.oOo.

A month later

It’s September 23. The day Angelo was leaving. He’s going to fly to Florida tonight and I guess that’s where he’s going to finish his studies –not that I’m depressed or anything like that about it, but, you know.

He had not enrolled to this year’s school year and he hasn’t been visiting the school lately. I heard from his sister though, that he’s going to visit today, before he leaves for Florida. That’s why I plan to keep myself under a low profile. Anytime now, he’s going to come by.

There was a piercing scream that erupted in the air. Speaking of the devil. Did his sister have to be so popular? And did he have to be such a good-looking sophomore for every girl to scream on? God.

The juniors were going wild to see him enter the cafeteria. He was immediately surrounded with people and all I could do was to duck and eat my food quietly. Only Lisa knew about me and him so I guess it was cool.

“Jen, he’s here.” Lisa nudged my elbow and I rolled my eyes at her.

“Don’t you think I know that already?” I whispered.

“What are you going to do about it?”

I thought it over. What am I going to do? I can’t get to my next class without him seeing me.

“Hello? Earth to Jennifer?” I sighed.

“I guess, well… I’ll just have to ignore him.” I looked at the plate of food in front of me and suddenly I wasn’t so hungry anymore.

Lisa smacked the top of my head with her hand. “Hey! What’d you do that for?!” I rubbed the top of my head softly before a persistent Lisa poked me at the ribs. “What?!”

I looked to where she was pointing and saw Angelo staring at me – that is, before he looked away. A splitsecond later, he was covered with more than enough of his batchmates who were absently blocking my view. Not that I cared.

I stood up, bringing my plate with me, and dumped its contents in the bin. I was too disgusted to eat.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I turned around to find Ruby Valenzuela crossing her arms and looking at me from top to bottom like I was some nut in her way. She’s the MVP in our batch. We used to be friends until both of us ran for batch governor and I obviously won. LOL

“Mind your own business and get a life.” I told her. She was just sooo annoying. Where the hell is privacy when you need it?

“Still the nutshell that never had anyone crushing on you, Carter?” I swear, if she says one more word I am going to kill her! As if she had anyone crushing on her! I mean, have you seen her body?! I don't even seem to see a single curve on that girl's body. I know girl jocks are supposed to be fit and yeah, her stomach's flat but she doesn't actually have a woman's body, you know? I'm not saying I have one, I'm just saying... “Cat got your tongue?”

I glanced at her sideways.

The next thing I knew, she was down on the floor, her nose was bleeding, and my knuckles were sore and swollen.

She deserved it, anyway.

Flashback

"There's a boxing match tonight!" Angelo was hovering by my locker. His eyes were twinkling, his head was cocked to one side, and a grin flipped up the corners of his mouth. What did he want now?

"I know." I replied dryly. Angelo and Lisa were carpool mates. Some weird force took over Lisa two weeks ago that she gave him my number, my yahoo messenger, and every contact number I had that she could think of when he asked for it. I had to yell at her for fifteen minutes straight when a certain Angelo Carson (whom I didn't even know existed until he called me one night) called me and said "Hey baby, about that date I told you about... is it still on?" Until now, I still could not believe he called me and pretended I was his girlfriend. Not that he has one.

"Let's make a bet. If I win, you buy me food, drinks, and you pay for a movie that I'm going to see... If you win, I'll be the one to take you out. My bet's on Hatton." His grin grew bigger each time he spoke, and he was now facing me fully.

Was this some prank? Or is he just too eager to get a free lunch? I vote for the latter... "My bet's on Pacquiao, then." It wouldn't hurt if I play along with him, would it?

"Good." His eyes wondered to the ceiling and excitement was etched on his face. I wonder why he wants to bet...

"Don't you have class?" I perked up an eyebrow. You should've seen how he suddenly froze - his playful smile disappeared and it got replaced by stunned eyes checking out his watch.

Haha

He made a mad dash to his next class and he even bumped a few students in the hallway. He didn't even bother to help them up! Gosh. "I'll see you later, okay?!" He yelled.

Some students glanced at me. Even Ruby did so too. Stare all you want, sister.

I had to duck my head inside my locker! Talk about embarrassment. Ruby could most probably be murmuring sarcastic comments anytime now. Damn... Oh well, in 3 weeks, school's over anyway.

It turned out that Pacquiao won the fight. And he kept on asking when he gets to take me out.

"Someday...just not today." I told him.

...

“What did you do to Ruby?” Czarina was immediately beside my locker after the incident with Ruby happened. So now what? Was Ruby being melodramatic again and claiming that I harassed her?

Maybe I did, but wasn't an MVP supposed to be strong and unbeatable? Phht..

“She was being her usual bitchy self, what else could I do?” I replied dryly. I was not in any mood to talk about anything today. I mean, couldn't this day get any worse?

The hallway of the Science Building was immediately filled with chants and shouts. “Carson! Carson! Carson!”

“Carson!—

“Ssshhh!!!” Mrs. Laviegas rushed out of the science lab and shushed the girls who were obviously too obsessed with a he-who-must-not-be-named-sphomore to even care that their giggles and screams had actually disturbed most classes in the building.. But then, not so long after, the hallway was once again noisy as she recognized Angelo Carson from the crowd. “Aaahhh… Carson! I didn’t know you were here!” Damn the girls. Why in the world did Angelo Carson have to be so popular? Damn. I said his name.

“What is the big deal with the female population and Carson?!” Charisse absentmindedly exclaimed. Her eyebrows were furrowed on her forehead and then she turned to face me.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” I dismissed her with a wave of a hand.

I felt someone staring at me—you know, that sort of feeling you get that’s way creepy and your arms tingle a bit. I wasn’t wrong. But I made a mistake of looking up when I thought it was Czarina who was staring me down.

It turns out it was Angelo.

…And like at the canteen, he looked away.

.oOo.

Flashback

“I can’t believe you did that to the saleslady!” I laughed. Janna did something crazy and haggled with a saleslady in the mall and even threatened to call the store owner if she didn’t approve. This was one of the few times we shopped and what Janna did was really funny.

“I know!” She laughed.

“Girls, I think we have a guest.” Janna and I turned around to see who Lisa meant.

It turns out it was my stalker – Angelo Carson.

“Hey girls.” He grinned. How annoying.

“Damn, I have to go. My brother’s waiting for me in the parking lot.” Janna checked her watch and hugged me. “Thanks for today.” She hugged Lisa, too, before heading off to another direction.

“Um, Jen, there’s something I really have to buy for my mom. You know, her birthday’s coming up and all…” She smiled at Angelo and said, “Could you go with her? She was planning to eat ice cream in La Gelato.”

Wait, did she just ask Angelo to go with me?!

“Sure.”

“No, I can go alone. And I could go with you to buy that gift for your mom, I have all day.”

“Jennifer, you may have all day, but I don’t.” She grinned at Angelo once more before stalking off. “See ya!”

“I guess that leaves the two of us.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me to La Gelato. “What do you want? My treat.”

I pushed his hand away and I heard him wince in pain. I wasn't a brown-belt in aikido for nothing, you know?

Wait, did he just say...

His treat?

“I’ll have the raspberry.”

“Two raspberries, please,” He said to the girl behind the counter.

I looked for a table and sat down. He followed suit, bringing along the ice cream he ordered.

“What time is your flight for Florida this September?” I asked.

“I think it was 5:45 pm. Don’t worry, I’ll be dropping by the school to say goodbye..” He pinched my nose and I slapped his hand away.

“I finally got to treat you for the bet we made.” He chuckled.

I was too busy eating my ice cream to reply to him.

.oOo.

He didn’t even say goodbye.

I didn’t mind, really.

It’s just that, after the talk we had a month ago, I thought we’d still be friends. I don’t like him or love him or anything like that…

It’s just that…

…I wish he should’ve said goodbye. He promised me that, and I didn't ask for a car or clothes or any fancy stuff. I only wanted that weird. And I never got it.

After I saw him earlier, he just looked away… And now, at this exact moment, he was leaving for Florida.

I took out the notebook and pen I kept under my bed and tried to write a song that would somehow pop up inside my head. But nothing came.

Why was I like this?!

Damn.

oOo

A few months later

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lisa eyed me conspicuously.

I rolled my eyes at her and stuck out my tongue.

"You're so childish..." She smirked.

"Am not." I replied.

An im popped out on my computer screen.

I didn't recognize the person at first.

But after a few second of assessing who he was...

...I realized it was Angelo.

For the first time in a long time, Angelo Carson actually communicated with me.

"Who's that? " Lisa asked.

"No one."

"Let me see!"

"No!" I basically had to slap her butt so she'd get away from the computer screen.

"OMG!"

"Get out, Lisa!"

"Alright... Chill! I'll be back, okay?"

angelo_warewolfx10: hey

jennifer_bluejeans: hey

angelo_warewolfx10: how're u?

jennifer_bluejeans: im ok

considering the fact that I felt guilty for busting you big time? i'm so not okay.

angelo_ warewolfx10: how's school?

jennifer_bluejeans: it's ok.

did i not know any word other than ok?!

angelo_warewolfx10: ok...

was my 'ok' contagious or something?

angelo_warewolfx10 has signed out

He is seriously tearing me apart with guilt. For the second time, he hasn't said goodbye, or bye, or i have to go - not even an emoticon. Why was he doing this? He's seriously killing me! After all these months, all he could say to me was hey, how're you, and ok??? Damn, damn, damn!

.oOo.

Flashback

"You should be my escort for the ball game this Saturday!" Angelo dived at my side in the pizza hut bistro. “It’s my last game before summer, and I just got in the team.” He pointed out.

"What?" I eyed him suspiciously. Wait, his escort? He was asking me to be his escort(lady escort, for that matter)? Isn't someone his age supposed to escort him? Escorts are supposed to be from the juniors and the seniors! And not from a freshman!

"I'm a freshman." I rolled my eyes at him.
"I know." He grinned.

"The answer is NO." I pushed around the pizza on my plate. What was up with him?

Out of the blue, he pulled my plate and ate the pepperoni and cheese I ordered not too long ago with one swift motion – and I was too stunned to do anything! How the hell did guys have an appetite that big?!

“Hey!” My jaw dropped and all I could do was stare at him with my jaws dropped.

He was still chewing on my food when he placed down my fork and swallowed my steak. “Be my escort.” He ordered.

“No.” I lifted up my chin and crossed my arms.

“You look so cute when you do that.” He beamed.

I do?

“Shut up!” I pushed him off his chair and smacked him with my bag. My friends just laughed. Wait, damn. I forgot my friends were here.

.oOo.

“I thought you were going to say goodbye…” I said to the computer screen in front of me.

Author's note:

okay this is so weird

im currently smacking my brains out for any memories i may have missed out

during, well, when he didn't leave for florida

but anyway, i hope you like it

thanks to KellaBelle for the first ever review for this.. =]

~goodbyes~