Chapter 2: My Head, My Heart

CHAPTER 2:

 

“Hi Cy.” Charlie greeted, grinning at me. I stared at the brown haired girl, the edge of my moth twitching in annoyance. Quickly, the weird feeling on my shoulders disappeared and was replaced with annoyance and happiness.

“Usually I’m the one who scares you. Damn it.” I growled, straightening myself and still feeling annoyed I got scared by Charlie of all things. This friend of mine is the least person you could think of when the word ‘scary’ pops up.

She laughed a very weird laugh, making me give her my usual ‘weirded out’ reaction.

But despite her weirdness, Charlie Fernandez has been my best friend since freshman year and we would never be friends if I didn’t lose my shoe. [Long story.]

Honestly saying though, I keep doubting that she’s actually really my friend since she’s so different from me.

Charlie is the best in any sport, (I’m not). She’s a great cook, (I can only cook fried eggs and hotdogs), she likes school and math. (No. Just no.) A bright ray of sunshine, (I hate the sun.) and, she’s really tall (Don’t even wanna talk about that.)

But we do have some things in common. Some people actually say we’re like twins since we like things which the other party likes. Say, our taste in music, video games, anime, and the fact that she’s in the music club with me.

I raised my brow at Charlie and looked around, seeing the crowd of students getting thicker around us. Now that my fear was gone, I clicked my tongue, feeling more annoyed and tired seeing the crowd of humanity that’s appeared before me.

“Hey, let’s go to the classroom. Surely someone’s said ‘that’ word already.” I said, already heading towards the stairs while Charlie rushed after me.

Charlie giggled at me, easily catching up to my stride. “Yeah. Actually Mark said it.” she smiled, looking at me as if waiting for my shocked look.

But I just stared at her and nodded once. Mark was the brainy kid in our class and the quietest of the boys. So yeah, Mark saying ‘that’ word is pretty shocking.

“So, is he a hero now?” I asked, smiling. Normally people who say the word become stars overnight since the embarrassing words change every day and sometimes be the most shocking, most shameful word to say. And being able to say that with an open hallway filled with students behind you is a pretty big feat to do.

 Charlie snickered, nodding at me too as we finally reached the second floor.

“Well, at least he’s out of his bullied state. That light switch is actually good for something.” she muttered.

“As long as I’m not sayin’ the word, that’s great.” I muttered as we went into our classroom- 3-3.

Once we got in, my eyes glanced towards Mark who was now flocked with our other classmates, cheering and joking with him. Looking at the kid now, he seemed rather scared.

I chuckled to myself and headed to the far back of the room where my and Charlie’s seats were.

       I sighed, putting down my bag. “He must be thinking this is reverse bullying.” I muttered, quickly pulling out my black jacket and putting it on as I shuddered from the cold air.

Charlie stared at me as I did so. “Why is it you keep wearing that thing? You’ve had that jacket ever since sophomore year.” she asked, ignoring my comment and resting her chin on her palm.

I blinked at her with disbelief and pouted my lips thoughtfully.

“Well…the jacket makes me comfortable. Adding to that, the air conditioning is put on 15. Plus, it’s raining….Aren’t you cold?” I asked, a little shocked my friend looked as comfy as a puppy in a cotton bed.

Charlie made a face and shook her head, yawning at my question. I sweat dropped. Jeez, she’s on another level of air conditioning.

“Anyway, where you goin’ this summer?” she asked, pulling out her blue thermos and pouring some hot coffee in the cover then handing it to me.

I blew on the drink, letting the hot temperature spread on my face.

“Ah, dad said we’re going to Baguio.” I said, smiling excitedly.

You see, Baguio is considered the summer capital of the Philippines and it’s kinda like tradition for my family to go there every summer. And even though there are now probably lots more people in Baguio, we still like it there.

Seeing my absolute pleasure, Charlie made a face and rolled her eyes at me. “Why do you love that place so much? It’s colder there than it is in this room.” She said, grabbing the cup when I finished the coffee.

“First of all, our place in Baguio is really quiet, the air is really fresh, I can go jogging there and, there’s a barn of horses! Right next to our house!” I said, feeling the smile on my face. Charlie just stared at me.

“Besides, my childhood’s there.” I added, taking the coffee from Charlie’s hand.

“This is exactly the reason me and Ana are your only friends.” She growled.

I flinched, practically feeling the millions of spears flying down at me and stabbing me right in the heart and head.

“Great friend you are.” I muttered with a glare.

She smiled at me, sighing and shaking her head. “At times like summer you should be out in the beach! Don’t coop up in that old house! Look for romance!” Charlie exclaimed, her hands clasped together as she made a ridiculous pose, her eyes sparkling.

 

I stared at her and sighed, not saying anything else but “Freak.”

Charlie slumped, glaring at me. I chuckled at her in return.

“Hey! Also!” Charlie yelled, pulling up her finger in an ‘Oh yeah!’ fashion.

“There’s also new talk about that haunted house. Y’know, the white one near that horse riding place!” she said, her eyes darkening.

I blinked at her. “Oh, really? What’re they saying about it?” I asked, stretching my arms.

“Well, there’s a new, more sinister ghost.” Charlie said, laughing like an evil guy. I raised my brow at her and sighed, deciding to listen to her ghost story.

“My big brother said that the house was gonna be destroyed and exchanged with a mini mart but the construction workers refused to go into the house. They said that there was a huge thing in there with big, creepy eyes.” Charlie said, holding her hands out to my face as her fingers wiggled at me.

I stared at her, bored. “That’s it?” I asked. Charlie made a face at me then slumped back to her seat. “You are such a boring person.” She said, making me smile.

But then, that talk about red eyes, made the memory of my nightmare rise up again. I knit my brows a bit. Stop coming back to me.

 

“Cyreen is right not to be intimidated by such a story.” A high voice suddenly said from behind Charlie.

I looked up to see a small girl with short black hair trimmed in a bob cut, and big brown eyes hidden behind polished glasses.

“Ana.” I greeted calmly.

 

Charlie on the other hand panted in her seat, pale and utterly frightened. Ana blinked at me quietly and walked to me, putting her things on the seat on the right side of mine.

“Jesus Ana, please remind us you’re not a freakin’ ghost.” Charlie growled, her hand on her chest.

I pursed my lips, resisting the mad urge to laugh at her. Seriously, Ana Hanyu  and I should be the least scary things to Charlie.

Speaking of Ana, she’s also been my best friend since freshman year and she was a transfer student from Japan. In her first day of school, she couldn’t make any friends since she was so quiet and well, she had no idea how to speak Tagalog back then but nowadays, she’s a lot more talkative but she still has a hard time talking with others.

Charlie sighed, apparently calming down. “Jeez, you two are both so boring.” she said, puffing up her cheeks.

“Says the girl who was scared shitless by us.” I teased, raising my brow at her. Charlie then made a rude gesture in reply, making me laugh.

Suddenly, we heard a pen click. We both looked at Ana and saw her writing answers on her math notebook like she was possessed. Her eyes were practically glowing with fire. Looking at her, I froze.

I know she loves math and all but, really?

Charlie gaped at her, looking as white as a ghost. “T-The homework!” she gasped, quickly rummaging in her bag. I stared at her and sighed, staring at my desk while my two friends busied themselves.

“Should I do it too?” my consciousness asked.

Well, it’s the last day of school, our report cards were already given to us. There’s no more reason to fuss. (I got an 80 in math by the way. That’s something big for me.) Further staring at nothing, I sighed, feeling worn out.

“Nah.” I sighed and folded my arms on top of the desk then hiding my face into my arms, ready to sleep.

 

Right when I was gonna close my eyes, something really hard slapped the back of my head, making me bolt up.

“WHAT?!” I yelled, absolutely pissed. Looking up, I froze as Charlie stood in front of me, holding up my math notebook as she fumed, looking like a demon for a moment. I felt my face go pale and she threw the notebook at my face.

“Do. Your. Homework. Cyreen Todd.” She growled as she stalked back to her seat next to me.

“It’s the last day. This is now irrelevant to me.” I growled, holding the notebook up like it was radioactive then let it fall to the floor with a PLOP!

But that was a big mistake. Charlie stared at the notebook then slowly, very slowly pulled her head up. Once she looked up, I practically saw my death in her eyes.

Gulping and feeling rather inferior, I laughed nervously, the edge of my mouth twitching with slight annoyance. I then leaned down, picking up the notebook and obediently taking out my pen. My tongue clicked. How can she make me feel inferior?! This day really is turning weird.

“Damn you.” I hissed.

“Right back at ya’.” Charlie smiled then went back to her homework.

I made a face then stuck my tongue out at her then sighed, scribbling on my notebook since my only thought as I stared at the questions was; “What the hell is all this?”

 

Before I could think of an answer to the first question, the first bell rang and immediately, the other kids rushed to their seats, some of them shouting; “Ms. Bernardo is here!” while they settled in their seats.

Right then, a tall but slightly plump woman wearing floral flats, black pants and a pink blouse walked into the room, her long ponytail swinging back and forth behind her back.

Behind her, there was a group of our girl classmates talking and happily hugging her. Looking at them, I can practically see the pink, flowery background.

“Good morning.” She greeted with her high and cheerful voice as she settled her things on the teachers table.

We all stood up and greeted: “Good morning Ms. Bernardo!”

Ms. Bernardo only became my teacher this year. And so far, I love her. She’s probably the nicest, sweetest teacher we could have. But she believed in absolute progress so there was no such thing as ‘free time’ for her.

After our greeting, she told us to sit back down.

And as we did, from the corner of my eye….I saw the same black blob rush past all the gigantic windows of the room. My eyes widened and I suddenly felt the shiver run up my spine.

Right at that moment, the weight on my shoulders felt heavier and a cold feeling rushed up my back.

I gulped and stared at the windows.

“What the hell?” I thought, feeling my brows knit up with confusion and disbelief.

What the hell is going on?! I swear to myself I’m wide awake and I’m not crazy. Something is up.

“Cyreen?”

 

My head snapped up and I saw our homeroom teacher along everyone else was staring at me with confusion. Ms. Bernardo raised her brows at me as if waiting for what I was going to say.

I blinked and felt my face go hot as everyone else giggled and chuckled at me. I glanced at my friends.

Ana was staring at me her usual blank look, but I knew she was wondering what I was doing. Charlie on the other hand was laughing her head off, her shoulders bobbing up and down as she tried her best to hold down her guffaw.

Blinking, I quickly gave Ms. Bernardo a small smile. “Ah, nothing.” I nonchalantly said, sinking back into my seat, my face feeling hot with embarrassment.

Ms. Bernardo nodded once as if nothing was going on then started to talk about our summer and how we should spend it studying for senior year which could be a difficult year for us.

I wasn’t listening though. I just stared at the windows, looking for that shadow with frantic eyes.

“What’s going on with me?” I thought, gulping and still feeling tense.

Charlie suddenly poked my arm, making me glance at her.

“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She asked, smiling teasingly at me. I glared at her. Once she had her eyes back on our teacher, I took a breath, feeling my eyes stare at the windows.

“That can be the case.” I muttered to myself.

 

The final bell rang and immediately, shouts erupted from the building and papers flew everywhere in the room. Our last teacher, Mr. Ratchet stared at all of us, a slight smile rising in his lips as he fixed his things and rushed out of the classroom before all the others students beat him to it, leaving me, Charlie and Ana to fix our things in peace.

These past subjects, the black blob hasn’t come back. Maybe it was my imagination after all. Besides, I do love watching horror movies and scaring myself. Shaking me out of my thoughts, I heard Charlie mutter: “Wild animals.”

Ana and I chuckled at her, taking our bags then calmly leaving the room.

Once we got out, I froze to see Mr. Ratchet speaking with a familiar tall boy who had messy, long brown hair covering his brown eyes.

I suddenly froze up, feeling conscious of myself.

“Hey, is that Christian?” Charlie asked loudly, seemingly speaking to me. I ignored her and found myself staring at the two people.

Mr. Ratchet seemed to be talking to him about next year’s new basketball team and was recommending some students.

The student laughed happily, scratching his cheek.

“Christian Salazar.” Mr. Ratchet suddenly said loudly, making us look up at them.

“You better study well this summer. Your grades are falling all of a sudden. Could it be because of your basketball games?” Mr. Ratchet scolded with a cold expression. Christian laughed nervously, making me freeze up.

“Nah, that’s not it. But yeah sir, I’ll study. I gotta go now so, bye!” He said and quickly made his way to the stairs, leaving Mr. Ratchet sighing and muttering; “these little brats.” under his breath.

Once he left, I felt myself relax. From next to me Charlie giggled, making me glance at her.

“Well, that was interesting.” She said, raising her brows at me. I looked up at her, raising my brow. “What was interesting?”

She suddenly grinned evilly at me. “Your face of absolute longing.” she snickered. Immediately, I walked away from them, feeling the glare on my face. These little b******s, they’re gonna harass me again.

“Ah, c’mon. You still like him.” Charlie said. I turned my head a bit, showing her my glare.

“I thought you don’t like him anymore?” Ana suddenly asked as we walked towards the stairs.

I jumped at her boldness and felt my face heat up even more.

“I-I don’t like him! I said that before didn’t I?! Be quiet both of you!” I yelled, quickening my pace as my two friends giggled at me.

“Oh please. Ana, you saw her face right?” I heard Charlie ask.

“Utterly smitten.” Ana replied, making me flinch.

I sighed heavily. “Look, I don’t like him anymore.” I said flatly. At my words, Ana and Charlie raised their brows at me. I rolled my eyes at them.

“Really? then why did you keep staring at him like that?” Ana asked.

The edge of my mouth twitched. “Even though I don’t like him anymore, he’s still handsome.” I confessed.

They both oohed and giggled, making me roll my eyes again.

I’m honest with this alright. It’s been years since I’ve had a crush on him and even though I said I liked him so much, my eyes followed him, that was years ago. Now it’s just like seeing your favorite singer and freezing up.

But it seems as though these two think I’m lying.

“Denial~” Charlie cooed.

Slowly, I turned to my two friends, finding the wide grins on their faces.

 “Let’s go to the music room. I wanna see something.” I said, completely ignoring their comments. But even with my reaction, they still laughed, teasing me.

 “Hey, it’s alright. You won’t see him for 2 months anyway! It’s officially summer!” Charlie shouted as we made our way down the stairs and to the music hall while other students bid us goodbye and a happy summer.

I just sighed, not wanting to talk about boys again. Even with Charlie’s teasing, I pushed open the doors to the music room. “Well, that’s true.” I muttered.

“What, your love for him?” Ana asked, making me flinch once again and wobble on my feet. Not giving a reply, I just shook Ana back and forth, feeling my face heating up while Ana laughed like a little kid.

Suddenly, Charlie tapped my shoulder.

“What?” I asked, looking up at her. Charlie was staring ahead, pointing towards the fluff section.   

Unconsciously, I tensed, feeling nervous. Immediately, the image of the black blob materialized in my head and that coldness ran up my back again.

“Don’t tell me she sees something too!”

I quickly turned and froze to see the guy we just saw a few minutes ago.

Lying in the pillows and sleeping soundly was none other than Christian. He’s a fast sleeper. He was just upstairs a minute ago. I remember I fixed the pillows before leaving here but now, he was partially buried in them with his bag on top of one of the speakers.

This is my spot. Quickly, my face went hot again. What’s he doing in my spot?

“Ohohoho.” Charlie laughed. “So this is what you wanted to see.”

She then pushed me towards him, making my eyes go wide. I whirled, practically clawing at Charlie.

“Hey, hey, hey!” I hissed in a whisper.

“Wake him up! He’ll get locked in here!” Charlie urged in a whisper. I gave her a half-troubled, half-scared look.

My two friends urged me on and I sighed. Well, it would be troublesome if he gets locked in here. If someone managed to see us get in here and leave without him, people will say we locked him in. And that’s really not a rumor I’d like to hear.

I then pursed my lips and approached the guy, quietly kneeling down in the fluff of pillows next to him. My hands were about to shake him awake but then I found myself staring at his face.

Even under the light of the still gloomy weather, his face seemed much more flawless up close. And now I saw how long his lashes were. I take that back, he wasn’t cute. He was handsome.

Gritting my teeth, I urged myself to hasten myself, if this keeps up, I might faint. this is the first time I’ve ever been so close to a boy.

 

Right when I was gonna wake him up, a familiar, boyish voice shrieked:

“OIII! CYREEN!”

At the voice, Christian’s eyes flew wide open and he gasped, his arm which was right next to my hand swiped me and I gasped as I fell flat on his chest.

We both froze up and I felt my heart beat crazily as my face heated up to a million degrees.

“GODDAMN IT.” I thought, wanting to cry.

I quickly pulled myself up, and once I pulled my head up, I was face to face with Christian, seeing his brown eyes and long lashes.

But what actually made me freeze up was the thing behind him.

My eyes widened. Behind the glass window, a gigantic black dog with glowing red eyes stared at me, its long canine teeth dripping with saliva as it seemed to taunt and stare at me like I was its next meal. But this dog didn’t seem solid. It was like a mirage, shimmering and foggy.

I felt that tense feeling around me again and the dog slowly opened its mouth so widely, the corners of its jaws seemed to be unraveling gorily as red blood started to pour out from its eyes.

I gasped loudly, feeling my blood go cold and quickly, I took Christian’s arm and pulled him away from the window, making both of us fall to the cold floor.

“Hey!” Christian called, making me turn to him and see the confused and shocked look on his face.

“What…” Christian muttered from beside me, probably annoyed that he was knocked to the floor by a girl or wondering about my reaction. I gulped and slowly looked up at the window.

Once I did, I froze to see the dog was gone. I blinked, many times.

“No, no freakin’ way that wasn’t real! You gotta be kidding me!” my head screamed. I must be going insane.

But, it’s gone. And now I have to apologize for jumping the cutest guy I know.

 I licked my lips then cleared my throat, still feeling twitchy as my lungs tried to control the shaky breaths coming out of my mouth.

“I-I’m sorry.” I simply apologized, getting on my feet, embarrassed.

“Nah, it’s alright.” Christian said, smiling at me. I caught my breath and forced myself to look him straight in the eye.

“Oi!”

I turned and behind Charlie and Ana was a boy wearing black school pants, a black shirt saying; “I ROCK” underneath a white, unbuttoned school shirt. He had short, chin length, raven hair that was a little longer in the front so his bangs covered his light onyx eyes by a bit.

I blinked, realizing it was my brother Skye Todd.

“Skye’s here.” Charlie announced, blushing as she stared at me and Christian.

But Skye was not happy at all. He glared at me and Christian as he leaned on the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah, sis. Skye’s here.” his kind of soprano voice hissed at me. I stared at my little brother, feeling confused about the current situation.

“What’re you doing?” he asked as he stalked towards me. I blinked at him, a little confused with his annoyance.

Usually he isn’t like this. Yeah, I said bad things about him in the morning but, that was one side of him and I was feeling annoyed that morning.

Once he got to me, he looked up at Christian who had a confused look on his face. Skye then glared at him and grabbed my wrist, dragging me away from the confused guy.

“Let’s go home already sis.” Skye said under his breath as we walked past Ana and Charlie.

“Ah, hey!” I yelped.

Charlie and Ana quickly followed, saying goodbye to Christian before we left the room.

Once we got out, that heavy feeling left my shoulders. And unconsciously, my shoulders relaxed and I exhaled with relief.

“Well, that was something.” Ana said.

“Yeah.” I replied, both for the courtesy of Christian and that creature out the window.

“Hey, Cy.” Charlie called, making me turn to her as we hurried out the hallway.

Charlie stared at me with worried eyes. “Are you okay? You look pale.” She whispered. I blinked and nodded once, not wanting to tell her what I just saw. With that reply, she stared at me, hesitant to believe me. Then she looked away, taking out her cell phone and probably calling for her driver.

 

We were already outside the school and I realized every girl around was looking at us. Well, Skye that is. As they did stare at my brother, some girls blushed, whispering to each other.

Well, Skye was popular with the girls. Even though he was only thirteen, I’ve seen many girls confess to him before.

“Hey, you two.” Charlie called, making me pull Skye to a stop.

“We’ll be going ahead now. My ride’s here. Wanna come?” Charlie asked, pointing towards the black Chrysler parked in front of the building.

I blinked and there was that unpleasant feeling tugging at me. As if something were telling me to go home on foot.

Skye was about to say something when I squeezed his hand, a motion we both understand that means ‘Stop’.

“Nah, home’s only a few minutes away. It’ll be fine.” I said. Skye kept silent next to me, hopefully getting that I need to talk to him and he opened his umbrella.

Ana and Charlie looked at each other and sighed. “Alright then. Skye’s with you anyway. Bye then.” She said, patting my shoulder as Ana waved goodbye at me

“We’ll send you a post card from London!” Charlie called as she and Ana left arm in arm towards the Chrysler.

“London?” Skye asked. I quickly grabbed his arm and despite my brother’s protests, we stalked out into the light rain, my head throbbing at the disturbing image of that dog.