Bubble Gum Kisses

**Kapittel 37** ***Vanessa***

**I removed my head from Georgia's shoulder** to inspect the little creature resting soundly on the narrow-leafed, immobile piece of verdure. A brightly-lit lightbulb appeared above my head as I stared at it vehemently, inspecting how peaceful it was lounging, unaware of the uncertainties surrounding it. My cheeks lifted, and a small smile crept into my face when its antennae jerked.

"Hey, do you have an empty jar?" I looked back to ask Georgia, hoping that her resourcefulness could take her far as bringing an empty jar.

"One second," she said over the phone before giving it to Asher. "Just a small one," she answered, then stretched over to one side to get her bag to take out one, much to my surprise. She held the thick, fragile thing in my direction. The clean, glass-made container gleamed against the sunlight like it was looking forward to being used for the first time.

"Is it airtight?" I asked, gladly taking the thing from her hands. I glanced at her bag and almost gasped wow. She probably had a hefty lot of things in that average-sized bag, I wouldn't wonder if she had a survival kit in there. "Oh, it's got some small holes in the lid." Okay, weird but perfect.

"What are you gonna use it for?" she took her turn to ask, raising a brow. I thought about asking her about the reason why she would bring an empty container with holes in its lid but... maybe at another time. "Oh, nothing," I retorted.

Punching Friso in front of everyone was equal to waging war. Now, I needed to prepare as many arsenals as I could. I could now care less if he'd hated me more after what happened, I don't care about asking for closure anymore. He pressed all the buttons he shouldn't have pressed. For now, I needed to prepare myself and the things that could keep him 85 centimeters radius away from me.

I made myself busy by looming over the grass to capture the grasshopper while perking my ears, listening to my friends converse, glad that my friends were getting along.

"You guys should come here sometime!" I heard Georgia chirp.

"Why not? Hopefully, we could find some time since we have lesser credits to earn now!" Nikki replied.

"What about the Open House?" Asher suggested.

I reached the jar and lid in the grasshopper's direction, stretching my core so I wouldn't get to get off the blanket. I breathed heavily, my breath shaking and my hands quivering, my eyes focused on the six-segmented critter as its head stayed still, its mandibles maneuvering side to side and antennae jerking. My mind was boggling with worry over the possibility that it could jump off at any second. I should move fast but carefully, if it sensed me and thought of me as a threat, it wouldn't hesitate to hop away.

"The Open House?" Georgia asked him then I heard her snap her fingers. "Oh, right!"

"Wh-What's the Open House?" it was Jay who asked.

I felt the pearls of sweat on my forehead dripping down my temple, causing a ticklish feeling. I wanted to wipe it off so badly, but I needed to get the grasshopper first. I grit my teeth, internally telling myself continuously to bear it a bit longer. After all, there were only a few inches away from me and the insect.

"It's the only time the Trinity Knight opens their doors for students and other people to enter and explore the campus. We can invite other schools too!" I listened to her explain to them about this Open House thing. "Don't worry, I know how to pull some strings." I could bet a few dollars that she winked at them after saying that.

My heart began to tick and beat swiftly like it was a time bomb on the verge of exploding. I exhaled a sharp breath as I loomed closer and closer. Just a bit more... a little bit more...

"We'll look forward to that then."

"Where's Vanessa?"

"Vanessa's just over the- girl, what are you doing?"

"Gotcha!" I interjected happily as soon as I fastidiously closed the jar with its lid, completely trapping the grasshopper in it before it could get away. I raised the glass over to my face while twisting the cap and euphorically stared at the critter tapping its foreleg on the jar's body. "Uhh..."

"Vanessa." I turned back and saw Asher looking at me with genuine concern on his face before it slowly contorted like he was about to laugh. "You okay? You might have gone nuts after what happened earl-" I didn't let him finish his sentence and raised a hand to jokingly smack his arm.

"Ow!" he blocked his arm to fend himself off while chuckling, "You... look so funny with your face earlier...! Ow!" my embarrassment got the best of me and I tried to smack his arm again and again, but the more I did, the louder and longer he laughed that he dropped the phone on the blanket and clutched his stomach. Meanwhile, Georgia picked up the phone and pointed the screen in our direction. I could tell that they were wincing at us even though I couldn't spare a glance at them.

"Okay. Stop it, you two!" Katherine screamed over the other line, which made Asher and I freeze in our spots.

"No, keep on going!" Nikki begged to object on the other line.

"No!"

"Okay..." Georgia let out a tired sigh and crawled over, putting herself between us. "Knock it out."

"Oh my God, you're still violent as ever, Van," I heard Jay comment over the other line.

"I am not," I disagreed, taking the phone from Georgia's grip. Okay, maybe I kind of have this habit of throwing light smacks on other people's arms or thighs, but it was never with the intent of malicious harm. I sometimes smack my friends over the smallest things. Things like when they tease me, and I get annoyed with it, when I feel the butterflies in my stomach when I watch a romantic movie or series, or when I hear something funny and laughing wasn't just enough to let out the wriggling humor in my body.

"Right, I bet 50 that she punched someone today," Harley kidded, and the three of us went silent as the heavy, brooding air returned.

My friends on the other end noticed that we hushed for a long moment, which rendered him to exclaim in obvious surprise, "Wait, you punched someone?!" concluding that I had already done the said deed.

"Oh my God," I heard Katherine gasp.

"What happened?" Nikki immediately left her fight-loving persona and became concerned. I looked over to my side and saw that Georgia and Asher were now sitting beside me, each had their hand on my shoulder, patting it gently as if they were comforting me.

"That person must have been the personification of miff that they got Vanessa to punch them," Jay commented.

"Jay!" Katherine chided her boyfriend.

"What?" he innocently asked, and a small bicker between the lovebirds ensued.

The display on the screen suddenly became blurry, and we came into view with Seandhe's troubled face."You good?" he asked calmly while my friends began to hover behind him. I could now hear Nikki and Harley intervening in the couple's small bicker.

"Are things going well at home?" Kath's face suddenly popped on the screen. "How's Zack and Mrs. H?" she proceeded to ask. "I know you wouldn't go far as punching someone for no reason."

"Yeah, I'm okay." I let out a light yet exasperated shrug. "Things are just... getting a bit hard these days."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Seandhe requested. I wasn't planning on telling about what happened earlier, and most especially Friso but I was like a child wanting to complain to his mom about being bullied at school. Childish, I know but this childishness was getting the best of me.

"I don't wanna say much about it but," I uttered before pausing, biting my lower lip. My emotions began swelling again, my chest felt full like a cabinet overfilled with disorganized plates, and tears threatened to break out from my tear ducts. I didn't feel like crying earlier, but now I wanted to cry my heart out. "He... he mentioned dad, and I lost it." I felt like crying as soon as I mentioned dad. I was missing him again.

My chest lurched in pain, and it finally led me to open up. I didn't explicitly mention Friso but only mentioned him as some guy with whom I have some bit of bad history with me and my family, especially with my dad. I proceeded to rant about him bugging me and suddenly mentioning dad which caused me to explode. Meanwhile, My friends only patiently listened to me let my heart out, explaining how dad was precious to me and Friso just casually mentioned him after the spiteful thing that happened between them.

"Fuck, seriously?" Harley swore, his face red. Even though I was only looking at him through the phone, I could clearly see his veins popping on his neck. "Do you think we should drive there and teach that motherfucker a lesson?" he suggested, the sound of his fist hitting against his palm resonating over the speaker.

"Wait, I'm sorry if this is gonna sound intrusive, but what happened to your dad?" Georgia butted in.

"He died not too recently," I answered.

"I see..." She proceeded to pat my shoulder again. "I'm sorry."

"Just let it out, Vannie," I heard Nikki say tenderly. If we were physically together right now, she could have patted my back or engulfed me in her arms. "Don't worry. Things are gonna get better," she added, and my empty, concave chest felt like it was full again but with emotions like courage and ease this time.

"Right, but they're better if that guy gets some knuckle sandwich," Jay added.

"You!" Katherine glared at him, her lips pouting.

"Yeah... right..." I mumbled with a small sigh, holding onto my pendant, my fingers gently pressing on the cold yet comforting material. I was only touching this small, seemingly insignificant thing that could be lost in the blink of an eye, but touching it felt unbelievably comforting. It was like they were actually with me, consoling me. "Things are gonna get better."

"Miss Vanessa Cole Hathern and Mr. Friso Drew de Vries, please come to the guidance office."

Right... things are really gonna get better.

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my work, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**