Zec (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER I : How We Met

Sometimes, without you knowing it... there's already someone out there caring for you...

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March 2002.

I could still remember the day I met her. Me and my friends were having a badminton match in a court near our subdivision. Then my eyes saw an unfamiliar girl sitting on one of the bleachers at the other side of the court. She's looking at us and her face showed amusement--- maybe she was amazed by how great everything was. After a while, this attractive girl walked towards us and asked if she could play with us. 

We were thrilled by her challenge, so one by one, we had a single match with her. She's great at playing and she has this unique charisma. I instantly had a crush on her! She was my first girl crush that's not a famous person! She wore eyeglasses that would deceive anyone at first. You might think that she's a nerd and only likes to read books. But nope! She loves playing sports especially badminton. Her body's not too fat and not too thin. Perfect for her beauty and it suits her height. By the way, I'm 5'7" and I think I'm just an inch taller than her. She wore simple clothing, a Tribal black tee-shirt with grey jogging pants of her former school. The racket she was carrying on her arm looks magnificent. She looks so handsome! And you will absolutely swoon at her more if you saw how great she plays badminton. Her smile is so bright, showing her cute dimples. I almost curse myself for fangirling over her like this. 

All throughout our game, she's smiling. I'm not sure if she's doing it purposely, so that she could distract her opponent. Honestly, I wanted her to smash that shuttlecock on my face or the racket itself if I could have more time with her or stare at her face forever. 

I overheard from my other friends that she's a half Filipina and half Spanish. She lived in Madrid but went to live here in the Philippines when her parents opened a new business. She's their unica hija but that's only because she only has a younger brother, which they called their unico hijo. 

After our badminton match, she said she was grateful for the game we had then bid goodbye to us. I wanted to ask her name personally, but I became nervous. I went to ask around if they got her name. Luckily, they already added her on their Friendster accounts. My old mobile phone is low tech. Ugh! So, I hurriedly went to a nearby computer shop, and checked her Friendster profile. 

When I found her, I was hesitant at first in sending her a friend request. She might think I'm a weirdo for just smiling at her earlier. I didn't even talk to her at the court then now I have the nerve to befriend her online. 

I was hovering the mouse cursor at the ADD AS FRIEND button and I didn't notice that I already clicked it! I cancelled the request immediately! So stupid! A cold sweat started forming on my forehead. But I shrieked with excitement when a notification arrived! She added me as her Friendster friend! I jumped up and down my seat while the other customers beside me started laughing at me. I stopped hyperventilating and looked away in shame. I cleared my throat and went back looking at the computer screen as if nothing happened. I waited for a few minutes before accepting her request. I didn't want her to think that I am anticipating this 'friendship' to happen. After I accepted her request, she immediately sent me a private message. My heart and soul jumped out of my body! Why is she doing this to me?! 

I excitedly opened her message," Hi Frincez! There's an error message when I tried to accept your request earlier, so I added you back :D Your play at the court was breathtaking! I am very impressed! You are my idol now! Do you have any scheduled plans this Saturday afternoon? Because I wanna invite you! Let's play badminton again!"

I repeatedly read her message to make sure that I'm not hallucinating. I even contemplated each word like a fool. I wanted to shriek again with joy! She said that I'm breathtaking! Oh, wait! Gonna read that again... Oh! So sad! She's just amazed by the way I played but not my beauty! She should've said that 'my beauty was breathtaking'! I hated that other me at the court. I am jealous because my crush was only impressed by my other self! But wait... was she asking me out this Saturday?! This is a date! Oh, my gosh! I am assuming again! She just said she wanted to play. She only wanted to have a badminton match again! She could play with my heart if she wanted that too! And why was she calling me her idol? I lost at our match earlier. She's better than me even if I'm not distracted by her smile.

My fingers had its own mind composing a message to her, "If that's a game about our love, what are we waiting for? Let's start!". Before my possessed fingers could hit the reply button, I took back control over my body and edited the message, "Sure! I am also looking for a great opponent this weekend! This is the first time I met someone like you!" 

Good thing I have the chance to edit the message or this will end embarrassing on my part! She will think that I am head over heels with her!

She replied, "Nice! Alright! See you this weekend, Princess and My Madrid Queen!!! :D"

"Waah!", I couldn't help but to shout, the people around me looked at me pathetically. My heart leaped out my chest! She used an endearment based on my full name, Frincez May Madrid Queen! Yeah, I know, my name is so weird like me and I hate that! My parents wanted to make a unique spelling for Frances. My mom's maiden name is Madrid. And now, I suddenly love my full name! My crush called me her princess and queen. And because she lived in Madrid, my name suits her cute endearment for me. She's so witty! And of course, I am so flattered that she took her time to read all the things I said in my Friendster's about section. Because my full name is written only on that part. 

I'm not sure if I could sleep tonight, I couldn't wait for Saturday to come!

But the day of our re-match came and unfortunately it got cancelled! I had a family emergency that weekend. We needed to rush back home at Ilocos province. I messaged her, and she said that we can have our match anytime and that I could always call her if ever I needed a friend. And that's how I got her mobile number! 

My family went back to Manila three days before freshmen year started. And this is the second time I'm going to see my crush! After three months of waiting! Wow! I love that fate was on my side! We're going to be schoolmates!