CHAPTER 1   DEATH GLARE AND BLUE SNEAKERS

Tiffany was sort of boyish. She been like that since she was a kid. Her family once owned a machine shop and their employees were all male. Her neighborhood playmates and friends were also mostly boys.

As she grows up and went to school, she has more guy friends than female friends. People thinks she like girls because of her physical appearance. Well.. she doesn’t care.

Yes she likes wearing loosejeans and shirt, she prefers to use sneakers and rubber shoes, she itches when she uses girly stuff like make up, she doesn’t like girly clothes, she even walks like a guy.

“So what?”  She often tells to herself. One thing she is sure about… she’s straight.

She took civil engineering as her college course.  You ask why? She can’t think of anything, it’s the first thing that came up to her mind when she was filling up the freshmen registration form. How creative huh?

At the day of enrollment on her 3^rd year…..

Tiffany’s P.O.V.

“Damn this enrollment process!” I muttered.

“Why does it has to be like this?” I kept on mumbling while looking at long line of encoding section of student registration. It is the last stop in the registration process. Where am I? I’m at the Verification of Grades. And where is that? Uhm…. How do I put it?..... Well… its like… a trip to Hawaii… with me still boarding up to the plane going there!!!

I’m starting to lose my cool when suddenly someone caught my eye.

I was looking at the ground and when I looked up, I was surprised to see apretty girl. Oh well, ofcourse I didn’t make it obvious.

She’s sitting at the bench infront of the bench where I sit. She’s right infront of me. I looked at her face and I got engrossed looking at her face not realizing that I’m already staring at her. As in STARE. Why am I looking at her? I don’t know either. As in really.... I find her pretty… that’s only it, so people, please don’t think any cute ideas, okay? If I sound defensive, it’s just your imagination.

“Whoah…. Pretty…” I let out a sigh.

My eyeballs are fixated on her face for who knows how long when I noticed her facial expression changed.

Hey eyebrows almost touching each other, then she looks at me and checked me out… in a bad way. She looked at me from head to toe then from toe to head…. And then she pouted… and then she glared.

“Ms. Jessica Jung” I heard someone called out. It was the person in charge of grades verification.

“Jessica Jung…..” I mumbled  to myself as that Jessica girl stood up and walk towards the desk.

I kept on thinking what have I done for her to glare at me like that. I really don’t have any idea. Don’t doubt me. I’m saying the truth.

“Ms. Stephanie Hwang” Oh! It’s my turn.

As I walk towards the desk, me and that “death glare” Jessica Jung walked pass each other. My left eyebrow rised when she gave me that “stop-staring-if-you-don’t-want-me-to-pull-your-eyeballs-out-of-its-sockets-and-make-it-a-byuntae-eyeball-soup” look .

I was taken aback. Why is she like that?! Enrollment takes for a whole day and we’re just at the tip of the iceberg. I’ll be seeing her this whole agonizing day. T_T

“Oh man…. “ I sighed.

“ This will be a long day”.

Jessica’s P.O.V.

“This enrollment process ! I’m sleepy.” I thought to myself.

Since I’m a transfer student, I don’t know anyone here. I just keep my head down for most of the time.. yawning… and yawning.

I noticed a pair of shoes infront of me. A pair of blue converse sneakers to be exact.I looked up to see the owner of those shoes. It’s not that I’m curious of whoever this person is… its just that I don’t have anything to do anyway.

“Oh, it’s a girl….a…uhmmm…girl?..” I thought to myself. Yes, this person infront of me is definitely a girl. A girl with a pretty boy face. Loose jeans and shirt. She looks boyish but still has this feminine uhmm… cuteness.

She looks bored and pissed off. And then she looked up. Her eyes fixated on me. She’s staring at me. STARING at me!

I don’t know what’s going on her mind. She’s giving me that “I’m-not-looking-at-you-I’m-looking-through-you-because-my-mind-is-blank” look. I can’t see any expression on her face. She is just…STARING.

Why is she looking at me like that? Maybe this punk likes me. Maybe she’s just pulling that stare technique to hide her true intentions.It’s not the first time I’ve seen it. Infact, I do it also to others. Stare at them but keeping that see through them look so it won’t be obvious.

She is starting to get on my nerves. I glared at her…. In bold letters.

She STARE, I GLARE.

“Ms. Jessica Jung” I heard someone called my name.Finally, time for grades verification. As I wait for the person to finish verifying my grades, I turned my head to look for the girl. There she was with her head down, eyebrows formed a single line, pouting and shaking her head, looked up again toward my direction and when our eyes met…. gave a loud sigh.     

“Oh, is that so?” I mumbled. This blue sneakered pretty boy is really pushing it.

“Ms. Stephanie Hwang” I looked back at the verifier. He smiled at me then signaled that blue sneakered punk to come forward.

As she come forward the desk, we walked pass each other, I noticed a  hint of smile on her pink lips. “This punk could be a good looking guy…” I thought.

“Pink lips…. That those pink lips…. “ Oh no!!!! Stop it Jessica Jung! Focus! F.O.C.U.S!

She stared at me again? Was she vulgary checking me out while I wasn’t looking? Well, too bad for her. I will not be involved with a fellow girl. Im definite of that. About her lips?.... Oh well… it’s nothing malicious. And yes, im not  being defensive.

My mind started again its “conspiracy theory like” way of processing datas. Maybe  watching those conspiracy theory movies with my dad took a toll on me. I didn’t realize that I’m glaring at her intently… making that blue sneakered punk to raise an eyebrow.

“Stephanie Hwang, huh?”

I made my way to the next procedure. I scanned the campus grounds. Still a long way to go. I’m still at the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

As soon as I arrive to the next enrollment procedure, I saw her making her way towards where I am. Seems like we’ll be together for the rest of this agonizing day. With that thought, a smile formed on my lips. There’s nothing about it. There’s nothing wrong about smiling by yourself without any coherent reason, right? And yes, again, I’m not being defensive.

“Oh man….” I thought.

“This will be a long day.”