Highly Coincidential

1
THE AWAKENING
“Rise and shine, sweetheart!”
Great. How unpredictable. Words from the voice I never want to hear during typical mornings.
“Wake up or you’re gonna be late for school!” Once again, my mother roared.
Still, I end up hearing the exact unrevised thing for the last how many years. I’m sick of it already. It’s unbearable.
Holding on to the pillow my boyfriend gave me on my 16th birthday just three weeks ago is completely no use. Pretending I’m dead, neither.
Mom opened the curtains as if it were a bullet train traveling its fastest speed. Sharp streaks of blazing sunshine then pervaded every space of my room and woke the hell right out of me.
Mom, I have a noisy alarm clock right next to my friggin’ head and it actually works! She doesn’t have to make this her everyday routine because first of all, it’s illegal! I’m already big enough to wake myself up, for God’s sake.
“Mom, get out!” I am not at all, under any circumstance, a very polite 16-year old and I’m guessing mom’s at ease with that fact already. It’s part of our bonding moment, I think.
I peevishly went to the bathroom, took a nice warm bath that calmed me up just a little bit, brushed my well-complimented teeth and got dressed slothfully as if time wasn’t an issue. After about one full hour, I finally went downstairs wearing my white halter top, black slim jeans and a pair of white high heels.
The stimulating fragrance of spicy smoked bacon welcomed the weird and wonderful Chloe as she crams up for an assignment she forgot to even think about last night since she was under the influence of her friend, Kat, talking to her on the phone about some ‘Ricky’ guy. She wasn’t really paying attention. Okay. Can anyone tell me again why I describe myself in the third person? My name’s Chloe Crawford and I seem to get crazy every once in a while due to some strange and rarely psychotic issues. No, I’m not a retard, a moron, a mongoloid, an overly mature kid, nor an overly immature adult.
I began savoring such bounty. Bite after bite, the flavors fuse up to generate a totally magical sensation. This is probably the only thing I love about mom.
I got out of the chaotic house and started powering my silver Porsche, which was given to me by my dad four days before he got killed in an unexpected shooting incident in London. Back then, I thought of selling it in order for me not to be reminded of him and the accident that caused him his life. I never did it because I realized that my dad wanted me to use this Porsche with utmost dignity and pride. He wanted me to show it off to my friends and classmates in school. He wanted me to take good care of it while it’s still mine. He wanted me to love it just as he loves me. Now, I don’t see it as a heartbreak reminder. Instead, it’s my beacon of light.
2
PERFECT STRANGER
As soon as I was walking along the front porch, I saw a dark figure. Interesting. Intriguing. That could have been just a shadow of some sort or a cat moving too fast to even be seen. A person? Could be.
Clearer and more vivid, a picture of a man seems to be looking at me. I don’t think he has a gun so I looked at him, as well.
We kept staring at each other and I tried so hard not to blink because who knows… he might be gone in just a flash. I did however, but he was still there, still staring at me.
Then, the person waved at me. I felt the urge to wave back at him and smile and so, I did.
I do not have any idea who that man was. All I knew at that moment was the mere fact he was staring at me for quite a long period of time and suddenly waved.
Next thing I knew, I was already hearing the siren of a police car. It sounded as if it was heading towards our house. I panicked a bit, thinking that either mom, Claire or me would be in such a huge mess any minute now.
Close enough; the police car arrested the man I shared a short connection with.
I went as close as I could trying to catch a glimpse of the perfect stranger. I thought for a second. What just happened? Two words. Downright creepy.
The aftermath- I arrived at school late and that was my very first. I thank him so much.
I don’t think I did well on my first period class which is technically, the one subject I get to be totally good at; geometry. I kept on thinking about the incident. Wow. I mean, I don’t normally amaze myself but right now, I really do. I feel as if I just portrayed the role of a captivating seductress in an action movie without anyone noticing. If it weren’t for me, the criminal won’t be captured. What was going on through that man’s head when he gaped at me and started acting friendly?
3
RUMORS
The bell just rang and I hurried down the hallway towards my locker trying not to be late for the second time. I eventually ran into my boyfriend, Zach Warren.
“Oh hi. My bad. Didn’t know you were there.” I said nonchalantly.
“It’s all good babe. Hey, can I take you out later? I don’t have practice.”
“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, I have to go. Bye.”
Truth be told, sometimes I hate the fact my boyfriend’s such a hottie in school. Chicks worship him and that makes me being envied all the time.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m one hot chick, myself. Guys check me out and constantly, I receive all kinds of stuff in my locker, especially on Valentine’s Day. Notes, long-stemmed roses, chocolates and even phone numbers. I don’t call them, though. Can’t they see I’m with someone? I know it’s flattering but I’m certainly no bitch.
Maybe Zach and I feel the same about each other; getting jealous is always an option.
Unlike the first period, I was early. With me are my friends, Belinda Matthews and April Perkins. I must say they are quite annoying. I can’t focus on the lessons being thrown at me like a baseball. The latest school rumors were the only things I got. Some of it was really off the hook.
They have this little pink notebook filled with all kinds of gossips. One page left and there’s no more space to fill.
I read only a page of it because I’m afraid it’ll get confiscated. That single page, however, killed me.
Quarterback. Hot quarterback. Hot taken quarterback. He’s cheating on our friend, Bels! Caught him making out with a girl in her cheerleader uniform. On his Grey Ford Everest!!
Woah. Really?
Yep. I saw them with my own two eyes. It’s him! They were bumping and grinding like there’s no tomorrow!
Oh no no. Why don’t we tell her?
IDK. I mean… it’s gonna be painful. Tsk. Tsk.
♥
Tyler’s dating McKenzie! OMG. Mike told me this morning while we were eating. Follow-up gossip. Guess who has a sex scandal in youtube?
No way! Tyler and McKenzie?!
LOL. No. Me and Bennet!
Shut up.
I know right? We did it in his kitchen for God’s sake!
You are officially not a virgin anymore.
Actually, I made out with Wayne in the pool two years before.
You didn’t tell me! You’re disgusting, Chels! Man, and I thought you were as innocent as a nun.
LMFAO. No comment. :D
♥
My natural impulse caused me to doubt but it still hurt. I kept on telling myself maybe April wasn’t sure of what she had seen. I just sat in my chair and pretended as if I didn’t get to read the harsh contents of that little pink notebook. Eventually, tears flowed down my cheek. I went to the comfort room with Mr. Delaney’s permission. I can sense that my classmates are drowning with questions about my sudden outburst of tears.
I locked the door of the narrow white cubicle I was in and started crying.
Not knowingly, a girl from the next cubicle was listening. She asked me if I’m alright and that if I need any help.
“I just found out that my quarterback boyfriend’s cheating on me. What would that make you feel?” I immediately responded. Then, I stopped for I thought I was completely humiliating myself. “Oh my god. This is totally embarrassing. Do me a favor, please. The moment you step out of this room, keep your mouth shut.”
“Chloe Crawford, right?” I was shocked. She knows my freakin’ name. Am I just too popular that people I don’t even know seem acquainted with me or with my name, at least.
“Yeah?” I wondered aloud.
“Don’t worry. I don’t just spill private stuff like that. It would be pretty rude.” She replied, stressing each syllable of the words, ‘pretty rude’. “I’ll be going now. Don’t hurt yourself.”
She was such an angel. Well, at least I think she was. I don’t know her at all. Her voice wasn’t even familiar and I’m not sure if we ever had a class together. How could she know who I am? She knows my name and I don’t have a clue what’s hers.
I went back to the stiff classroom and felt a little bit relieved after crying out tons of tears in the comfort room.
Morning classes seemed endless and by the time the bell rang for lunchtime, I sighed a gush of ease. I sat with April and Belinda in the cafeteria. Everything went perfectly well until Zach came to join us.
“Hey babe.” Then comes the kiss. I went with the flow and remained as innocent as possible. As soon as I’m done with my chicken and vegetable salad, which I don’t normally eat, I left without a word.
“You won’t wait for me?” He called out audibly as I was almost a foot away from him.
“No.” I replied.
“Hey hey hey. Slow down. What’s wrong babe?” He asked in a very puzzled and angry tone of voice. He grabbed my wrist and it hurt. It really did.
It felt worse than someone tugging at your favorite shirt. It felt worse than an octopus ready to suck you out of your system. It felt so much worse than failing a major exam. It felt bad.
Instantly, we were already making a scene in the cafeteria.
“Let go of me, Zach!”
“I won’t unless you give me a good reason why you’re acting like that.” That was easy.
In fact, very easy that I answered him without consulting my brain first. “Oh. As if you have no idea? Well, good luck pretending. Now let me go!” It turned out quite what I had in mind. Aggressive and angry.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Listen to me, Mr. Zach Michael Warren. How would it feel if you caught me making out with a hot jock on my Grey Ford Everest?”
He slowly freed my hand and I went my way leaving him too stunned to move.
“Babe! Please… Look, I’m sorry okay. Come back here. Please. Babe!” He pleaded as I was running away, leaving teardrops on the cafeteria floors.
4
SURPRISE VACATION
Only a month’s left till the end of the schoolyear. Summer! I woke up because Claire just slapped me and man, she did it hard.
“The hell with you? Why’d you hit me?!” I thought swearing won’t lead us to anything but another sibling rivalry so after my patience dropped I managed not to hit her back with my burning fist.
“Get up! Mom planned a family meeting right this instant.” She told me in a very excited little voice.
Claire’s my sister. She’s the typical obnoxious sister and so am I for her. I know it’s too cliché but what more can I say? We can stand the sight of each other, though. When it comes to mom matters, we’re partners in crime. That’s the only thing we share in common. We hate mommy’s mouth, that’s it.
“Come on. Hurry! She’s rushing me!”
I got up as sluggishly as I could because I think it’s gonna be another one of those boring sessions about family stuff; or worse, awkward talks about premarital sex and all those intimate relationships she’s accusing us of. Either way, I got it already!
“CHLOE!” Ugh! Annoying. Annoying. Totally annoying!
“I’ll be there in a minute, you guys! Jesus! What’s the rush?” I grouchily retorted.
I went downstairs to finally get through this whole conference, whatever.
“Ok. What is this all about?”, I asked mom who I suppose was the chairman of the committee.
“Yesterday, your mother got promoted as manager of the Azure Luxury Hotel!”
“Are you kidding? That’s great, mom!” Claire rejoiced.
“Not till I get something good from it.” I whispered to myself while allowing her to hear my bratty remarks.
Claire tugged at my shirt and furiously whispered, “Be nice!” Ok. Now she’s my older sister?
“You will Chloe. You sure will. In line with my promotion, I will celebrate by taking you both on your best summer vacation ever!”
“Oh yeah? Where?” Suddenly, I became curious. Like detective-curious.
“I’m not gonna choose for you, you know. In fact, I won’t be with you the whole summer. Isn’t that just perfect?”
“Mom, we don’t mean to sadden you like that,” Claire remarked.
“No. That’s absolutely not the point It’s just that my new job requires more focus and concentration and loads of paper works. But the thing is, I’m giving each of you her own credit card worth fifty grand. Plane tickets not included.”
“Mom! Oh my God! I can’t believe I’m saying this. I love you like a million times!” Did I just say that out loud?
Whew. I need water. I’m hyperventilating.
Hours after the wonderful news, I found myself hanging out in a café with my trusty fashionable laptop and the atrocious display of Zach approaching.
I was unable to complete my term paper about the highness and lowness of the human voice and its following details because I was bothered by his sheer presence.
I pretended as if I hadn’t seen him. I just stayed in my seat sipping my vanilla-chocolate frappe while typing all sorts of words that make no sense at all. Yeah, totally senseless words such as “…an evil gay chocolate reggae lover”. There was absolutely no time to duck and cover.
Unfortunately, he sat in front of me and managed to open a conversation.
“You’re still mad, aren’t you?” Now, that’s what I call just plain stupidity. What does he think? That he’s already forgiven after what he did? That crime scene? Hey Zach, newsflash! I’m still mad at you and I don’t care how long this colossal anguish will end since above all, there’s nothing you can do to un-mad me. The thing is I’m just… MADLY mad!
“I don’t think I deserve this, Zach. I mean, over the past few days I’ve been trying my best to forget you or at least not think of you for a goddamn minute because I don’t want another inch of me to be fractured, not anymore. You broke my heart which I never thought would be broken. I don’t need you coming here and asking me if I’m still mad because obviously, I am!” I started rolling my eyes on him to let him know I want an explanation even though I had already told him that I don’t want any.
“Chloe. I made a huge mistake, I know that. Casey was just—“ Wow. I can’t believe he actually said this. Casey was what? This was probably the stupidest line he could have ever said. But this was only the first. No, the second apparently, following ‘You’re still mad aren’t you?’
“Casey, huh? The girl you made out with? Well, congratulations to both you. Good luck with your life!”
“She tempted me!” And there goes the third. Hence, I conclude that the quarterback is a dumbass.
“And you gave in! What? You simply ran out of better excuses? She tempted you. You could’ve just buried her alive, for God’s sake! She was trying to take you away from me, you idiot. Don’t you realize that?” Then I realized, both are (in one way or another) the same. Not like it matters, though. “Look, I don’t care whatever that slut did to you. The bottom line is that you were kissing her while you still had a girlfriend.” I closed the laptop without even shutting it down first. I stood up and continued what I had to say. “As if making out with me wasn’t enough. You shared saliva with her and you know what the crazy thing is? As much as I want to be grossed out, I can’t because in the first place, you shared more of that with me.” I said with paramount depth and volume while pushing him with my little hands. It made me feel totally in control. I wondered why he didn’t fight back. He should be, right? I was already getting a bit violent. Perhaps it was because of the guilt factor or maybe he was defending the usual gentleman’s philosophy about hitting a girl. Although he’s such a gentleman, I think it was more of the first. I can sense it, like a vampire can sense blood.
I was hurt and you caused it.
“Babe. Please. Just… just listen. Casey’s not you. That’s what I meant. I’m really sorry. Give me just on more chance. I need you, babe. What will I do to win you back?” He went near me and he looked like he wanted to kneel down or something. Of course, that would be pretty embarrassing so I stopped him.
We arrived at the airport approximately an hour and a half before our flight thanks to mom’s panic mode attack. Since there isn’t any cure, we have to deal with her. She frets too much. Maybe I deserve this break.
We went through this huge glass door and I made a promise to myself. I will use Paris to forget about Zach and simply enjoy. I will get over the pandemonium back here as long as my foot is in that country. I will indulge myself in cool Paris activities such as shopping, visiting historical sites, bar-hopping, and shopping.
I really love to shop and I’m currently digging the gray fashion. I’ve had loads of gray wearables already but still, I just can’t get enough. What if Paris sets me up with black or maybe white suits me better? Orange scares me and so does purple but what if I actually look prettier wearing them? Was it really time for a new fashion statement?
What could be worse than airport traffic? So far, nothing! Not even the fact that I was carrying my heavy luggage.
I still look stunning, though, wearing a gray plaid halter dress, a pair of white wedges and a white headband tidying my straight coffee-colored hair. While showing off my white Marc Jacob’s bag, that is.
I was almost at the verge of pushing the people waiting in line before me. Waiting is so not my thing. But before that, I had to get pass extreme security measures and hoped to God I won’t get totally stripped off.
Next thing that happened was as follows: I had to cope with an amateur looking woman wearing a fake smile on her make-up painted face. Soon, my luscious red lipstick started to lose its sparkle so, as you might have guessed, I wanted to freshen up a bit through a process we call ‘retouching’. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just leave my sister alone while I’m inside the comfort room pampering myself. She might be kidnapped by a hungry pervert.
When it was finally time to get on the plane, my relief was just so great. I was seated right beside this old lady wearing a green beaded caftan and an old-looking pair of baggy jeans. She does NOT have any sense of style at all. I want to give her a fierce makeover. I smiled at her and she smiled back, as though she’s eager and delighted to have me as company.
She, then, pulled out a thick white book---which has the title, ‘Coincidence… Serendipity’--- from her black satchel. I was looking at her while she reads the book and her facial expressions made me really interested. I tried glancing at it about seven times but all that ever appeared was ‘Destiny brought us together’. Every once in a while, I would yawn just so that the lady won’t notice what I was really doing.
Three hours after the plane took off, I remembered the thing about my lipstick. I gracefully walked down the aisle to the comfort room bringing my silver pouch. Yep, too graceful to bump into someone.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry I wasn’t loo---“ Wow. I felt magic in his divining blue eyes. He was such a stunning proof of human existence! I totally forgot about Zach… and my intention of going to the comfort room.
“Hey, are you o---“
“---king.” I continued without being able to hear the words he just uttered. “I’m so sorry. I must’ve been too drowsy to see you.”
“No. It’s fine. As a matter of fact, I do that all the time, myself.” He flashed a little sexy smile. I felt the urge to smile back and I wasn’t able to control it. As I was studying him, I gasped silently because… his fly was open. Oh no.
“Uhm… I guess you might want to zip your pants.” He looked down and saw what I meant. In addition, his black underwear was visible.
“Oh. I must’ve forgotten since you bumped into me.” He turned his back slightly and did what he was supposed to do. He made way for me as he was a true gentleman.
I nodded my head once to show even just that hint of appreciation. I finally headed to the comfort room to freshen up my face. I did everything I had to do, went to my seat and pretended as if nothing romantic happened. Another hour later, I found myself barely in America. We were getting across the big country’s boundaries and it felt really great.
From the time we got to the plane until now, there were no sign of any weather turbulence. I fell into a perfect sleep while trying to fulfill my old-lady’s-book mission.
Claire woke me up and I got back to my consciousness. We were already getting off the plane. Still, it was a bit too early. I felt like I was in a blackout or something at first but in spite of the light-headedness, I still managed to carry myself along with my other luggage. I guess nothing could really stop me from seeing Paris. I’ve finally reached my destination, although not completely since I had to go through these crazy airport processes again. The rush of my blood urged me to get a cab right away. After another series of stripping and other transactions, we finally made our escape through the hellish atmosphere. The Paris gates have opened before our very eyes.
Mom called minutes before we got a taxi. She said she just booked us a suite in a nearby luxury hotel; compliments of her former boss, now her business partner. I was like ‘Mom, shut up! What have I ever done right to you for giving me so much for such a short summer vacation?’
“Are you kidding mom? That’s amazing. Well, tell him I said thanks.” It’s ironic. I mean, what do I get from hating her? Everything this girl ever dreamed. Well, almost. I still can’t stand her yappy wake-up calls.
It’s a good thing taxi cabs are attracted to airports. I don’t have any idea how to hail one in this country, that’s the thing. But contrary to being inexperienced, I had just enough poise to prevent me from hitching a ride.
We didn’t have the strength to do dome sight-seeing… at least, not yet. We headed straight to Hotel Le Bristol, our summer residence.
We did business with the friendly receptionist who eventually led us to our suite. The room was amazingly elegant. The furnishings were high-classed and the colors were beautifully coordinated. The whole place was also filled with intricate designs and modern sleek interiors. To our delight, we saw the dining table loaded with all kinds of exquisite-looking dishes and desserts. Situated right in the middle was a piece of decorative paper that says, ‘Welcome to Hotel Le Bristol. We would like to offer our deepest hospitality through these compliments. Feel free to visit or call the lobby if any help and inquiry is needed. The Management.