Eulalia

Chapter 11: Flower Head

Chapter 11: Flower Head

Maybe I was in a dream or something because Eulalia actually looked quite serious
after her bold statement. Sandara and Jordan had mirrored, shocked expressions on
their face. Vivien seemed more curious than surprised. As for me, I couldn't see my
own face, but I could tell without looking that I was trying my best to hide how I
really felt about this. What kind of relationship was she talking about? Family?
Friends? Lovers? Were any of those possible?
“You need to be more specific, Eulalia,” said Jordan, recovering first.
Eulalia closed her eyes and tilted her head. “It's complicated. I don't know where to
start.”
“You can start with the situation,” Jordan said smoothly.
“I'm not sure what is going on with me and him,” she said, opening her eyes and
keeping them on the floor. “I don't know where we stand exactly.”
“That does sound complicated,” said Sandara sympathetically.
“He doesn't think much of me at all,” said Eulalia sadly, fumbling with her beanie.
When did Eulalia start caring what others think of her? “He thinks I'm too apathetic
to everything and that I don't show passion for anything or anyone. I go with the
flow too much and am horrible at taking care of myself...”
Eulalia, news flash: the reason why this guy would think this way about you was
because you act exactly like that every day. No one could tell why you do what you
do or think the way you think. Sometimes, you were the most logical person in the
world. Other times, you couldn't remember why you were in a certain guy's room
sleeping on top of his bed. Whoever this guy was, I couldn't agree more. I almost
felt sorry for him for having to deal with you.
“It sounds like whoever he is,” said Sandara, gathering all the information so far.
“He's criticizing you in order to help you improve yourself, Lala. You should be
thankful for him.”
I agree. I didn't even know who this guy was and I respected him somewhat already.
“Dude,” Eulalia sighed. She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead,
she dropped it and instead, continued with, “How can that be? He and I haven't
talked much and every time we do talk, it hasn't ended well these days...”
Why in the world did Sandara, Jordan, and Vivien all turn to me at the same time? I
stared back blankly at them. What were they implying? That I was this guy? How
could that be possible when Eulalia couldn't even remember my name and probably
only recognize my existence recently? Still, they glared at me until the two girls
started comforting Eulalia on how she should just talk it out with this guy.
“You should attack him directly,” Sandara suggested.
“No, no,” Vivien disagreed. “We women have to be subtle.”
“But what if he's a blockhead?”
“What if you come on too strong and push him away?”
Eulalia yawned and didn't even try to answer either of them. It was as if she just
allowed them to fight it out over a topic she brought up in the first place. Eulalia,
why would you even say anything when you didn't want to listen to anyone's
advice? I frowned at her. She noticed, but didn't respond to it. However, Sandara,
with her quick eyes, noticed the quick exchange between us and held Eulalia by the
arm.
“Lala...” said Sandara, exasperated. “Is it...”
“I don't want to change myself,” Eulalia said at last, pushing Sandara's grip off her
and taking off her orange beanie. She turned away from us. “And I don't want
anyone else to change me either.”
Without warning, Eulalia acted like her usual self and went on her way. Jordan was
about to chase after her, but Sandara and Vivien held him back. Instead, they
glared at me. I blinked. What did I do? I didn't say anything! Since I didn't
understand what they wanted from me, Sandara gave in and told me to go after her
and to meet back with them at the front in two hours. Two hours? And why me?
"Wait up, Eulalia," I called after her.

Whether Eulalia heard me or not didn't matter because she didn't stop or turn
around so instead, I ran faster to catch up to her. She threw me a quick look before
she continued on her way. This was when I realized... why would I need two hours to
calm her down? I was beginning to think there was a plan to all this that Sandara
and others failed to inform me about. Alas, I had gone this far so I might as well
continue.
"What's up?" I asked casually.
"Hungry."
I forced a laugh. "Did you bring your wallet?" She kept her silence. "Aren't you lucky
today? To have two college students treat you."
"You don't have to."
"It's less of a pain that way."
Not on purpose, the two of us ordered at a Mexican place. For whatever reason, she
ordered some cheap tacos and ate in silence. I didn't quite get it. Since I was paying
for it, shouldn't she take advantage of my generosity? In contrast to her usual, she
seemed very much aware that she was depending on me for money. I was
beginning to think that she had always been this way, but I failed to see it. Then
again, I failed to see a lot of things because of the nature of our relationship in
general. Our talk earlier managed to make me realize that.
It didn't take me long to realize that this was another golden opportunity to talk to
Eulalia. Since Eulalia was Eulalia, I had to start the conversation or else, she would
never talk to me. All two hours, too, I bet. Of course, I waited until she finished
eating first.
"Your complicated relationship," I started.
"Hn."
"Is it with a boy your age?"
She thought about it and shrugged, "You can say that."
"I understand somewhat how you feel, then."
"Huh."
She sipped her apple juice and I also drank a bit of my soda. It was a moment of
silence and the sun was as bright as ever. People passed by us as if we were
invisible.
"It's not because of me, is it?" she asked suddenly.
I nearly spat out my soda. "No... Not you..."
"Stalker," Eulalia said with a sigh.
"Hey," I cried out in warning.
"Is it Vivi?"
"No," I said sternly. "It was with a girl back in high school."
"High school..."
"She was my best friend since tenth grade."
Eulalia picked up a leaf that had fallen on our table. "Hn."
Even if she weren't paying attention, I pretended that she was and continued, "We
were always together so everyone thought we were an item when we were just best
friends." Eulalia examined the leaf carefully. "The thing was she had other friends,
too, while I only had her and a couple of others who I didn't really bother with. They
weren't my real friends anyways. No one was really anyone's real friend back in high
school."
"It doesn't sound complicated so far," Eulalia mused.
"If I had ignored the rest of the school, maybe," I said.
"You should."
"I try not to ignore people."
"Why?"
"I don't like being ignored."
Eulalia scanned me quickly before she sipped her juice and asked, "So what
happened to your best friend?"
"She went to Columbia."
"Where is that..."
"It doesn't matter," I said quickly. "The point was I didn't know what to think of our
relationship and she didn't either. There were too many voices around us telling us
what to do. We couldn't decide anything for ourselves." I stopped and lowered my
head at the memory. "God. I hated high school."
"I didn't," she said softly.
"You probably didn't care enough about high school to hate it."
"Not really," Eulalia shrugged. "I don't really hate anything..."
"Really?"
"I guess."
I sighed at her. "You guess?"
"If I do hate something," she said more assertively. "I hate my old man. But I don't
hate him either."
Somehow, this both surprised and not surprised me about her. "How can you not
hate things? Do you just not care?"
Like I expected, Eulalia chose not to answer such a hard question. Instead, she
glanced away and sipped her juice. She apparently finished because she was
making that weird noise when someone was sipping out of an empty cup. I got so
annoyed that I bought her a second one and placed it in front of her. Without a
thank you, she went on sipping it. I didn't know what to say. It was like she
purposely wanted the conversation to die out. After a while though, she picked her
head up and stared at me with tired eyes. She was already growing sleepy.
"What's your name again?" Eulalia asked at last.
"Brice," I said, worn out. "Brice Worth."
"Brice," she told herself. "Why do you hate things?"
"I just don't like them."
She held up her cup at me. "Want some star blossoms?"
"You mean apple juice?" I asked her. She stared blankly at me. I accepted and took a
quick sip. "Thanks."
When she received her cup, she said, "I don't hate on anything because I believe in
principle."
I blinked at her answering the question I asked ten minutes ago. "Principle?"
"What else do you hate?"
Wait a second. Was Eulalia asking me a question for once? Didn't she ask me
something earlier today, too? What was up with today? Was she just easier to talk to
outside of USC? Or was it because we were two unknown people in a sea of
strangers that she was able to talk so freely? In any case, there was a part of me
that was happy. But there was also a part of me that was suspicious of her. I hated
myself right now.
"I hate broccoli," I said something safe.
"The flower head," she said.
I waved it off. "Whatever."
"Why do you hate the flower head?"
"It has a bitter taste."
"Not all flower heads have that taste."
"Well, the ones I had, did."
"Then, you don't really hate them," she said. "You hate the taste of the American
ones."
"Whatever," I said, feeling defensive. "I still hate them."
"It's not the flower head's fault that it has a bitter taste," she continued. "It is grown
and cultivated to have that taste."
"What's your point? I still hate the taste."
"There's nothing wrong with the flower head for having that taste. There's just
something wrong with you for hating on it for its taste."
I feel offended so I said, "You're only saying that because you like plants."
She sighed at me. "What else do you hate that's not a plant?"
"I hate UCLA," I said, being braver with my picks now.
"Why do you hate on a school?"
"Because I'm from USC and we all hate UCLA."
"I don't hate UCLA."
"You're not really the best example of a typical USC student, Eulalia."
With that same sleepy expression on her face, she said, "So... you hate on this
school because you're a student from a school that hates it?"
"I know it doesn't make sense when you put it that way-"
"And I thought I lacked common sense and logic."
"Shut up," I said, dropping my head. I glared at her. "Why do you almost hate your
dad, then? Or is that such a personal issue that you cannot share with someone you
doesn’t even know the name of?"
For a second, I thought I could anger Eulalia by bringing up both touchy issues at
once. However, she didn't really respond to it. She simply stared at me for a bit with
those sleepy eyes before she allowed a loud burp. Everyone around us stared at us,
which made me feel self-conscious again. This felt like that one time in the study
room with Etchi. Similar to Etchi, Eulalia didn't mind the stares and instead, picked
up a napkin to wipe her mouth. She got up and started walking away. I hurried after
her.
"Are you running away?" I asked her out loud.
She stopped and turned to me. "My leg was falling asleep..."
"I see."
"Why do you hate high school?" She tilted her head at me.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I'll go after you."
Since Eulalia hadn't proven whether she was a trustworthy person when it came to
keeping her word, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I always wanted to talk to
someone about what happened back then anyways. That person just happened to
be Eulalia of all people. Sadly, I was beginning to believe that Eulalia was the
closest thing I had to a best friend around here. Well, she didn't know a lot of people
so she wouldn't gossip about this anyways...
"I just hated the majority of the people there," I stated. "I hated the superficial girls.
I hated the class clowns that talked bull shit to sound funny. I hated how no one
gave a damn about their futures and used school as a social hell hole." I took a
breath in between. "And most of all, I hated how fucking selfish and self-centered
everyone was. No one really gave a fuck about anyone else."
"From the sounds of it," Eulalia said calmly. "You have nothing against the school
itself."
"No... Toy High had a nice campus..."
"It sounds like you just hate... people."
I blinked at her. "Maybe.” I remembered too many faces at once. “I don't fucking
know anymore."
"Huh... That's kind of hard..."
"What's hard?"
"Your hatred."
"Why?"
"People are everywhere," she stated.
"Thanks for the obvious."
"You say you hate high school," she continued after a few minutes of silence. "But
high school is just a building. A period of four years. I don't think there's anything
wrong with the building, the time span, or the people in it. There's just something
wrong with you. Something going on in your head that makes you wants to hate all
these things. Something that went on in your life that you can't control and
therefore, put all your hatred on everyone around you. Something that makes you
thinks you're better than everyone else and you're not part of it all."
I was speechless. Eulalia said so much that I completely lost my train of thought and
my anger. For one thing, I was feeling more defensive than ever before. Who was
she to tell me that there was something wrong with me when obviously there was
something wrong with her instead? She was the one who hid potatoes all over the
school. She was the one who wouldn't carry her own luggage inside her dorm. She
was the one who caused all sorts of problems for our dorms. She was the
troublemaker. She was the weird one. She was the one who stood out in society.
Again. Who was she to judge me? Who was she to judge what I hated on?
I kept these thoughts to myself. There was no reason to get angry with her. She
wouldn't respond to it anyways. From experience, I could already see she didn't
really care for people being angry with her or people having something against her.
It was like she was perfectly fine with everything and took everything as it came.
Was this what she meant by principle? What did that even mean anyways? Why was
she telling me all of this? Was she helping me or making fun of me? How could she
possibly understand me when she couldn't even remember my name?
"Did you like your high school?" I asked under my breath.
"What's there to like?" she said with a shrug. "It's just a school. I have to graduate
from it like everyone else."
"But it's fucking four years of your life," I said. "You must have some opinion on it."
She thought about it for a bit before she answered, "The school didn't even have a
fire alarm. The parking lot only had enough parking spaces for the teachers to park
in. The gate didn't have a lock. The school library didn't have many books in it. The
water fountain didn't really work. There were no trees to sit under for shade during
breaks." She shrugged. "The classrooms were also small and crowded, but I learned
to read and write just fine."
I recovered from her words a few seconds later, “What about the people there?”
“Huh?”
“The teachers and the students.”
“What about them?”
“Weren't you an outcast? Someone who stood out too much from the rest of the
crowd? Weren't you,” I paused and remembered an incident back in high school.
“Hated on by anyone?”
“I don't know,” she replied lamely.
“You were so out of it that you didn't even notice?” I asked her in disbelief.
Eulalia pouted. “So mean...”
“Forget it.”
“If someone hates me,” said Eulalia, shrugging. “There's a problem with them, not
me.”
“Isn't that too arrogant?” I asked her directly. “You might have done something or
act a certain way to be hated on in the first place?”
Eulalia sighed, as if annoyed with me talking to her so much. “Hatred is just a
projection of yourself and your feelings onto something... someone else.”
Thanks to her last words, it reminded me of what had been going on between us
since the first day of this term. I had no doubt in my mind that Eulalia was true to
her words. She had probably never hated anyone in her life because she didn't care
enough for anyone. Instead, she just ignored them when they proved to be
bothersome.
“It's easy for you to say that,” I said under my breath. She continued walking, not
saying anything. “See. You would just ignore people whenever you felt like it.”
Eulalia stopped in front of me with her back to me. “If you hate me, why would you
stalk me...”
“Stalk you?” I asked, almost laughing. “Why would I want to stalk someone like
you?”
Eulalia kept her back and silence. The silence was killing me. I was so overwhelmed
with feelings for her. It wasn't that of love. It wasn't that of hatred either. I didn't
know how to describe my feelings exactly. I didn't even know myself anymore. I
always felt irritated around her. I felt worthless around her. Whatever it may be,
there was one thing I knew for sure. She was the reason behind all my unhappiness
and maybe, it was about time she learned this.
“It's because you fucking ignore me. You always ignore me and act as if my
existence is meaningless. That's why I keep trying to follow you around, just to talk
to you.”
Turning around, Eulalia gave me a blank look and then, tilted her head out of
curiosity. “Didn't I tell you before? I thought I did...”
“Tell me what?”
“You remind me of my old man.”
At first, I was completely lost. What was she talking about? However, I trusted her
for now and tried to remember the first time we met. It was at that stupid meeting
Casey set up. We didn't talk that one time. The next time we finally spoke to each
other was when I carried the boxes in her room for her. She told me she didn't have
to pay her intuition for USC. What else did she say? Oh, she offered me an orange
and called it a 'ripe ovary', which I now learned was the right name for an orange.
This was when I remembered the last thing she said to me before I left the room
that day. Yes! She did compare me to her father. And I was very annoyed about it,
too, more so because I pretended to understand what she meant when I really
didn't.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” I believed I was smarter this time around for
asking instead of walking away from it.
"My old man tells me every day that I'm wrong," Eulalia said, keeping her eyes
ahead once more. Why did she refuse to stare at me straight in the eye? "That I am
not talented. That I am not good enough." She paused and most likely thought to
herself. "That's his goal. He wants me to feel down... to feel stupid. But this is why I
can't hate him. If I hate him, I am no better than him. His presence will be even
bigger in me than it already is."
Like I thought, Eulalia had daddy issues. It appeared to be worse than I originally
imagined. Then again, she wasn't close to who I would label as a normal person in
the first place. But to think that she would turn out like this-
Eulalia glanced back at me and interrupted, "I believe in my own self and my own
beliefs." Her eyes seemed to have changed somehow. They weren't so sleepy
anymore. "That's why... I don't need to hear those words from him... or from you."
*************************************
As I checked my e-mail on the computer, I thought about what happened earlier
today. I couldn't remember anything. It was as if my memory refused to recall what
happened between the time Jordan and others left Eulalia and me alone to this very
moment. We must have eaten together since I was quite full. I must have carried
Eulalia because she as sleeping soundly on top of my bed. But what else happened?
Did I fall asleep in the car? Did Sandara ask me how it went with my alone time with
Eulalia? I laid back on my chair and stared at the ceiling. I blanked out somehow
and I had no idea how.
Then, there was a knock on my door. I wondered if Jordan had forgotten his keys or
something. Vivien and Jordan went out somewhere. They must have told me at one
point where, but I didn't pay attention. I was too busy feeling conflicted. Why did I
feel conflicted in the first place? Anyways, I released a heavy sigh before I picked
myself up and staggered to the door. I knew I shouldn't have opened it when I met
the eyes of the last person I wanted to see at the moment- Etchi.
"Good evening," he greeted.
I dropped my head. "How did you know?"
"I was at Master's place and Sandara came back."
I nodded. "Oh..."
"How did it go with you and Eulalia?"
"I don't know."
He laughed at me and leaned toward me. "You're hiding all the naughty stuff from
me, aren't you?"
"No," I said immediately. "I have a hard time remembering what happened today."
"You're fucked," said Etchi, amused. He tried to push his way in. "Let's talk inside."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea."
"If Casey catches me in the hallways at this hour, I'm fucked."
"Good for you."
Etchi grinned generously. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing."
Since Etchi refused to take no for an answer, he managed to slip from under me and
went inside anyways. I was too tired and annoyed to stop him so I simply closed the
door behind me. I found him crouching near my bedside where Eulalia was curled up
in a ball, sleeping. This was why I didn't want him to come in. Every time I saw him
with Eulalia, it bugged the shit out of me. I believed it was the way he looked at her.
Whenever he stared at her like he was doing right now, no one else seemed to be in
the room. He was so focused on her. He was so similar to her. Everything about her
that annoyed me was shared by Etchi, too.
"Do you not like your father either?" I asked suddenly, remembering part of my
conversation with Eulalia just by watching Etchi.
"I don't have a father," he said under his breath.
"Everyone has a father."
"Maybe at one point, but hell like I remember him."
“Are you an only child?”
“I am. Are you?”
“I am.”
“I can tell.”
“Shut up.”
Etchi reached out and rubbed Eulalia's head. “She is, too, you know.”
“It's pretty obvious there, too,” I said. “Jordan doesn't have any siblings either.”
“People don't want to have a bunch of fucking loud-ass kids anymore,” said Etchi in
amusement.
I laughed at him. “Society as a whole is corrupt.”
“It's shitty all right,” said Etchi in agreement.
“You have little faith in humanity, too?” I asked, slightly surprised.
“You can't tell?” asked Etchi, grinning. “I fucking hate most people.”
“Is that why you can't make friends?”
“Beats me.”
I wanted him to stop fondling over Eulalia, but at the same time, I didn't want to
waste any effort in saying something he would simply ignore. Instead, I kept going
as if I wasn't feeling messed up already from my whole situation with Eulalia earlier
and now, to this sight in front of me. Seriously. Why did I have to deal with Eulalia
and Etchi in the same day for a week now?
“We have something in common, then,” I sighed.
“Actually,” said Etchi, shifting his eyes from Eulalia to me. He was dressed back in
black. “Did you know Eulalia is the opposite of us?”
I sat up straight now. “Really?”
“It's the main difference between me and her.”
“Wait. Explain.”
Etchi removed his hand from her and relaxed in his seat. "Eulalia might not look like
it, but she probably has a lot of faith in people."
I blinked. "Come again?"
"I may be bullshitting again-"
"As always."
"But she never got along with her family. She wasn't interested in many friendships
back in high school. People didn't give a crap about her. And yet, at USC, she
managed to do decently well when it comes to getting along with others."
"The same can be said for you and you hate people," I pointed out.
He chuckled and laid his head on top of my bed. "It's not the same."
"Oh, really?" I asked, sounding more menacing than I should be.
"She gives people the benefit of the doubt," he said under his breath. "That's the
only reason why she hasn't reported you for stalking her yet."
"I never stalked her," I defended.
"And why she's so carefree sleeping in your room."
"Again, I'm not a stalker and it's not my fault."
"It takes one to know one."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Honey," he said playfully. "Your form of stalking is nothing."
"Compared to whom?" I asked, slightly worried.
He smirked. "Who do you think?"
I sighed at the gleeful expression on his face. "You're more of a creep than I
thought."
"I don't think being persistent is a bad thing."
"Uh-huh."
"You got to know her better by being persistent, didn't you?"
"Yes... and your point is?"
"If I'm a creep, you're a creep."
"Now listen-"
"The difference is she hasn't slept on my bed... yet."
I was speechless for a while before I recovered at the thought of who I was talking
to. Etchi was definitely messing with my head again. There was no way in hell we
were alike. Eulalia might not have slept on his bed, but a ton of other girls probably
had. And that didn't make it any better for either of us in regards to Eulalia. There
was a part of me that was happy that I called Etchi a "creep". Then, there was
another part of me that disliked this because he seemed to be enjoying it far too
much.
"Let's change topics," I said at last.
"Okay," he said too quickly. "What else happened?"
"We talked about our interests."
"Oh?"
"It was a bad idea."
"How come?"
I sighed. "No one shared the same interest as me."
"Hit me," said Etchi with a wide grin.
"First off, I tried to talk about USC football-"
"Oh yes, the Trojans," he said in agreement.
I gaped at him. "You, of all people, know something about sports?"
"Of course," he grinned. "I watch the Olympics, the NBA finals, the US Open, the
Super Bowl, World Figure Skating, and all that good stuff."
"Really..."
"Except the World Cup. God, I hate that shit."
"You hate soccer?" I asked in surprise.
"No, I don't hate the sport by itself. I don't like watching it."
I grinned. "How come?"
"No one ever fucking scores," said Etchi, shrugging. "I hate whenever the World Cup
comes around because all the manly guys start pretending they actually know shit
about the fucking sport. Like they actually give a damn. Bandwagoning is quite a
wonderful thing... my ass."
"I noticed that too," I said, frowning. "People who never mentioned soccer before
suddenly talk like they know everything."
"I know! Fuck! Where do they all come from?"
"I know."
"I swear it's one of those hype that needs to be fucking killed."
I laughed. "I actually follow soccer constantly, not just during the World Cup."
"Good and I can't wait for the World Cup to be over with every time so people can
stop pretending to care so fucking much."
I laughed. "I underestimated you, Etchi."
"You do that a lot, you know?"
I ignored him and continued, "Sandara talked about politics."
"The government is full of shit," said Etchi, sitting back in his chair now. "Politicians
are dumb shit, too."
"I don't know..." I sighed.
"Honestly, I don't like either side."
I stared at him. "You mean 'Democrats' or 'Republicans'?"
"No, correction," he quickly added. "I don't like the labels of either side. It's like if
you declare yourself a Democrat, you must always agree with the Democrats and
vice versa. I don't like labeling in general. It comes with a lot of stereotyping that's
completely unnecessary."
"I get what you mean," I said lamely.
"I've known good people from both sides," he said. "With the way the government
runs the show, it's like one side is always evil and one side is always good,
depending on whom the majority in office is. It's a load of bull shit. The way I see it,
there are just as many dumb ass Democrats as there are Republicans. If we must
ask which side is more evil, they're both equally evil."
I frowned at him. “You should have more faith in your government.”
“Fuck the government.”
“Vivien talked about celebrities,” I said quickly, hoping Etchi would calm down a bit.
Etchi tossed me a thoughtful look before he said, “I actually know a lot about
celebrities thanks to my job. Girls tell me these things and I read up on them to
entertain some of my clients. Did she mention any name in particular?”
“Mammon, the singer,” I said. “His music is okay.”
“Did you know he graduated from USC?” asked Etchi, seeming to like this topic
better.
“Really...”
“Sometimes, people forget that celebrities are people too,” said Etchi. “Mammon
has little patience for anything. He is extremely picky with his food. And he's quite a
fucktard once you get to know him, too.” Etchi sighed. “Once you get to know some
of these people, you wonder why the rest of us don't get that high of a salary.”
“You know,” I said, feeling more awkward around Etchi than usual. “You should have
been to that outing instead of me.” Etchi blinked innocently at me. “You would have
no problem following any of the conversations.”
“What did Jordan talk about?” asked Etchi curiously.
“Shakespeare, Emerson, and other writers.”
“Does he worship them?”
“It looks like it.”
Etchi frowned. “It's like with Vivien and her celebrity fascination.” I stared blankly at
him. “He does realize that those writers he admires so much are basically like you
and me sitting at that study room, but instead, writing up their own ideas right?”
“I actually don't know,” I said.
He shook his head. “Sometimes, I wonder why people elevate certain people when
we're all basically the same... whatever...”
“You do know everything.”
“I don't know everything.”
“Well, right now, you make me feel like shit for knowing nothing.”
Etchi removed his eyes from me and gazed at Eulalia instead. “But that's what I like
about you, Brice.” I gawked at him. “It's nice to have someone around who listens to
everyone else's interests and not have to worry about him pushing his opinions onto
others.”
“I can't tell whether you're praising or insulting me...”
“Think of it this way,” he said under his breath. “We're just having a best friend
conversation.”
After everything that happened today, including the memory with Eulalia that I
couldn't quite recall right now, I decided today just wasn't the day for me. I had no
power or will to deny Etchi anything. Actually, it was more that I didn't feel the need
to fight off his words. I was beginning to believe it myself. Honestly, after all the shit
I felt like I went through thanks to this stupid outing in the first place, I could really
use the thought of having a best friend who was so willing to be my best friend in
the first place.
“Yeah...” I said, giving in.
“But, really,” Etchi said. “I don't know everything... I just pick up a few things here
and there and-”
Before he finished his thought, he jumped out of his seat and ran inside the
restroom in a hurry. I was going to go after him to ask what in the world was going
on when I noticed that Eulalia was sitting up on my bed. I watched as she wiped her
eyes and stared around her room, as if checking her surroundings. Then, her eyes
widened as she lowered her head and checked underneath my bed. I went over to
her.
“You were looking for something, Eulalia?” I asked coolly.
“Have you seen my hat?”
“You didn't sleep with that beanie on.”
“Where is it?”
“I haven't seen it.”
For a moment, she stared at me without blinking as if searching my eyes to check
whether I was lying or not. Eventually, I bet she noticed that I wasn't lying. I really
had no idea what happened to that orange beanie. I was so out of it ever since our
last conversation. This was when Eulalia decided that it was time for her to leave
my room altogether as she rushed toward the door. The sight was just so
outrageous to me that I went after her, even after she left my room. This was too
out of character for me not to care.
“Beanie...” she muttered to herself.
Much to my surprise, Eulalia was on the ground on her knees in order to search for
her beanie. A couple of people passed by and whispered about us. I bet they
weren't shocked though because it was Eulalia after all. No one understood Eulalia
in this building anyways. They were beginning to just let her do whatever she
wanted and let her get away with it because of how strange they found her to be.
But, while I stood there and watched her, I felt like I understood her. Bits of the
previous conversation I had with her started coming back to me all of a sudden.
Eulalia had little to no common sense and Eulalia did whatever she liked whenever
she liked. Why? Because she wanted to. She wasn't going to allow a couple of stares
and talks stop her.
“Hey Eulalia,” I said, crouching down next to her. “Do you want to split up and
search for it?”
Eulalia didn't say anything. Instead, she crawled along the wall and looked around
frantically. Since I was standing, I could see she bumped her head right into Casey's
leg. Eulalia lifted her head and gave Casey a blank look. Judging by Casey's face,
she was trying her best not to hurt Eulalia right now. Instead, she shot me a deadly
look, in which I instantly grinned in reply.
“Price!”
“I swear she's not doing anything plant-related!”
Casey lifted a brow dangerously. “What the fuck is going on around here? Why is
there a midget crawling around in my hallway under my patrol?”
“Eulalia lost something,” I said smoothly.
“Bull shit! Lally would never put any effort in finding something she lost!”
I blinked at Casey at the realization. “You're right.”
“Of fucking course,” said Casey, grabbing a hold of Eulalia's shoulder and forcing
her up to her feet. “What kind of shenanigans are you up to again, Lally?”
“My beanie...”
“Your beanie?”
Eulalia nodded. “I don't know where it is...”
“You weren't lying, Price?” asked Casey to me. I shook my head. “Fuck. There's no
fucking beanie around here, Lally. I've been patrolling this hallway since an hour ago
and there was none.”
“Really...” said Eulalia, down.
I sighed. “I guess we didn't drop it here. Where could it be?”
Eulalia staggered toward her room. “Sleepy...”
“But you just woke up!” I cried, but of course, she didn't listen and went on her way.
“Fuck.”
“Price, you're not allowed in her room,” said Casey with a threatening glare at me.
I made up a quick excuse and escaped from any errands Casey might forced upon
me. I stopped by Eulalia's room and sighed. No, it would be awkward if I bothered
her so soon. This was when I decided to search for that orange beanie on my own. If
it weren't in this building, it must either be outside or inside Jordan's car. I retraced
my steps and kept my eyes open. How hard could it be to spot something so
orange? I made sure to check behind every bush and building as well, but I had no
luck at all.
Finally, I returned to where Jordan's car was parked, which was far off campus.
Jordan and I both knew how much it cost just to park on campus. We'd rather use
that money for something else so we'd rather walked a long distance just to get
back to the dorms. However, this was a bad idea now because it took me forever to
return to the car just for Eulalia's beanie. On the way to the car, I didn't see it either.
Not that I was surprised. Chances were people passing by would have picked it up if
they saw it anyways. I hoped that wasn't the case here.
Much to my dismay, I couldn't see the beanie inside Jordan's car. The thing was his
windows were tinted so I wasn't too sure so I called him about it. A part of me
wondered what he and Vivien were doing right now. Hopefully, it wasn't something I
wasn't ashamed to tell his girlfriend if she ever visited USC. Anyways, my worries
were for nothing because it sounded like they were at a loud, public place. Jordan
explained to me over the phone that he had already left the beanie back in our
room.
Wait. So the beanie was there the entire time? Or did he drop it off after I left the
room with Eulalia already? Since Jordan hung up in a hurry, I didn't have time to
make sure. Instead, I ran full speed back to my room. I wanted so badly to retrieve
that beanie and hand it to Eulalia. There was no motivation behind it really. I didn't
want anything from her in particular. If there were one thing I wanted, it was her
undivided attention on me the moment I handed it to her. That was all.
As my luck would have it, the person who was playing around with the orange
beanie in his hands was none other than Etchi. You would think that the minute I left
my room, he would leave too, but no, he decided to stick around. I went inside and
tried to act as casual as possible. If he knew I ran all the way here, I was never living
it down with him. After all, it was his hobby to torture me in every way possible.
“Etchi...”
He held the beanie farther away from me. “Nice try, Brice. No touching.”
“Come on,” I said, sighing. “This isn't a game.”
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“What did Eulalia say to you?”
I gawked at him. “You're still going on about that?”
“I need to know,” he emphasized.
“She's...” I said, giving in. I thought back on our conversation. “Having problems
with someone criticizing her too much...”
Etchi lifted a brow. “Who knew she actually cared?”
“My exact thoughts.”
“Is that all? I know that's not all.”
I glared at him, but simply sighed afterwards. “Let me try to remember...”
Since I had nowhere else to look at, I stared at that orange beanie long and hard
before I remembered the Mexican food and what happened right afterwards. I
gulped. Yes. That conversation. Eulalia made me feel so inferior for whatever
reason. She also made me want to argue against her and defend myself. But of
course, being myself, I couldn't do anything like that... correctly. I just stood there
and listened to myself being ripped apart by this girl who didn't even know of my
existence until recently.
“I asked her why she ignored me,” I said slowly.
Etchi sat up straight at the news. “Fuck. Really?”
“Yes.”
“You had the balls to do that?”
“Yes.”
Etchi blinked several times. “And what the fuck happened?”
“She said I was like her dad...”
“Holy mother fucker.”
At his reaction, I completely forgot about Eulalia and her father problems for a
minute. Instead, I saw Etchi and Eulalia in my head again. It was exactly like that
time he wrote her that love letter in the study room. Even though he decided on
impulse, it drove me insane. I couldn't understand why someone who had so many
girls would put so much attention on the one girl I wanted the attention of. Wasn't
he satisfied with all his women? Why did he want Eulalia too? Was it too hard for
him to back off?
I kept these thoughts to myself. I had to refrain myself from reacting outwardly. The
only reason I was annoyed was because he acted like he knew what was going on
between Eulalia and I without ever being there. How could he possibly know? Was
he bullshitting again? I couldn't tell at all. Actually, whenever it came to Etchi and
Eulalia, I became extremely frustrated no matter what.
“She said...” I continued, looking down. “That I put her down like her dad.”
When I glanced over at Etchi, I noticed the serious expression on his face. There was
not a hint of playfulness on his face. Somehow, he looked even better than usual. It
must be the lighting or my imagination. Whatever it was, I could tell that he was
fighting within himself whether to be a dick to me or not. He closed his eyes, took in
a deep breath, and opened them with a softer look on his face. I was half relieved,
half disappointed.
“Do you know why he puts her down?” Etchi asked carefully.
“How should I know?”
Etchi chuckled to himself. “It's because he can't control her.”
“Okay...”
“You can't control her either, Brice.”
I scowled. “I never said I wanted to.”
“If even money can't control her, nothing can,” said Etchi, hopping off my chair and
holding the beanie up to me. “Here you go. Now, you may run off and claim your
prize for finding it from Eulalia.”
“You're making it sound like I don't deserve the credit again,” I grumbled.
“It's all in your head, Brice.”
“Shut up.”
After handing the beanie to me, he went straight for the door. I watched him, feeling
that I should at least say something to him. We bonded after all and I was beginning
to believe that he might be the best friend I was looking for this entire time at this
school. At least, we shared a common interest now and again. However, there was
something holding me back though. And I had a feeling that it had something to do
with Etchi and him stalking Eulalia.
“Etchi,” I called.
He didn't look back and muttered, “Hm? What is it?”
“You were right about her being down to earth,” I said lamely. “But it doesn't make
her any less strange. She still lacks all form of common sense.”
“You do sound like her old man.”
Without explaining himself, he closed the door behind him and left without another
word. By the time I realized what he just said, it was already too late. I stepped out
to an empty hallway. No, there were people walking around since it wasn't that late
yet, but there was no Etchi or anyone I was familiar with. I felt incredibly lonely all of
a sudden. I shook it off and headed straight to Eulalia's room.
Once I arrived, I checked my surroundings to make sure Casey didn't think I was
sneaking in Eulalia's room or something similar. She wasn't around. Etchi wasn't
either. Why did I feel like I was doing something illegal? In any case, I knocked on
her door and waited. It took a while but eventually, she came to the door and
peeked out with her pigtail dropping to the side. Her face brightened up
considerably at the sight of the orange beanie in my hands.
Opening her door, she reached out to grab the beanie from me, but I held it up too
high for her to touch. Instead, she stared at me with that blank expression on her
face. I thought about everything that happened between us up to now. Not too long
ago, I held up an orange just like this and she had to desperately stretch to try to
retrieve it. The scenario was similar, except now I wasn't a stranger to her anymore.
I was someone she knew the face and almost the name to.
“Eulalia,” I said, noticing that her eyes were set on the beanie. “If you want it back,
you should listen to me when I'm talking to you.”
Without even thinking about it, she said, “I prefer not to.”
My eyes widened and I lowered my arm. She immediately snatched her beanie back
and was ready to close the door when I stopped her from doing so by placing both
my arm and foot in place. She blinked and returned her attention to me. Actually,
there was a hint of surprise in her eyes that my reflexes were so quick in the first
place. Hell, even I was shocked at myself. Anyways, I stared right back at her. I
couldn't believe my ears so I had to have it confirmed once more.
“What did you just say?”
“I,” she said more assertively than I ever heard her say anything to me before.
“Prefer. Not. To.”