Not a Best Friend Thing

Chapter 9

Normal people check their social lives. Normal people interact with other normal people. They take pictures and they post them on i********:. And Klay wants to be normal people or girl. She slides through the screen of photos of her and Jace, evidences of their recent weekend getaway. She tapped one of them and stared at it. She was making a silly face, Jacey was shoved on the side of her head sharing her hair as if it would make him look like a girl. She zoomed in on his face. His eyes are her favorite part of him. They're green like the ocean, where the shallow water gets deeper and deeper. They were a look of tranquil. She sighed.

"Such a curse to be secretly in love with you, a curse, you hear that?" she said at the photo. She sighed again and closed the screen. She tapped the i********: application. Normal people post pictures and she'll do it for the sake of being normal.

Klay was laying on her bed taking glances now and then to her best friend's room which was just across hers. He wasn't home and she could tell because his room wasn't lit.

Ting.

Her iphone sounded declaring that her photo was successfully uploaded. She puts it at the top of her bed-side table and stares at the ceiling. Her eyes were fixed above but her mind wanders just about everywhere. Can her life get lousier? She imagined a boy beside her talking about random things like how awful college life is or when a party comes up...or tell her she's beautiful while looking in her eyes and kisses her. And they're going to make out. She can't believe she's starting to wish she has a boyfriend. She wasn't that type but for these past days she couldn't help envying the people around her. A thought came across her mind and she smiled unintentionally. She could be at hogwarts! Riding brooms, eating delicious food that appears and disappears in a snap of a finger, brewing potions, meeting those plants that cries to your death. And not this stupid life, spending time as an audience of happy teenagers full of hormones, desperately loving a stupid friend who doesn't even takes the hint and listening to a boy next room noisily banging probably on his X-box. It's frustrating!

Ting.

Her head turned toward the sound. She reached out her hand lazily, thinking that maybe someone bothered to like her photo. But when she laid her eyes on the screen, they lit. It was a notification from skype. She had forgotten about him. She didn't even finish the

book. She ran a quick look through the pile of her current-reads on the corner of her bed-side table and saw the book slipped in it. She tapped her screen.

ECward: "Did you know that at this exact time of the evening Neptune becomes visible for about three minutes?"

Klay read the message with her eyes. Somehow this man brings out the break that she was wishing for. He was the only thing she hadn't predicted. He was an outside force of her life that is out of the ordinary.

Klay: "Did you suddenly become an astrologer?"

It makes her wonder again now. How on earth did this man come about liking her? Does it even sound like a man not to confess your feelings personally to a girl and instead write a weird book? It seemed so gay! But then, she asked herself, is it really that easy? To stand up face to face with a man you like for all your life and throw him the words: I like you. Is it really that easy showing him your soul that he has the capability of crushing?

So effing hard.

She chuckled knowing that this man is just like her and she suddenly wants to talk to him more.

ECward: "Nah, I just came across it on facebook."

Klay: "So you are a kind of a social person."

ECward: "Not really, I just happened to be involved in a certain media."

Klay: " Are you a vlogger?"

ECward: "Not that kind of media."

She raised her eyebrows, Klay: "So, what exactly?"

ECward: "Journalism."

Klay blinked in the words. She just read it but it resonates on her head like it was just being said to her. Journalism. An idea slowly floats among the swamp of thoughts on her head. Could it be? She feels a sudden rush of blood through his body spreading heat to her cheeks. Her heart gave a beat of intensity. Just one beat.

Tara was the one who gave her the book. Could it be that the man who wrote it was among her circles in the publication?

Klay raised her fingers and started typing fast, " Are you part of Downlake's publication?"

She stared at it for a moment then shook her head. Is it safe to tell him that? It would look like she was interested in him, wouldn't it? She started deleting the words.

Klay: " Interesting. I was into journalism too."

ECward: "Yep, I know. That is one of the things I know about you."

Klay smiled.

Klay: "So... you know things about me?"

ECward: "Yeah-bsolutely."

Klay: "Okay, fire me another then?"

ECward: "You're a class valedictorian."

Klay laughed. "That's not surprising. Can you give me a more intimate fact?"

ECward: "You haven't gotten yourself a boyfriend since."

Klay bit back another laugh.

Klay: "Ouch, that was such a stab."

ECward: "Haha no offense intended. For you it's bad, for me it's good news." She read the message and couldn't help noticing the grinning emoji.

Klay: "How?"

ECward: "I could be your first and experiencing things first-hand usually feels meaningful."

x x x

She couldn't believe her feet. When did they start fighting against her will? She watched them as they drag themselves toward their destination. It's like they have their own brains! Left, right, left, right. This is insane. She shouldn't feel this nervous. How did she start caring about ECward that would make her this nervous? The students in the hallway seemed like blur. All she saw were figures of people indistinctly chatting with each other. Even Tara who was muttering words on her side seemed like a haze of light. All that was clear was the door. The text on it look magnified, it frightened her. The Iridescence.

Her heart which was hammering inside her ribcage was now pounding hard wanting to burst from her chest, as she was getting close to the door in slow motion. She didn't ask ECward last night about whether he was a part of the organization but her gut tells her that he is. And that made her almost sleepless, she wondered what he would look like. She imagined him wearing glasses--he must have because he likes to write which probably makes him to like reading. So he's supposed to be the nerdy type. She almost imagined him with braces but she shook the idea. He must be handsome or cool. Isn't she pretty enough to be admired by cool guys? Then she imagined him to be tall and tan, or atleast just the prior. And his voice, it was god damn manly, so he must be hot.

She heard a silence scream on her head as the door swing slowly by Tara's gentle push. And then it opens. Scanning....

Nobody was wearing glasses.

She lets out a breath of relief. The door was adjacent to the bottom of the room so each desk was lined up sideways by the door. There were eight desks but only four of them have people and they were looking up to them. Her eyes travel to the room separated from the rest of the desk by a semi-transparent glass. A silhouette of a man appears visible.

"Good morning everyone." Tara said and took a pace inside. She followed suit.

"Good morning." They answered and Klay finds for a sign of a grin on all of their faces. And there was nothing but normal recognition.

"This is Klay Jules..." Tara said, "and she is joining us."

"Klay Harren." Klay muttered unintentionally. She doesn't like her name being murdered. When she realized she spoke. She went on, " Klay Harren is my first name, most people miss that."

"Klay Harren Jules," she heard Tara repeats.

The girl nearest to Klay smiled and stood. "Hi Klay, nice to meet you. I'm Jane. I do the cartooning." A dimple showed on her cheek when she speaks. She had short hair that doesn't reach her shoulders and it makes her look kind. Klay shook her hand with a warm smile.

"I'm Daniel, a news writer." The man beside Jane offered his dark hand and Klay reached and shook it too.

"Do we really need to tell her what we do?" Another man asks and introduced himself, "I'm Ward, please to meet you."

Klay froze. Her eyes travels from his hand to his face. Their eyes met. And his were blue. Deep-seated below his dark brows. She expected a sign of recognition, a muscle twitch or a subtle grin but there was nothing. His face remains innocent, his eyes staring brightly at her not showing any sign of knowing her. His name is "Ward" and this is another coincidence if he's not him.

"Klay?" Tara sounded and it brought her to her senses. Ward's hand was hanging in between them. She quickly raised her hand to shake it.

"Sorry, I sometimes doze off," she lets out a nervous chuckle.

"I was about to think I look like a ghost or something."

Ward said with the sound of all normalcy.

Klay expected the last girl to come over to her and do what everybody else did but she just sits there with her head on the desk not even bothering to take a glance.

"She's Edith and she doesn't want to be disturbed I guess. Don't worry she's like that toward all of us." Ward said when he saw Klay turn toward the girl. Klay nodded in his statement.

"So...Klay, this is going to be your working place." Tara's said walking to the desk right at the back of Edith's. She followed her and takes a look around. It's not that spacious but it's good. A computer was placed at the center top, there was a box of pens and pencils beside it and few reading materials occupy the rest of desk's space.

"When did we change the rules?"

Everyone turn toward the direction of the voice. Klay watched as the man from the room emerged to their side. He has sleek black hair and it bounces as he stride toward them. His voice...it sound familiar.

"Good morning, I'm Ed Macmillan, Editor-In-Chielf. Have you taken the admission test? I did not see your name on the recruit's files."

He towered over her and his eyes were oozing with authority as he looks down upon her. He had a stern atmosphere around him and it makes her feel unwelcomed. He isn't that bulk, in fact he's almost similar to Jacey's physique except that he has seriousness on his face it looked like he hadn't joked all his life. There was a long stretch of silence and Klay cannot move her lips for an answer.

"Uh-" Tara's voice was awkward in the silence. "She's Jules Ed, recepient of National Editorial Award last year. I don't see it necessary for her to take the test."

Ed turned his attention to Tara his face remains stern. It was long before he spoke. "Did we change the rules for her?"