“KRIIIIING!"

Lunchtime. Everyone is so noisy. I try to play a song with Jake's guitar but with all the noise going on, I can't hear myself or the guitar, so I stop. I then put the guitar on a corner, got back to my armchair, close my eyes and hold my head with both hands. Men, all these noise makes my head hurt so much!

As I open my eyes again and put down my hands, Chrixa is suddenly standing infront of me.

Mort: Whoa!

Her sudden appearance startled me. She is holding two lunchboxes. One is light blue and the other is lime green. She places the light blue one of the arm of my chair.

Mort: What's this?

Chrixa: A lunchbox.

Mort: Uh, I know it's a lunchbox, Chrish.

I said, eyeing the lunchbox in her hand with suspicion. Not daring to touch it.

Mort: Why are you giving that to me?

Chrixa: Uh, Hello! You're my best friend. I can't let you not have your lunch again. I've been letting you do it last year.

Actually, last year, I've been skipping lunch everyday at school. It's because of that "L" thing. It's a really stupid common reaction of those at the bottom. They don't feel like eating or even communicating with their friends. Must've been a hard part for Chrixa, being my best friend and all. Now I felt sorry.

Mort: But you don't have to –

Chrixa: Just eat it OK!

Chrixa pushes the lunchbox closer to me.

Mort: Okay! Sheesh.

I look at her. She's smiling. I sigh. She's really changing. Not just physically but also the way she acts.

Mort: Thank you Chrish!

Chrixa: Don't mention it!

There’s something weird about all this. I popped the lock open and slowly opened the lid.

"POOOF!"

I almost jumped out of my chair as a grenade of confetti exploded on my face. It's from the lunchbox that Chrixa gave me.

Now everyone in the classroom is laughing at me, including Mrs. Tubao! I then stand up and look at Chrixa with rage written all over my face. She's laughing too. I attempt to grab her for a knucklehead but before I could reach her, she hands me the other lunchbox. The lime green one. I eyed it furiously.

Chrixa: Here's your true lunch.

She said, catching her breath after laughing so hard.

Mort: No thank you!

I give it back to her. She takes it and opens it, and to my surprise, real food is inside.

The sight of my favorite buttered chicken together with a vegetable salad and rice, suppressed the urge of me giving her a knucklehead. My stomach churned as my nose captured the aroma of deliciousness. She makes me sit down and set the lunchbox on the arm of my chair. She also cleans the trash she caused around my area before taking off.

Chrixa: Happy eating!

She turns and walks away and leaving me at a loss for words. I'm eyeing the food, touch it and eat a little just to make sure it's not plastic. It's real. I then glance at Chrixa. My head aches even more. She's really good at this! Making me feel awful! My stomach churns again. I need to eat. So I thank God for the food, despite the way Chrixa handed it to me, and start slowly eating it. It was delicious!

I accepted this as a payment. It's weird how fast the payment is though. Men, I thought she'd grown up already. But the food might prove her growth, if she's the one who cooked it. It's just so infuriating how she used it to make me look like a fool again! Next time I'll be on my guard.

I spent the whole afternoon playing deaf. Lance and Jake, who are sitting near me, kept on teasing me about what happened at lunchtime. Some of my classmates couldn't stop laughing about it either. My eye twitched from the scene. It's really annoying!

"KRIIIIIIING!"

Dismissal. As Chrixa and I walk down the hallway, I continued the interrogation I had with her this morning. The one with the "something more big" thing. I may still have the chance for revenge.

Chrixa: I'm not gonna tell you!

Chrixa exclaimed, aware of my vengeful intentions.

Mort: C'mon Chrish! Spill it! I already crossed my heart this morning.

I pleaded desperately. Despite the plans for revenge, I really do want to know who the guy is.

Chrixa got serious.

Chrixa: But I can't pull my pranks to you anymore if you know it.

I can tell that she wants to share it to me but she's hesitating because she knows my intentions.

Mort: I will not use him against you, Chrish. C'mon!

I lied.

Mort: And everything would still be normal.

Atleast most of everything. I laugh maniacally inside and give her a convincing smile outside.

She sighs and says, finally giving in,

Chrixa: Guess I don't have any other choice.

She looks at me. She can probably see the utmost anticipation on my face because even if I didn't say anything, she blurted,

Chrixa: I'll tell you! So stop giving me that stupid smile!

But I smiled even bigger.

Mort: Really?

I'm twinkling my eyes.

She smiles and shakes her head at my stupid attempt to look like a cute puppy.

Chrixa: You're lucky you're my bestfriend.

She sighs again. At last! She's saying it!

Chrixa: Alright...

She looks around, and, seeing that nobody is around us, she takes a deep breath.

Chrixa: Here it goes...

She looks at me nervously.

Chrixa: Promise me that nothing would change after this.

Mort: Promise!

Why would anything change? I'm just going to use him against you when you try to pull ultimate pranks at me. I laugh maniacally inside again.

Chrixa: And you'll act as if you don't know anything.

Mort: With him around. Ok! Yeah, I can do that.

Chrixa: And you wouldn't use him against me!

"Oh, but I will." I said in my thoughts.

Chrixa: And that you're not gonna tease me.

Mort: Just tell it Chrish...

She pauses for a while and then she takes a deep breath.

Chrixa: Ok... I'm gonna tell it to you now...

She looks around. Nervous

Chrixa: No one's gonna stop me...

She looks up, eyes looking as if it was pleading for some divine intervention of some sorts.

Chrixa: God help me!

But this time no bell will ring to ruin my moment of triumph.

Chrixa's closing her eyes, desperately praying.

Chrixa: Please, please, please! Help me!

Mort: Chrixa, c'mon, just say it! It's not really a big problem since...

Chrixa: It's...

Mort: ...I'm your best – wait! What?

She actually said it already and I didn't hear it because of me talking over her.

Chrixa: I've said it once, I'm not gonna say it again.

She crosses her arms, and walks away. There's no pushing her to say it again so I tried to recall what she said through what I faintly heard. I think I remember it vaguely...

Mort: Who's Hugh?

I think that was the name.

She stops as I continue.

Mort: Hugh Jackman? Wolverine? He's your something more big?

She turns around to face me with her eyebrows meeting furiously, eyes swimming with an unknown emotion, and shouts with all vehemence,

“You're so stupid!!”

Then she walks away.

Mort: Wait. What?

I am so bewildered by her fury.

Mort: Chrixa?

She's definitely pissed. I know because she's not looking at me or even replying to me. And with that, there's no point trying to talk to her so I decided to stop. The best thing about being her best friend is you know when you'll mess around and when you'll have to shut up because if you talk more, you'd definitely see her wild side. Which I think I already witnessed or still witnessing. Suddenly I felt really annoyed with myself. I can guess that being a best friend that doesn’t pay attention and doesn’t take you seriously when you’re about to reveal something serious made her really mad.

She did not talk to me during the whole journey to her house, which is actually a couple of blocks from our house.

Auntie Jane, Chrixa's mother, even asked me what happened to her so I told her everything and when I'm done with the story, she just said, "Oh..." prolonged and with a smile.

Auntie Jane: Darling, you are stupid.

She pats my head, smiling and shaking her head. Auntie Jane always act as if she’s part of our gang. So I don’t mind her saying I’m stupid. Because I also think I am.

Mort: But why, Auntie Jane?

Auntie Jane just gave me a pat in the head and wished me good luck on fixing the whole thing. I kinda expected it since she's always like this when Chrixa and I have a fight. Always neutral and never prying. Maybe as a mother, it's her way of teaching the both of us how to face our problems on our own. I groan. I have no idea how to fix this so I went home piecing things together.

I understand why she acted that way. Not listening properly to a serious thing that one is saying is disappointing. And knowing what kind of person Chrixa is, her reaction will be multiplied ten times. I will try and sort this out tomorrow.

I thought this day would end with me feeling victorious. But despite knowing the guy’s name, I don’t feel in any way triumphant.