Every day for the past few weeks, Ken always hung out with Aila and Reese, it was refreshing to see the other side of Ken. He was kind, fun, and sweet and very caring towards Aila, which made Reese feel at ease to leave them two alone.
"What do you think of him?" Reese asked Aila, who was staring at Ken from afar.
"I think he is cute" Aila laughed at her own answer, she knew Reese was waiting for a more serious answer.
"Silly! Come on, I'm your best friend, give me a decent answer." Reese was begging for a juicy gossip.
"Well, I guess we have this kind of thing you can consider a mutual understanding,"
Aila answered in a low voice.
"Do you mean, you don't want to put a label on it?" Reese responded in a confrontational tone. Aila laughed at the hostility she felt from Reese,
"Chill girl! What I meant was, at least not yet, for now, I would like to keep it as it is."
The two girls proceeded to their classroom just in time.
"Class, let's go to the auditorium for your career orientation."
Career orientations are done for graduating students, different universities conduct orientations to help students to choose their path for college.
Today, a university is presenting IT courses to graduating students. This event is attended by different schools. Aila's school was seated at the centermost part of the auditorium, with thousands of students attending this event, she was still a standout, she immediately noticed the stares when she entered the auditorium.
She nudged her elbow softly against Reese.
"Can you check if my identity has been leaked? I feel like there are so many eyes on me."
"Perhaps you look familiar to them because of that?"
Reese sneered at her and pointed on one of the soda ads near the entrance.
"Oh, shoot! Why do they have to post that here?"
She wore her eyeglasses and let her hair down to somehow cover her face. Reese laughed at her more;
"What shall I do with your pretty face? Is it such a trouble to be this pretty?" She offered to change seats with her.
"Hi Miss, I am part of the presentation later, can I take a picture of you? We will just use it as a sample for later."
A college student asked her, Aila was hesitant at first but her classmates were begging her to accept it since it would be an honor for her school.
"Ahhmm okay, sure"
A few minutes later, the presentation started. The IT students are explaining simple techniques on how to edit and manipulate pictures on a photo editing software. When Aila's face was shown on the screen;
"Oooohh she's so pretty…"
"Who's that?"
"Is she a celebrity?"
"From what school is she?"
She can hear the crowd talking about her, she slouched to hide a bit, it didn't help that she was quite tall. She was confident enough that she won't be noticed being in the middle of the crowd but suddenly the spotlight was focused on her…
"Oooohhhh... It's her…" most of them were in awe that she was really there. The host asked for her to come up on stage. She was cautious at first but Reese assured her that it is safe and okay. She removed her eyeglasses and raked her hair with her fingers, her simple actions looked sexy and made the men in the audience gasp for air. She stood up and went to the stage, even if it was not explained to her earlier; she just went along with it.
"Hi, I see you are from Golden Fields High School; can we have your name? I'm sure many are curious about your name."
The host was trying to make a conversation while the college student was editing her photo.
Aila smiled and answered, "My name is Aila Rodriguez."
"Okay Aila, so let's see how our IT student here edited your photo. They are trying to create a poster based on the pictures they took from you earlier."
Aila nodded and was looking intently at the monitor. To her surprise, the photo the student was trying to create was based on the brand she endorsed. The host invited the IT student to explain the poster he edited.
He looked at her "Aila right?"
Aila nodded "Yes I'm Aila."
"I took your photo earlier because I believe your beauty will do justice for this poster; maybe even better than the original model." The college student was trying to impress her.
Aila chuckled softly, not giving the college student a hint. He continued with his explanation of his technique. The poster he made actually came out nice, considering her photo was not done in a studio.
"Now let's see the original poster, side by side with the poster we made just now."
The student was choking on his own saliva when he realized his mistake.
"Oh shoot, it's you!"
The host tried to recover the blunder the student just made with a joke.
"How can you tell her she looks better than the original model when she is the original model?"
Aila can't help but laugh at the scene that unfolded in front of her.
"It's okay, maybe I had too much make-up with the studio shoot, it made me look like a different person. Right?" she faced the IT student.
"No, I honestly think you look prettier in person." The IT student tried to sweet-talk his way out of it.
"Don't bother with your excuses, you're forgiven. Can I take my seat now?" Aila spoke to him without the microphone.
The IT student and host nodded and assisted her towards the stage exit.
"Wait, are you single?"
Aila was stunned; she stopped on her tracks and faced the student, who was clueless about what he just did. Aila pointed at his wireless lapel.
The crowd went wild with what happened.
"Oh fudge, I'm wearing a lapel. Just the same, please answer me, do you have a boyfriend?"
Aila instantaneously answered him,
"No, I don't have a boyfriend."
The crowd did not hear her but with the camera projecting on the screen, her answer was pretty clear.
Aila went back to her seat, she saw Ken's face, he looked like he was in a rage, and he left the auditorium. When the presentation ended, the IT student approached her again,
"I'm sorry, I am supposed to give this to you, but I think you have the original one already."
"it's okay, I'll keep this one."
She chuckled and took the printed poster he edited.
"Can I take a picture with you?" The IT student asked,
Aila was taken aback, this is the first time someone asked for her picture like this, it sure feels like she is a celebrity.
"I hope you don't mind this is the first time that I've met a celebrity."
The guy appeared apologetic to Aila. She obliged, feeling bad about it.
"One more thing, can I draw you?"
"I'm sorry I'm not used to stuff like this." Aila humbly confessed giving an explanation on her awkwardness.
"Ahem"
It was Ken, clearing his throat behind Aila. She was surprised;
"Oh you're here, I thought you left already."
The IT student went on his way and left Aila with Ken and Reese.
"Is that what you thought or is that what you wanted?" Ken was obviously pissed off.
"Whatever, Ken, I don't like how you're acting like a jealous boyfriend."
"But I'm Jealous!" Ken said in a loud voice.
"But you're not my boyfriend!" Aila made sure Ken heard every word, she walked out with Reese.