Chapter 16

IT WAS MONDAY. Oh how I hate Mondays; Nothing good ever comes of it. I’m drousy throughout the day, we turn in our finished homework and right when we think we can feel relieved, a new stack of work is thrown at us.

            The twins still didn’t arrive today, oh man, what  was up?? At the time I didn’t know, but now… Anyways, I was so excited to hear that Justin was going to ask me to the dance! I know maybe to you it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it’s really important to me! Since I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend, this date (or ‘dance partner’, to my parents) is the closest thing I’ll ever get. And it will be even more special since it’s a boy I actually like!

“Aika? Why so blushy?” I heard Nick’s voice ring into my head.

“Oh, wha-what?” I snapped out of my dazed state, and reality flew back to me.

“Ha, well first you looked really tired and just stared into space, then all of a sudden your cheeks turned pink.” He took a sip of his juice pouch (yeah, even high school kids drink juice pouches).

“Oh. U-uh…”

“I know, you’re just thinking about him huh? I haven’t seen him the past 4 days, or the past 2 school days.” He took another sip.

I began to wonder. Where are they? I just called them on the same house phone, so they haven’t moved... Hmmm. I sat with Nick throughout the rest of lunch. Mason and Bea didn’t come to school and Diane and Austin where working on getting Macy to say yes to Issac’s date proposal. I sure hope she does, they would look so nice together.

Then the strangest thing happened, I heard the Justin Hue fanclub girls gasping in awe and surprise, but it wasn’t for Justin. I quickly diverted my eyes to their group, they were hovering over this very small boy, and I ran to him.

“Aika?” Nick stood up and ran after me. We finally reached the group, I pushed my way through the tall girls and got to the center of the circle, were the little boy was. To my surprise, he was just like a mini version of Justin and Kevin!

“Aw, how adorable…” I said to myself.

“Hey! Hey!” Nick was jumping up and down, trying to get a view of the squashed up brawl.

            He looked only about 10 years old, so what was he doing here; in high school? That’s what I was wondering.

“Hey, uh, it’s kind of squashed here. Why don’t you take my hand and I can lead you outsi�"!” He interrupted me.

“EXCUSE ME!!” He said in the most adorable way ever. He sounded so innocent! “I’m sorry, could you please back away for a little bit? I feel kind of squashed here.” He fiddled his fingers around, just like any other 5 or 6 year old when they felt like they were in trouble.

“Wow, you’re so cute!” One of the fanclub girls proclaimed. “Who are you? You kind of look like this one boy in my class named�"” then that girl was interrupted.

“Justin Hue.” He said.

“Oh yeah yeah, how do you know him?”

The boy walked over to a seat by the closest table and plopped right down. He crossed one leg over the other, like a little girl, and showed us a peace sign. Then with the brightest smile you could ever imagine, he blurted out, “I’m his cousin! My name is Jon Nee Nguyen!”

The girls nearly fainted, and I can’t lie, I almost did too. But I bet anyone would, even some of the boys around us thought he was pretty darn adorable. And he had this cute accent were he would pronounce his “S” with a “Th” sort of sound.

“Jonnee? That’s such a cute name!” Another fanclub member exclaimed. I thought you thought Justin was a cute name? I said in my head. Maybe they only thought guys had cute names if they had a cute face too.

“No no, ladies, Jon Nee. But please just call me Nee. That’s what my mommy calls me!” He flashed a smile. Then Nick came and stood next to me.

“Cute kid,” he chuckled. “what’s he doing here?”

“That’s what I want to know, but I’m afraid I’m going to get mugged by all these people if I try to pull him away for a second.” I replied, a little jittery. Then the little boy named Nee turned to me, and pulled out a piece of paper  from his pocket.

“Hmmmm…” He studied the pictured, then me, then the picture, and then a huge proud smile slipped onto his face. “Yes yes! I found her!” He quickly eyed me then ran to me and jumped on me!

“WHAAA!!” Good thing I caught him, or we would have been in some serious hurt.

“So so, you should be Aika Pasion, correct?”

This kid is so hyper, does he drink coffee in the morning or what? I thought. Then I responded, “Y-yeah, that’s me. Why?” I gently set him down on the ground.

He smoothed the wrinkles on his shirt and tightened his little school-boy tie. “Oh, well my cousin JUSTIN,” emphasis on the JUSTIN, “wanted me to give you a message!” He casually winked.

Wait… That was not ordinary wink. So does that mean what he really meant is that Kevin had a message for me? “O-OK, what is it?” I asked.

“Oh nooo! I can’t tell you here! Come on!” Nee grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

I yelled back to Nick, “HEY! If I’m not back by the time the bell rings, take my backpack to class please!”

“You got it!” He yelled back.

            Nee was dragging me all across the schoolyard until we reached the field. When we finally stopped, I was all out of breath.

“Wow, you sure get tired quickly.” He said, stretching his arms.

“Yeah… W-well, I, have asthma, and… I get tired, fast…” I inhaled slowly, trying to catch my breath. “So, why, are we so, far away from… everyone else?”

He sat down, criss-cross-apple-sauced, on the ground. “Well, because it’s a secret!” He put his finger up to his lips. “Ok ok, so you know about the whole twin thing, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” I felt like I was talking to a little girl.

“Ok, so, Kevin wanted me to tell you that he and Justin wont be attending school. For like, a long time!”

“Huh?” I blinked awkwardly; But why not? Justin was suppose to ask me to homecoming! He was suppose to go with me!

“Ok ok, so you see, Justin got really sick and�"”

“Wait, what? He’s sick? Why is he�"?”

“No no no, you’re interrupting me now! He’s not really sick, his dad gave him this pill thingy that makes him really weak, and it was a strong dose too, so he won’t be in school for a while.”

“Well, that was rude of their dad…” I crossed my arms in disgust.

“Yeah, that’s what I said! Anywho, since Justin is sick, and Kevin is suppose to be Justin, then that means Kevin can’t come to school either.”

            I sighed heavily. Why Mr. Hue? Are you not liking the boys being with me at school?

“Oh oh, there’s more though!” Nee jumped up from the ground. “Kevin said, and I quote, ‘Do not worry Aika, because I’ll come for you instead.’ End quote!”

Wait. Rewind please? Kevin is coming back for me? Kevin wants me? That was just so confusing to me. Now I didn’t know what to think. I just stood there, all puzzled, while Nee kicked little daisies in the field. Then the bell rang.

“Oh no, now I have to go back to Uncle Hue’s house!”

“O-Oh, uh huh? Why so fast? So alone? Didn’t someone come with you?”

“NOPE! If someone came with me, then Uncle Hue would find out and get mad at me!” He waved and then flew off.

            Man, that kid has A LOT of energy. I mean, come on, HOW does he do it? But that was the least of my wonders. Kevin Hue. The Kevin that got mad and yelled at me when we first met, the Kevin that creeped me out over the phone, the Kevin who was a pawn in the chess game played by his dad. This, broken Kevin… He wanted me?

“No no no, it has to be some kind of plot. Unless… No, why?!” I banged my head against my desk in my college-prep literacy class.

“Someone needs to take a chill pill,” Nick dropped my backpack on the floor next to me. “so what’s up?”

“Well Nick… I’ll tell you after school.” I thought I had to tell somebody, and since Nick was my best guy friend from the beginning, I might as well tell him. No matter what Bea or anyone else would say to or do to him, he wouldn’t leak a secret. So then it was after school, the two of us sat in the courtyard, and no one was around.

“Well, uh, don’t freak out when I tell you this, ok?” I clenched my backpack’s arm straps.

“I don’t think anything you say can creep me out, Rena.” He smiled.

“Alright. Well, you know Justin?”

“Of course I do, you’re like in love with him.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, well… I don’t know if it’s him I really like.”

“Oh? There’s someone else? Who?”

I bit my lower lip. “His twin brother, Kevin.”

There was a little pause.

“Uh, what?” Nick asked in disbelief.

“Well…. He uh, he has a twin. Justin has a twin named Kevin, and Justin’s dad, for uh, some reason, isn’t letting Justin come to school, so he asked Kevin to take his place and…”

“Whoa whoa whoa, just SLOW down. This is all new to me, how long did you even know?”

I looked around for the right words, but it was really hard to find them.

“Uh, I had my doubts about 2 weeks ago, remember when I ‘Justin’ was acting really weird? Yeah, then.”

“Ok, and then?”

“Well, I guess you can say I stalked him for a few days, and then I found my answer. You and Issac where there too when it happened!”

Nick began to think. He was wondering if he really there, and then he remembered.

“You mean that one time after school, by the theatre?” He asked, unsure.

“Yeah! You didn’t hear us talking though.”

“I know, I only saw you guys hug.”

“UH! WE WERE NOT HUGGING!!”

            I had to explain to him everything, even though I knew it was kind of rude of me telling Kevin and Justin’s darkest secret. But he had to know, he was just someone that had to. I couldn’t trust anyone, besides MAYBE mason, with such a secret. And since Nick really didn’t have anything to do with all this, there shouldn’t any problem with him knowing anyways… right?