Moonville Series 1: Secret Lovers

Alex's friends gaped at her after she told them what they wanted to know.

"Richard Quinto?" asked Steffi. "As in, the Richard Quinto?"

Alex nodded. "Yup. None other than him."

"But why?" asked Sam.

Issay gasped. "Don't tell me you... you have a crush on him!" She looked like she just discovered a shocking information.

"O.A.," Steffi commented on Issay's reaction.

"You once told us that you're attracted to him, remember?" Sam asked Alex. "Is that it?"

She nodded. "I lied. I'm sorry. It's not true that nothing happened after our encounter during the first day of school. Truth is, we... How can I say this? We hang out together. He courted me, at least that's what I know. I just don't know if that's also what he's thinking."

"Why did you say that?" asked Steffi.

"Kim Agustin," Alex answered. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"That's what I heard, that they're dating. Some even say that Kim is his girlfriend already," Issay said.

"Is that the reason why you avoid him?" Sam asked Alex. "It felt like you don't even know him. I mean, you just know him by name and that you're not close, you've never been close."

"Is that because he dumped you?" Issay asked. "Oh no! That jerk! He has the guts to dump Alex Martinez? The Alex Martinez?"

"Issay, please..." Steffi said. She's getting quite irritated with Issay's actions. "Stop over acting, okay? It's not helping."

"I'm just sympathetic to our friend here," Issay explained.

"You can sympathize with her without being OA," said Steffi.

"Will you two please stop?" Sam said to Steffi and Issay. "Let's focus on Alex first, okay?"

"Oh yea," Issay said. "So, he really dumped you?"

Alex shook her head. "I don't know. He's the one courting me."

"But he stopped and ended everything. Is that correct?" asked Steffi.

"He suddenly became close to Kim. I just realized one day that they're getting closer and closer," Alex said.

"Then, he really dumped you," said Issay.

"Issay..." Steffi gave her a stern look.

"But that's how it is, right? The first one who stopped is the one who dumped the other one," Issay explained.

Alex smiled bitterly. "Issay has a point."

"Let's not put it that way," Sam said. "Maybe, Richard is not really worthy. Because I believe that if a guy is worthy of your love, he will be willing to wait for you even if it takes forever."

"I agree with that," Steffi said. "If he really likes you then even if you challenge him and asked him to do difficult stuff, then he'll endure everything for you."

"But that's not the case with him so I guess..." Alex was not able to finish what she wanted to say. That realization was too painful for her. She feels like crying, but she tried so hard to stop her tears from falling. Crying in this crowded cafeteria is surely very embarrassing.

"Oh Alex..." Sam held her hand. "We didn't know that you're going through something like that."

"Yes," Steffi said. "Sorry that we didn't even notice it."

"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who kept everything from you, that's why you didn't know."

"Let's stop blaming ourselves, okay?" Issay said. "What's important is that we know what you're going through and that whatever happens, we will always be here for you."

"Wow! For the first time today, you said something sensible," Steffi said to Issay.

"Of course! And because of that, I thought of a great idea. Why don't we have a slumber party?" Issay asked excitedly. "Just like what we used to do."

"I can't believe that I'll like your idea," said Steffi.

"Yeah, slumber party," Sam agreed. "So that you can tell us everything that had happened. Also, to ease the burden you're having even just a little."

"We can drink wine," Issay suggested.

"Issay, do you want to be reprimanded by Alex's parents? And my parents and Sam's as well," said Steffi.

"I was just joking," Issay said. "But, we're really doing that, right? The slumber party. We can do it in our house."

"Or let's just do it at Alex's house," Sam suggested. "After all, we always have our slumber party at their house."

"Because her parents don't want her to sleep in another house," Steffi said. She then giggled.

Alex smiled. "I'm really sorry about that."

"It's okay," Issay said. "It's actually a good thing because your mom always feeds us very delicious food when we're there. But, if we do it on your house, they might find out what we are talking about."

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"We'll just stay inside Alex's room. It's quite far from the master bedroom, right?" Steffi said.

"How about her sister?" asked Issay. She then faced Alex. "Her room is just next to yours, right? If I remember correctly, they're even adjacent to each other."

"Truth is, Ate knows everything. So you don't have to worry about her. We can even ask her to join us if you like."

"Yes, let's ask her to join us," Issay agreed, to the bewilderment of the others.

"Are you sure?" asked Steffi.

"Yes, so that she can show us the behind-the-scenes videos and photos of the athletes!" Issay said.

"I knew it...!" Sam and Steffi said in unison.

Alex smiled. She felt kind of relieved that she was able to confide to her friends. She now feels better and the me-against-the-world feeling that she's having for the past days is now gone.

************

Alex was able to avoid Richard the entire intramural week. She was able to enjoy all the events with her friends. Although, she saw him again during the finals of the basketball competition, because Bryan's team is one of the team playing for the championship. Of course, there's also Kim and her friends.

But even so, Alex was not that affected because her focus is on the basketball game and her cheering with her friends. They did everything to make Bryan and the rest of the Green Tigers feel their support. In the end, everyone's effort paid off as the Green Tigers won the final game of the basketball competition.

After the game, the closing program and awarding of winners for the tertiary department followed. The Green Tigers are the overall winners for tertiary level and since they were the victors for five consecutive years, they were awarded the grand slam trophy.

That was the last event for the intramural week of CPRU. The high school and elementary closing ceremonies already took place earlier that day. And so, that wrapped up the thrilling and exciting week of the students before the review week. But for Alex and her friends, there's still one more event they are attending. It's the slumber party at the Martinez residence.