"With all due respect," Caleb faced Ivan, "I reject this idea. It will be nothing but a waste of time and resources, you know that. We're already cutting down the club budget for the Interstate Sports Meet, we cannot afford this. You know it."
Ivan nodded, sat on his high chair in front of an intricately carved long table. He observed Caleb's stoic posture, sitting opposite to him, and face his hands over his face.
"I understand your concerns," Ivan said, voice muffled for his hands acted like a barrier between Caleb and him, "They're all very practical concerns, but, you see, she is friends, blot it, bestf—no, as Aaron said, she is practically Ryker's family. We cannot deny a Cordelio, you know it."
"This!" Caleb slapped his hand on the wide table, "This is exactly why I do not want the club to be formed!" He huffed, wide blue eyes pouring rage, "I do not understand how they get a pass over everything just because they're friends with a Cordelio! Were you in the assembly this morning?! Outrageous! And they were made to run laps, only! If it was anyone but Ryker and his friends, their parents would have been called and a permanent demerit would have been recorded. You know it!"
Caleb Kleo had an average height and a lean build, yet as he shouted his perspective from the other side, Ivan could have bet on Caleb shrinking per word while his neck and ears blushed scarlet, furiously. His voice was unnaturally deep, contrary to his soft features and thick glasses, when Caleb Kleo put out an opinion — the world had no choice but to hear it.
"So," Ivan raised his head and supported his chin on his knuckles, sunlight made his right eye glint maliciously, "Are you against it because you're not friends with Ryker or do you genuinely hate the system?"
The question caught Caleb off guard. His nostrils flared big as he fell back into the chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I—I hate the system, ofcourse," he replied, stuttering just enough to give away. His green eyes avoided contact with Ivan's silver ones.
The action was enough to birth a smirk on Ivan's face.
"You should participate as the fifth member. Be in the club, befriend a Cordelio's friend, befriend a Cordelio, grow close and destory them from the inside," Ivan said, the right of his face darkening against the light. He leaned into the backrest of his high chair, staring down at the member before him. In his head, a silver halo appeared over his head and blinding lights shone behind him, making Caleb cover his face with his arms.
Even without the theatrical filter in his eyes, Caleb caught Ivan's drift. Last year, he had witnessed how close Ivan was to Aaron Cordelio and how he was chosen the next student council president after Aaron graduated. In a man-eat-man world, one needed stronger friends to fend for themselves. One needed to adapt, change, transform, betray and by all means, win.
Caleb nodded as he stood up, thick brows raised with determination.
"Let's do this," he said as he got out of the seat and walked back to his desk and table, fourth on the left side of the elongated room.
"You're a smart one," Ivan said and smiled. The wall clock struck one and instantly there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Ivan said and waited as the doorknob turned right. Rest of the student council members were already on duty so it could have been no one other than —
"Good afternoon!" Nadia chirped as she walked inside with three students in town. "I brought the members and," she raised the paper in her hand over her head, "The new application! Here you go!" She exclaimed and slid the application over on Ivan's table.
Caleb noticed the slick ignorance of his presence as Nadia and her friends beelined towards the President's table.
"You've got a new member?" Ivan asked, flipping through the pages of the application, he looked up just in time for Nadia's introductions.
"Yes, here's Marilyn Keynes and Bernadette Louise from Class 9th and Francesca Joves from Class 10! She's a sophomore and she's very interested in our club!" Nadia waved her hands around Francesca's face, fingers acting like frills to show off the latest recruit.
"Are you really, intrested, that is?" Ivan asked, a skeptical brow raised. He looked over at Caleb to suggest how a classmate of his was finding the idea approachable enough to join.
Caleb grunted as Nadia gloated, "She really is! She's super smart!"
"I am interested, indeed," Her hazel eyes looked to her right, "I am very keen to know more," she said with a dimpled smile gracing her face.
On Francesca's right, Bernie shuffled with discomfort.
"Caleb, would you like the join the group and accompany your classmate and juniors?" Ivan asked as he looked up to Caleb.
The boy clenched his jaw and nodded in affirmative, "I agree."
"Wah!" Nadia exclaimed, "You're so cool!" She held up two thumbs in Ivan's face. "I totally respect you now!"
"Thank you for giving our club a chance!" Marilyn smiled and bowed along with Bernie and a very reluctant Francesca.
"Let me stamp the papers and you can have the old golf storage room as your club base. Good, yeah?" Ivan suggested as he opened the drawers of his desk and pulled out an ink pad and a stamp.
"Sounds excellent!!" Nadia clapped her hands, her twin ponytails conveyed her excitement by aggressively swaying left to right.
Caleb noticed the glaring lack of a Cordelio sign-up after he had signed his name on the member list. He hoped his precious study time would not be wrongly invested in something as dumb as this club without having any interactions with Ryker Cordelio.
His eyes skimmed over Nadia's bouncy head, Marilyn's dignified face and Francesca's bored demeanour to land on Bernie's puzzled expression. The dainty boy was busy in a pressing conversation with Nadia. Caleb observed Bernie's relaxed stance, buzz-cut hair, frowning brows and smiling mouth.
Him. Caleb realised. That's who he needs to overtake.
"Let's clean the place afterschool, yeah? Attendance is mandatory for all members!" Nadia announced loudly so that Caleb could hear from all the way across the hall.
Bernie walked up to Caleb's desk and asked for his number. "It's to make a group chat," he clarified.
"I understand," Caleb nodded and relayed his phone number.
Bernie left with a nod. Caleb remembered him to be a friendlier person. Was he misunderstood? For the rest of the school day, Caleb's mind meandered over who he should start with. Nadia would be a tough target but if he were to apologise and redeem himself, she would be the best bet. Bernie seemed uninterested and contrary to yesterday, Marilyn looked cold. Francesca — from all Caleb knew, Francesca had never had a conversation with those kids before.
Why was she suddenly on the team?
The answer came to Caleb and metaphorically slapped him in the face when he saw Francesca Joves, the most beautiful and privileged girl of their class, with a broom in her hand, working hard as she trailed behind Bernie in attempts to make conversation.
Her strawberry blonde hair were tied up in a bun, displaying her sinful nape, neck and collarbones. Caleb gulped and looked away as he announced his presence in the old golf storage room, "Ahem, excuse me! I'm here."
"I must confess, I did not expect you to actually come," Nadia smiled and threw a ball of gloves and rag at him, "Clean the ceiling, will you?" She ordered and got back to her scrubbing on the windows.
Caleb scowled as he dragged a ladder from the corner of the room and climbed up. "That's it? Marilyn won't come?" He asked as he eased his hands into the plastic gloves.
"Yeah, she has tution after school. Someone else will come in her place, don't worry, you won't have to work extra," Nadia snorted, looking up at him.
Caleb's ears perked up. "Is it your friend?" He asked, trying not to sound expectant.
"Yeah, he's just taking a shower. Don't worry, you won't be stood up," Nadia snorted, again.
"Yeah yeah, cannot trust you," Caleb said though his tone and words betrayed the giddiness of his being. He placed the rag on the corners of the ceiling and dusted aggressively, waiting for his destiny to arrive.
After 10 minutes of working with Francesca's yapping in the background, Ryker appeared at the door lwith his track team. "I brought manpower!" He announced as he and his team walked inside. Ryker slid over a dusty table and made his way to Nadia. "Make 'em work," he snorted.
"Let's get the furniture cleaned and moved shall we? There's cleaning stuff in the bag, on the table," Nadia pointed, "And thank you so much for helping me! I will treat you all to a meal!"
Ryker rolled his eyes as he got to distribute the gloves and rags. "Marilyn won't come?" He asked as he looked around and spotted Caleb staring at him from a corner of the room, unblinking, something akin to a cursed statue.
The track team got to work with a loud cheer.
"Am I not enough for you?" Bernie tsked as he walked up to Ryker's side.
"What's his deal?" Ryker grimaced, gesturing his chin towards Caleb.
"I don't know, he's playing hot and col—"
"Oh Bernie, here you are! You left me with the spiders and the dust! I was scared! Please don't leave me alone in this!" Francesca sniffled, voice soft and angelic as she pouted her full lips and latched herself on Bernie's broom.
Ryker's jaw dropped, exhibiting an inaudible, 'Woah.' His eyes moved from Bernie's exasperation to Nadia's silent open-mouthed laughs. Ryker widened his eyes in question.
Nadia shrugged her shoulders and wiggled her eyebrows.
Ryker rolled his eyes. "Bern, you mustn't keep a lady waiting, yeah?" He grinned in Bernie's pity-inducing face.
"Yes please, I want to get my work done fast. Will you walk me home later?" Francesca asked, blinking her with thick eyelashes.
"He's an absolute gentleman," Ryker patted Bernie's slouched back. "Now, excuse me," Ryker said and walked up to Nadia's side. He raised a dry rag to show his purpose.
"You can start from the bottom. I cannot really reach the top," Nadia pointed.
"Should I lift you up?" Ryker asked and before Nadia could process a thought, he leaned in and picked her up by her thighs. Nadia yelped into loud laughter and flailed around, owing to being awfully ticklish. She began hitting his back with the wet rag, extracting screams of pain and surprise from Ryker.
"They're at it again," Bernie shook his head, "Now we'll never get out before nine," he sighed under his breath.
Francesca looked up at the messy juniors with adoration in her eyes. "They're so in love," she whispered to Bernie.
"What?!" Bernie snapped, eyes and body flinching, "No, hahahaha, they're always like this! They're always pushing eachother's buttons!" He hastened to explain.
"Yeah, out of love," Francesca smirked and enunciated the last word.
Bernie shook his head at Francesca's delusions and walked back to the back of the room. The gold storage room was small in width but what it lacked it covered up in length. The room had a wide west-east orientation, albiet narrow enough for only a table and six chair to fit with walking space in one part.
Despite its shortcomings, Bernie swept the room with much determination. Though some of the harsher sweeps might be owed to the memories after second period.
He was on his way to the Teacher's Office when he was intercepted by a group of sophomore girls. From behind them emerged a tall strawberry blonde girl, slightly tanned, pretty navy eyes and a shapely body. The sudden appearance caught Bernie off-guard, for he was a boy afterall, and that was when she introduced herself as, "Francesca Joves."
He should have ran, jumped out of the second floor balcony or just elbowed his way out before the group of girls began singing the girl's praises in his ears.
"She's the prettiest girl in school, do you know that?"
"She's also one of the smartest!"
"She won a national violin competition just last week!"
"She's got a full paid scholarship to Germany but she's not going because she wants to bring Almaria on the map for good reasons."
"She's a musical genius."
"And you're her muse."
Bernie was taken aback by the sudden information dump. Surely, they had to be trolling him. Certainly they caught the wrong person. He needed to clarify, swiftly, promptly, yet— his lips remained locked and not a word slipped out of his mouth.
"Will you be my boyfriend, Bernadette Louise?"
He stayed mum, body and soul stupefied by the beautiful woman's proximity. She was right in front of him, an improper cucumber's worth of distance away. He could smell her fresh citrusy scent. It was jarring to his mind.
"Can he not speak?"
"No no, he can! I have seen him!"
"Yeah, but have you heard him?"
There were snorts and giggles. The beautiful girl's brows contoured into worry. It was then, when words began flooding in Bernie's mouth. Like a dam unleashed, he uttered, "Big sister."
Scandalised, the girls gasped. Francesca took a few steps back, hand on her heart, betrayals in her big blue eyes. "I will pretend you never said that. Just lead me on, will you?"
Bernie's head shook in negative but his mouth went, "I will," he realised his words and abruptly added, "—NOT!"
"I choose you," Francesca insisted, "You were so cool in the morning assembly. I pre-paid for a picture of you in a cat costume."
Chills ran down Bernie's spine as he came back to himself, just like he had in the afternoon and walked away without a proper goodbye. It was flattering to know that one of the pretty girls liked him but there was a bigger part in him that knew it was nothing more than a prank.
He had seen enough dramas to know where this would end.
Bernie shook his head and focused on cleaning. About fourty-minutes after Ryker's arrival and Ryker and him were suddenly fencing with rusty golf sticks. Around an hour and a half, Nadia brought food for everyone. After three hours, the track team went home and the furniture was all cleared up and well settled. Around four hours and fourteen minutes or being creeped out by Caleb's stares, Ryker finally greeted him with a, "Hello."
Caleb nodded back, stoicly acknowledging the greeting but not saying anything to further a conversation.
Ryker too turned away and helped Nadia place the table covers.
"What's with him?" He whispered to Nadia, eyes gesturing to Caleb who was putting a cover on the sofa.
"I think he's in love with you," Nadia snorted, voice hushed.
"No, no, I think he's just missing Marilyn and glaring at you for being the replacement," Bernie suggested in hushed whispers as attached the left drawer on the table.
"Or maybe he's in love with Nadia and is jealous of Ryker," Francesca giggled while attaching the right drawer of the table.
The sudden proposition made Nadia burst into laughter and Ryker's frown deepen with an uncanny feeling.
"Why be jealous of me—?" Ryker wondered out loud. Upon instinct, he placed a hand on the back of Nadia's head lest she'd throw her head back so far she'd disbalance and fall.
"Because you lo—"
Bernie place a hand over Francesca's mouth and pulled her away while saying, "Oh, look, you're done with the drawers here. The other side remains, yes, we need to twist the knobs tighter, come," he gritted his teeth.
Caleb merely stared at them from the corner of his eye, wondering how Francesca was able to easily gel up with Ryker and not him. He clenched his jaw as his eyes narrowed at the newly formed bumbling duo of Francesca and Bernadette.
Even their names sounded like characters from a cliched regency era inspired bodice ripper novella. Tsk.