Pretty Head

Chapter 2: You don't mess with my pretty head

        School dragged by. I asked Shanty to have an Oreo milkshake with me after our class in the nearby café two blocks away from our school and she seemed so inclined with the idea. As I waited for her, I suddenly stopped in front of Mr. Gobler's office, with my fists clenched, jaw clenched, and my pretty head still held up high.

        I riveted my steel gaze at the Detention office where Mr. Gobler was. I wanted to splash a slimy liquid in his room and put a rotten fish inside his drawer. I saw his silhouette inside, shuffling some papers and I saw another two figures inside. I peered cautiously from the outside when suddenly, Shanty nudged me which startled me.

        "Hey whatcha looking over there?" Shanty asked quizzically at me.

        "Nothing I'm just curious because I saw another two silhouettes over there," I hissed at her.

        "Well haven't you heard of the news?" She asked, pitching me an apprehensive look.

        "What news?" I asked with my curiosity skyrocketing as I looked intensely at her glossy chestnut eyes.

        "There are these rumors that three seniors are under probation, and one of them might get expelled!"

        Hearing that, I felt an electric current course in my veins, zapping in my pretty head. s**t, why do I feel a pang of guilt?

        "Who are they?" I asked, wide-eyed.

        Suddenly, we saw the two silhouettes were about to bolt out of Mr. Gobler's room and we quickly scampered on the hallway. I cast a glance in the direction of the Detention Office and all the blood in my face drained when it dawned on me that those two silhouettes were Mara and Mason!

        "What the f**k was that? Why are they in that office? What did they do?" I asked, dripping with hysteria.

        Heaving a sigh, Shanty paused for a moment before she spoke.

        "Mason ....got her pregnant," she told me stiffly as I saw the lump in her throat upon saying the menacing news. I was perplexed upon what I heard. Mason and Mara? So, these two were backstabbing me?! It had been two months since Mason and I broke up, but what ticked me off was: Why her? Why Mara?

        "That b***h!!" I purred.

        "And don't tell me that you also knew that Mara is backstabbing me?" I clipped as I shot her a suspicious look.

        "No, I didn't know it! All I thought she's dating Freddie, but don't you notice it the way she looks at Mason when you guys were still together? It's like she wants to sleep with him. I thought you noticed it," she shot back, miffed.

        I’m not that dumb for it not to notice. At first, I just shook it off — maybe Mara just had a crush on Mason. So that answered the question on why she was blowing us off. Mara always came up with a lame excuse. The guts of that Mason jerk for asking me out yesterday huh! And the guts of that b***h to betray me!

        "Well funny because Mason did ask me out yesterday," I huffed.

        "He did? My gosh, he is such an asshat!" Shanty snarled.

        "Since when she became pregnant? And where was the other senior if there are three seniors who might get expelled here?"

        "That is the big question ringing in everybody's head and I don't know too." She shrugged off.

        "Err wait, why do I feel like you still have feelings for him? I don't know if it is with Mara's betrayal of your trust that infuriates you or is it with him. Don't tell me that you're still hung up on him?" she speculated, throwing me a dubious look.

        "Well, screw them both. How dare them to mess with me huh." I replied as my lips pressed into a hard line.

        "I see, you still have feelings for him." Shanty drawled knowingly.

       "Whatever, let's get our asses outta here," I admonished grudgingly.

        I bumped into several girls blocking my way. They couldn't help throwing me a look of adoration everytime. I walked past by the group of boys, sizing me up as always. Dickheads.

        "Hey, Page maybe you want to go on a date with me this coming weekend?" asked the space geek, Jecco as he lingered around me. I could see the glimmer of hope plastered on his freckled face. But my lioness in me was in full swing again, biatch mode on.

        "Like where? At Mount.Olympus in Mars? You can't be serious Jecco." I bantered and shoved him away. I heard the students cracked up upon that and Jecco as usual, turned away dejected.

        My brows suddenly arched as we pulled up in front of the Fermont's coffee shop when we saw Mara heading alone inside the cafeteria. I imagined her auburn  curly locks turning into Medusa's snakes.

        "Err... would you still wanna go there?" Shanty asked me in diffident tone.

        "Of course!" I replied fiercely. After all, who the hell she thought she was? Mara was just my minion, an envious backstabbing b***h who slept her way into Mason’s asshole heart.

          I intuitively knew that she was flirting with Mason even we were still together. She messed with me, so I'd give her a taste of her own medicine!

        As we got inside, I strutted ostentatiously towards Mara's direction and went to seat across from her. I ignored Shanty’s hissing on not to seat with Mara. But my lioness pride was in full swing, I wouldn’t back off.

         Shanty shook her head as she headed to the counter and cast a backward glance at me. Shanty thought that I would make a scene in this place. She thought that I would lunge at that snake right away and pull her hair out. Oh well newsflash, I might be bitchy but I have a class, bitchy in a classy way as they might say.

        As expected, Mara looked like she had seen a ghost upon seeing me.    

        "Page," Mara drawled as I saw the beads of sweat budding out in her forehead.

        "How are you?" I asked with a feigned concern.

        Mara couldn’t look me straight in the eye; her eyes darted awkwardly in every corners of the coffee shop.

        "Are you waiting for Mason?" I asked casually. Upon saying that, I saw a frisson of fear erupted in her face.

        She faltered. "I'm so sorry Page, I didn't mean to..."

        "Why were you sorry? It was fine. Mason and I were way over." I cajoled but deep inside, I wanted to trip her foot if only she wasn’t pregnant.

        "Really?" she asked reluctantly. I just flashed my cheeky smile at her.

        "Yeah. So ..." I trailed off. So how long were you guys making out behind my back? I wanted to ask that out. I stifled my frankness and kept my facade cool.

        "How long have you been conceiving?" I questioned nonchalantly. Like I care?!

        In no time, Shanty arrived with our Oreo Milkshakes and went to seat with us.

        "So, that was the reason why you're blowing us off these past days?" Shanty asked gruffly.

        "Sorry guys. What happened between us was just an accident." She came up with this most cliché excuse. I scoffed at that shitty excuse to my mind. Yeah like you sat in his d**k by an accident and he got you pregnant.

        "What do you mean by an accident? You like him, right?" I asked feistily.

        "Truth is... we were both drunk that night, at Malcom's party. We talked, danced, flirted, kissed and then everything happened in a blur," she related in a hazy voice. It was as though she was re-enacting her grogginess at that stupid party.

        "I'm not buying it," Shanty puffed and she turned to look at me, anticipating for my reaction.

        "I'm just telling the truth Shanty!" Mara yelped.

         I smirked at Mara and held out a foil from my clutch and handed it to her.

        "They say that friends are like condoms Mara—they will help you when things get hard. So now in your hard times, here's this condom, because I can't be a friend," I retorted with my lioness pride. "Anymore." I added darkly.

        With that, Mara went shellshock as Shanty was fighting her urge to laugh out loud. I rouse up with my pretty head held up high and grinned a playful smirk.

        "And oh, I forgot. Please do me a favor of reminding the would-be daddy of your baby to stop flirting with me. Instead, he should start on working his sloppy ass off for your child's future." I chastised coolly and motioned Shanty to head out.

        "So, it finally came out. You still like him," Mara interjected.

        For a moment, I was taken aback and I slowly craned my neck to face her.

        "Why can't you just admit to yourself that you still want him? Instead of being a two-faced b***h at me pretending to be not affected by this whole thing?" She said in a serrated voice.

        "Guys don't make a scene here," Shanti shushed.

        "Well… what if I tell you that I still want him? And obviously, he still wants me. What would you do? But as a token of the last remnant of our friendship, you can have him, Mara. No hard feelings, you guys ain't worth my pretty head!" I countered and walked away from her as I basked gloriously at my reflection in the glass door of the coffee shop.

        "Wow that was so tough. Hey, why do you have a condom?" she whispered, squinting her eyes.

        "That? I don't know I just found it at my locker one time. There was a note glued in the foil saying "Have a safe trip" I chuckled, and she laughed at my story.

        "That was so sick." Shanty retorted as we got inside my white Mercury.

        I blasted Pretty Reckless' song "f****d up World" as I drove away. Wow, I couldn't believe Mara’s guts. She made me admit that I still liked Mason. Shanty went on broaching about where I would want to file in my application for college. This topic was touching me on the raw, I suddenly remembered Dad everytime we would have a conversation about this stuff.

        "I might file my application for college in Philippines," I told her.

        "You are going back to Philippines after high school? I thought your dad wants you at New York University?"

        "He does. I'm sick of him manipulating my life." I mumbled wryly as I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

        "But he said that it's okay with him if I want to spend my college education back in the Philippines as long as I'll take up an engineering course. God, he's so awful Shanty!" I clipped, miffed.

        "Which is no good either." Shanty grimaced.

        I heaved a sigh as I drove along the winding road. Well really Page, those two ain't worth your pretty head. Sure, it hurt like a b***h to be betrayed by those two people who mattered to you. I treated Mara as my sister, she might be annoying sometimes but she was my friend, past tense.

        As for Mason, he was this type of guy who was indeed a boyfriend material. He found balance between his extra- curricular activities and academics. He loved her mom a lot, "mama's boy" as they touted but they said that when a guy was close to his mom, those were the loyal types and would not dare to cheat on you. Now I could see the irony.

        But hell, why did he flirt with me yesterday?  What did I care? I just couldn't bear the fact that they screwed me over, get over it.  But I didn’t like the feeling of getting played and making me look stupid. I was used on doing that thing in a daily basis. Was this my karma? I knew karma is a b***h but let’s see karma, it was on. I was bitchier than you.

        Dad’s pissed off visage greeted me in the porch. Urghh the apocalypse was here. Everyday, I always dreaded to strike a conversation with him. Looking at my dad felt like I was looking at my own reflection. I hated to admit that I was the female version of him; with his bleached blue eyes, his pointed nose, the shape of my lips. I got my jawline and the shape of my face from Mom.

        "Hi, dad," I muttered and kissed him on his cheeks.

        "Where have you been?" 

        "Coffee shop, we sipped some Oreo Milkshake," I replied nonchalantly.

        "With Mason?"

        "No, with Shanty." I replied indignantly.

        "Okay. Seat down," he admonished as we went inside.

         "Where's mom?" I asked as I looked around, usually she would be bustling in the kitchen at this time.

        "She went to Walmart."

        "Oh okay." I curtsied. It was pretty strange for her to go to Walmart at this hour because I was used to her Walmart errands in the morning.

        "I heard the news going around your school."

        Great. Mr. Gobbler probably told it to him. I hate their unnecessary acquaintance. It all started when I got a ticket to detention.

        "Yeah, what about that dad?"

        "Mason got your friend pregnant. And that there were three seniors who might get expelled this school year," he piped in.

        "So now you knew dad, I don't care about those two anymore. Well, I wish Mason a good luck in becoming a father though," It was funny to think that momma’s boy Mason would be a father soon.

        "Well, it isn't about those two people Page. It's all about you," he retorted as he eyed me sternly.

        "What about me? That you're afraid that I might get expelled? s**t will hit the ceiling if that happens dad!" I chuckled sinisterly.

        "I'm damn serious Page. If you want to graduate, well then, behave,"

        "Oh like I have a good choice dad? You want me to graduate in high school, get into New York University and pursue an engineering course which is not my cup of tea. Then here's the other option, you did also agree on pursuing my college education in Philippines if I'll take up an engineering course. Dad! Can I decide for myself? I don't want to be an engineer. I want either Mass Communication or Fashion Design. I want you to understand that I have my own plans for my life too." I interjected.

        A foreboding silence stretched between us. I watched his eyes flickered intensely at me; he was weighing my words. He twitched his lips and he spoke.

        "I'm sorry if I put you into a lot of pressure. I just want you to grow up being responsible with your actions, and upon hearing you spoke like that it seemed like you have it all mapped out. I'm sorry honey if I 'm being hard on you I just wanted the best for you," he stood up and sat beside me.

        "Dad, I know that, but engineering is not for me. I wanted to become what I want to be, not what you want me to be,"

        "I know, and I'm sorry honey. I realized that maybe I'm the reason why you're acting nasty in school. I should have supported you in aiming for your dreams. I'm a horrible dad," he said glumly.

        Smiling, I pecked him on his cheeks. "Don't be melodramatic dad, I'm sorry if I screwed up most of the times and didn't meet your expectations, but I'm trying my best. I also try my best to become this wholesome student in school, but I'm not happy with it, because it isn't me."

        "So how many girls have cried because of you?" My dad asked comically. I can't believe it he was asking me these questions in that humor infused tone.

        "I honestly got no idea. Sorry dad, I'm being a pain in the ass."

        "Give me a hug," He admonished and we quickly pulled into a bear hug that I missed. Most of the time I hate my dad but I still love him by the end of the day. He was a good provider to us and he was right— he only wanted the best for me. He may be out of the line most of the times but his intention was for my own good.