Chapter 32: They are now a thing

Jessie and Luciana made their way to the entrance of Chelan college, chatting and giggling about things. After the previous day of revealing all their secrets to themselves, having some sorrowful moments, and being awed at the various happenings in their life, they came to a resolution that they were going to turn a new leaf and keep no secrets from themselves anymore. Jessie acted okay, smiling as they made their way inside. But deep down, the revelation about Luciana's sickness was hurting every bit of her bone marrow.
Ambling through the foyer of Chelan, lockers lined up like soldiers on a battlefield, displaying their glow of uniform paints. The sounds of shoes squeaking on the floor, murmurs from muffled chatterings with screeching noises from the clinking of locks being opened, and the door of lockers slamming, filled the air.
Jessie could feel the scent from different exquisite perfumes, mixed with the scent of detergent and bleach gallivanting around her nostrils calling her attention to the indispensable work of the Janitors.
Jessie waved at one, grinning widely from ear to ear as she strolled past one of the Janitors, who made his way out of his closet, dragging a vacuum along. She made her way to her locker, with Luciana strolling right beside her, stopping to have a discussion with Carl whom she met on the way. Jessie continued her journey to her locker, typing in her password as she got there, to unlock it. She dragged the zip of the bag that she carried open, picking out every material she needed, and shoved it into her locker afterward. Why she was on it, Alyssa jogged down to her, smiling as she spread her arms apart, anticipating a warm embrace from Jessie.
"Guess what?" Alyssa spoke out, her lips wide apart, taking loud chortles periodically that sounded like the resonating sounds of a motor engine.
"I and Raymond are...." Alyssa paused midway, with Raymond cutting in on her conversation.
"Hey.." Raymond walked over to them, throwing a stare in a way of greeting Jessie, and then he hugged Alyssa when he got to her.
"Oh my... I have been away for just a day and what is this..."Jessie spelt out, taking her palms to the left side of her cheeks and allowing them to rest on it, "aren't you the same Alyssa that did not want to talk to him just last week?" Jessie giggled, pointing at Raymond with her left index finger, "what happened now?"
"I think she cares about me so much, she could not risk staying away from me for just two weeks" Alyssa turned towards Raymond instantly, throwing him dangerous glares at his statement.
"He's just being ridiculous" Alyssa started, speaking in her favor, "he was the one that kept on crawling on his knees, telling me how much he could not do without me. Being the great friend I am, I decided to take the stress off him and considered accepting him. You know, I just felt pity for him" Alyssa was not even done with her statement, when Jessie burst into a feat of laughter, unable to control her emotions anymore. Alyssa joined also and Raymond felt so embarrassed, as students began to turn their heads toward them already.
"Alyssa, reduce it" he managed to say, tugging lightly on Alyssa's arms.
"Leave me" she blurted out, laughing, "just now you wanted to embarrass me, how does it feel tasting your coffee?" Alyssa raised her hand to her waist taking a posture that was like one of a runway model.
"It does not feel good, I'm never going to try it... Ever" Raymond pleaded, bringing his two hands together to a level around his nose, positioned like he was about to recite a religious mantra.
"Better " Alyssa shook her head, then gave off a faint smile, acting like a staunch CEO.
"So what were you talking about, Alyssa?" Jessie said, raising her brows inquisitively.
"I was talking about something?" She questioned, confusion drawn all over her face, "I don't remember"
"The I and Raymond are..."Jessie mimicked, drawing out air quotes with her fingers, "have you forgotten?"
"Ohh... It's about the coming together thing. I wanted to tell you about it. But he had to show up, just to interrupt us" She stated and turned in Raymond's direction. Raymond opened his mouth to say something, trying to fix the right words, in his process of arranging his speech, Jessie spoke up instead, shaking her head in a disapproving manner,
"You want to argue now? I thought they said you were a man." She raised her hands to her forehead, smacking it with her palms.
"Jessie..." Alyssa called out almost immediately, and they started laughing.
Getting a hint of what the laughter was about, "okay, okay, I'm leaving you both. It seems you guys are out to chew me." Raymond concluded and disappeared out of their sights moving towards the stairs, trying to block his ears from catching on their laughter. He feigned the whole embarrassment as he enjoyed the girl's presence. He just had to leave them, so they could catch up on their chit-chats.
Luciana walked to where the girls were, smiling, with her right hand holding onto the tote bag she carried, draped over her shoulders. She was wearing a yellow petal-sleeved blouse, tucked into a blue side slit wrap-on skirt. Luciana wore a black high ankle boot to complement it, making her look like the perfect undercover agent. Her hair was left to fall loosely, with some pins holding on to the edges.
"So who missed me?" Luciana uttered in excitement as soon as she walked over to the girls. She left Carl not long after meeting with him, as he had a practical class to attend. Carl and Luciana just had an emotional thing going on between them, even as they had not classified it as a relationship. To every other person that saw them, they were just friends and they did their best trying to keep it that way. Luciana's fear was not even about starting a relationship with him and experiencing a heartbreak as Carl seemed like every girl's man, but the part of leaving him hurt if anything happened to her, as her health condition was unpredictable. And Luciana was the least optimistic about gettingbetter.
"See who left me alone for a man", Jessie announced, folding her hands beneath her breasts.
"Jessie" Alyssa and Luciana called out almost at the same time, " when did you start talking this much?" Luciana continued.
Jessie could not help herself from laughing on and on, her day was just too funny and she could not help it. She was standing right in front of two girls desperately in love, first, it was Alyssa's and Raymond's incident, and next Luciana who walked over to them with her cheeks colored in excitement. They were not the only ones acting up in love, she was also in the same mess. Periodically scanning the hallway with her eyes, checking if she could see Charles.
Since he dropped her at the Ranez home the day before, she had not heard anything from him, and she kept on fighting the urge to call him. She was trying to avoid being desperate as she was gradually falling helplessly in love with him.
"I'm not talking too much" Jessie pouted, her face falling in sadness, "I won't talk anymore. I think I will start keeping my mouth shut now", she mumbled, taking her eyes to the floor.
Alyssa and Luciana watched Jessie, shocked at her sudden change of expression, "you are trying to mess with our emotions now, right?" Luciana asked, massaging her temples to ease the headaches she was beginning to feel. The brain tumor was only getting worse as the day went by, and it was draining every bit of positivity she felt, but she still tried to put up this cheerfulness, as to her, the world had a lot of negative energy going around, and she had the responsibility of spreading the little love she could give.
"Lol, be taking me seriously sometimes" Jessie chuckled as she could not put up anymore with the acting.
"Luci... You won't believe what happened now," Luciana who was already lost in her pain, immediately got caught up with Jessie's statement. Her face lit up in excitement, anticipating whatever gossip Jessie had for her. "I am all ears, fill me in" Luciana requested, tucking her hair into the space between her ear and her head, and Alyssa was left confused, wondering what the talk may be about.
Jessie moved her face to Alyssa, trying to judge her mood, smiling as she felt good that she was the cause of Alyssa's racing heart, and took her face back to Luciana, "well, a notification just came on my phone. The elderly home I want to volunteer in, just sent me a mail, accepting my offer and I feel good that I have to do something during the holiday" Jessie muttered zealously, flashing a smile at Alyssa, and then Jessie, "at least it will help my grades for next session."
"Wow, that's great" Alyssa cooed out, trying to take her weight to the next leg as she was obviously tired of standing. They decided to take a stroll to a lecture hall, to pass time their instead. On their way, while they were still giving out their pleasurable opinions about what they thought about volunteering, someone walked over to them,
"Jessie" He started, taking a break, "You dare go about smiling, and you think all is well after that day. First, you walked out from the conversation I was having with you. Then you sent your asshole of a friend to harass me even after I thought we were even the previous night", Oswald said as he walked over to her, "who is giving you such mind, the same Charles that is going to dump you once he's satisfied?"