??? More than a game ???
→→→ Beyond jilting ←←←
? Book seventeen ?
⚡ Hans’ standpoint ⚡
I’m suppose to meet the girl I’m tutoring, I decided to do that to past time and get my mind off things. I was wondering how Iris was doing, I suddenly missed her a lot. She had been gone for two weeks now, nothing much had happen since then. Other than that Violet of a girl following me around and trying to make Lee a friend, nothing. It was strange because Lee is friendly to even a fly, why not her? Phoenix didn’t like her either and Hailey hated her guts. Almost everyone in school hated her, she was always trying to cling to me. Most knew her before as a very proud person, yet I still felt like I know her. I would have checked but she wasn’t that important. Hailey though have been very quiet, too quiet. She spent all her time in clas-s, studying or in mom’s office. She handed the squad to Lee to take care of while she ran away from anything that would make her see Richie. It felt like our lives were shattered, except Lee’s who was always with Jonathan.
‘Hey little brother,’ Phoenix said jokingly, ruffling my hair. I sl@pped his hand away with a chuckle. I was waiting at the outdoor cafeteria.
‘Very funny Phoenix,’ he sat down too and grinned at me. ‘What?’
‘You look like death,’
‘I do?’ I t©uçhed my face, patting it quic-kly. ‘How? You are not the only one who have been saying that.’
‘Everyone believes Iris broke up with you because of how you have been been acting, even Ivan and Maggie are celebr@ting. What’s wrong Hans?’
‘Nothing, I have been feeling depress since Iris left, I don’t know why.’
‘Maybe because de-ep down in you, you like her.’
‘No,’ I shook my head negatively. ‘I don’t like her, I just feel pity and worry for her.’
‘Remember the first time we saw her?’ He asked as he took my fries. I smiled as the memory c@m£ back to me. We had seen her outside the mall, helping a little girl tie her shoelaces. The girl was lost, afraid and clinging to her like her life depended on it. Iris was smiling so brightly it looked like smiling was made for her. Her hair was in a side ponytail, the tail falling over her shoulder. She was so beautiful. ‘There, that is the smile that c@m£ to your face the day we saw her. You were very upset then, upset because your shoot was cancelled and moved to another day without your knowledge. You were so mad you fired your manager and yelled into the face of the CEO of the company you were modelling for, even quit. I had to take you to the mall since your special place is the mall, it makes you comfortable…’
‘I know the rest of the story, Phoenix,’
‘The point is that when you saw her, you smiled and that smile remained on your face for weeks, you never st©pped talking about her, even to Ivan. You wanted to meet her again but when you later saw her that day with Ivan, you bec@m£ sad. You didn’t want to backstab your so-called best friend, you didn’t want to hurt his feelings then. You contemplated it a lot of time, remember how you kept me up all-night talking ru-bbish?’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Yeah, even though you let go of her, you did it reluctantly and the next thing I knew, you were d@t!ngMaggie. What I think is that you shoved your feelings so de-ep down that when you eventually met her in person, your sympathy and feelings mixed up together but the sympathy was higher than the feelings because it was buried. So my theory is that now the sympathy is gone, the feelings is starting to unbury itself and that is why you feel miserable, you miss her.’
‘Wow, professor, teach me more,’ I said sardonically.
‘I know you won’t believe me,’
‘Whatever,’ I scoffed and looked at my empty fries. ‘Don’t you have anything to do with your life other than come sit with me? You are annoying me.’
‘You know that Violet girl that has been clinging to you?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I don’t know why I don’t like her, I always like girls, especially pretty ones with big bo-ob s like her, so why don’t I like her? I did a little research on her, you’re not going to like it Hans.’
‘What is it?’ He took my cu-p of smoothie.
‘Her full name is Violet Mary Bartholomew, daughter of Dr. Phil!pBartholomew, Iris’s father.’ My eyes wi-de-ned.
‘The twin?’
‘Yes, the twin. She is here for you, very obsess with you.’
‘How can you tell?’
‘I snuck into her house last night, her room is a shrine of you. The way I see it, that girl has a very dangerous obse-ssion, one that can kill.’
‘What else did you find?’
‘I don’t know, but I feel like you should get close to her to find out what’s she’s up to, something isn’t right about that lunatic. I would have done it but she likes you, not me.’
‘Hmm, if you think that is what I should do, then okay… Speak of the devil,’ I tilted my head as she skipped to me with a grin. ‘Hello Violet.’
‘Hey guys, can I sit?’
‘Why?’ Phoenix asked coldly. She sighed.
‘Hans, can I plea-se sit?’
‘Sit down Violet, ignore him,’ she sat down with a bounce. ‘How may I help you this time?’
‘You are now my new tutor, you are suppose to be teaching me now. I never knew you were brilliant, was shocked to see your name there…’
‘I have to go Violet, but we shall meet every morning in the libr@ry before clas-ses start and everyday after school…’
‘My place!’ She skrie-ked. She coughed. ‘I mean, my place after school.’ She repeated calmly.
‘If that is what you want, then fine.’
‘Yes,’ she jubilated quietly. ‘Can I have your phone number? For better communication?’ I slid my phone over to her. I watched her try to unlock my phone. ‘Your pattern…?’ I took my phone back, unlocked it with my f!ngerprint lock and slid it back to her. Phoenix gave me a look, I shrugged. ‘Saved, thank you so much Hans…’
‘You are done with the phone, give it back,’ Phoenix hissed.
‘Who is the girl you used as your wallpaper?’ She asked with distain. ‘She isn’t beautiful and looks horrible with this black hair.’
‘She looks better than you, that’s for sure,’
‘Phoenix,’ I whispered yelled. ‘Don’t be rude.’
‘Why? That is his girlfriend, the one he loves,’
‘The bit-ch that dumped him?’ She sneered. Phoenix kicked my legs un-der the table. I winced and whimpered, un-derstanding what he wanted me to do. ‘Don’t worry Hans, she doesn’t deserve you,’
‘Yeah, I know that now.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Starts with N and ends with H,’
‘Nayah?’
‘None of your business bit-ch,’
‘Phoenix!’ He raised his hands up in surrender. The funny thing was that it was a picture of my cousin sister.
‘Just saying the truth, gotta go now bro.’ He stood up, took my phone and ran off.
‘Phoenix! Come back here with my phone!’ I stood up and ran after him, far away from Violet. ‘Dude, you run like a beetle,’ I laughed, sma-cking his head. He pushed me away with a pout.
‘I run better in be-d,’
‘Sure you do,’ I sm-irked. ‘Now what am I suppose to do with her?’
‘How about use this as an opportunity to check if her father is up to anything illegal, one that we can use to pin him. I have a feeling that he might be up to something bad or he has some kind of history that Violet is a p@rt of.’
‘Why should we care anyways? It’s really none of our business,’
‘Once Violet sees Iris, you will know if it is or not.’ He patted my shoulder, shoved my phone into my back pocket and ran off.
The first thing I was going to do was make sure Violet doesn’t know Iris’s name.
~
~
~
‘Welcome to my home Hans, plea-se make yourself at home,’ I looked around the white foreroom, don’t they sweep?
‘Don’t you have a maid or something who do the sweeping?’
‘We are yet to get one but…’
‘Can’t you do the chores since you don’t have one?’
‘Do your sisters know how to use a broom?’ She scoffed. ‘Don’t make it sound like I’m dirty and lazy.’
‘Yes, my sisters do the chores themselves and you are lazy.’ I said emotionlessly. She scoffed and muttered to herself.
‘Let’s go to my father’s office, we can study there.’ She headed out of the foreroom to a foyer. I followed her, looking around the house for any hidden c@m£ras. I counted the ones I saw, the extremely small ones included.
‘So, what does your father do for a living? Your parents?’
‘My father is a scientist and microbiologist, my mother on the other hand is dead.’
‘Oh, sorry about that,’
‘It’s okay, what are you planning to become? Like your major in college will be what?’
‘I am the first son of my father and the second isn’t into business, what do you think?’
‘Do you really want it or you are just going to do it because you have to?’
‘Both,’
‘Don’t you wanna pl@yfootball?’
‘Once I leave highschool, I am throwing football away and focusing on my studies, maybe I will do something else then, I’m not sure.’
‘I am alre-ady living my dreams but if I am to study anything, it would be what my great grandfather wants, I’m the heir to everything he owes.’ She said proudly.
‘Really, and who is your great grandfather?’
‘Tobias McMillan, do you know him?’
‘Yes, very well, he is your great grandfather?’
‘Yes,’ smugness, typical. She was lying to someone who knew everything.
‘The last time I checked, he hadn’t named his heir yet,’
‘He doesn’t want to endanger me,’ she lied. ‘Once I’m done with highschool, he will announce it.’
‘Hmm, that’s good,’ I shook my head. She pushed the door to a libr@ry open, a small libr@ry. ‘Sure your father won’t mind,’
‘He won’t, can I get you anything?’
‘Yes, you can, water.’
‘I’ll get my books too,’ she said sheepishly. ‘I’ll be back,’ she ran out of the office, weirdo.
My phone vibr@te in my pocket, I brou-ght it out and looked at the screen, a foreign number. It was registered un-der an unfamiliar name. I swiped the green icon and placed the phone on my ear. ‘Hans, it’s me, Iris…’
‘Iris,’ I g@sped. ‘How have you been…’
‘Let’s save the plea-santry for another day, for now I want you to s£nd me my great grandfather’s personal phone number, can you do that?’
‘I don’t have it right now, but I will ask my father for it.’
‘But I nee-d it now, this isn’t my phone, I will have to return it.’
‘Then the next time you call, I’ll call it out for you, okay?’
‘I’ll try to call again tomorrow with another number,’
‘Iris, I know what you want to do but I want you to wait until you are all better, can you do that for me?’ I whispered.
‘I have to do that now…’
‘Violet is here, she is now in Dark Empire,’
‘What! When?!’
‘A week now, she’s very clingy,’ I leaned my as-s on the table. ‘Phoenix thinks I should get close to her but I don’t think so…’
‘Do Hans, help me see if you can get any evidence that proves that my father killed my mother. I always felt it but I pushed it off, now that I know he is capable of doing anything, I want you to do that. If my memory serves me right, he has these big books where he writes his everyday activities; one for the good things he do, the other for the bad. He always keeps the books in his be-droom, the one place no one goes to. Next, he saves all the experiments that have gone wrong, the effect of all the failed experiments and his future plans, even how the failed experiments were taken care of. He sto-res that in his computer or inside a flashdrive he keeps inside his lucky red box with a golden crown. Help me get it Hans, plea-se, before I return.’
‘How do you remember all these things?’
‘Because I do,’
‘You are going to run away from the psychic, aren’t you?’
‘That can be taken care of when I get what I really want. Thank you Hans, for everything you have been doing for me… And one more thing, tell Lee to be friendly to her, plea-se.’
‘Alright, bye Iris.’
‘Bye.’ I hung up and put my phone back into my pocket, I could hear Violet coming.
‘Sorry I took so long,’ she apologized.
‘No problem,’ she dropped the glas-s of water on the table. ‘Violet, how did your mother die?’
‘She died of cancer,’ Iris’s mother was found dead in her room, claimed to have committed suicide.
‘Did your father tell you that?’ She nodded positively. ‘And you are sure she died of cancer?’
‘I don’t care, she chose that lunatic over me,’ she spat out venomously. ‘She deserves to die…’
‘Your mother deserves to die?’
‘What?’ She laughed. ‘Did I say that? I was kidding,’ she lied laughingly. ‘I never met my mother, she died after I was born.’
‘No older siblings?’
‘No, I’m an only child… Why are you asking so many personal questions?’ She asked frowningly. I sipped my drink and gave her a charming smile.
‘I’m curious to know more about you,’
‘Oh,’ she blu-shed, pla-ying with the ti-p of her glas-s. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ I gave her back the glas-s. ‘Do you have c@m£ras in here? I don’t want to feel uncomfortable… Maybe we should just study at the school’s libr@ry…’
‘No! I’ll turn off all the c@m£ras,’
‘Your father…’
‘Will un-derstand, I will turn it back on after you leave.’
‘Okay,’ I ran my f!ngersthrou-gh my hair. She giggled, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘After lessons, how about we go see a movie?’
‘Really?!’
‘Yes, if you want to…’
‘I do! I do!’
‘You know what will be better? Let’s start the tutorial tomorrow, I feel like going out to do something different, what about the carnival?’
‘Yes! I’ll go change!’ She took the cu-ps and ran out. Sorry Violet.
? Lee’s standpoint ?
Johnny took me bowling! The one sport I have been dying to learn but don’t know how to. It was so awesome, very amazing because we were alone. Johnny had his hand around me, holding my elbow and hand to help me hold the bowling ball. He had been trying to teach me how to pl@yfor two hours but I just couldn’t concentrate when he was so close.
‘Now, roll it,’ I giggled. ‘What?’
‘The ball is shaped like your head,’ I giggled.
‘Ouch,’ he laughed. ‘Concentrate Lee…’
‘Urgh! I’m tired, food time…’
‘Lee, it has only been two minutes,’
‘Two hours,’ I corrected.
‘Two minutes,’ I stepped on his foot. ‘Ouch! Okay, two min…hours,’
‘Break time,’ I used my bu-tt to push him away and walk to the chair to sit down. He c@m£ with food, lot and lot of ice creams.
‘You are never going to learn,’
‘Nope,’ I popped. I brou-ght out the first package, burgers. ‘Did you bring any ketchup?’
‘Sauce actually, h0t sauce,’ he sat beside me. I focused my attention on s£nding the burger to my stomach. The first bite was paradise, I m0@n ed with eyes close, chewing slowly to save every single taste in my memory. The second taste was divine, third heavenly, fourth was ro-mantic, fifth se-duc-tive… So so se-duc-tive. The taste spluttered in my mouth, twisted my taste bod to an unforgettable divinity, it was spectacular, phenomenon!
‘Mm, good,’ I m0@n ed, l!çk!ng my f!ngers. Done with food one, now for food two. I looked over at Johnny, my f!ngersstiffened in my mouth. He was staring at me with admiration, amusement and…and…and…what’s that thing shining in his eyes? My cheeks heat up, I didn’t know he was looking at me. ‘Sorry,’ I murmured, averting my eyes to my l@ps. I eat improperly all the time.
‘Why are you sorry? For being cute?’
‘For eating like a pig,’
‘One, if you think you eat like a pig, then what do Riley eat like?’ I giggled, Riley is the true definition of pig. ‘Two, it is not the first time I am watching you eat, I actually love watching you, it’s amusing and funny. It makes me wonder why you are so simple, easygoing and nonchalant about your lifestyle. You eat whatever you want any way you like it, dress the way you like and do things without caring what anyone thinks about you. You are wise when you want to be, elegant when it sees you fit and crazy because that is you. Seeing you do what you do have me mesmerized, awestruck on how a girl of our clas-s and standard could be so simple and free. It is like the world has no evil in your sight or even if it does, you choose to go ahead of it and live life the best comfortable way you can. Why are you like this? What makes Hadley so mysterious, lovable and wacky?’
I sheepishly pla-yed with the hem of my shi-t. ‘I don’t know, I find myself doing things like this. I wasn’t always like this, it was ha-rd for me, but after my mother told me a story about herself, her life growing up, I changed. She didn’t know when she would die or how, all she knew was that she shouldn’t let the fear of dying get to her and make her a depress elephant. Mother lived like everyday was her last and at the same time, everyday had another to rock. Hearing her do that, I guess it somehow got to me, not in the exact way but close. Living like this helps me not be depress over things that doesn’t matter.’
‘And I love that about you, if only my sister was like you, she’d still be alive.’ He said sadly.
‘You had a sister?’
‘Older, always got easily depressed by what anyone thought of her. She lived her life to impress others, a posturing panderer… A posturing pushover rather. She st©pped eating so many things because other big girls were doing so, had b©yfri£nds and sugar daddies because her friends had one and who didn’t have any wasn’t cool. She bought this and that because they said to, did so many things until she got pregnant. Her friends did it, so she had to do it, ab-orted the child and died a week later. She died two years ago.’
‘I’m sorry,’
‘It’s okay, I am over it. I love your idea of living but sometimes, other people’s opinion matters, like your colors and shouting, you are trying to reduce it because you listened to me, right?’
‘Yeah,’
‘There, and don’t feel embarras-sed, you look adorable when you eat.’
I buried my face into my palms. ‘Thank you,’ I giggled.
‘How many b©yfri£nds have you had, Lee?’ I dropped one hand with a pout and itched my head.
‘I can’t remember…’ I have never d@t£d, never actually thought about it until he c@m£ around. ‘Just one,’
‘For how long?’
‘Three months,’ I lied. ‘You?’
‘I honestly lost count,’ he said grinning nervously. ‘I st©pped after my ex accused me of impregnating her, my parents believed in a heartbeat because they see me as wayward and worthless, just like my sisters. The girl lost the baby but it taught me a lesson, I am re-ady to prove to my parents that I am not wayward. My two older sisters died for similar reasons, the other one committed suicide after she got infected. Their sins ru-bbe-d off on me because I wasn’t proving it wrong but now I want to.’
‘So you are the only surviving child,’ I said as a matter-of-factly.
‘Yeah, my father is still disappointed,’
‘Maybe you should do something to make them know you have changed, perhaps tell your father to educate you in the family business, have you ever?’
‘No,’
‘Do it, and you can also try your best to pas-s the final exams and as for your mother, try to spend more time with her and she will forgive you. For example, you can make kitchen time your time, you know how to cook, right?’
‘Yes, she loves cooking every evening.’
‘Excellent, any time she wants to cook in the evening, join her, make it your bonding moment and every Sunday, try to f0rç£ your father into doing any activity he likes.’ He stro-ke his chin thoughtfully.
‘He does like chess, bowling and basketball.’
‘Is there a court in your house?’ He nodded. ‘Then you pl@ychess and do those things, if he doesn’t want to, challenge him, most men love a good challenge from their sons.’
‘Wow,’ he said happily. ‘That is a wonderful idea Lee, why didn’t I think of it? I’ll start immediately I get home, thank you.’
‘You’re welcome, now for food two before we go home.’
~
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~
I re-moved my seatbelt, singing the song I heard on the radio the other day, a ridiculous song about shoes. Johnny was watching me again, don’t care why. I carefully put the seatbelt in it place, singing louder as I bounced my head. ‘Thanks for today Johnny, really enjoyed bowling.’ I sang.
‘Eating,’ he corrected.
‘Shhh,’ I shushed gigglingly. ‘Don’t tell anyone… Can we go see a scary movie tomorrow?’ I sang again.
‘No,’
‘Why?’
‘Because you end up laughing every time someone gets killed, kill the fun out of it.’
‘Kill joy,’ I pouted. ‘Oh well, goodnight Johnny!…’ He glared at me warningly. ‘Oh, goodnight Johnny,’ I said softly. ‘Sweet dreams, get home safely and have a glorious night…’ I held his face and k!$$£d his cheek like I always do to everyone. ‘Lee loves you.’ I jumped back to the door and opened it, I’m always so enthusiastic… Almost enthusiastic.
‘Lee, wait!’ I looked at him questioningly. ‘I just…just…hmm…nevermind, ‘Lee, wait!’ I looked at him questioningly. ‘I just…just…hmm…nevermind, goodnight Lee.’
‘Okay…?’ I dropped my legs out of the car, pondering on what he was going to say. Oh whatever. ‘Goodnight,’ I bounced out of the car energetically and skipped to the gate.
‘Lee, wait!’
Oh what now?
‘Yes?’ I twirled around to face him. He jogged over to me with a nervous smile. ‘What?’
‘Hold still,’ he brou-ght out a very pretty hairpin. ‘I saw this yesterday, don’t know…’
‘I love it,’
‘I’ll wear it for you,’ I held back my excitement as he wore it for me, standing right in front of me. I was bouncing, re-ady to explode with joy. ‘There,’
‘It’s beautiful Johnny,’ I grinned, how do I see my head? ‘I can’t see…’ My eyes flew wi-de, wi-de wi-de wi-de! Johnny k!$$£d me. I was literally paralyzed by shock, too stunned to return the k!ss. He pu-ll-ed away from me, smiling brightly.
‘Sorry not sorry, goodnight Lee,’ he jogged back to his car, win-ked at me, jumped in and drove off. I remained there, dumfounded.
Johnny k!$$£d me and I didn’t k!ssback, what!
‘Hey! Johnny come back here and k!ssme again!’
‘Oh brother,’ Hailey scoffed. She walked back inside, leaving the gate open for me. I missed my opportunity.
To be continued