“Hey Vi! Over here,”

My head habitually turned to the blue paper dustbin a street away from my school, “I told you that you do not have to call me, I know where you are,”

“Sorry, I just-”

“Don’t explain,”

“Okay, let’s go then,”

His name is Jake. He was one of my brother’s friends’ younger brother. When I was a newbie in the school, I was forced to walk with my brother and his friends. Jake, although being in a rival school to ours, had to wait for his brother too. Being the youngest ones there, we stuck together and became close friends, but we had rules. Jake was to never be seen with me by anyone from school or home.

During that time, girls befriended girls and boys befriended boys.

Do not take me as the bad friend here, he also had a rule for me. I was to never tell Eulalia I knew him. I did not know how they knew each other but I was more than happy she did not know about us.

 

“So, what’s the Eula-do-list of today?”

 

I pulled at the straps of my backpack and frowned, “She wore makeup,”

Jake stopped and widened his eyes, “What?”

I crossed two fingers and nodded, “I swear and guess what she did?”

“What?”

“She plainly asked if I was a boy or a girl. I mean, isn’t it obvious? Because she wore makeup, I automatically appeared mediocre,”

“Nasty,”

 

“I’m telling you, she even called me some Portuguese word. I’m sure it’s bad,”

“What did she say?”

“Um,” I thought for a while and exclaimed, “Eyu peso, wait, was there a C? I forgot, something like Eyu sepco,”

Jake tilted his head before asking, “Eu pesco?”

“Yes that word, she called me Eu-that word,”

A confused look placed on his face and he thought for a while, “That doesn’t make sense,”

“What? You know what it means?”

How did he? I did not know he spoke Portuguese.

“Of course, I do,”

“What does it mean then?” My eyebrows were already raised, ready to deem him traitorous if he did not say.

 

Jake slipped his hands in his pockets and shrugged, “You know Vi, some people make money by speaking,”

 

“What?” I curled one corner of my mouth, “What do you want? You know I’m as broke as my LO teacher,”

 

“You’re always broke. I want you to ignore her, then I will tell you,”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, she’s just not worth it. She wants your attention and you’re giving it to her,”

 

I stared at the boy in front of me for a few seconds before speaking, “Since when did you start saying stuff like that?”

“Stuff like how?”

I shrugged, “Intellectual, mature stuff.”

“Since now,”

“Well, I am not ignoring her. I’ve been doing that for far too long,”

“All the more reasons for you to continue,”

I stopped walking and grabbed him by the shoulders, “You don’t understand. She just makes me feel, you know,”

“Feel what?”

“You know it,”

“Nope, I don’t,”

“Yes you do,”

 

He turned and flipped me off, “If you don’t want to tell me then I’m going home,”

I clenched my hands for a few seconds before blurting out, “Ugly, she makes me feel ugly,”

 

Jake stopped and turned, his eyes narrowed, “That’s all?”

 

“Um, yes?”

“Oh okay. Then I am going home,”

 

Before he could continue walking, I caught up to him, “Hey what’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem, you do.”

“What’s my problem?”

Jake turned around and sighed, “Look, you’re not ugly okay? So, stop fawning over Eulalia.”

“I’m not fawning over her,” I took a step back and motioned at myself, “Look at me. Don’t I look scrawny and shaggy to you?”

Jake actually looked. One arm of my jersey was pulled up to my elbow, my tie was slackened and the colors of my shirt flapping. I was wearing school trousers that had one side folded and the other not. My shoes were dusty from kicking the ground. I had lost lots of weight ever since I started school, no longer the chubby cheeks.

 

I looked at Jake who had an unsure look, “Um, you do look kind of muddled. If you just fix your color an-”

I smacked his approaching hand and stormed down the hill, “See, you can’t even answer.”

“Okay then, let me lie. You look as clean as Kim Kardashian,”

I scoffed and complained, “Why Kim? Choose someone else, like King Bach or Dominic Barrett,”

“You are going off topic Vi,”

“Am I?”

“Um…yes?”

“Okay, I’ve made up my mind,”

Jake’s eyes widened in horror as he spotted the mischievous smile plastered on my face, “No no, I don’t want to hear it,”

“Yes you do,” I roughly grabbed a hold of him and made to whisper in his ear but he fought back.

 

Jake clasped his palms over his ears, “Blah blah, la-la-la,”

We wrestled on the pavement for a few minutes till I had him tackled on the ground. I caught my breath and began to laugh, Jake following too.

“Okay, tell me so you can get off of me. I feel like a fat hippo is on me,”

I faked a gasp and grabbed him by the color, “I’m not a hippo, nor fat. Anyway, here’s my great idea,”

“Yes?”

I leaned down and whispered, “I will wear a skirt tomorrow-”

“-Whaaa?-” 

“-and makeup,”

At first, Jake’s eyes had widened, then his mouth opened and he began to shout, “Are you insane?!”

“Nope, just wait and you will see,”

I was definitely going to wear makeup, whatever it took, then Eulalia would stop saying stuff in Portuguese.