Bubble Gum Kisses
CHAPTER 36

**Kapittel 36**

***Vanessa***

**"Heeey!"** a loud voice called out that caught our attention.

We both turned our heads to where the voice came from and saw Georgia rushing to us with paper bags in her hands. As soon as she got under the shade with us, she dropped everything that she was holding and placed her hands on her knees. She was panting heavily and was extremely saturated in her sweat that she looked like she took a bath in it.

"Slow deep breaths, Georgia," I coached as she was catching her breath, wiping the sweat off her chin.

"You okay?" Asher asked. I stood up and went beside her, patting her back softly.

"Yeah..." she muttered between unstable breaths, "Just give me a minute."

I stood beside Georgia for long moments as she recovered her lost strength, at the same time, Asher took his time napping again. "I got you guys lunch," she said after she finally rested. "I had the lunch ladies pack them up." "Aw, you shouldn't have..."

"Shouldn't have? Shouldn't have what? Shouldn't have let you guys finish your lunch?” she asked sardonically, putting a hand on her waist and raising her brows at us. "Heck no,” she declared and proceeded by opening her bag and unexpectedly taking out a neatly folded picnic blanket, and a transparent thermos with an orange-colored liquid inside it, probably juice. Wow, she's pretty resourceful.

"Scoot," she commanded, and we silently obliged. She then unfolded the blanket and carefully placed it on the ground. Elegantly, she ran a hand down her bum to hold down her skirt before sitting down. "Quit staring and get on you two," she demanded again and we obliged.

As soon as my butt and legs settled down on the soft fabric, the funny feeling of the grass against my skin immediately vanished. I almost let out a sigh of relief as I leaned my back to rest against the tree. This was more like it. "Where's the lunch?" I heard Asher ask, the corner of his mouth was close to watering while staring at her bag.

"In those paper bags, duh," Georgia answered grouchily before grabbing the paper bags and taking out silicone bento boxes from each. Asher took the volition to take one bento box and hastily opened it, revealing the scrumptious, appetizing treasures kept.

"Thanks, Georgia. We're grateful," he expressed his appreciation, looking at her with a wide grin on his face.

"Yeah, thank you," I told her before taking what seemed to be my lunch box.

"As y'all should," she retorted, taking out the thermos' cap and pouring some juice on it before handing it over to me, which I accepted wholeheartedly. "You both don't know how scared I felt after seeing our table being occupied by the soccer team? Our lunch trays were set aside, and my bag sitting was beside Lucien Williams..." she began to rant again as she picked up the remaining untouched bento box and began eating her fruits.

Asher and I silently ate our lunch, listening to her throes. It couldn't be helped though, she took a few minutes to the bathroom only to come back to the table occupied by different people.

"And then I just learned from Gent Perez that a blonde punched Friso in the face and took away her male friend with their bags, and you both didn't include mine?! I'm hurt!" she exclaimed, clutching her chest and the lines on her face dramatically twisting for a feigned pained expression.

"I'm sorry, Georgia," I apologized, placing my hand down on my thigh. "Things happened on an impulse."

"On impulse? Did you punch Friso in front of everyone on impulse? I heard that he was trying to sit with you guys," her figure cowered, and she slide back defensively. I only looked at her in disbelief, thinking that she was having a twisted image of me punching Friso for no reason.

"What's your relationship with Friso anyway?" she asked out of the blue which made me choke on my food out of surprise. Asher was quick and handed me Georgia's thermos after he nudged her with an elbow.

"What?" she asked, looking completely clueless. I wouldn't blame her for asking indiscreetly. She wasn't present during what happened so she didn't get to sense the animosity between Friso and me.

"I'll tell you guys when I'm comfortable talking about it," I said in a small voice with a small smile, a pinch pulling on my chest. I just had Vietnam flashbacks. God, I don't want to be reminded or remember any of those again, it hurts every time I reminisce. I want to focus on my academics today, and not on all this teen drama angst.

She stared at me for a second, like she was trying to pry into the depths of my mind. "All right, suit yourself," she replied. "But mind you, that guy's got serious issues. I just hope that he won't come after you," she then warned, her gaze becoming stern.

"I know..." I lowered my gaze down to my legs, balling my hands into fists. I knew what that guy was capable of, and he could do the absolute worst. But little did Georgia know that Friso was already after me before the earlier incident. It was all hot and windy on this unwittingly sunny afternoon, but the air surrounding us three was ominously brooding and asphyxiating. Once again, it became difficult for me to breathe to the point that my chest ached.

I looked over at my two friends and saw their pitiful gazes at me. Georgia was staring at me with a mellow gaze as if she was trying to sympathize with me while Asher was holding incomprehensible scrutiny that made me wonder what he was contemplating about my situation.

However, the gloomy, heavy atmosphere didn't dwell for long when my phone suddenly rang. I immediately picked up the device and saw that it was Katherine calling for a FaceTime. Without further ado, I answered the call and the view on the screen transitioned into a full view of Jason's goofy face leaning the screen. "Hey," I greeted with a small giggle.

"What's up?" he grinned at me widely, probably amused with his gag. "You look blue," he stated, his grin turning upside down.

"Guess I'm a smurf now." I shrugged at him, brushing the statement off. I didn't want to dwell on the negative vibe, let alone infect him with it. Jason was a jolly, happy-go-lucky guy. But he was also pretty observant and stuck his nose into those things that involved his friends.

"Who are you talking to?" Katherine's feathery, doubting voice came out of the speaker.

"I heard a girl's voice," Nikki's voice spoke.

I could hear Jason's girlfriend gasp loudly over the other line. "Oh my God, Jason. Are you-"

"Relax, it's just Vanessa," he immediately spoke.

Katherine was one easy-to-get-jealous girlfriend. She was a frail and shy girl, who would easily get flustered at Jay's romantic advances even though most of them were cheesy. She had a rough childhood with her mom being verbally abusive, so she grew up insecure. Thankfully, she was now gaining confidence in herself ever since her dad divorced her mom and began to stabilize in a healthy environment along with us.

"Vanessa?" I could hear her sounding excited as soon as her boyfriend mentioned my name.

"Vannie, hi!" the view suddenly shook, and all of a sudden, I was seeing Nikki's face with Seandhe and Harley behind her. "I missed you!" she exclaimed, the corners of her eyes getting a bit watery. "You mean we missed you," Harley corrected his sister.

"You guys missed me even though I've been around a lot?" she joked, which made the twins look at her in disbelief with a sigh heaving off their chest.

I laughed. The joke was a bit dry, but the humor remained. "I missed you guys too."

"Where are you?" Harley took his turn to talk to me. "That place looks like it has an awful lot of sun," he commented, looking over the phone like he was getting to see the view behind me. "There's only one sun, Harls." Nikki rolled her eyes at him.

"No, I mean-"

"I'm at the field right now, having a small picnic..." as soon as I mentioned "picnic", I instantly remembered the two people with me. I looked over in their direction and saw their bewildered expression, especially Georgia who was inclining her ear to my direction "With my friends," I added then turned so they could see my two friends behind me.

"Hi!" Georgia greeted cheerfully while Asher just awkwardly waved his hand.

"Oh my God," Katherine gasped audibly again, her face popping on the screen. "Is that school full of frigging models? They're so breathtaking!" she squealed. I forgot, her growing confidence also came with bluntness. But it was good that she was starting to say whatever was on her mind.

"Aw, thank you," Georgia gushed on her spot, leaning closer over my shoulder. "You're a breathtaking bunch too!"

"Gang, meet Georgia and Asher," I began to introduce them to each other. "Asher, Georgia, meet my friends. The girl with the curly hair is Nikki, and the two guys who look alike are her twin brothers, Harley and Seandhe. You'll know it's Seandhe since he's bulkier, and Harley's a bit skinnier..."

"Hey, I'm not skinny! I'm kinda buff too!" Harley protested, now trying to flex his muscles to the camera.

"I mean he has lesser muscles than Seandhe." I faked a cough. "That girl popping her face on the screen is Katherine, and..." Jason suddenly popped his face too, just right beside Katherine. "That one's Jason, her boyfriend."

"It's nice to meet you guys!" Georgia exclaimed. Asher also said the same thing, but with a rather monotone, collected voice. I couldn't tell if he was being shy or awkward, and they began to virtually strike up a relationship, which made Georgia get my phone off my hand.

I slide back to sit beside her, resting my head on her shoulder while they talked. Their conversation slowly bore me so I roamed my eyes on the grass and my eyes widened when my sight landed on a familiar-looking creature. It was a grasshopper, and a large one at that.

**

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