Bubble Gum Kisses
CHAPTER 11

**Kapittel 11** ***Vanessa***

**I was blowing my hair when my phone rang.** I placed the hair blower off and walked towards the bed to grab my phone to see who was calling. I realized it was Nikki, calling for FaceTime. I smiled before sliding my thumb on the screen to answer. Immediately her face showed up in a close-up, and what I meant by close-up was a literal one. The phone was so close to her face that I could see her nostrils.

"Hi," I greeted, starting our conversation as I returned to the vanity table to dry my still semi-wet hair.

"Heeey!" she enthusiastically greeted, making me laugh in amusement. This girl never yielded her energy. She was a living energy drink. The view began getting smaller and shaky as I gradually saw the picture behind her. It looks like she pushed her phone further away to give me a good see. She was on the beach, and there was a bonfire, and by the burning color on her face, she was having lots of fun and alcohol tonight.

"How-hic! Ya doin'?" she asked, hiccuping. I clicked my tongue. This girl never changed.

Ever since she had a taste of alcohol, she always drank loads of bottles if she had the chance. It would sometimes worry me because she might get addicted to it. Which was why I asked the others to look out for her, especially if I was not around. It's to keep her under control and avoid heavy consequences in the end.

I was about to open my mouth to answer her, but a series of familiar voices from the other side interrupted.

"Who's that? Is that Van?"

"Is that Vanessa? Gimme the phone!" "Who? Van?"

"Fucki-hic! Wait!" the view on the screen began getting a lot shakier, and I saw Nikki had her arm reached out like she was stopping someone. The picture then became clear and stiff, showing my buff friend, Seandhe, restraining a drunk Nikki by her arms.

"I think you've had enough alcohol," he commented as she struggled free from his grip.

"No am-hic! Not! Lemme g- hic! You buffoon!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, and the sound of my other friends laughing emerged in the background.

The view soon took a turn and showed Harley's skinny face. "Sup there, Vannie? Everything doing well out there?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

"Yup," I answered, popping the p, "I was just getting ready for bed," I said, then double-tapped the screen and then the one with "..." to flip the camera, slowly moving my phone to give them a good show of my room.

I take pride in my room designing skills. It started when I saw dad designing my room and asked me to help him design it so he could get a good picture of the design I wanted. I have always been a critical critic ever since and would immediately express my opinion on almost everything. Not only did I get the room design that I wanted, but I also enjoyed doing it. Since then, I have developed my love for interior design, and I renovated my room by myself in the following years, though I'd ask for mom or dad's help if there were some things I couldn't do by myself.

When I had some friends over at home, and they complimented how nice my room was, I began to take pride in my work that I even considered pursuing my college degree and career in anything related to landscaping and interior designing. I blinked and gasped when I realized I was thinking about my career path from a childhood memory. Oh, dad. He was the part of what mostly made the current me.

"Wow, is that your room?!" Katherine suddenly entered the picture, her face inching close to the screen. "It looks soo cool!" she squealed in delight and inched her face closer than what I could only see through the screen was her forehead. "Did you renovate it, or is it the old design before you left?"

"I only did a bit of renovation that matches my current taste since the previous owner didn't change it much. It still had the same design when we left back then," I answered proudly, nodding.

"As expected of you! Look, guys. Van's room is so aesthetic!" the view turned again and showed the rest of the gang.

"Uh-huh, so that is where Van used to sleep," Jay's head suddenly popped on the screen, his eyes filled with curiosity and his brows kissing.

"Oh, shut u- hic! Pervert!" I heard Nikki shout.

"Was that even an act of perversion?" Jay asked, confused as he began walking beside Harley, who was now holding the phone. I realized he was having a bottle of beer when he raised it to his lips and chugged all the contents down. "If I say so!" Nikki's voice shouted again.

I tapped my phone to flip it back. "You guys having a bonfire at the beach?" I asked when I noticed Seandhe and Jay were walking to an open area with sand that had pitched tents, not to mention that there was fire behind them. It was our tradition to go out to the beach for a bonfire and sleep in tents.

"Yes. Nikki thought you shouldn't miss it," Katherine suddenly came and walked beside Jay. She looked at him and snaked her arms around his free arm. He then leaned close and kissed her forehead. Aw, this cute couple.

The view became blurry again and soon showed a breathtaking view of the sea, a burnt bonfire, and a large green tent, which I figured to be Jay's. The camera's view went closer to the spot where the bonfire and tent were, then soon began to shift angles. That was when I saw letters written on the sand using a stick and realized what message it was giving:

We miss you, Vannie!

"Oh, God..." I trailed off, my heart fattening at their sweet gesture. "You guys are sweet!" I exclaimed with my voice thick. I heard another set of laughing in the background with Nikki screaming what was happening. These people... gosh, why was I graced with so many amazing people?! This was so overwhelming.

"I miss you guys too." I held my necklace's pendant as I held in my tears and my exploding chest. Why was everything making me cry today? Was it "Make Vanessa Hathern Cry Day"? Damn, this sucked.

We continued to talk and catch one with each other. But most of the sharing was on me since they were pretty inquisitive and asked a myriad of questions. I told them everything about my recent activities, from our progress in moving our stuff to the little reunion dinner with Aunt Rebecca and the twins. However, I excluded details about Friso since I knew how they'd make a hate group against him. Poor guy would have a hate group from people he barely knew. Even though we were miles away, we chatted and laughed with each other on the phone like we didn't have much distance between us. It was refreshing.

Nikki soon passed out after drinking too much, and we all called it a night. I bid my goodbyes and hung up the call. My hair was finally dry, so I went to my closet so I could finally wear my pajamas and hit the haystack.

However, as soon as I lay on the soft mattresses to sleep, I suddenly remembered what I took note of during dinner. It was to text Angie and her reaction when she heard I was attending Trinity Knight. I immediately grabbed my phone from the nightstand and ran my fingers hastily like they were on fire to send her a text quickly since I feared she might be getting some sleep, and the thrill was killing me! I wanted to know why she reacted that way now. **To:** ***Angie***

*Hi, Ang! Sorry to send you a text late at night. But there's something that's been bothering me lately. May I ask you something?*

**From:** ***Angie***

*Sure, no probs. What is it?*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Remember at the dinner earlier where Auntie asked where I'd be transferring high schools?* **To:** ***Angie***

*I was wondering why you acted surprised when I answered I was going to Trinity Knights.*

**From:** ***Angie***

*I already said it earlier.*

**From:** ***Angie***

*I was just freaking out about my plants.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*You're lying.*

**From:** ***Angie***

*Am not.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Really?*

**From:** ***Angie***

*Yup.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Do you solemnly attest that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?*

**From:** ***Angie***

*Yes, your honor.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Cross your heart, hope to die?*

**From:** ***Angie***

*Does it have to go like that?*

A small smile stretched on my lips at her response. Angie wouldn't renounce anything unless it meant betraying God or her life. Taking advantage of her caught off guard, I typed another series of texts. **To:** ***Angie***

*You'd make a bad witness at court, you know.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Also, please tell me the truth. *

**To:** ***Angie***

*I know you wouldn't be so worried about your plants since you always ensure they're okay before you go out. *

**To:** ***Angie***

*Tell me, Angie.*

**To:** ***Angie***

*Remember John 8:32? *

**To:** ***Angie***

*Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. *

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my works, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**