Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
It had been exactly twenty minutes as Billie headed to the front of the class “Okay people, you’ve had enough time to come up with a scenario. Who wants to go first?” she wasn’t surprised that everyone avoided eye contact with her. Smiling, she pointed to the back of the room “Oh, Anesa and Kyle, thanks for volunteering to go first.”
The astonished looks on their faces made her grin even wider. Both knew there was no getting out. She dragged her feet to the front while Kyle lost the bounce in his steps “This actually happened during our short lived relationship.” Anesa explained while reaching for two chairs to sit on.
“Very short lived.” Kyle emphasized, “Actually, you wouldn’t call it a real relationship because it was so insignificant. I mean, I’ve had way more—”
“They get the point!” Anesa snapped while the girls suppressed their laughter.
“Okay, explain the scene.” Billie instructed as she took an empty seat to the side.
“We were at the beach with a group of friends. During lunch, we decided to go to this little deli to eat. We’re sitting at a long table.” Anesa began. Her eyes moved down and then up as if getting into her role “I think I passed the test today for Calculus. Well, at least I hope I did. What do—Kyle!” his eyes had began to wander behind her.
“What is it?” he asked dully.
“You’re not listening to me.” She complained and turned her head to see who he was looking at “You think she’s prettier than me?”
Kyle sighed with a roll of the eyes “You two have totally two different looks. You can’t compare like that.” He chose his words carefully.
Anesa snapped with a frown “You’re just making an excuse not to answer me. You think she’s prettier than me, don’t you? Just say it, I’d rather hear the truth.”
“Fine, yes, I do think she’s prettier than you. So?” he said defensively.
She picked up an invisible cup and threw it in his face “Jerk!” Anesa spat before getting up and leaving the deli. She stopped after a few feet of stomping and turned to the class as they clapped.
Billie nodded unsurely “That was…good…but I think the message was lost somewhere between your jumping to conclusions and Kyle’s wrong response.”
“Well, she pushed me to say it.” Kyle crossed his arms sternly.
“If you weren’t staring at another girl in front of me, I wouldn’t have gotten angry. I mean, at least make it unnoticeable. You know what your problem was? You didn’t respect me and you gawk at other girls too much!” she widened her eyes but quickly retrieved her claws when she realized they were being watched. She returned to her seat quietly as did Kyle, who was avoiding all stares.
“Well, that was fun.” Billie sighed, “Who’s next?”
Ellena raised her hand “We’ll try.” She smiled at Travis, who looked ready to puke “You’ll do great.” She whispered and nodded for him to leave the safety of his seat. They reached the front of the class and rotated the chairs next to each other “Travis is driving and picking me up after work.”
Travis moved the make believe wheel and turned it to the fake curb “Hi honey.” He greeted happily. Instead of smiling, she muttered something and got in the car “What do you feel like eating?”
“I don’t care, you choose.” She sighed and turned to the window.
“Are you okay?” he asked with concern. Reaching out a hand to touch hers, instead she whipped it away without an explanation “Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry.”
Finally, she turned back to him “For what?”
“I don’t know, whatever I did, I’m sorry.” He said with the utmost sincere expression.
Ellena snickered “It’s not always about you Travis. Am I not allowed to have a bad day? Why does it always have to be you? Why do you apologize when you did absolutely nothing wrong?”
His eyes fixated at the street ahead while he explained “I guess I thought an apology is necessary to make things better.”
“Well, it doesn’t.” she snapped and moved her gaze to the window again. Feeling guilty for being mean, she sighed and closed her eyes “I’m sorry Travis. It’s not your fault I had a bad day at work. I know I shouldn’t take it out on you but I can’t help it sometimes when I’m that angry.”
Smiling, he reached for her hand, this time she didn’t pull away “It’s okay. I know work can get to you sometimes. Next time, just warn me ahead and I’ll steer clear from asking too much. We could come up with a signal or something. A hand gesture to take place.”
Ellena smiled warmly with a nod “I’d like that.”
They were applauded wildly by the classroom. Anesa stood up as well as a few that gave them a standing ovation “Bravo!! Bravo!” she laughed when the two stood up and bowed at their audience “Encore!”
“NO!” Travis said firmly while laughing. He motioned for Ellena to go first when they headed back to their seats.
Billie was obviously impressed as she got up from her seat “Nice. Very nice. That was exactly what I was looking for. They had an ongoing issue that was corrected. It didn’t take much of a change in personality, it took a bit of compromise and creative thinking. Very good. You get an A+.”
“We have grades?” Anesa asked with widened eyes.
“It’s a figure of speech.” Billie laughed “Okay, let’s continue. Who’s next?” two people in the front raised their hands as she nodded and moved out of the way for them to take over.
******************
After class, as promised Billie, Kelly and Jimmy stayed back to have a short discussion. Ellena stood outside to give them privacy “Need a ride?” Kyle asked when he noticed she was lingering behind.
Shaking her head, she turned down the offer “No thanks. I’ll wait for Billie.”
“It’s not safe for a girl to wait on her own. I’ll hang out with you.” He insisted.
Smiling, she replied with a feeble “Thanks.”
“Kyle!” Anton waved at his friend. He eventually returned after noticing that Kyle did not leave the building yet.
“You can go home first, I’m going to wait here with Ellie. It’s dangerous for a girl to be loitering by herself.” He said convincingly.
Anton shrugged “Okay, I have nowhere else to go. I’ll wait with you two. Anyways, you’re my ride and I don’t feel like taking the subway or bus home.”
“Oh, you don’t have to stay. We’ll be fine. Here, take the cab." he pulled out a wad of cash and stuffed it into his hand "I’m sure you’re tired, look the bags under your eyes.” Kyle pointed out.
“No, it’s okay, I’m actually wide awake. Unless you guys mind me hanging around you two?” Anton pressed with a sparkle in his eye.
Ellena shook her head “No, not at all.”
“Anton!” her shrill call turned all three heads.
“Crap.” Kyle rolled his eyes away when Anesa came trotting over to them.
“Are you going home? I was thinking maybe we can go out for a drink or something.” Anesa smiled sweetly.
Anton let her down gently “No, I’m actually tired today. Maybe some other time.” He noticed Travis peeking around the corner “Travis!” he waved him over “Your ride is here.”
She was obviously disappointed “Are you sure?”
He nodded firmly “Yeah. I have some errands to do early tomorrow morning.”
“Are we having a meeting?” Travis asked with a grin “Why is everyone out here?”
Kyle quickly offered the explanation “I’m waiting with Ellena for Billie. Kyle is riding with me and I’m not really sure what this she-man is doing hanging around here.” He waved nonchalantly at Anesa, who scowled in return.
“Oh…why don’t we all just wait together then?” Travis offered.
“Great idea!” Anesa said brightly.
Kyle twitched his eye at Travis, hoping that he’d get the hint to take her away but it seemed he was having too much fun teasing his old grade school friend “So, what are you guys doing this weekend?” he began with the small talk.
“Let’s have a barbeque party!” Anesa was excited about her idea “Yeah, we could cook chicken wings and ribs and burgers. It’ll be fun! How about it?”
“Its too hot to be cooking stuff.” Anton was quick to turn down the suggestion.
“Billie has a beach house that we can hang out in. Her dad left it behind when he immigrated to Canada.” Ellena recalled, “There’s air conditioning.”
“Even if there wasn’t, we’ll just be in shorts and bathing suits. It’ll be cool.” Anesa nodded at the group.
Kyle had other plans in mind but he couldn’t tell the others “Well, what if Billie says no? You know how moody she is, she may seem like a good teacher but maybe she’s stingy with her things. I could see her now, don’t touch this, it’s expensive. Take your shoes off before you walk into the living room, eventhough the ground is just wood.” He mocked with a wimpy wrist.
“No wonder my left eye was twitching.” Billie appeared at the door with the other two in time to catch Kyle’s little re-enactment of what he thought she’d say.
The other four muffled their amusing laughs while Kyle turned red in the face “We were just talking about having a barbeque.” Ellena jumped in to save him “I mentioned that you had a condo.”
Billie crossed her arms “I see. Yes, that would be a great idea. I haven’t used that place in a very long time.”
“Jimmy, Kelly, you two should come along too.” Anesa offered.
“No, thanks.” The two declined lightly.
“They have other homework to finish.” Billie said with a secret wink “Good night guys.” They waved goodbye to the others and were on their way home to salvage anything they had left.
“We had homework?” Anesa whispered to Travis.
Billie grinned when she heard the question “I only assign it to those that need it.” Turning to Ellena, she glanced at her watch “It’s pretty late, let’s get home.”
“Wait! We haven’t decided who’s buying what for the barbeque!” Anesa exclaimed.
“I’ll bring the sodas!” Kyle was first to raise his hand.
“Naturally, it’s full of air and gas. Just like you.” She flicked a brow up sarcastically “I want to do the chicken wings. Travis can help me. It’s really good.” She nodded at Anton.
“I’ll bring the snacks.” Anton offered.
“We’ll bring dessert.” Ellena nodded last.
Billie turned to them with raised brows “Are we done?” they didn’t reply, “Good, come on Ellena. I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow.”
"Night guys." Ellena hastily said good bye while trying to catch up to Billie’s speed walking.
“What’s her rush?” Kyle snickered.
“I think she wants her puppy away from you, the bulldog in heat.” Travis patted his friend on the shoulder.
“You like Ellena?” Anesa asked in surprise.
Anton laughed with raised hands in defense mode after earning a glare from Kyle “I didn’t say it.”
Kyle frowned “Whatever, you guys know now but don’t you dare spill it to anyone!” the three laughed with shaking heads “I’m serious, if this leaks out…I’ll…I’ll tell Billie all your secrets!” he burst out.
“You don’t have any secrets on me!” Anesa snuffed.
“You wanna bet?” he threatened with wide eyes. Pointing at them with a warning finger “And believe me, I know some pretty juicy ones. So you will keep your mouths shut if you know what’s good for you.” He left them at awe while turning to each other suspiciously wondering what secret they had to hide from Billie.