“This is entirely your fault, Shaine.” I irritably rolled my eyes. We just arrived here in the event hall to work for the preparations of the upcoming event.
“Let's just forget that it happened. Thank me later, Ari,” she replied, taking selfies.
“Thank you for what?” I asked irritably.
“Hi, ladies! Over here!” I could see Raven smiling at a distance while sitting in a black monobloc chair. He is waving both of his hands to get our attention.
“Oh, our handsome group mate is already here!” my friend exclaimed as she nudged me on my arm. “Don't be so harsh. Why not say hi to your secret admirer? My mistake. It's not a secret anymore because he already revealed that he has a crush on you.”
“Shut up, Shaine. Why would I even say hi to that stupid guy?!”
“One day you will see his value to you. And when that day comes, I will be happy for you both.”
“I don't think so.”
Shaine shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows, right?”
“Better stop hoping,” I said, crashing her thought right away.
“Hi, guys! Please take a seat.” Raven motioned his hand to the two vacant chairs just beside him.
“Next time, don't instruct as what to do.” I pulled one as I keep a distance.
“Well, it's still better to offer you guys a seat. You may later think that I am neglecting you.” His smile flickered across his face like a hologram.
“Neglecting?” I scoffed. “Better say you're annoying us.”
“Don't mind our little Ari, man. She's just moody, but she is actually sweet,” Shaine butt in, chuckling. She should have helped me embarrass Raven. But to my annoyance, she did the opposite way around.
“No problem for cute girls.” Raven took out something from his bag. “Who wants to eat?” He then offered us the box.
“Chicken nuggets!” Shaine's eyes shone brightly the moment she opened it. Indeed, fried crispy chicken nuggets.
“And ladies, you can dip it here in our honey mustard sauce.” Raven opened its container as he placed it in the table.
“It's so thoughtful of you to buy this,” Shaine commented, and started eating without second thoughts. I can't believe her hunger for foods. Once you gave it to her, she will accept it right away.
“We don't know what kind of poison you placed there. I'm not yet ready to die. So early to say bye to earth,” I muttered.
“It's clean and safe to eat. Don't worry, Ari. If I'm going to put something on the food, it will be potion, not poison,” Raven corrected, offering the nuggets to me. “So why don't you try some?”
“No, thanks.”
“It's up to you. But if you are hungry, the food is just free to eat.” How can he smile after I refused to accept his food? Whatever. He will get tired soon. I just have to be this mean all the time.
I hate it every time I hear an eating sound, the way how people chew their food. I don't know whether I have this disorder called misophonia, or I'm just that irascible to the point that I easily get angry. But hearing the eating sound really annoys me.
“I hope you guys have the energy now to do the tasks. Don't forget to eat first before anything else. So, are you all ready?” The club president suddenly arrived, genuinely asking us. I can't help but to stare at Thea, who is now wearing a bright smile on her lips.
“Good morning, madame president! Yes, we are now ready to do our tasks!” Shaine replied with full energy on her voice. Why am I not surprised? Foods boost her confidence after eating, just to let you guys know.
“Alright! Time to work, guys.”
We started getting the materials to be used since it is just placed on the table. For the letters, I picked pencils and erasers. Raven took two scissors as Shaine is busy choosing the best color of cartolina to be used. Everyone is bustling right now as students together with the other officers paced back and forth.
“Guys, is it okay if one of us worked on the letters, then the remaining two will be assigned to the cutting part? Just to uniform the calligraphy, so it's not disturbing in the eyes once they noticed that the hand writings are not the same,” Shaine suggested at the same time asking for ours.
“That's a great idea!” Raven replied as he gets the red cartolina. “Which of you two are good at calligraphy? You or beautiful Ari?” he asked, pointing his finger from Shaine to me.
“I don't have any interest in calligraphy. My handwriting is not nice,” I replied with no emotions in my face. All I know is that I'm tired, but I have to hide it since the officers are roaming around checking if everybody does the work.
“I'll be the one to do it!” Shaine happily volunteered as she gets the cartolina from Raven. I handed the pencil and ruler to her. To be all out ready, I also prepared the eraser and the marker once she'll be needing it.
She first formed the letter A. What she did is the method of writing-drawing, as she is cautious not to make a mistake. Shaine is indeed best at calligraphy, while I hated it on the other hand. I'm not that girly, and maybe that explains why I'm not good at it.
“Next to A is C, since we are following the ACQUAINTANCE order. Guys, the first letter is ready for cutting,” she declared after finishing the letter A.
“Give it to me,” I insisted. I gently fold the piece of cartolina in half, trying my best not to crease it too much. Then, I made a hole in the center using the sharp scissor. Easy as that!
“Nice one, baby.” Raven stood beside me as he gets the letter cutout from my hand.
“What did you say?” My brows knitted. I told you guys that I'm irascible. I easily get mad, and don't blame me for that if you know to yourself that you're annoying.
“My tongue slipped, sorry.” He made a peace sign, chuckling softly. “But isn't that sweet?”
“Even you put too much sugar on your words or not, still it will hold no effect on me.” I rolled my eyes, waiting for another letter to cut.
“It's okay, Ari. What's important now is that I never failed to make you feel loved,” he said, accepting the C letter from Shaine. I should be the one to get it, but he preceded me.
“Really? At what certain part, stupid? I don't even feel the love from you.” I meant it. I feel nothing but annoyance and irritation from him, not love.
“You'll see.”
He is really talkative, huh? He won't stop from talking even how much I tried my best to be mean. I wonder what's the best thing to do for him to stop this shit. I already blocked his number, moved his messages to spam, deleted his friend request. What else should I do?
“Ari, are you sure you're not going to eat? Thea asked us to eat first before doing the task,” Shaine asked as she is now working in the letter I. We already cut the rest of the letters that she already finished.
“I'm not that hungry. And besides, I have already eaten my breakfast before going here,” I responded.
“Breakfast and snacks are not the same. You should eat something or else you'll lose your energy,” Raven butt in as I glared at him.
“I already lost my energy the moment I saw your face.” Heh! I intentionally drop the mean words for him to feel the sharp.
“I admit that was blunt but none taken.” He is still smiling, my words didn't affect his jolly expression.
“White balloons are already on the way. Hey, Raven. Can you wait for the delivery man at the gate?” the club president said in a soft voice, making us turn our heads on her. How can someone refuse to a good president like her? I doubt there is.
“Your wish is my command, Thea,” Raven replied, smiling. He asked for the payment, as the latter happily handed the money to his loyal member.
“In fairness, your guy is a gentleman. Many girls have a crush on him for sure,” Shaine whispered after he took the exit.
“Only pathetic will. Those who are too weak to fall for sweet, sugar coated words and scripted actions.” I heaved a sigh of disappointment. Yes, I'm pathetic too for liking someone who can't even love me back. But at least its Shan's personality who made me to love him, not his words.
“You think his actions are filtered?” Shaine went on doing her calligraphy as she is talking to me.
“I can't tell exactly but who knows, only him is aware. Better cautious than sorry.”
“But my gut feeling had a say that he is genuine of his actions, Ari. ”
Shaine was just about to finish the last letter when Raven arrived, bringing three to four packs of balloon. The male members of the group volunteered to blow up the balloons using the air pump they borrowed from Raven. Once it's filled with air, they squeezed the opening of the balloon, remove it from the nozzle and tie it into a knot. Ready for decorations!
“The club can really count on you, boy! Thanks as always for the help.” The president gave him a tap on his back before she walked away to check the works of the other students.
“When you are good and gentleman, you will always be praised by many. Thanks to you, Raven,” Shaine said next.
Why are they thanking that stupid guy? Feeding him with praises will give him more reasons to be proud of himself. Duh, that wasn't a big help, to be honest. He just waited for the delivery man to arrive to give him the balloons that we ordered. Then the club borrowed a stupid air pump from him. That's all! They shouldn't be praising that guy.
“I'm not gonna take all the credits, Shaine. Besides, it is a team effort.” Raven dramatically held his chest, acting as if he's humble.
“Raven! We ran out of thumbtacks!” Jamaica called out, holding a balloon in her left hand.
“Oh, really? I can use my car to look for thumbtacks outside. But can you guys wait? It might take some minutes.” He walked toward the club's secretary, who is just three to four steps away from us.
Jamaica nodded her head. “Yeah. We will be patient.”
“Give this letter to the guard, so he'll allow you to go out and use your car.” Thea handed a piece of paper to him with a sign of consent from our club adviser.
“Noted!” Raven took the exit again, waving his hands to us. I'm glad he's not here anymore.
“Your guy is out again. Gosh! Aren't you going to miss him?” Shaine chuckled, cutting the extra papers out of boredom. We just finished cutting the letters, and we became vacant at the moment.
“Why would I?” I shot her an irritated look.
“I'm just joking you, actually,” she laughed.
“Better know your timing.”
We leave the event hall at exact eleven in the morning, since our long quiz in science is not included of the subjects that we are excused. There's nothing we can do, and besides we already submitted the letter cutouts to Thea. Even when I don't want to, I still need to take the quiz. For good grades, you know.
It is an exhausting day, but I tried my best to focus my mind on the notes I'm reading.
Hoping for high score later and wishing bad luck for Raven as a price he's going to pay for annoying me so much this morning.
I didn't enjoy the preparation that much because he was there.