It's Christmas eve and I barely have a place to stay.....Everything was great until the 20th of December 2001
"Janessa! Come down here and help me with the Christmas decorations!", Mom shouted from the living room."Coming mom!", I screamed back at her. The maids usually decorated the house for Christmas but this time,mom wanted us to do it as a family mainly because we were in dad's birth month. Fun fact, daddy wasn't even this excited for his birthday like mom was. Because of the occasion, mom decided we have a cruise party on the 20th, that's dad's birthdate. It was the 1st of December, and the semester was about to end. The last day of the year that I'd probably see some of my friends. "Call me rude boy, boy, boy....", my phone went singing. "Hello?", I said because I had no idea who was calling. "Hello, I'm Mrs. De-bryne, I took your phone number from your mother, you're Janessa, right?", she went on. "Yes please", was the only response I could bring out. She got my number fromy mother?seriously!? "You're Beryl's bestfriend, right?", she continued. Ah yes, how could I forget my own bestfriend's surname!? Okay not entirely my fault, could be others with the same name. "Oh yes, apologies aunt, I was a little distracted, how may I be of help?", I said. "My husband and I will be going on a business trip for some days, so we want Beryl and Jayden to crash at your place just for socialization sake, is that alright with you? I've already talked things out with your mom and dad, they both agree and told me to inform you too, so...are we good?", she continued. "Yes, sure, they're always welcome", I smiled, as if she could see me through the phone. Beryl and I have been bestfriends since childhood and Jayden also gets along with my brothers, Jamiel and Raheem.
I had no idea they'd be arriving that evening, seems they had everything already planned out . Butler Eu welcomed them and the next thing I heard was an unbelievable scream from Beryl, "Nessaaaaaaaaaa!" . "Young lady, where are your manners!?", her father retorted sternly. She apologized and I couldn't help but giggle. The maids brought their luggage in as we settled in the living room. "Been a while since we sat down with the kids like this" Mr. De-bryne began. "They're growing day-by-day", dad smiled. The De-brynes and my parents are good friends and business partners, that's how come we, the kids, relate well. Our parents discussed adult issues and tried to involve us claiming we're growing.When Beryl and I couldn't take it anymore,we excused ourselves. We left to my room to have our "girl talk". "What's up girl?", Beryl said in her dramatic tone. "Still with mister ocean blue-eyed guy or it ends with us?" She teased. "Oh come on, Austin and I have never been a thing and you know that", I rolled my eyes at her. "You know, you can just date my brother so we become sisters-in-law, right?" She laughed loudly. I blushed, well yes, because her brother was the hottest, most intelligent and reserved guy at school. I won't lie. I crushed on him once and I don't even know if I'm over it. Rumors had it that he was dating Onyx Bethson, the prettiest girl in Bangkok High. "Beryl don't joke about things like that", I said. Unnecessary conversations like this went on until the maid told us that it was almost time for dinner. We took our bathes and headed down to join everyone else. Dinner was all lively and all giggles. Mr. and Mrs. De-bryne left after dinner and we all departed to our rooms. Beryl and I shared my room because that girl can not live without me, period. We decided to gossip but guess what? She fell asleep, so I decided to take a stroll in the garden since I wasn't sleepy. I went out in my pajamas to enjoy the breeze because it was dark but I felt a pair of eyes staring at me. I turned to see no one, quite scary. "Careful!", was the next thing I heard as I was about to take my next step. I looked down and screamed. There was a scorpion staring at me! In my shocked state, someone drew me backwards....and it was Jayden! He even had a worried expression plastered on his face. My face went red, was he worried about me? Inside, I was screaming with joy but in reality, I couldn't even utter a word. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?", be asked worriedly. Just then, everyone came out of their rooms. Jamiel rushed to my side to check if I was okay and kept on asking if I was hurt. "I...I'm fine, I managed to say and withdrew from Jamiel's embrace. I turned to see if Jayden was still around but I couldn't find him anywhere.