One week with Travis
seemed to pass in a blur.
On Monday, we went back
to school and spent the time when we aren’t with a teacher or dozing off
secretly on our desks taking ridiculous pictures of each other from his
Polaroid and got sent out of the classroom by all teachers, and Mrs. Jones said that we were “ridiculously
in-love lovebirds you disturbs the progress in class.” Which is really
accurate, bless her gifted mind. We came home last that night and ha gave me a
mind-blowing kiss on our front door which would undoubtedly be replaced by
another.
Tuesday, we spent time
with my friends again and took their pictures as well. We had lunch together
and Travis still fit in with all of them even when they asked him to remove his
shirt for them to see if he really has abs.
And we know the answer to
that, don’t we?
And if that wasn’t enough,
the next day, he came to my house ridiculously early and the second I woke up,
his face was inches from me, smiling as he said, “What if we get hypothermia
for today and don’t go to class?” True to his word, we spent the entire day on
the mall – three of them, actually – and he brought out his credit card and
told me to go crazy and he’ll pay.
Life couldn’t be more
blissful at that moment. I brought things not only for myself, but for my whole
clan. Sadly, we were chased by a herd of obsessed paparazzi and much to the civilians’
confusion, we ran up and down the escalators and brought things at random for
disguises. Even a moustache. The point is, we got out safely without being
squashed or forced to pose or something tragic like that.
I never wanted it to end.
Never.
These past few days, I
haven’t been accepting others’ plea for assistance for anyone’s projects or homework
– mainly because Travis threatened anyone who dared – and a permanent smile is
on my lips. It just never fades and I love it. I don’t braid my hair anymore
when I go to school and I gave up trying to own another cellphone. A permanent
cellphone, atleast. Even my friends said that my aura’s different, and they’re
praising the changes like the work of an angel. I have that angel. His name is
Travis.
On Thursday, after
classes, he slipped past Paul and followed me home in a cab. After almost dying
of laughter from the fact that it was the first time he had ever ridden a taxi,
I let him inside the house, which was vacated by my cousins yesterday, much to
their dismay, we ate granola bars up on my room while we pasted on what we now
call ‘decrepit little box’ from everything we had taken the past few days –
from the classroom, under the desks and when he was carrying me piggyback style
on the school’s greenhouses.
And also Lexi, Cassie, Theresa
and Nicole’s pictures together with us from yesterday and when we went
shopping. This was the ridiculous part; we were wearing absolutely everything
we like that catches our eye, which was pretty much all of it. My favorite
picture was the one with the both of us in the dressing room – the saleslady
had no idea, praise her – with Travis
wearing a tuxedo and me on a blue ball gown. Then we tried on Ray Bans and
snapped the picture at random.
When I snapped the box
close, he surprised me by getting out the paint from my cabinet – he memorized
my room now, come to think of it – and started getting the brushes out.
“Are you on drugs?”
“You’re worse than any
kind of drug, you know.” He said, and then he told me about the pair of weird
rings he found out about. Apparently, they’re colorless and pretty thick. But
the magic was on the inside; when you paint on the inner part of the ring, no
matter how small a dot, it will magnify on the outside. It was a perfect
circle, but one side is particularly bulging and I guess that’s where the
magnifying part is. The next second he pulled out a pack of colorless,
identical rings and held out a brush for me.
“I figured since none of
us are professional artists, I’d be stupid to buy only two. And, most
importantly, I’m with a genius.” He winked
and half-laughing, I got the brush from him and we set to work on the bed. I
didn’t even bother with the sheets – a little stain won’t kill anyone. We
should’ve known it was really hard, though – what an understatement – but we
had our beautiful output three hours later. Yes, three – surprise, surprise!
Mine was really nice – I am
not bragging; it really is – considering it was hours in the making. In the
course of those three hours, there grew a pile of failed attempts to
personalize the rings, which is on my desk. It was already splattered with
multi-colored ink and it looks…flashy.
The first thing I did
with my ring was to paint everything on the inside with nail polish – Travis the
copycat, did it, too – and I tried my best to write my name in neat cursive
with the bluest ink I found. Then with slow, but sure strokes, I drew and arrow
with blank ink across the name in an abstract-ish kind of way. I let dry for
twenty minutes and then covered the whole thing with white, for a neat
background. Another twenty minutes and I’m looking at my handiwork.
Grinning as if I’d won a
car, I showed it to him and received a sweet kiss that turned me to melting
honey.
We exchanged rings – I know!
It’s so cliché, like a wedding, but I don’t care – and saw that he did exactly
the same thing that I did, except that he used caramel for his name. I stared
at the Travis on the ring, written in caramel with his handwriting and gave him
a huge grin and a simple kiss on the cheek. I’m not that good at batting my
eyelashes, so I’ll just end up embarrassing myself.
I put the ring on my finger
and never removed it. After that we painted each other’s face silly.
Then came forward the
next day – Friday.
“Is anybody even
listening to me?”
“Present, sir.” I giggled
to Mr. Saxon as my hands played with Travis’ under the table. The professor
looked around the chaotic classroom and sighed, sweeping a hand through his
curly hair. “I give up.” He muttered as he walked and flopped himself down his
chair. He looked at the students with an apathetic, hopeless look in his eyes
as papers flew through the open area, people talked at the top of their voices
and everything was just in an ordered mess. It’s fantastic.
“D’you think he needs
help?” I asked Travis with an eyebrow raised. Honestly, I feel sorry for him.
Travis pursed his lips and waved to the professor, who stared back dejectedly.
Clasping his hand with mine, he stood up. “Definitely.”
We made our way to the
distraught teacher and stood in front of his desk, trying to send him good
vibes. He looked up and a faint smile appeared on his lips, “Atleast the two of
you are still normal.” I smothered a violent chuckle at what he said and just
listened to Travis, “Anything we could help you with, sir?”
“Can you bring Ms.
Handler back to normal?”
We all looked at
Kristine, who was interviewing some of our freaked-out classmates, utterly
convinced that she looks and has the great potential to be Larry King.
“I think that’s beyond
our means.” I answered as graciously as I could. But even if Kristine would do
more than that – and I’m sure she will – I wouldn’t have her any other way. I’ve
grown quite fond of her, actually. Isn’t that terrific? And to think I was
afraid of her before. Tsk.
“I thought so. Then there’s
nothing at all. But I appreciate it, Ms. Allton. Mr. Warner.” He nodded to us. He really does
look dismal, but then a sudden thought occurred to him. “You tow will have additional
points straight to the card. For conduct.” Then he turned to me and smiled genuinely,
“Not that you’d need anymore, Avery.” I grinned back at him and said, “You can
give my part to Travis.” I shrugged when professor gave me the not-again look
and Travis groaned. “He’ll need it.” I smiled innocently as he rolled his eyes
and faced Sir Saxon, “You sure you don’t want our help, sir? We still have half
an hour. No announcements or anything?”
“There is one.” He sighed wearily and got a
printed piece of paper and handed it over to us. “Maybe they’ll listen to you.
God knows I’ve had enough.” Together, Travis and I read the contents and
immediately froze, then read the whole thing over again.
“Sunday? This Sunday?”
“I know. It’s a little
bit of shock. The principal probably couldn’t contain the excitement.”
“But the school dance is
supposed to be two weeks away.” Travis grumbled as my mind flew away. Sunday?
It seems so sudden. And couldn’t they just wait a little longer? I don’t like
this.
“So, should we, uhm, tell
them?” I looked gazes with Travis and faced the room, which, if was even
possible, became worse. I could already see two couples making out in the
corner and – couldn’t they atleast have the decency to go to a private –
aaargh. Look who’s talking, kissing under bloody trees.
Travis snapped his
fingers. “I have an idea. Can you call your friend Kris? Maybe she can interview
us.” I smiled at him hugely and with his arm around me, we went to the middle
of the room but before we could utter a single word, Kristine startled us with
a gigantic, “Hello!” she grinned at
the both of us and just…grinned.
“Hi, Kris.”
“You two are really cute,
I swear.” She was still grinning like crazy, but that coming from her is a
small miracle – she almost seemed normal. Almost.
I smiled affectionately in
return, “Thank you. And we really have to say something to everyone and it
would help if…if, you know – ”
“It would be really nice
if you’d help us get the message across.” Travis smoothly cut in and ducked as
a book flew above his head. Irritation stabbed at me – that was a bloody Trig
book and its hardbound. You don’t just throw
books like that, it’s just plain disastrous.
“Hey,” I called out to
Ryan Bailey, “Could you please watch it?”
The rest of the boys have
me impressed stares and chorused “Oooh.”
That was overkill.
I blushed furiously as
Travis chuckled and proudly put an arm around me. ”Yeah, Ry, watch it.” Bailey
said a rushed apology and went back to his business. I instantly faced Travis, “That
was overkill. I didn’t mean to be so snappy – ”
“Of course you didn’t.”
he winked and returned to Kris, explaining to her. I honestly forgot that she
was here, much to my chagrin. Before we even saw her agree, she took us by the
arm and rushed to the podium where the teacher’s desk is and she didn’t seem to
mind the mess in our classroom as she shouted at the top of her lungs,
“You slimy gits! We have an announcement!”
Everyone’s heads turned
and when they saw who was on the podium, hushed silence followed, but I could
feel the impatience boiling just below the surface.
“Uhmm…” I started saying,
fiddling with the paper in front of me, “So we just found out that the
Masquerade was transferred and it’s going to be this Sunday, instead of two
weeks away – ” I shrieked as a notebook came flying out of nowhere and I
instantly ducked and it hit the board instead. Oh, God. That was close.
Instant pandemonium met
my eyes as everyone complained about having appointments and just what the
principal was playing at. My heart was still pounding when Travis gripped my
shoulder and asked, annoyed, “You okay? People here are so stupid.” I just
nodded and I saw him pick up the notebook and read the owner’s name. The next
second, the same notebook came flying once again and landed squarely on the
person’s forehead, who turned crimson as everyone laughed.
“Travis.” I complained. He
sent me a ‘what?’ look and faced to poor owner, “You know, you should think
twice before throwing things at my little genius like that.” Laughter rippled
through the room and short applause followed together with the whistle blowing.
Nice.
“You should – why don’t
we just go down?” I told him under my breath and led the way back to our seats
as everyone – thankfully – went back to their own matters. The moment I sat
down, I grumbled to him, “You show off too much.”
“Well, you show too
little.” He shrugged, “And of all people, you have a right to brag, you know.”
“I don’t like to brag.”
“That’s why I’m doing it
for you. Now about that school dance.” He crossed his leg toward me and faced
me with an intense stare with his brow slightly creased, not saying anything. I
licked my lips and shifted uncomfortably and his piercing blue eyes flickered
with amusement. I somehow recovered my ability to speak, “So, are you going?”
The corner of his lips curved and he slowly raised an eyebrow. He smiled
enticingly, “Going with?”
“With, uhm, me?” I responded
feebly. I feel like shriveling up into a ball and that’s just stupid. I heard
his laugh right then and he kissed me on the cheek. Grinning, he said, “Why the
hell are you so scared of me sometimes? And yes, I want to go with you. That’s
why Mom brought you the dress.” My eyes widened.
“What exactly does your Mom
know about me?”
He took a deep breath and
said uncertainly, “Yeah, about that. Since tomorrow is a Saturday, she – she asked
you to go to the beach with us.”
I stared.
“It’s not that bad! Dad
will be there, too. And then there’s me. I won’t leave you and it won’t be
awkward, I promised. She really wants to meet you.” I blinked at what he just
said and found something odd.
“What about your Dad?
Doesn’t he want to meet me?”
He bit his lip and said, “I’m sure he’s
looking forward to meeting you, but he’s really busy so he didn’t really exactly say it…”
“You’re lying.” A stab of
panic git me and my heart slammed. My mind instantly scrambled for an excuse to
be absent on the said beach activity. An alarming image came to my mind of
Travis’ Dad eyeing me coldly…and shouting at me…
“Avery.” He took my hands
and rubbed soothing circles with his thumb. “My father is anti-social. It’s
just that. He goes away for business meetings and not for parties. I’m sure
there’s some psychology thingy that you know about his behavior. And the whole
point of going to the beach was that they could finally meet you.” He stared at
me searchingly and said, “Please come with me?”
My brow furrowed and I
gritted my teeth, “Don’t look at me like that. You’re cheating.”
“Please?” he begged me
for another five minutes and – can he just – who can blame me?!
“Fine,” I sighed. “But
only because I’m madly in love with you.”
Delight filled his eyes
as he laughed and kissed both of my hands, “That’s the spirit. I knew you’re
always ready to comply.”
“That’s because you’re
cheating and I’m biased.” I pouted.
As the afternoon slowly
crept us by, we had no idea.
I wished I knew, that if
I’d turn down the invitation to spend time with him tomorrow, this Friday
afternoon would be the last time I would look at him the same way ever again.
With every fiber of my
being, I’m thankful I said yes.
