The Soiree--Chapter One

"Are you almost here?"
"Almost Shell'," I squinted at the moving houses. They weren't really moving. The car just made it look like they were. Our class pres told me that the house we were going to have the soiree had a green roof. They all had green roofs.
"Shelly, what was the address again?" I asked nervously to the person on the other line, my best friend Shelly. I'd never been to Pasay before, let alone a subdivision of it. Plus, I had the memory gap of a goldfish. Their memory gap was just three seconds.
I heard tons of voices, mostly guys, in her background. That was it. I was officially late. Zoey Basiana, the girl who thought of this whole thing, reassured me that if I was ever late, it would be okay. The guys were known to be 'fashionably late', or in other words, they were known to piss girls off for being an hour late. Now they're there early. They really wanted to meet us. I grew flattered when I thought of it, but my nervousness was dominating it.
"Thirty-five Dominga Street, are you sure you're not lost?" She asked with worry. "Most of the guys are here already and it might become just you that's late,"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously, get here fast!" She said, then muffling to say hello to some people. Even though she muffled it, I can hear the names she was saying. Victoria Servano, Mia De la Cruz, Zoey. Shit. All of my friends were there.
"Well, I would be there already if someone didn't make me buy the cake from a store four cities away," I say a bit annoyingly. It's so unfair that she's saying I am going to be late for an errand I had to do for her. But I did owe her one, and she's my best friend. So it was okay for her to ask me to do her this favour. Shit, she's good.
"Oh, come on! It's Banofee pie! You love pie!" She said with a small musical note in it. I knew her really well. She only used that voice when she tried to weasel herself from something. "Yeah, I loved pie. It's making me late to the first ever soiree I would be attending ever," I told her.
"Psh, c'mon dude. Guys will have their attention on you!" She tried to reassure me. It wasn't helping at all. "Shell', they'll be staring at me. I can't handle that kind of thing. You know that," I faked a sigh. I wanted her to feel bad for doing this on me.
"Trish, I'm sorry talaga," She sounded like she's on the verge of tears. I knew what card she's playing with. I'd seen her use it at tons of guys whenever I go to her house. It's the 'I'm sorry but c'mon I did nothing wrong' card. I won't give in. I won't.
"Trish," She pleaded again. Damn it, her pleading's so realistic. I had to forgive. "It's okay, I forgive you," I grumbled. I gave in. Shelly had the uncanny ability to make people give in. Or it's just she was one of my best friends in the whole freaking world.
"Yay ---hey, I've got to go. The soiree's starting. Please tell me you're close before I end this call" She isn't lying. I could hear Zoey and her co-host talking. "Yeah, I think I'm here already," I lied smoothly. I wanted her to not worry about me.
"Sure, bye,"
"Bye,"
I sighed and closed my eyes. This was so not how I imagined the soiree would be for me.
I imagined that I would be there on time and just hid in a corner and read a book. But no, I'd be arriving late and there won't be any hiding. All their eyes would be on me, me. I'm not good at that. My confidence's really low. It might even reach the Philippines Sea's deepest point, or maybe even lower. I just couldn't handle any pressure.
"Kuya Boy, malapit na ba tayo?"("Kuya-this is a term for older guys- Boy, are we there yet?") I asked without opening my eyes. My mind's imagining what could've happened when I enter the place. "Lapit na, ano ba yun address?"("We're almost there. What's the address?") He asked with his Visayan accent. He swerved a left and stopped for a bit. Maybe there's a car passing by.
"Thirty-five Dominga Street," I replied. Now I was being asked by tons of good-looking guys about the reason I was late. My reason's legit, but I couldn't talk to guys. I had Dad-itis.
Dad-itis was a little known disease, little known because I made it up. The symptoms were lack of confidence with guys, little connections with guys, and an overprotective dad who never let you near a guy. If you had the dad already, you already had Dad-itis.
This disease was mostly found in all-girl schools, for dads always placed their beloved little girls away from guys as possible. My dad's one of them.
He was super overprotective on me. I wasn't allowed to go out of the house until I was in third year and I'm not allowed to date (like a guy could like me,) until I'm twenty-five. I'm just fifteen. Ten years' a long time for a fifteen-year-old.
"Trish, nandito na tayo.""Trish, we're here.") My driver said, disturbing my thoughts. I open my eyes and look out of the window. I see that the house number was thirty-five. Shit, we're here already.
I hurriedly fixed my long black hair and smoothed flat my white dress. Another one of Jane's smart idea, the attire for girls was a simple white dress. Dresses always made me uneasy. They're just a huge hole on my lower part of my body.
I opened my brown shoulder bag and checked my stuff. I couldn't forget any of the things we needed for the soiree. My token (It's a toy Red Ferrari car from Shell. Jane hinted that the guy I'm paired up with liked collecting Shell cars,) some makeup, hairbrush, phone and a half of a heart.
"Six o'clock," Kuya Boy reminded me as I opened the car door. Gosh, we already agreed that I would be going home at six. I seriously couldn't wait 'till I get my driver's license. I won't be having any curfew when I go out.
"Okay, bye," I jumped to the ground, grab the Banofee pie and closed the car door. Wow, the cake's super heavy. I stumbled a bit because of it, but regained my composure. I was late because of this cake. I won't get this destroyed.
The moment I got out, he drove off to do some errands for my mom. It took me a minute to realize that I couldn't handle the stares I would be getting, that I should have got in my car and say I got sick. But my driver left so I was stuck here, I had to attend the soiree.

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It took me five full minutes to decide whether I should just go in or ring the doorbell. If I just go in, that would be rude. But most of the people there were my friends, so they could've told them I was well known for being late at school. If I ring the doorbell, I would just disturb the soiree. People would be really pissed at me. I was going for just going in.
I took a deep breath and opened the unlock gate. That's weird. Who didn't lock their gate? A serial killer could just waltz in and killed them all because they didn't lock their gate. But the moment I pushed the gate open, I realized why it's unlock. Someone's going out.
We almost bumped into each other and I nearly dropped the cake. My thoughts went all crazy when it happened. It kept on saying "WTF TRISH, CATCH THAT CAKE. DON'T LET THAT CAKE FALL, YOU PAYED FIVE HUNDRED PESOS FOR THAT CAKE.". When I calmed down, I looked up at the person I collided with. They were freaking taller than me, a head taller.
I nearly dropped the cake again.
It was a guy, a freaking cute guy. I flushed and looked down.
"I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He asked with sincere. His voice's kind of husky, like he just woke up. It's sounded so well. I was able to mumble that I was alright. I was looking down at the cake (It's blocking my view of the ground,) and my cheeks were flushed.
"Are you here for the soiree?" He asked with curiosity. I nodded my head. I couldn't trust myself to say anything. I might say something stupid. I always say something stupid.
"Do you know where it is?"
He sounded like he was talking to a lost child. That's offending. I wasn't that small. I was a good 5"5, and for Filipinos, that's tall already. But it seemed that it wasn't for the guy. My flush wasn't caused by embarrassment. It was anger that took over.
I knew my reason to be mad at this guy I barely know was so babaw (Low), but I had my pride. I hated to say that I was a prideful person. I considered lying to him, saying I did know where it is. But I had no idea if it is inside the house or outside and I was raised to be a lady, so I say I didn't know.
"Okay, I'll take you there," He said cheerfully. "But can you wait for me? I just have to get something out of my car,"
"Sure,"
And he went out of the gate. I grew a bit jealous of him. I get jealous on anyone who could drive.
So right now, my emotions for this guy were mixed. I was pleased that he would help me find the soiree, offended that he spoke to me like a little girl, annoyed that he could drive a car and mesmerized by his voice. Why did we girls feel so much stuff?
Contemplating on those thoughts, I checked the clock on my phone. It was almost two. The soiree started at one-thirty. I was only thirty minutes late. Thank goodness, I thought I was two hours late.
"What's taking him so long?" I muttered to myself after ten minutes. I decided, so that I could pass the time waiting for the guy, to check out the house. It was a two-storey house. It did have a green roof and white walls. The doors were made out maybe of dark oak. There was a metal gate door that may have lead to the back, maybe there was a yard there. It's really pretty.
"I had to look for the token of my partner," The guy whispered behind me. I jumped and cursed silently. <i>No one</i> should sneak up to people.
"O-oh," Real smooth
We stood in an awkward silence for a few more seconds until I asked him if he could take me inside already. I', flushing and my eyes were still on the cake. Curse the Dad-itis.
"Sure, follow me," He said and walked towards the metal gate door. I followed him.
There were steps and a small pond behind the gated door. The pond had the smallest fishes I have ever seen in my entire life. They were so cute!
"Hey, are you coming?" The guy's already at the end of the steps. "Coming!" I said as I rushed towards him. When I reached to him, my eyes were at his face. I almost forgot my Dad-itis. I blamed the fishes.
He's gorgeous. If Shelly was with me now, she would've said "May itsura to, Trish," ("This guy is good-looking, Trish,")
He had untidy jet black hair that slightly reached his shoulders and showed off his square-like chin. It had a six o'clock shadow which made him look like he graduated from high school years ago, not just a few weeks ago. He's really tall, like I said earlier, and had broad shoulders. I'm guessing he had biceps. Wait, what was I thinking? Biceps? Dear Lord, naughty thoughts were filling my head.
But what intrigues me the most was his eyes. They were hazel, and they weren't only that colour. They had flecks of dark green and crimson. What kind of Filipino had eyes like that? His eyes had cringe lines around them. He must smile a lot, or fake them.
But he didn't seem much of a gentleman. He didn't even ask if he could take the pie off of my arms. It's huge and heavy; something a girl like me shouldn't carry!
I suddenly notice that he's looking at me with amusement. I looked away, face burning again. He must've thought I was checking him out, which I wasn't. I just wanted to see how he looked like, that only.
He led me to a huge yard that's filled with chairs, tables, a platform and people. I know that right now, I was at the soiree.