The Bad Girl: Chapter 14 - Chrissie

She awoke to the deafening sound of 40 Below Summer.

"Damn! Chrissie, leave me alone!" Reina grumbled as she snuggled back in the covers.

"Wake up! Get up, girl!" Chrissie ordered, pulling the blanket off. "Yang, are we going to play tug of war now?"

With that, Reina harrumphed, grudgingly sat up her bed, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Rain!" Chrissie admonished as she went to turn the cd player's volume down. "You haven't been attending class for a couple of weeks and counting…"

"It's not like I haven't done that before…" Reina cut in.

"Right! But this is the finals week!" Chrissie reasoned. "I've been covering for you for days now! Good thing you haven't gone out or else people would know that you're cowering."

"Get up, girl," Chrissie said again, pulling on Reina's arm. "If you attend class now, you'll know the coverage for the exams on Wednesday."

"But people are laughing at me!" Reina said pulling back her arm and succeeded.

"Yes, they are," Chrissie panted, placing her hands on her waist. "It did not help that you disappeared after that fateful lunch incident."

She sat down on Reina's bed and said softly, "It's been hard making people believe that you're in Phuket to watch over Bliss because your mom's in the US. Good thing she's really in Miami now."

"I owe you big time Chris," replied Reina, wriggling her nose. She looked at her friend and whined in a little girl's voice, "But I still can't! Promise! I'll go tomorrow."

Chrissie threw her hands up in exasperation. "There goes that word again! Stop procrastinating, Rain. I know this is callous but may I just remind you what happened the last time you said I'll-do-it-tomorrow?"

"Okay…okay!" Reina knew she was defeated but still tried to strike a bargain. "Let's compromise," she offered. "How about lunch time?"

Chrissie roared, "Now!"

Reina covered her ears and declared, "Lunch time. I'll even meet you at Mystique."

Chrissie gave up. It's no use talking to a brat. "Fine! See you at Mystique then. Be there at 12pm sharp!"

"Yes, mother!" she replied, smiling sweetly.

"Oh by the way, go get a tan. Use that indoor tanning machine Auntie has. That would corroborate my story… look as sun kissed as a beach bum… Okay?" Chrissie said before she left her room.

"Love you, Yan!" Reina called after her.

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"Woohoo! Sherwin, wake up!" Matthew shouted as he ran into Sherwin's room. He shook Sherwin violently to rouse him from sleep.

"What now?" Sherwin groggily asked.

"Mom just sent my graduation gift!" Matthew excitedly announced.

"Huh? But the grad's on Sunday!" Sherwin sat up, rubbed his eyes and yawned.

Matt sat on the edge of Sherwin's bed. "Well, I kinda asked them to send it earlier so I could drive…"

"And show it off." Sherwin finished for him.

Matt grinned sheepishly. "That, too. It sure is a girl-magnet!"

He stood up and urged Sherwin to follow him

Sherwin lazily got up and asked, "Tell me again how we became cousins?"

"That's easy, our mothers are sisters!" Matt replied as he headed toward the door.

The car was a Chevrolet Corvette C6. It was the latest version of Chevrolet Corvette and was launched at the Detroit Auto Show.

When Sherwin saw the car, he was amazed!

"She's a beauty!" Sherwin said enthusiastically.

Matt looked very proud, "She is, isn't she?" Sherwin could only nod.

Matt then proceeded to describe the car. "This latest 'Vette musters 300kW from its six-liter motor…"

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"Well…well…well…The flirt is going solo these days, eh? Where's your round-the-clock partner in crime?" Diane taunted as Chrissie passed by their table.

"Zip it Diane. I'm in no mood to be nice to you," Chrissie stopped to face her and retorted.

"Touch. Reina Yang has hidden herself. Damn! If I were in her place, I'd hide, too. Imagine… she had actually let dorky hump her?" Diane maliciously added as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Chrissie took a deep breath and with as much control as she could muster, she retorted, "At least Dorky's a man while you just content yourself with dogs!"

Chrissie turned and walked away, a murderous expression on her face. She thought angrily, "I'm gonna kill you Sherwin Xu! Nobody messes with the Yan and Yang!"

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"Damn! Where are those two?" Chrissie thought. She had been waiting for either Sherwin or Matt for an hour now. She's meeting Reina for lunch in a couple of hours and she wants everything toned down by the time her friend arrives. "There's Mike! Might as well squeeze some information"

"Hey, Mike, Honey!" she waved at him prettily.

"Hi, beautiful!" Mike replies and goes to where Chrissie was standing.

Mike had a major crush on Chrissie. He was enamored by her beauty the first time he saw her. They had even gone out a couple of times, too.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there? Don't I get a hug or something?" Chrissie asked coyly.

Mike looked at her and smiled, "Or something…" and proceeds to kiss Chrissie.

He dragged Chrissie to his car and they both went inside.

"All alone?" Mike asked, surprised, as he nuzzled her neck. He had never seen Chrissie alone since she got in ABAC. She was always with Reina, the Bitch.

"Uhuh…" she moaned. "Reina's in Phuket. They have a princess visiting Bliss. Her mother can't attend to her 'coz she's in Miami."

Mike stopped kissing her. "Really? I heard she was hiding!" He looked confused.

"Reina Yang? My friend? The Bitch?!" Chrissie held him away. "Do you think she'd actually hide because people found out that she slept with Sherwin?!"

"Well…" Mike shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "It's not that she just slept with Sherwin. It's more of Sherwin being her first."

Chrissie laughed "Who told you such an outrageous lie? Sherwin, himself?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Sherwin? Hell no! I rarely talk to that guy. I couldn't believe that he was actually the Yang's first," he moves back to nuzzle her neck again.

Chrissie thought, "Eew! Yuck! He better tell me something really good or else I just took his sloppy kisses for nothing!"

Chrissie tried to moan making him think she's enjoying it and asked, "Then don't believe it. But then if it's not Sherwin, who?"

"You don't know about The Red Announcement?" Mike asked again, astonished.

"What Red Announcement?" she tried to sound indifferent.

"You really don't know?! It's been around school for weeks now!" Mike replied.

"That gossip about Rain? I never paid attention to it. It's just talk & full of crap," Chrissie said, all the while toying with Mike's shirt button.

"So, why bother with the whole story, right? All I know is that Sherwin and Rain got together and she ended things. Probably 'coz he's boring. And she's on her way back from Bliss. In fact, I'm meeting her later," she traced a line from his chest down to the waistband of his pants.

"Now tell me about the Red Thingy now that you've mentioned it…" she purred as she rubbed the bulge in his pants, distracting him.

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"I can't believe you're still studying!" Matt walked over to his cousin on the bench. He was strolling around when he saw his cousin.

"Sherwin, you'll be conferred with magna cum laude honors on Sunday!" he added.

He looked over the book Sherwin is reading. "What are you trying to do? Try hard to get the summa cum laude award with your finals' results?"

"Go away, Matt!" Sherwin said without even glancing up.

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Reina parked her car and stepped out. She paused and took her time to look around, trying to get as much attention as she could for her grand entrance.

Students at ABAC were surprised to see her as she sashayed towards the crowded building. It was lunch time after all.

"So far so good," Reina thought as she stopped by the steps and made a display of lighting her cigarette.

A schoolmate remarked, "She looks great!" taking in Reina's golden tan, courtesy of the tanning machine, which of course the rest of students didn't know.

"Maybe Chrissie really told that truth," assumed another after seeing Reina's highlighted beach loved hair.

Clad in an all-white tank and skirt get-up to accentuate her glowing dark skin, Reina sauntered into the center.

"She's the bitch after all…" she heard one say, "Why would a rumor bother her…"

"Nice cover, Rain. NICE," she congratulated herself and triumphantly smiled.

Squaring her shoulders, she entered the Mystique Cafe and immediately caught sight of Sherwin. She lowered her head and shook it slowly.

Reina regretfully thought, "Oh Gosh! How can I hate him when he really looks adorable with his glasses and long sleeved shirt? His head poring over his books?"

She sighed and decided she'd go talk to him. "I don't care what people think anymore," and walked over to him, chin up, met his eye, and smiled.

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Sherwin was surprised to see her after a long time. "Man! She's even more beautiful!"

"Maybe she was really in Phuket all along," as he admired her golden skin.

"Damn! Even with all those rumors she remains unfazed," he smirked.

"Congratulations, Reina Yang. You really are a bitch!" he scornfully added and met her gaze.

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Reina's smile faltered and she stopped in her tracks when she saw Sherwin's eyes darken with anger and distaste. She almost wanted to turn back and run away again but she thought of her appointment with Chrissie. It would be pointless to hide again anyway.

"It's time to face the music, Rain. The show must go on," she told herself and continued to walk to Sherwin's direction.

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Matt saw Reina heading towards them.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in," he told Sherwin and gestured to Reina.

Sherwin broke eye contact with her and said, "Maybe she wants to have her time with you now…"

He then looks at Reina degradingly from head to foot.

The cousins' exchange was disrupted by one of Sherwin's close friends, Butch. If Sherwin is a dork, this guy takes the word dork to greater heights. He's tall, lanky, pimpled, and in a nutshell, ugly.

Butch was running inside the shopping mall and yelling, "Matt! Matt!"

"What?!" an annoyed Matt answered.

"Your car…" Butch paused to catch his breath.

"I know my car's cool," he was getting more and more irritated at the panting geek.

"Sorry, Geek, I know you're Sherwin's buddy but I won't let you take a spin in it…" Matt added and shrugged his shoulder but was cut off by Butch.

"You dickhead! I came here just to tell you that your brand new hot car is being wrecked right at this moment!"

"What the fuck?" with that, Matt rushed out of the caf and out of the building.

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Reina heard what Butch was saying. She watched as Matt rushed out followed by rest of the students inside the caf, who wanted to see the action. Sherwin trailed behind, trying to dig some more information from Butch. They were about to leave when Reina blocked his path…

"Sherwin, we need to talk…" she started.

"Not now, Reina," he pushed her out of the way as he rushed out to go to Matt.

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Outside the cafe, the sound of a car slamming into another car can be heard.

Chrissie was backing up and then stepped on the accelerator and hit Matt's passenger seat.

Everybody moaned as her car collided with his.

"What the hell are you doing to my car?" Matt bellowed as he pointed at his car.

She backed up again, stepped on the brakes, and stood from her seat.

"Omigod! Is that your car?" Chrissie feigned innocence.

"I could have sworn that the owner was a girl!" She added. She then sat back and hit the car again then backed up.

Matt was rooted to the ground! He was extremely shocked!

"How could I forget?" Chrissie paused again and yelled. "The owner has a MOUTH OF A BABBLING LYING EXAGGERATING GIRL!"

"You said you own this thing? Then it's such a shame that you, the great Matthew Li, are such a gossiping little CHIT!" she sneered and slammed her car against his for the nth time.

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Sherwin turned and found Reina who was starting to smile at her friend's antics.

"You planned this all along!" Sherwin ran to her and grabbed her shoulders and accused her hotly.

"Sherwin, I…" Reina tried to reason with Sherwin.

Sherwin wouldn't hear any of it. He pushed her away. "Save it, Bitch!"

Reina was deeply insulted and for the first time she felt hurt and degraded to be called a bitch! It was one thing to hear it from other people but it was another to hear it from Sherwin.

She blinked back the tears that threatened to flow and thought, "I will not cry in front of you Sherwin."

She raised her head and squeezed herself out the door.

"Yan! Nice job!" she shouted and rushed to Chrissie.

"Enjoying the show, Yang?" she yelled back, so everyone could hear.

Reina laughed. "Let's just say you've outdone yourself!" And goes to her own car parked nearby.

Chrissie was enjoying immensely. "I have a broken fender but who cares? This is so much fun!" Backs up real far and sped toward Matt's car.

Matt realized what she was going to do and tried to stand between her and his car. But as soon as he saw Chrissie expression, he quickly jumped out of the way.

"Ooops, I did it again!" Chrissie said in a singsong voice, smiled impishly, and sped out of ABAC followed by Reina waving goodbye to their audience.

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Author's Note: There's Matthew and then there's Chrissie. When will it be Sherwin and Reina's turn?