Spoiler! :
Click here to join my page for my first ever novel, The Lockets, or else live with the harassing guilt of declining a simple request by an aspiring writer named Jash Bagabaldo. Okay, if that threat didn't work, I'll just say: "PLEASE?" *Pretty eyes* =)
To everyone who read the first chapter:
[]Hello, whoever you are, I'm sorry if this isn't so good. It's just a draft I found in my D://drive...sooo Thanks if you'd take the time to read it.
Oh, and you might get confused bout the view of the chapter. I'm not saying anything. All I'm saying is I want you to think, so there. Sorry for being confusing. LOL[/]
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II
Nightmare
THE hail hurled everything as far as I could see. The sunlight was totally blotted out by the myriads of clouds that mounted above me. The wind was so strong, I couldn’t have made it. There was a force that had helped me—a daunting force it seemed.
And so I thought, there was someone who had been helping me. A face that I couldn’t recognize peered through the storm; it was made of--ice. It held out a hand to me and said with its enchanting voice, “Glaze, my dear, give me your hand.”
“Never!” I cried out, trying my best not to collapse in the raging horror.
“But, Glaze,” said the voice, “you have already won.”
The storm yielded as she pointed out at a block of crystal.
“See?”
I tried standing bolt upright, but I was weak and was ready to collapse.
The storm yielded a way to a massive ice wall. I looked intently at where she was pointing till my vision came to a focus.
“No!” I gasped with horror.
Before me a blonde girl floated unconsciously, acting as a prisoner in the block of ice. Her face looked troubled; her anxious expression cried out to me: ‘’Why?’’
Guilt immediately held my soul.
“Please proceed, Glaze. As I have told you, you have gained your victory.” The voice was a tempter—hypnotizing. It controlled me, and I reluctantly stepped further down the sheets of ice. I stretched my hand out to touch it—but I couldn’t!
I collapsed. Some of the ice were sharp enough that I grazed my hands on them, but I didn’t care. Cowering on the ground, I tightly closed my eyes as if the disturbing images could be shut out. Opening my eyes again, I stared at the icy floor—panting, crying, and regretting.
Yuenish?! Did I do this to you?
“Glaze, there is nothing to fear my dear.”
I clasped my hands on my ears. I started to scream inside of me. If only I had the strength, I would have been screaming out loud.
No! I wouldn’t! I couldn’t! It’s impossible! I know I’ve been a fool, but I could never hurt you, Yuenish! She’s lying! Yuenish! I know I’ve been a fool…
“Snowflake!” I woke up panting and doused in sweat. Michelle was shaking me furiously, successfully waking me up. “Snow! Why were you screaming?”
“I—I was?” I stammered while holding up my sweat soaked hair. I looked at it in confusion. “I can’t remember why. All I can remember is that I had a bad dream, and Yuenish was in it, that’s all.”
“Well, whatever that is, you sure startled me.” Michelle pulled my blanket away and ordered me to get up. “Well?” She paused for a moment and presumed that I knew what to say next, but her stare just left me in confusion. She sighed and said, “we’re not gonna waste this weekend! Go and take a bath now! I want to have some fun today ‘cause tomorrow is for sure excruciating.”
I stared at her for awhile. She sighed and sat beside me.
"Look, I know you're tired from your flight yesterday." She tucked my bangs behind my ear. "And I know what you're going through right now. Having a stepmother is--hard to accept, I know. You're father just has his own needs."
"And that includes marrying my sister's boyfriend's mother?"
"Well, no--but, wait--" She paused. "Does he know?"
"No." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
"That is so weird."
Her phone began to ring, and I was left on my bed still a bit perplexed with my nightmare. Yuenish. In my dream, I'd killed my own sister. I shook my head. "Impossible," I assured myself.
Michelle came back grinning and squirming around like a total nutcase.
“Guess what?” she asked.
I just shrugged.
“Derek says he’s coming with us,” she said.
“Oh great!” I shouted in mock delight.
Every time Derek would hang around with us, Michelle would always be caught up in a cloud leading to loven—love heaven—“where all love indulged people live in harmony.” She was to be blamed alright. Derek was just one of those arrogant jerks who thought money could buy everything: great looks, plus flunking grades. Whatever. The thing is, I’d be left out again. So much for a fun-filled weekend.
“Oh cheer up, Snow,” Michelle sat beside me, “I promise this day will be great. Why don’t you ask Chase to come? Please?”
I flopped up on the bed and started clipping up my hair. “Fine.” I took my phone from under my pillow and dialed Chase's number. "But if he's busy or something, don't expect me to come." The ringing stopped. “Hey, Chase. Wanna hang out with us today? Come along with Derek.”
Michelle sat beside me, waiting for an answer.
“Okay, bye.”
“What did he say?”Michelle excitedly asked.
“Yes, duh…” I answered, and then she shrieked. I rolled my eyes and ordered her to just get dressed.
We drove to the mall at nine in the morning and had breakfast in Starbucks. We were to meet the men there at ten thirty. I ordered a green tea Frappuccino and, facing Michelle and the busy streets of New York, sat in front of the glass doors. I sat there because I could always shift my eyes to watch people and cars outside when Michelle has something boring to say. I was getting ready for: "Oh, Snowy, Mozart's Symphony 40 in G minor is so amazing!" Like I ever cared how great that Mow-tsart with his frickin' white wigs was.
I sipped down half of my drink when I saw Derek and Chase entering.
“There they are.” I pointed out to Michelle.
“Derek!” she called out.
Two men swaggered in our direction. They were both in a haughty gait. But as they came closer, I noticed for the first time that there was a remarkable difference in their countenances: Derek had a fiercely handsome face with his chin always held up high in the air, while Chase had somewhat a humble look—angel type.
Chase sat and smiled, his hair drawn to the right and covering one of his blue eyes. He kissed my cheek then stretched an arm around me. Derek took a seat beside Michelle.
“Yo, Snowy.” Derek threw an airy look at me. “How’s it goin'?”
“Oh, shut up, Derek! I told you never to call me ‘Snowy’, only Mitch has the right to call me that.”
We laughed. Then Derek dragged Chase to the counter to order beverages.
“This is going to be fun,” Michelle whispered to me.
The boys were momentarily back.
“So, guys, what are we gonna do?” Derek asked while slicing a piece of his cake with a fork. He took a glance around, looking at each one of us, then stared at Michelle. “How ‘bout you, babe?”
Michelle giggled, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her palms. “I just want to take a stroll around the mall, I mean, simply bonding.” She grinned and raised her eyebrows at us, hoping if we would all agree.
I shrugged my shoulders then looked at Chase. He beamed at me. Guess, we all conceded with Michelle.
We roamed around the mall and just talked. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? But when I was with Chase, nothing was boring.
As we walked, Derek wrapped his arm around Michelle’s waist and strode faster so that he and she could talk.
Chase didn’t do the same with me, though I wish he did, so I just hugged myself, taking glances of him and remembering how we came to know each other.
Dance.
We shared the same passion for dancing, and that paved the way for our relationship to evolve to something more.
Chase was an ordinary person who, I believe, really was no ordinary. He worked as a cashier in Pizza O’ Parkers, a fast-food restaurant only six blocks away from the dorm. But I honestly believed that he also worked in a bar--at some time--to get more money, and he just wouldn't tell me. Working part-time cashier and part-time bartender, sometimes, I felt so sorry for him.
His father had left his family a year ago, leaving him to make a living for his little brother and his mother who had colon cancer. He gave everything he earned to them, despite his own needs. That was the reason why he deserved the scholarship he got from Julliard University.
Yes, we both studied in Julliard, and there we had met each other. There, we realized that there was something that pulled us closer each day. And even though he believed that there was a big chasm between our two different worlds, that fact did not stop me from falling in love with him. He was unselfish, contented, hard-working, and everything I could ever want. I loved everything that he was made of, and I always would.
“What?” Chase asked with his charming smile.
“Nothing.” I smiled back. He pulled me in his arm--finally.
“Oh!” I exclaimed, remembering something. I shoved my hand in my pocket.
“What is it?” he asked.
I pulled out a small sheet of paper and handed it to Chase.
“What is this? A cheque?” Chase inspected the sheet of paper, turning stern.
“You said that your mother needs chemo therapy,” I explained. “Don’t worry,” I assured him, “I really don’t need that amount of money anyway.”
He handed me back the cheque and held me by the waist. He was getting more serious when I insisted him to take it but still refused to. Sometimes I fell it was pride that was making him decline my offers.
I sighed. “Remember about how down you were about not getting anything for my birthday?”
“I told you, I promise, I’ll get something.” He smirked.
“Well, you don’t have to,” I said, holding back his chest and stopping his walk. “Take the cheque. That’s what I want you to give me for a gift—a chance to help someone in need.” I smiled and tried putting the paper back in his hand. “Please?”
“Fine,” he said, a bit irritated.
I just kissed him, my hands on his chest and his arms around me.
“Snowflake!” Michelle exclaimed, interrupting the intoxicating moment.
“Yes?” I asked, a bit furiously.
“No,” she said. “Look outside! Snowflake!”
Michelle pointed through the glass walls to show that she was referring to real frozen mini spheres. It was beginning to snow.
I held Chase by the hand, and we leisurely walked outside, staring at the falling frost. I watched till memories aroused from the scene.
“Mommy! I made my fiwst snow angel!” I had exclaimed to Mom when I was six.
It was true. I spent my childhood in a country where only two seasons exists: wet or dry. But I had been always interested about snow. After all, wasn’t I named ‘’Snowflake’’? The only things that I could get information about winter are either books or cartoon shows, and I often imitated what I had learned. So, when I was six, I took out about fifteen rolls of tissue and tore them into lots and lots of pieces.
“Mommy, look at me!”
I could remember how Mom had laughed and joined me; she even made a “big-guy” (bigger) snow angel than I did. Then she tickled me, and I felt cheated and started screaming.
Sunshine, or as I call her, Yuenish, my inevitably boring sister, was sitting in a corner reading a book. She was interrupted by our shrieks and laughs and charged at us.
“Mother, Snow, you’re wasting trees,” she had lectured us. Yes, I know, a six-year-old kid lecturing her mother that she was wasting trees.
Mom didn’t mind her sermon and commanded, “Get her!”
We both grabbed Yuenish and started tickling her in an enormous quantity of ripped paper. She laughed and laughed and was palpably enjoying it.
“Stop! I can’t take it anymore.” She took her book and went on reading again.
“Oh, Sunshine, when will you ever grow down?” Mom had gagged; I laughed. “You’re just like your father.” Mom continued. She turned to me and whispered, “Ostensibly, serious, but inside is thinking of something crazy.”
I would still laugh at her remark. I could never forget it because it was true; my sister was presumably quiet and ascetic, but on the inside, she was insane. I read one of her correspondence book queries (yeah, I hacked her e-mail account) and it was about a teenage proxy. She should have been writing satirical novels about politics if you would guess her accounts on her attitude y'know. And they called me immature!
"Gotta go!" Derek exclaimed, breaking my reverie.
I grunted at them as he and Michelle walked away.
I turned to Chase. "Want me to drive you home?"
"No, thanks, angel. Let's just go somewhere--refreshing and quiet."
"What about New York Bay?" --the place we first spent some time alone.
"Seems nice," he said.
I drove us to Lower New York Bay, and we started to stroll by the waters with my hand in his. The stars twinkled above us; yachts were in sight. They were quiet like everything else around us. Freezing breezes blew. Chase held me closer into his arms, so close I could hear the beat of his heart. I could remember clearly how I met him.
I met him because of one boring summer afternoon. Derek invited Michelle and me to go out with him because he was bringing a new guy with us. The guy was apparently Chase, a classmate of mine who I had never talked to before. He was very timid at that time, and I was obviously stupid enough to think he was rich like us; one thing Derek forgot to tell me about him was that he was one of those young men from a slum alley downtown who was talented enough to get a scholarship from Julliard. So, I used to treat him like a wealthy guy, which probably degraded him. Anyway, it was a very humiliating incident when I found out he was not rich.
It was on a Saturday midnight. Michelle and I were watching rented DVD’s. We hadn't had any dinner that night so we went to Pizza O’ Parkers. It was the nearest restaurant with good food and twenty-four-hours service.
“Welcome to Pizza O’ Parkers, Ma’am, can I take your order?” the employee at the drive-thru booth asked me.
The voice, the cute face, and the cheerful smile were all too familiar. I was in shock to see him there, taking orders from hungry customers when I thought he was filthy rich like me. I gaped at him.
“Ma’am, can I please take your order?” he repeated.
The hat with a pizza riding a car imprinted on it slanted down to the right of his blond hair and complemented his humble face.
“Chase?” I hesitantly asked.
Michelle pushed me back and squinted at him. “Oh my gosh, Chase?!” She leaned back in the car and remained silent.
“Sorry, but we don’t sell ‘Chase Pizza’, please check the menu,” he said good-naturedly. He stuck out his hand and pointed downward at the big poster below him.
“Medium Pepperoni and two cans of coke,” I told him.
“That would be $5.99 ma’am.”
I dug down my pocket and found a hundred dollar bill. I felt embarrassed holding it up against Chase’s face. I didn't want to look as if I was rubbing in, but, honestly, it was all that had had.
“Your change ma’am—$94.01 dollars. Thank you for coming. Please drive through again.” He handed out my money and yelled at the next customer, “Next please!”
Michelle and I got our pizza at the next booth and, after parking in front of the restaurant, we ate in the car.
“I can’t finish it.” I laid a half-sliced pizza back in the box.
“What’s the prob, Snowy?” Michelle looked intently at me and began to scream. “Oh my gosh! I knew it!”
“What?”
“You like him!”
“No, Mitch!”
“Tell you what,” she said as she stepped out of the car, “I’m gonna ride a cab home while you wait for him.”
“What?!”
She opened the car door and slammed it in on my face.
I hastily rolled down my window.
"Mitch!"
"You can do it, Snowy! Don't worry!" she hollered as she left.
I rolled up the window and sighed. Holding the wheel with both of my hands, I waited for Chase’s shift to end.
At three in the morning, I finally saw him wearing a plain green shirt and torn-out jeans--casual clothes, and not that annoying pink and green uniform. I speedily looked at the rear mirror and smiled to check if I had anything stuck between my teeth. None. Taking a deep breath, I rolled down the window again.
Chase walked up to me and smiled. I beamed back and recognized his tattered Converse shoes.
“Derek has been really nice lending me a new pair for classes, hasn't he?” he said, leaning forward. "Dirty look is totally in. Try to disagree with me."
“I won’t,” I said, as I squeezed myself into the passenger's seat.
“Do you have a driving license?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Drive yourself home.”
He smiled and sat in the car. But instead of bringing me to his home, he took me to the bay and parked my car.
“You live here?” I had asked, baffled.
“No.”
“Then why the hell did you take us here?” I asked, quite amused.
He laughed and went out of the car. I couldn't remember why I followed him, but I went out of the car anyway. And when I did, he then took my arm, and, taking off his shoes, he told me to take mine off, too. He dragged me further down the bay. The muddy rocks didn't feel uncomfortable though, and I didn't mind 'cause the scene was majestic.
"Be careful now," Chase warned, assisting me down the rocks. "You might graze your feet."
We jumped on the rocks, and it felt gross.
“Do you swim?” he asked.
“Yeah, but—Chase!”
He pushed me right over and I went straight into the water. I managed to draw my wet hair back.
“Cannon ball!”
I looked up and saw him jump. Water splashed everywhere.
“Chase!” I yelled. “I like swimming but not in my new shirt!” I started getting pissed off and splashed water on his face.
“Please don’t get mad at me!” he laughed. “We just got to know each other!”
He stared upward and began to act as if I weren’t there. But before I splashed water on his face again, I looked up, too. Eventually, I had forgotten what I was about to do, and felt calmed.
Stars. I knew the last time I enjoyed staring up and just forgetting everything. At that time, as memories in memories branched out, I remembered--Mom.
“How did you fell in love with daddy?” I had asked mom while staring upward at the shiny stars. We came out sneaking on the roof at two in the morning when everyone else was asleep.
Mom and I held an intimate friendship that lasted a lifetime. She was my teddy bear to hug tight when I was scared, my shoulder to cry on when Dad had given me a sermon about my flunking grades, a friend to laugh with when I could not even smile; she had seemed more of a sister than a mom. Sitting on the roof was our favorite spot to talk. And when I was nine, I became curious with this thing they called ‘’love’’ and asked my mom, “How did you fell in love with daddy?”
“How did I fall in love?” Mom smiled. “Well, there was not really anything to fall for your father.” She laughed while I smiled. She glanced at me, and continued to speak with exaggerated gestures and excitement as if she was telling me one of her fantasy stories.
“Well, it was a rainy afternoon in Palawan*. Grey clouds crossed the sky as far as you could see. Your father was driving me home after inviting me in a party, and dusk was starting. The car suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. Well, it really wasn’t a nowhere. We were in the middle of the forest.” She laughed. “He tried to fix the car, but he couldn’t; it just got him all wet. So we waited for another car to pass by. But unfortunately, after five whole hours, no one came. I looked at my watch and it was almost eight in the evening. The sky was black, the rain poured and poured, and, because he was my ‘Kuya’**—being a week older than I—he told me to remain in the car while he looked for someone who might be able to help us. He told me that he had already called his friend and he would be back after fifteen minutes."
“But I was headstrong.” She laughed again. “I didn’t like it when people told me what to do. So I went charging in the rain, too. The rain didn’t seem to be a threat at all; the rain was very relaxing and gentle and it kinda tickled my cheek. I did not feel any harm so I before he went too far, I dragged him to a nearby beach. I pushed him into the water. He got wetter, and I laughed at him. He got angry at me and pulled me in the water, too. But in the end, he admitted he was having fun.'
“Thirty more minutes and I started to chill. But he hugged me and tried to keep me warm. Yeah. That’s how I fell for your father. Insane!”
Of course, I didn’t completely understand the story, but the way she told it made it memorable.
So one day, before I went off to college, I told Dad about that particular story. He smiled and gladly told his side of it:
"Your mother was very stubborn and immature. She kissed me in the storm without minding the raging rain and the possibility of a tsunami. She was confident and brave. And that’s what I loved the most about her—she was never scared.”
I had sighed when I finally came to my senses. Chase was still admiring the sky and I had to splash water at him so he would remember that I was still there.
“I’m still mad at you!” I yelled in mock furiousness. He laughed so hard, and I laughed with him. His intimidation had been finally exterminated.
Dripping wet, we walked up the boulders and collected rocks shining under the moonlight. Chase was silent. We threw the rocks in the water and wore our shoes again. His converse looked as if they have been manufactured in the last century.
“I told you not to stare,” he had inferiorly told me.
“I’m sorry,” I had replied.
When we got back to my car, he did not get in. He just bid me goodnight and left. I went back to the dormitory, feeling good. Nobody made me feel that way without giving me something presumably costly; no one in my history of fifty-eight boyfriends made me feel good with just a simple ‘’spending some time’’.
Every guy I had a relationship with was a total jerk. I had caught each of them cheating on me after two to three months. Each had promised that he would never will be with another girl, but eventually will leave me heartbroken. That was the reason why I was cautious before I gave Chase my heart. But after a couple of years, he just proved that he would never find another girl in my place. He said that himself, and he had earned my trust.
From a simple incident, complicated things had occurred; from that simple introduction of two souls came out something I never had expected to happen.
The moonlight was still shining on our countenances and the stars danced in the night sky—just like they used to. Having enough of the reminiscing in reminisces, I looked back at Chase.
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna push me over into the waters again.” I told Chase.
“I will, if you get mad at me again,” he jokingly said.
“Why would you want me to get mad at you?” I asked.
“Because,” he whispered, “you’re so cute when you’re mad.”
“That’s already sold out, Chase!”
We laughed.
“I better go home,” he kissed my forehead and hugged me. “Take care of yourself now, angel. See you tomorrow.”
I went back to the dorm, totally tired, not from walking, but from thinking. Michelle was already sound asleep. I sneaked onto my bed, and took out the necklace that Mom gave me and wore it. Then, after glancing at the night sky one more time, I closed my eyes hoping for a good night sleep--wishing that I would have those cherished memories in place of that menacing nightmare.
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* A province in Philippines
** older brother; older male friend
To everyone who read the first chapter:
[]Hello, whoever you are, I'm sorry if this isn't so good. It's just a draft I found in my D://drive...sooo Thanks if you'd take the time to read it.
Oh, and you might get confused bout the view of the chapter. I'm not saying anything. All I'm saying is I want you to think, so there. Sorry for being confusing. LOL[/]
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II
Nightmare
THE hail hurled everything as far as I could see. The sunlight was totally blotted out by the myriads of clouds that mounted above me. The wind was so strong, I couldn’t have made it. There was a force that had helped me—a daunting force it seemed.
And so I thought, there was someone who had been helping me. A face that I couldn’t recognize peered through the storm; it was made of--ice. It held out a hand to me and said with its enchanting voice, “Glaze, my dear, give me your hand.”
“Never!” I cried out, trying my best not to collapse in the raging horror.
“But, Glaze,” said the voice, “you have already won.”
The storm yielded as she pointed out at a block of crystal.
“See?”
I tried standing bolt upright, but I was weak and was ready to collapse.
The storm yielded a way to a massive ice wall. I looked intently at where she was pointing till my vision came to a focus.
“No!” I gasped with horror.
Before me a blonde girl floated unconsciously, acting as a prisoner in the block of ice. Her face looked troubled; her anxious expression cried out to me: ‘’Why?’’
Guilt immediately held my soul.
“Please proceed, Glaze. As I have told you, you have gained your victory.” The voice was a tempter—hypnotizing. It controlled me, and I reluctantly stepped further down the sheets of ice. I stretched my hand out to touch it—but I couldn’t!
I collapsed. Some of the ice were sharp enough that I grazed my hands on them, but I didn’t care. Cowering on the ground, I tightly closed my eyes as if the disturbing images could be shut out. Opening my eyes again, I stared at the icy floor—panting, crying, and regretting.
Yuenish?! Did I do this to you?
“Glaze, there is nothing to fear my dear.”
I clasped my hands on my ears. I started to scream inside of me. If only I had the strength, I would have been screaming out loud.
No! I wouldn’t! I couldn’t! It’s impossible! I know I’ve been a fool, but I could never hurt you, Yuenish! She’s lying! Yuenish! I know I’ve been a fool…
“Snowflake!” I woke up panting and doused in sweat. Michelle was shaking me furiously, successfully waking me up. “Snow! Why were you screaming?”
“I—I was?” I stammered while holding up my sweat soaked hair. I looked at it in confusion. “I can’t remember why. All I can remember is that I had a bad dream, and Yuenish was in it, that’s all.”
“Well, whatever that is, you sure startled me.” Michelle pulled my blanket away and ordered me to get up. “Well?” She paused for a moment and presumed that I knew what to say next, but her stare just left me in confusion. She sighed and said, “we’re not gonna waste this weekend! Go and take a bath now! I want to have some fun today ‘cause tomorrow is for sure excruciating.”
I stared at her for awhile. She sighed and sat beside me.
"Look, I know you're tired from your flight yesterday." She tucked my bangs behind my ear. "And I know what you're going through right now. Having a stepmother is--hard to accept, I know. You're father just has his own needs."
"And that includes marrying my sister's boyfriend's mother?"
"Well, no--but, wait--" She paused. "Does he know?"
"No." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
"That is so weird."
Her phone began to ring, and I was left on my bed still a bit perplexed with my nightmare. Yuenish. In my dream, I'd killed my own sister. I shook my head. "Impossible," I assured myself.
Michelle came back grinning and squirming around like a total nutcase.
“Guess what?” she asked.
I just shrugged.
“Derek says he’s coming with us,” she said.
“Oh great!” I shouted in mock delight.
Every time Derek would hang around with us, Michelle would always be caught up in a cloud leading to loven—love heaven—“where all love indulged people live in harmony.” She was to be blamed alright. Derek was just one of those arrogant jerks who thought money could buy everything: great looks, plus flunking grades. Whatever. The thing is, I’d be left out again. So much for a fun-filled weekend.
“Oh cheer up, Snow,” Michelle sat beside me, “I promise this day will be great. Why don’t you ask Chase to come? Please?”
I flopped up on the bed and started clipping up my hair. “Fine.” I took my phone from under my pillow and dialed Chase's number. "But if he's busy or something, don't expect me to come." The ringing stopped. “Hey, Chase. Wanna hang out with us today? Come along with Derek.”
Michelle sat beside me, waiting for an answer.
“Okay, bye.”
“What did he say?”Michelle excitedly asked.
“Yes, duh…” I answered, and then she shrieked. I rolled my eyes and ordered her to just get dressed.
We drove to the mall at nine in the morning and had breakfast in Starbucks. We were to meet the men there at ten thirty. I ordered a green tea Frappuccino and, facing Michelle and the busy streets of New York, sat in front of the glass doors. I sat there because I could always shift my eyes to watch people and cars outside when Michelle has something boring to say. I was getting ready for: "Oh, Snowy, Mozart's Symphony 40 in G minor is so amazing!" Like I ever cared how great that Mow-tsart with his frickin' white wigs was.
I sipped down half of my drink when I saw Derek and Chase entering.
“There they are.” I pointed out to Michelle.
“Derek!” she called out.
Two men swaggered in our direction. They were both in a haughty gait. But as they came closer, I noticed for the first time that there was a remarkable difference in their countenances: Derek had a fiercely handsome face with his chin always held up high in the air, while Chase had somewhat a humble look—angel type.
Chase sat and smiled, his hair drawn to the right and covering one of his blue eyes. He kissed my cheek then stretched an arm around me. Derek took a seat beside Michelle.
“Yo, Snowy.” Derek threw an airy look at me. “How’s it goin'?”
“Oh, shut up, Derek! I told you never to call me ‘Snowy’, only Mitch has the right to call me that.”
We laughed. Then Derek dragged Chase to the counter to order beverages.
“This is going to be fun,” Michelle whispered to me.
The boys were momentarily back.
“So, guys, what are we gonna do?” Derek asked while slicing a piece of his cake with a fork. He took a glance around, looking at each one of us, then stared at Michelle. “How ‘bout you, babe?”
Michelle giggled, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her palms. “I just want to take a stroll around the mall, I mean, simply bonding.” She grinned and raised her eyebrows at us, hoping if we would all agree.
I shrugged my shoulders then looked at Chase. He beamed at me. Guess, we all conceded with Michelle.
We roamed around the mall and just talked. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? But when I was with Chase, nothing was boring.
As we walked, Derek wrapped his arm around Michelle’s waist and strode faster so that he and she could talk.
Chase didn’t do the same with me, though I wish he did, so I just hugged myself, taking glances of him and remembering how we came to know each other.
Dance.
We shared the same passion for dancing, and that paved the way for our relationship to evolve to something more.
Chase was an ordinary person who, I believe, really was no ordinary. He worked as a cashier in Pizza O’ Parkers, a fast-food restaurant only six blocks away from the dorm. But I honestly believed that he also worked in a bar--at some time--to get more money, and he just wouldn't tell me. Working part-time cashier and part-time bartender, sometimes, I felt so sorry for him.
His father had left his family a year ago, leaving him to make a living for his little brother and his mother who had colon cancer. He gave everything he earned to them, despite his own needs. That was the reason why he deserved the scholarship he got from Julliard University.
Yes, we both studied in Julliard, and there we had met each other. There, we realized that there was something that pulled us closer each day. And even though he believed that there was a big chasm between our two different worlds, that fact did not stop me from falling in love with him. He was unselfish, contented, hard-working, and everything I could ever want. I loved everything that he was made of, and I always would.
“What?” Chase asked with his charming smile.
“Nothing.” I smiled back. He pulled me in his arm--finally.
“Oh!” I exclaimed, remembering something. I shoved my hand in my pocket.
“What is it?” he asked.
I pulled out a small sheet of paper and handed it to Chase.
“What is this? A cheque?” Chase inspected the sheet of paper, turning stern.
“You said that your mother needs chemo therapy,” I explained. “Don’t worry,” I assured him, “I really don’t need that amount of money anyway.”
He handed me back the cheque and held me by the waist. He was getting more serious when I insisted him to take it but still refused to. Sometimes I fell it was pride that was making him decline my offers.
I sighed. “Remember about how down you were about not getting anything for my birthday?”
“I told you, I promise, I’ll get something.” He smirked.
“Well, you don’t have to,” I said, holding back his chest and stopping his walk. “Take the cheque. That’s what I want you to give me for a gift—a chance to help someone in need.” I smiled and tried putting the paper back in his hand. “Please?”
“Fine,” he said, a bit irritated.
I just kissed him, my hands on his chest and his arms around me.
“Snowflake!” Michelle exclaimed, interrupting the intoxicating moment.
“Yes?” I asked, a bit furiously.
“No,” she said. “Look outside! Snowflake!”
Michelle pointed through the glass walls to show that she was referring to real frozen mini spheres. It was beginning to snow.
I held Chase by the hand, and we leisurely walked outside, staring at the falling frost. I watched till memories aroused from the scene.
“Mommy! I made my fiwst snow angel!” I had exclaimed to Mom when I was six.
It was true. I spent my childhood in a country where only two seasons exists: wet or dry. But I had been always interested about snow. After all, wasn’t I named ‘’Snowflake’’? The only things that I could get information about winter are either books or cartoon shows, and I often imitated what I had learned. So, when I was six, I took out about fifteen rolls of tissue and tore them into lots and lots of pieces.
“Mommy, look at me!”
I could remember how Mom had laughed and joined me; she even made a “big-guy” (bigger) snow angel than I did. Then she tickled me, and I felt cheated and started screaming.
Sunshine, or as I call her, Yuenish, my inevitably boring sister, was sitting in a corner reading a book. She was interrupted by our shrieks and laughs and charged at us.
“Mother, Snow, you’re wasting trees,” she had lectured us. Yes, I know, a six-year-old kid lecturing her mother that she was wasting trees.
Mom didn’t mind her sermon and commanded, “Get her!”
We both grabbed Yuenish and started tickling her in an enormous quantity of ripped paper. She laughed and laughed and was palpably enjoying it.
“Stop! I can’t take it anymore.” She took her book and went on reading again.
“Oh, Sunshine, when will you ever grow down?” Mom had gagged; I laughed. “You’re just like your father.” Mom continued. She turned to me and whispered, “Ostensibly, serious, but inside is thinking of something crazy.”
I would still laugh at her remark. I could never forget it because it was true; my sister was presumably quiet and ascetic, but on the inside, she was insane. I read one of her correspondence book queries (yeah, I hacked her e-mail account) and it was about a teenage proxy. She should have been writing satirical novels about politics if you would guess her accounts on her attitude y'know. And they called me immature!
"Gotta go!" Derek exclaimed, breaking my reverie.
I grunted at them as he and Michelle walked away.
I turned to Chase. "Want me to drive you home?"
"No, thanks, angel. Let's just go somewhere--refreshing and quiet."
"What about New York Bay?" --the place we first spent some time alone.
"Seems nice," he said.
I drove us to Lower New York Bay, and we started to stroll by the waters with my hand in his. The stars twinkled above us; yachts were in sight. They were quiet like everything else around us. Freezing breezes blew. Chase held me closer into his arms, so close I could hear the beat of his heart. I could remember clearly how I met him.
I met him because of one boring summer afternoon. Derek invited Michelle and me to go out with him because he was bringing a new guy with us. The guy was apparently Chase, a classmate of mine who I had never talked to before. He was very timid at that time, and I was obviously stupid enough to think he was rich like us; one thing Derek forgot to tell me about him was that he was one of those young men from a slum alley downtown who was talented enough to get a scholarship from Julliard. So, I used to treat him like a wealthy guy, which probably degraded him. Anyway, it was a very humiliating incident when I found out he was not rich.
It was on a Saturday midnight. Michelle and I were watching rented DVD’s. We hadn't had any dinner that night so we went to Pizza O’ Parkers. It was the nearest restaurant with good food and twenty-four-hours service.
“Welcome to Pizza O’ Parkers, Ma’am, can I take your order?” the employee at the drive-thru booth asked me.
The voice, the cute face, and the cheerful smile were all too familiar. I was in shock to see him there, taking orders from hungry customers when I thought he was filthy rich like me. I gaped at him.
“Ma’am, can I please take your order?” he repeated.
The hat with a pizza riding a car imprinted on it slanted down to the right of his blond hair and complemented his humble face.
“Chase?” I hesitantly asked.
Michelle pushed me back and squinted at him. “Oh my gosh, Chase?!” She leaned back in the car and remained silent.
“Sorry, but we don’t sell ‘Chase Pizza’, please check the menu,” he said good-naturedly. He stuck out his hand and pointed downward at the big poster below him.
“Medium Pepperoni and two cans of coke,” I told him.
“That would be $5.99 ma’am.”
I dug down my pocket and found a hundred dollar bill. I felt embarrassed holding it up against Chase’s face. I didn't want to look as if I was rubbing in, but, honestly, it was all that had had.
“Your change ma’am—$94.01 dollars. Thank you for coming. Please drive through again.” He handed out my money and yelled at the next customer, “Next please!”
Michelle and I got our pizza at the next booth and, after parking in front of the restaurant, we ate in the car.
“I can’t finish it.” I laid a half-sliced pizza back in the box.
“What’s the prob, Snowy?” Michelle looked intently at me and began to scream. “Oh my gosh! I knew it!”
“What?”
“You like him!”
“No, Mitch!”
“Tell you what,” she said as she stepped out of the car, “I’m gonna ride a cab home while you wait for him.”
“What?!”
She opened the car door and slammed it in on my face.
I hastily rolled down my window.
"Mitch!"
"You can do it, Snowy! Don't worry!" she hollered as she left.
I rolled up the window and sighed. Holding the wheel with both of my hands, I waited for Chase’s shift to end.
At three in the morning, I finally saw him wearing a plain green shirt and torn-out jeans--casual clothes, and not that annoying pink and green uniform. I speedily looked at the rear mirror and smiled to check if I had anything stuck between my teeth. None. Taking a deep breath, I rolled down the window again.
Chase walked up to me and smiled. I beamed back and recognized his tattered Converse shoes.
“Derek has been really nice lending me a new pair for classes, hasn't he?” he said, leaning forward. "Dirty look is totally in. Try to disagree with me."
“I won’t,” I said, as I squeezed myself into the passenger's seat.
“Do you have a driving license?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Drive yourself home.”
He smiled and sat in the car. But instead of bringing me to his home, he took me to the bay and parked my car.
“You live here?” I had asked, baffled.
“No.”
“Then why the hell did you take us here?” I asked, quite amused.
He laughed and went out of the car. I couldn't remember why I followed him, but I went out of the car anyway. And when I did, he then took my arm, and, taking off his shoes, he told me to take mine off, too. He dragged me further down the bay. The muddy rocks didn't feel uncomfortable though, and I didn't mind 'cause the scene was majestic.
"Be careful now," Chase warned, assisting me down the rocks. "You might graze your feet."
We jumped on the rocks, and it felt gross.
“Do you swim?” he asked.
“Yeah, but—Chase!”
He pushed me right over and I went straight into the water. I managed to draw my wet hair back.
“Cannon ball!”
I looked up and saw him jump. Water splashed everywhere.
“Chase!” I yelled. “I like swimming but not in my new shirt!” I started getting pissed off and splashed water on his face.
“Please don’t get mad at me!” he laughed. “We just got to know each other!”
He stared upward and began to act as if I weren’t there. But before I splashed water on his face again, I looked up, too. Eventually, I had forgotten what I was about to do, and felt calmed.
Stars. I knew the last time I enjoyed staring up and just forgetting everything. At that time, as memories in memories branched out, I remembered--Mom.
“How did you fell in love with daddy?” I had asked mom while staring upward at the shiny stars. We came out sneaking on the roof at two in the morning when everyone else was asleep.
Mom and I held an intimate friendship that lasted a lifetime. She was my teddy bear to hug tight when I was scared, my shoulder to cry on when Dad had given me a sermon about my flunking grades, a friend to laugh with when I could not even smile; she had seemed more of a sister than a mom. Sitting on the roof was our favorite spot to talk. And when I was nine, I became curious with this thing they called ‘’love’’ and asked my mom, “How did you fell in love with daddy?”
“How did I fall in love?” Mom smiled. “Well, there was not really anything to fall for your father.” She laughed while I smiled. She glanced at me, and continued to speak with exaggerated gestures and excitement as if she was telling me one of her fantasy stories.
“Well, it was a rainy afternoon in Palawan*. Grey clouds crossed the sky as far as you could see. Your father was driving me home after inviting me in a party, and dusk was starting. The car suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. Well, it really wasn’t a nowhere. We were in the middle of the forest.” She laughed. “He tried to fix the car, but he couldn’t; it just got him all wet. So we waited for another car to pass by. But unfortunately, after five whole hours, no one came. I looked at my watch and it was almost eight in the evening. The sky was black, the rain poured and poured, and, because he was my ‘Kuya’**—being a week older than I—he told me to remain in the car while he looked for someone who might be able to help us. He told me that he had already called his friend and he would be back after fifteen minutes."
“But I was headstrong.” She laughed again. “I didn’t like it when people told me what to do. So I went charging in the rain, too. The rain didn’t seem to be a threat at all; the rain was very relaxing and gentle and it kinda tickled my cheek. I did not feel any harm so I before he went too far, I dragged him to a nearby beach. I pushed him into the water. He got wetter, and I laughed at him. He got angry at me and pulled me in the water, too. But in the end, he admitted he was having fun.'
“Thirty more minutes and I started to chill. But he hugged me and tried to keep me warm. Yeah. That’s how I fell for your father. Insane!”
Of course, I didn’t completely understand the story, but the way she told it made it memorable.
So one day, before I went off to college, I told Dad about that particular story. He smiled and gladly told his side of it:
"Your mother was very stubborn and immature. She kissed me in the storm without minding the raging rain and the possibility of a tsunami. She was confident and brave. And that’s what I loved the most about her—she was never scared.”
I had sighed when I finally came to my senses. Chase was still admiring the sky and I had to splash water at him so he would remember that I was still there.
“I’m still mad at you!” I yelled in mock furiousness. He laughed so hard, and I laughed with him. His intimidation had been finally exterminated.
Dripping wet, we walked up the boulders and collected rocks shining under the moonlight. Chase was silent. We threw the rocks in the water and wore our shoes again. His converse looked as if they have been manufactured in the last century.
“I told you not to stare,” he had inferiorly told me.
“I’m sorry,” I had replied.
When we got back to my car, he did not get in. He just bid me goodnight and left. I went back to the dormitory, feeling good. Nobody made me feel that way without giving me something presumably costly; no one in my history of fifty-eight boyfriends made me feel good with just a simple ‘’spending some time’’.
Every guy I had a relationship with was a total jerk. I had caught each of them cheating on me after two to three months. Each had promised that he would never will be with another girl, but eventually will leave me heartbroken. That was the reason why I was cautious before I gave Chase my heart. But after a couple of years, he just proved that he would never find another girl in my place. He said that himself, and he had earned my trust.
From a simple incident, complicated things had occurred; from that simple introduction of two souls came out something I never had expected to happen.
The moonlight was still shining on our countenances and the stars danced in the night sky—just like they used to. Having enough of the reminiscing in reminisces, I looked back at Chase.
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna push me over into the waters again.” I told Chase.
“I will, if you get mad at me again,” he jokingly said.
“Why would you want me to get mad at you?” I asked.
“Because,” he whispered, “you’re so cute when you’re mad.”
“That’s already sold out, Chase!”
We laughed.
“I better go home,” he kissed my forehead and hugged me. “Take care of yourself now, angel. See you tomorrow.”
I went back to the dorm, totally tired, not from walking, but from thinking. Michelle was already sound asleep. I sneaked onto my bed, and took out the necklace that Mom gave me and wore it. Then, after glancing at the night sky one more time, I closed my eyes hoping for a good night sleep--wishing that I would have those cherished memories in place of that menacing nightmare.
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* A province in Philippines
** older brother; older male friend
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You know what I mean though, right?
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