” He bent down, holding his crotch after I hit him with my knee. His friends clapped teasingly, making mocking noises on the sidelines. “You got some serious manly power right there, princess.” He mumbled, crouching down to hold his… thing. A smirk grew on his face. “I wonder if that translates on your performance in b—”

Before he could even finish his sentence, I already planted my palms over his cheeks. “How dare you.” I mumbled. “How freaking dare you.”

“Books!” He added. “Books, like you did at the library days ago, remember?”

I squinted my eyes at him. “I don’t believe you.”

He smiled, and it only got me more pissed.

I grabbed his necktie with my dominant hand and clenched them tightly. “If I see you making a move on my best friend,” I looked deep into his eyes. “The morning you wake up, don’t be surprised to see a knife sticking out your chest.”

“You don’t have to sneak up in my room to steal my heart. I can just give it to you.”

My lips trembled. My eyes twitched in discomfort. “Why don’t you kiss your own a*s?” I released him from my grip and walked away for good. If I ended up staying there for more minutes, who knows what I could have done. I can’t imagine being with a guy like him.

“Nami! We really need to sell our cupcakes before five. If not, we get an F. A failed remark!” Said Janice, who couldn’t stop fidgeting with the boxes of mini cakes we made for our Economics class—barely sold, by the way. We’ve been trying to sell our cupcakes for hours now. We walked from classroom to classroom, yet we haven’t sold one. It’s like they weren’t even giving us a chance, and they just automatically assume it’s going to be garbage.

I can’t fail. I can’t fail…

“Did we make awful mini cakes?” Jaemin, my fellow Asian classmate, asked.

“Our mini cakes are incredible!” I corrected it out loud with enthusiasm. The last thing I wanted was for my teammates to feel down because we can’t even sell one box. “We just have an incredibly better competitor…” All the enthusiasm I mushed up went down the drain with that one sentence. “Who is apparently a part of the Prince-squad.”

“Oh my God, we’re going to fail! We’re gonna fail!”

I shook my head, anxiously walking back and forth. “Shush! I’m trying to think here. We’re all depressed and pressured here.” If our teacher told us we were selling everything we baked during our class a while ago, we could have made ten instead of a hundred. Now we have to think of something to dispose of all these if we wanted to pass her subject. “What about the stall? Is it done now?”

Janice nodded. “The other boxes just arrived. The other members are already waiting for us there, but they told me no one was interested and they’ve been there for hours too…”

I sighed. “Let’s just go to them then. I’ll think of something when we get there. Let’s stop walking these around for now.” It broke my heart to think that we won’t ever sell all these, but it’s the truth. “We’re not getting any buyers either way. We’re wasting our here.”

The moment we arrived, there was a long line. The type of line that Sophee would take just for a stupid makeup palette. It was just a line, the girls in it were squealing as well. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t similar to Sophee but an album signing of a popular boy band or something.

“That…” I blinked. My eyes diverted to the other side of the tent, and there stood ours—empty with customers and a full table of untouched boxes of our mini cake. I frowned at the sight.

“Nami!” One of my teammates exclaimed. “Over here!”

“Tammy!”

Janice pulled me to run along with her to the tent. When we reached there, I felt more envious of the scene that was happening on the other side. Josh. One of the Princes of MESPA High. Of course, they would sell everything they had with him in their team. It didn’t even matter if they made good-tasting cookies because these girls would still buy them regardless of the taste. The power of men with looks is annoyingly unfair.

“Why’d you choose this area, Tammy?!” I exclaimed in frustration. “We could have just situated ourselves in the field or something! Why next to someone like him?!” I cried.

If only we didn’t have the same Economics teacher, then we won’t be competing with this class of, well, handsome boys. A junior like him, who is a part of the Royal clan here, would be impossible to beat considering the amount of support he gets from different departments.

By the time I turned to my team, they already wore hopeless expressions on their faces. I clapped my hands together, catching their attention. “It’ll be okay. We’ll sell these! I promise.” No, we most definitely can’t sell these. As much as I wanted to beat that Prince, I just know that we can’t. The popularity difference we both have wasn’t even close. This is just another impossible mission we have to face.

“Nami’s right! Let’s be positive guys!”

There you go, thank you.

I wasn’t positive at all. How are we gonna sell everything with our stall standing right next to them?! It’s impossible, and we all knew that no matter how much we bring each other up. I turned my head and tried to count the people lining up for their terrible cupcakes, but I ended up stopping when I realized it would take me days to finish counting. Some were even going back in line after they got their order—that’s too unfair.

“Nami!”

My whole body flinched. I aggressively turned around to see who was calling me with so much energy in this problematic situation we’re at right now. Marcus. I rolled my eyes at the sight of him. His face just screamed ‘annoying’ every time I see it. “Can you not? I’m in the middle of a crisis, and your stupid requests won’t make things any better for me.”

“Come on, princess.”

I frowned at the sound of that nickname. Why can’t he just call me by my name like a normal person?

“Even strangers talk to strangers.”

I creased my brows at him. “I pick the strangers I want to talk to. Sad to say, you’re no part of it. Now go off.” I flapped my hands in the air to shoo him away. “Go play with your Barbie dolls if you’re so bored.”

“I don’t get bored when I’m with you, though.”

My brows arched. The cringe ran all the way to my feet, to my brain. “Piss off.”

He smiled anyway and stepped back, thankfully. He started walking away from our tent.

“Mark!”

Who…

Marcus stopped walking and turned, wandering to see who called out for him. My eyes darted back to Josh, who was waving at him with a wide smile. “Mark! Come buy our cupcake!”

My eyes widened in realization.

The girls screamed louder upon Marcus’ arrival. They were crazy enough for Josh, but they went even wilder with him. How in the world did I miss that opportunity? I’m so dumb!

“MARCUS LEE DYER!”

At this point, I was too desperate to sell our mini cakes that I’m sacrificing my ego. He turned back to me, shocked by my calling. I flashed an evil grin at him and gestured him to come closer to our stall. When he reached me, he leaned over the railing. “I hate it when people yell at me, but I like yours.”

I watched the girls slowly line up in our stall with a smirk.

“You want me to listen to what you have to say?”

“Why?” He gazed back.

“Buy all our mini cakes.”

His eyes widened in shock. “A-All of them?”

I frowned at him. “I thought you would do anything to have me talk to you?”

He licked his lips after gulping. “Well, that’s a little…” He scratched his head. “I would buy all of them if I had the money, but I use a credit card. Even if I wanted…”

Crap. I should have known a rich guy like him wouldn’t be carrying cash, but a card.

“Hi, Marcus…” A girl who came up to our tent shyly greeted.

“Hey, babe!” Marcus replied with his signature smile.

What a player.

I looked around and the girls that were pointing at our tent. Screw him buying all mini cakes. This should work. I pulled Marcus closer to me and whispered, “Do this for me, and we’ll talk.”

“Okay?”

“This is super easy for you so you won’t even break a sweat,” I assured him, but he looked suspicious. Well, I am suspicious in the first place, so he’s not wrong there. “You’re gonna love it even!”

“Wait, wait.” He crawled inside the tent, wearing a doubtful expression. “If I do this favor,” Ahuh. “Do you promise to listen to me after?”

No. “I promise.”

“Okay then,”

I flashed an innocent smile and clapped my hands in delight.

Everyone in my group looked at me as if they weren’t expecting me to bring him to our loser booth. Still, I stood before our stall and gripped Mark’s wrist tight so he won’t run away after my announcement. I cleared my throat, grabbing the megaphone that was lying down the table next to our boxes and yelled, “BUY A BOX OF MINI CAKES! GET A FREE KISS FROM MARCUS LEE!”

“What the hell?”

“Marcus?”

“Oh my God! Mark!”

“FOR REAL?”

“Really?! The Marcus Lee Dyer?”

“Oh, my gosh!”

Marcus’s hands flinched the moment girls from Josh’s booth started running to ours. They weren’t even making a line anymore because of how excited they are. They were just hurdling in our stall like a sale came up, and they were about to lose some items.

“A kiss?!”

“They will kiss you. Not you.” I corrected. “Besides, it’s not like you’re not used to this, anyway.”

“I did not sign up for—”

“FIRST 100 BUYERS ONLY SO HURRY!” I added and watched Janice collect cash from the fangirls who were so obsessed with him, they’d buy ours without hesitation. “I got your back, okay? Just do this tinny favor for me, hm?” I whispered to him. After Xander gave the girl the cupcake, she walked closer to Marcus and gave him a peck on the cheek. “See? That wasn’t so bad?” I assured him, but he wore an uncomfortable smile. “I’m sure you’ve had more than just a kiss.”

He let out a nervous laugh. “Not really,”

After less than an hour, we finished selling our mini cakes. Everything’s just so easy when it’s them. Janice was busy counting our money, and I can already smell our ‘A+’ remark thanks to this player.

“Hey…”

I turned around and realized that Marcus was still behind me, wiping his cheeks with his handkerchief. “Oh, you’re still there. Thanks for the help, player. You were awesome today. I really appreciated that. Who would’ve thought that they would actually go for it?” I asked rhetorically. “I didn’t. But you may go.” I patted his shoulder to show my gratitude and turned back to my members. “Janice, don’t forget that we have to—”

“We need to talk, Nami.”

It surprised me when Marcus suddenly pulled me away from our stall, and he turned to me with his brows furrowed, ends almost touching each other. I glared at him. “What the heck! Why’d you drag me away from—”

“Your promise!” He cut me off, and I was speechless. “You said to hear me out after I agree to your condition or whatever gimmick that was, and I even finished it without complaining!”

I gulped.

“I owe much more than a talk.”

It was the first time he yelled at me like that, and it terrified me for a bit but look at the gut of this guy. “Did you really think I’d hear you out after I witness you break a heart for consecutive times and hear you date another woman in front of my eyes?”

He was quiet.

“I am thankful for the favor, but I will not entertain you. Sorry, player. Joke’s on you if you thought I would even consider listening to whatever you have to say about Sophee.”

He just looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Lee. My best friend’s safety is more important to me than my stupid promise with you.” I blurted out and turned back to walk away from him. Although, I felt a little guilty for tricking him like that. But that’s not even close to the pain, he brings to many girls.

He snorted. “So everyone was right about you.”

I blinked and stopped from my track. “What?” I heavily turned back to him, wondering what he was trying to say now. It felt so heavy in my chest to hear that people were talking badly about me. I had an immense feeling that it won’t be as good as hearing your name getting called out for being the first place in a contest.

“You know I thought there was more to you than what people say about you, Nami, but you’re just like what everyone tells.”

I smiled bitterly, crossing my arms after finding out from him that there were things that people say about me too without me knowing. “I didn’t know people talked about me now.”

“Nami’s not the person people think she is. She’s not as good as people described. She’s not the person one would want to be friends with. She’s a hypocrite who only uses people to her advantage.”

I creased my brows and took in everything he just called me without showing how painful they all sounded. “You know nothing about me.” I fixated my gaze on the player and felt the pain in my heart grew. The fact that he just heard these from other people is worse because that only meant that more people saw me this way.

“Exactly.”

You know, I thought there was more to you than what people say about you.

“Approaching you only proved them right.”

“What made you think I care about what other people said about me?” I asked, even though I knew deep inside it affected me.

“Everyone cares. Some just try not to because they act strong.”

“Well, I don’t care.” I turned around and walked away from him. I didn’t know what to do after hearing those. They didn’t feel real, but was that what people really thought of me? Not good? Not to be friends with? Hypocrite? Really?

“That’s it?”

I stopped again.

“You’re just gonna walk away?”

“You never had the right to tell me all that,” I replied.

“I’m telling you because you might want to change how people see you before they think of you that way for the rest of your life.” The way he said it… It’s like it came from somewhere inside him.

I clenched my fist, unable to believe what I just heard.

“I would know,” He added. “Because I should have done the same thing if I were given a chance.” What? “There’s no one to blame but you if you regret not doing anything about it now.”

When I turned around to face him for the last time, he was already walking away from me, and I watched him with a heavy heart. There was something about what he said that struck me. I’m not sure if I was just not used to his way of talking or it was something else. I just know I had done something that I wasn’t proud of.

Marcus Lee Dyer. Maybe he wasn’t just a ball of player attributes.