Chapter Three

 

“I suggest you perk up if you want these people to help us out, Ali,” Liam murmured through the big, grin he had on his face, nudging me as I sat next to him by the registration table. “Hey there! Come on in and take one of these with you.”

I looked up just in time to see him hand a couple of yellow agenda sheets to a group of nerdy-looking girls who just came up to the table. I automatically handed them the clipboard for them to sign their names on.

Liam glanced at me as the girls got in line to sign and widened his grin at me in emphasis. “Smile!”

I adore Liam. He’s only a couple of inches taller than my five foot-five-inch-height and can be considered slender but fit. He usually carries his very slim figure well with brightly colored, perfectly-tailored cut off pants and a preppy shirt-and-sweater combo. He always has this very polished, classy look to him which doesn’t come as a surprise to most people. Liam’s openly gay with a vibrant personality and a knack for style. He is under the theaters program, majoring on production design. We went to the same high school along with our other bestfriend, Ria. Liam’s the most ‘spirited’ of us all and we adore him without a question but sometimes, we find it hard to match his zest for life. Like today.

Obviously, I’m still grumpy about what happened yesterday in the Asian Civilizations class and I didn’t get enough sleep last night so I woke up very cranky. The last thing I needed was for the two volunteers who were supposed to man the reception table to back out half an hour before the general meeting for the Children’s Play Day fundraising event that we’re organizing as part of the student council’s social assistance efforts. I, Liam & Ria are volunteer coordinators for the student council’s activities and the Children’s Play Day is yet to be our biggest event of the semester. It kept me busier than usual but I liked it except for the part that I can’t find anybody else to replace other volunteers who back out on the last minute.

“Why are you so sour-faced today anyway?” Liam asked when the girls had finally left. We had about ten more minutes before the meeting started and so far, no one else has wandered in our direction.

“I’m just stressed out,” I answered, sitting back and taking out a book from my faded, brown leather satchel that was my Dad’s. “I also happen to have another big project to add to my pile of other big projects.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “So this is, once again, about the incident with Seth at your Asian Civilizations class. I should’ve known.”

“It’s just that I can’t believe how careless I was, joining Seth’s naptime,” I grumbled, still quite annoyed, mostly at myself now.

“Oh, I would join Seth’s naptime anytime,” Liam purred, a mischievous smile on his lips. “I don’t know if you’re just blind, my dear friend, but you’re in a very favorable position.”

I raised a brow at him. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not yet assuming that Seth’s found true and everlasting love with you but you’re quite lucky that despite of all the girls dying to even get him to acknowledge that they exist, he’s actually fond of you no matter how many times you bite his head off,” Liam answered in a very knowingly manner. “You know I adore you and all but it’s hard to figure out what Seth gets out of being your emotional punching bag. I see all these gorgeous girls in his circle but he doesn’t seem as fond of them as he is of you.”

I narrowed my eyes at Liam. “Gee, thanks for the subtle insult there, Liam. But I guess he gets a good ego check from me. He knows he needs it.”

Liam scoffed. “Listen to you—maybe you need it too.”

I ignored the comment and started straightening the already neat pile of agenda sheets. “I just want him to leave me alone. I mean it. The sooner he disappears from my life, the better.”

“Apparently, it’s not going to be anytime soon,” Liam muttered, nodding to the direction of the hallway. “Here he comes.”

“Hey, Ali, Liam,” Seth greeted before I could cope with what Liam just said. His shadow loomed over our desk again, as usual, and when I looked up, he had a big, bright grin on his face.

“What do you want?” I asked gravely. “I told you I’d give you your script.”

Seth shook his head. “I don’t recall agreeing to that so no, you’re not giving me a script. I can contribute to the report. I’m not a total dummy.”

“Ooh, drama, drama,” Liam mumbled, trying hard not to grin. “One point for Seth.”

“Shut up, Liam,” I muttered at him before glaring at Seth. “It’s not because I think you’re a total dummy. It’s just that if I do it all by myself, I don’t need to worry about working around your schedule because I don’t have that kind of luxury. I just want to get it done without jeopardizing the rest of my schedule.”

“Yeah, Seth,” Liam agreed. “’Coz you know, Ali volunteers to fight for world peace, feed the poor and perform miraculous medical cures in epidemic-stricken countries. She just doesn’t have the time to do extra homework.”

Seth laughed and I elbowed Liam on the side. If Liam wasn’t gay, Seth wouldn’t have any effect on him.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday and I’m free. We can work on it then. What do you say?” Seth looked at me with cheerful eyes.

I was going to immediately say no but I paused and went over my schedule in my head. Reluctantly, I said, “Fine. But I can only do it from two to four. I work at five and I still need to walk to the bookshop.”

“Two to four thirty, I’ll drop you off,” Seth countered confidently as if the matter needed no debate. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow?”

“No, two to four and we can meet in the library,” I answered stiffly that this time it was Liam who gripped my thigh under the table. I shook his hand off.

Seth looked unsure. “The library? Uhm, we can’t eat in the library.”

“Who said we’re eating? We’re there to work on a project. We only have two hours to work on it. Besides, I’ll need some books.” I knew I was being difficult but I didn’t feel like being friendly with him right now.

With a resigned sigh, he finally nodded. “Fine. Library it is.”

“Would you like to volunteer for the Children’s Play Day as well?” Liam asked out of the blue, handing Seth an agenda sheet. “We’ll be bringing in kids from a couple of orphanages in the city three weeks from now and all proceeds of the fair will go to the Children’s Fund.”

I shot Liam a warning glare but he was looking up to Seth with that persuasive, charming smile of his.

“It’s okay, Seth. We actually have enough volunteers,” I said, reaching out to pluck the agenda sheet from his hand but he quickly held it out of my reach.

“I know you don’t,” he answered, his eyes scanning the sheet. “Two of the student council officers showed up in my class this morning campaigning for other volunteers to sign up.”

I got up and tried to snatch the paper away. “Well, you’ve obviously already made the choice not to sign up so let’s not waste more paper and give that back to me.”

He stepped back farther away from the table and continued to read. “Ali Benning, head of marketing committee. The marketing committee is still in need of volunteers to run the solicitation booth. Can I sign up to volunteer for that?”

I scoffed. “You? In the solicitation booth? I don’t think you’d feel comfortable asking people for money.”

“I think most girls would be happy to hand him their college trust fund,” Liam mumbled to himself, earning a kick on the shin from me.

Seth couldn’t resist a smile. “Hey, I have friends who won’t mind giving away some money for a good cause. I could get them to show up and donate. And I’ll get them to get other people they know to come and do the same.”

“He has a very valid point, Ali,” Liam added in a sing-songy voice though he kept his body turned away from me in the event of more spontaneous kicks to the shin. He handed the sign-up sheet to Seth who quickly signed it.

“I’ll go in right now and attend the meeting and you can’t stop me,” Seth said with finality, motioning towards the door. “Thanks for the invite, Liam.”

“You’re welcome,” Liam answered as Seth disappeared through the door. He turned to me with a self-satisfied smile. “Isn’t he just the cutest?”

I glared at him. “And aren’t you just the meanest? I told you I want him as far away from me as possible.”

“Hey, the guy has the right to participate in any charity event he wants,” Liam argued. “And I don’t doubt that he can rake in tons of money for the event. His friends are all the way up there in the millionaire’s club.”

“This is not a showdown of who’s got more money, Liam,” I muttered in defeat, slumping against my seat.

I glanced at the sign-up sheet and saw his scribbled signature, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach.

It felt like Seth just signed on a contract to permanently torment my life.