Plum Blossom

A hidden agenda,
A hidden face,
A hidden soul,
Waiting to be uncovered.

Good luck with Alvin. Niki mouthed those words to me as I passed by. What?! I shook my head; I certainly do not need any luck with him! Maybe I do need some; I wouldn’t want my best friend’s crush to have a crush on me. Things will become… complicated.

When I reached the lab, my Marine Bio teacher wasn’t there yet. Thank God. I looked around the class for Alvin; will he be sitting at my place or his? I broke away from that dilemma when I heard his loud chortle at the corner of the lab. He was sitting at my place, flanked by both of his bodyguards best friends; Alex and Ryan.

He did not seem very much delighted to see me when I sat down next to him. He bid a brusque ‘hi’ and continued his animated conversation with Alex and Ryan. I took that as good sign. A sign that meant he was not interested with me. Maybe it was normal for him to ask someone else to be his partner when his partner was absent. I was positive that he only chose me since I didn’t have a partner myself. Shake it off, Ashlyn. Shake it off. Just because he’s nice, doesn’t mean he is flirting.
I took out my notes and started doodling; wondering how to set my plans to work. I was halfway through a loop when I decided to seize this moment before the teacher enter the class. I took out my packet of Maltesers and popped one into my mouth. I turned around, offering it to Alvin and his gang; pretending to be polite.

“Whoa, Ashlyn. You’re such a rebel!” Alvin joked while accepting my treat. Jonathan and Alex shook their head in a synchronized motion; refusing my offer.

“Teacher isn’t around, Alvin. You can’t say that I’m rebel. I’m not eating in front of a teacher, am I?”

“You’re right, I guess” he chuckled. It’s funny how I never realized how cute he was when he laughed. Not exactly my cup of tea but he is cute, and that was a fact. Maybe this was what Laurelle felt in love with; his smile. He was always in a happy, sunny mood and was very generous with his smiles. He took another piece of chocolate.

“You like chocolates?” I asked, setting my plan in motion. It wasn’t a brilliant one, but it would do.

“Like chocolates? I love them! Call me Alvin the Chocoholic. My mom thinks that there’s too much sugar in my blood; like that would explain my ADHD,” he grinned a cheeky smile.

I smiled back politely. “What about chocolate cakes?” I continued.

“That too; though I prefer tiramisu.”Bingo! Mission accomplished! Laurelle will be thrilled to hear this. Almost as if he had read my mind, he said “Hey, who was that girl behind you in the hallway?”

“The one with that long auburn hair?” I asked just to verify.

“Ya! She’s kind of cute...and different. I’ve never met a girl like her.” Great! Laurelle will be screaming and jumping with joy when she hears this; not even bothering what it would do to her prim and proper reputation.

“You don’t know her?” he asked again.

I was so absorbed by my imagination –on how Laurelle will react- that I didn’t realise that he was still waiting for his answer. “What?”

“That girl –the one with the red hair– who is she? Do you know her?”

“Oh! She’s my best friend. Laurelle Ellie Waters”

“Laurelle. Sweeet!” he gave me another of his signature smiles. Those smiles were starting to annoy me. They reminded me of of a cad. I had my dose of those boys during my cheerleading years. I was immune to those flirts now but I hated seeing its effect on others; particularly on those naïve freshmen. I ignored him and turned around to go through my notes.

He leaned over and glanced at them. “Whales? You’re doing your assignment on whales?”

I waited for it. I knew that he was going to ridicule me about my choice. I need only know two facts perfectly well to conclude that.
1) I love whales.
2) Others don’t.

“Yes. So what?” I retorted.

He grew perplexed. He must have asked out of curiosity purpose and wasn’t trying to be offensive.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just asking...let me rephrase. You like whales?” He asked again, bearing another one of his annoying smiles; hoping this would lighten the mood. I decided to give in; for Laurelle’s sake. I can’t help her anymore if Alvin thought that I was mad at him.

“Yes. Telling the truth, I don’t just like them. I adore them.” I replied with a self-indulgent smile. Whales and otters have been my most favorite animals. That was why I took marine biology this year.

“Same here. You are the only person whom I know that loves them. Actually, I like all types of animal, especially sea creatures. Jon and Lex go blank whenever I mention the ocean. I bet they only took this class because I did.” He threw an annoyed look at them but Jonathan and Alex were too intrigued in checking out a blond girl sitting in the first row to notice.

Whatever Alvin uttered a moment ago officially placed him in a higher position on my ‘List of Jon Ben boys’. I was mildly impressed by him. All my other friends did not understand my passion. They thought I was weird, but Alvin did not. Before we knew it, our conversation grew. Animatedly, we chatted about everything from cetaceans, marine mammals and cold blooded fishes. We had our own personal theories on whales’ behaviors and such. I was amazed by how much he knew about the ocean. I asked him about his ambitions. “Marine Biologist…” he said. I should have guessed that. The way his eyes lit up during the whole conversation on marine life gave himself away. He in turn asked me about my dreams. I answered truthfully; psychologist.

“Then why take Marine Biology? It has nothing to do with psychology; unless you’re doing animal psychology.”

“Oh. If I don’t make it as a psychologist, I want to be a marine biologist. It’s my second option. Can’t get over the fact that barnacles are scary.” I shivered.

“Oh really?” he asked, chortling at my reaction. “You girls are weird.” He shook his head.

The conversation went on and on until a ring signalling the end of class was heard. Wow. I didn’t know that 40 minutes had passed by so fast. After all the fuss on searching for a lab partner, our teacher failed to make his appearance. So much for the important experiment.

All Laurelle wanted was just to know whether he liked chocolate cakes, right? If that was so, what I have gathered today was more than enough.

Alvin got up and I expected him to just leave. We may have had similar interest in chocolates and ocean lives but that didn’t mean that we were more than just classmates. I didn’t really mind though. Whether he just leave or wave bye, I was indifferent about it. But then he said “Hey, do you think you are free this Friday?” Was he asking me out on a date?!

“Erm... Do you want me to bring Laurelle?” Maybe that was the reason he was asking me out; to be with Laurelle. That didn’t make much sense to me. I didn’t want to be the mailman or mailwoman in my case. “Alvin Connor, if you want to ask Laurelle out, ask her yourself. I am her best friend but I’m definitely not helping you on this kind of stuff.” I vaguely remembered saying the same thing to Laurelle this morning.

Alvin flinched a little. “No, I’m asking YOU,” he emphasized. “How about dinner at The Grill with me?” He grinned and I was about to say no. Then I gave it some afterthoughts.

“That sounds ok,” I replied. This could help me learn more about Alvin for Laurelle. I may be annoyed with this guy but as long as Laurelle needed my help, I should be there for her.

“8 o’clock and I’ll pick you up. Deal?”

“Deal.” And he walked over towards Jonathan and Alex who looked like a pair of guardians waiting for their King.

“Bye, Ash.” He waved at me before exiting the room.

I replied him with another bye and rushed towards my locker because I had left my sociology books back there. I was my way to sociology class by now when I spotted Niki aka best-est friend of mine. I wanted to run to her and tell her about Alvin. I could tell everything later to Laurelle but I doubted that she would enjoy my bad remarks about Connor’s smile. Niki wouldn’t spill it to Laurelle. I was sure about that.

But something about her stopped me from approaching her; she wasn’t alone. She seemed to have monopolized the conversation with a really cute guy. Her facial expressions were different; it almost appeared as if she was trying to flirt! Niki was an introvert and so, to see her talking to a guy and flirting is a BIZZARE situation. ‘Wow’ was all I could think of; not that I doubted her attractiveness –she was sexy in her ways- but I just couldn’t remember the last time she flirted. Probably once, a long long long time ago.