Class Of 96': 1994 (BxB Mystery)

Chapter O - The Fool

"I wanna stay like this forever." I say, smiling.

    I'm on the phone with Ollie Blossom, Molly Blossom, and Innesa Alexeev. My best friends.

    It's the first day of school in London, September 16 of 1994. Yet I'm still having a pleasant chat with my friends, trying to ignore my ina shouting to "Go to school!" in Filipino.

    "You wish," Innesa teases through my rotary dial phone. I could basically see her rolling her eyes at me. "Ollie had to try connecting me to this line for like, 10 minutes."

    Molly laughs. "Break an arm next time. If I tried to connect you, it would've taken 5."

    "Liar." Ollie drags, his posh British accent flooding my ears. "You would've killed us all, including the phone. And I'm sure the saying goes break a leg not break a fucking arm."

    "Guysss." I playfully groan. "Can you guys not fight for at least a day?"

    "No." Both the Blossoms say at the same time.

    My ina busts into my sunlit room as if on cue, practically breaking my door. "Stephan Jose Dragus!" Oh-uh. That's a bad start. "Bumangon ka na!!! Ang bagal-bagal mo, parang walang iskul mamaya! Sus! Ang tamad mo! Puro kaibigan una!"

    She basically said "Get out of bed!!! You're so slow as if you don't have school later! My God! You're so lazy! Always friends first!" But being yelled at in Filipino rather than English is downright terrifying.

    I could hear my friends giggling through the line as they dropped the phone.

    "Keep your skin, Stephan." Ollie laughs and the line goes silent.

    "Ma!" I jump out of bed, already in my brown blazer uniform. "Pasensya na po!" Sorry! I stub my toe on my wooden bedframe, jumping while I stumble through my room. "Ack-"

"Hay naku! Ginagawa ko lahaaat para sa bahay nito!" Gosh! I have to do everythinggg in this house! My ina shakes her head and leaves me dumbfounded, hopping around on one leg, holding my foot, like a frog.

    I quickly ran out of my room, slinging my backpack on my shoulder, and slid my shoes on.

    "Paalam na po!" Bye! I wave. I open the door and hop on my bike, speeding through my neighborhood. I could sense my mom's disapproval of my friends from where I bike.

    London today is quite sunny. I pass multiple cars on the road, multiple faded buildings, multiple green trees, double-decked red buses, and multiple bushes. The scent of both gasoline and soil lingered in the air.

    I pass by Innesa's apartment on my way and see her exiting the building.

    She had big hollow eyes, pale skin, black hair meeting horribly faded highlights, and was concerningly skinny and short. If you told me she was a boy, I would've believed you. But she had her own charm. Well— Sort of.

Beside her stood a tall, lean, and thin figure. If I hadn't looked twice, I would've thought he was an Aswang instead of her older brother.

His name was Luka Alexeev. He had short greyish hair, empty cheekbones, thin lips, a strong hooked nose, long fingers, horrible posture, and was godly tall. He was probably around 6.4, making Innes look like a 4.10 dwarf.

    I slow down my bike as I paddle beside them walking along the bumpy sidewalk.

    "Good morning!" I beam.