Games of the Heart

A Happy Fool

Anthony was used to being alone.

Being born out of wedlock and being branded a bastard had made him so ever since he was small. He wasn’t surprised by much anymore; he had already expected people to think negatively of him and hurl insults his way. What he wasn’t used to, however, was having people force their way into his miserable life. And he didn’t know which he exactly preferred more.

“Is he still sleeping?”

“Careful, Liz. You might trip on the dictionary on the floor.”

The voices and noisy footsteps and banging woke Anthony up. He refused to open his eyes though. He was in a haze of sleepiness and confusion, having slept until past two in the morning playing video games and disbelieving the fact that someone was actually in his bedroom.

“What the heck is his dictionary doing on the floor? And are those clean clothes on the table?”

Light flooded his bedroom and he growled.

“Eliza, stop folding his clothes.”

“It’s too messy in here, Alex. He should at least put his clothes away and clean his room once in a while.”

“Like your bedroom isn’t messy.”

“Hey, at least I clean my room once a week.”

Anthony kept his eyes closed, wishing those annoying voices were just a dream. Or at least part of his nightmare.

“Don’t open his closet. You might find his stack of dirty magazines.”

“Like I found yours?”

Groaning loudly in frustration, Anthony pulled the blanket over his head.

What the hell were dumb and dumber doing in his room, coming unannounced, uninvited and unwelcomed?

He should really have a firm talk with his mother not to let people, especially the two of them, into his bedroom soon.

But there was no ignoring or avoiding the two friends. The blanket was suddenly pulled down from his body and his eyes flew open. A frowning Eliza peered over him. She was rolling the blanket, his blanket, around her arms.

“When was the last time you cleaned your bedroom, Tony?” she asked, moving around his bedroom. Her hair was tied up into a neat ponytail, bouncing in time with her movements.

Shooting her a threatening glare, he grumbled darkly, “Get out of my bedroom, you wacko. And give me back my blanket.”

“And where are your textbooks? Is this why you don’t bring them to school? Because you lost them here somewhere?”

Anthony turned his glare at Alex, who was sitting in front of his computer and who was looking on with an amused expression on his face.

“Get your nutty best friend and yourself out of my bedroom, tallass.”

“You need to get up, Anthony,” Alex told him.

“Why?”

“We’re going to the beach.”

Anthony stared at them stupidly. Well that explained the long-sleeved, off-shoulder sundress Eliza was wearing and the beach shorts Alex had on.

“The beach?” he repeated.

“Yeah.”

That completely woke him up and he shook his head. “The hell I am.” 

“Yes, you are.” Eliza slapped his leg. “Get up.”

Grabbing the pillow from under his head, he stuffed his face into it. “I’m sleeping naked starting tomorrow,” he mumbled. “Let’s see if you morons will still trespass in my room.”

“I’ll let Alex in first and have him wrap you up like a spring roll,” he heard Eliza say, her tone unfazed. “Now, get up. It’s almost 7.”

Throwing the pillow aside, his eyes jerked to the alarm clock on his nightstand. It was still 6 in the morning. The morons actually woke him up in this ungodly hour.

“It’s practically night time,” he snapped at them, trying to get back his blanket from Eliza.

“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Eliza said when she finally let go of the blanket.

“I’m allowed to. I’m not the one who intruded into another person’s bedroom and woke them up.”

“You really need to fix your aversion to people.” The crazy girl was back to putting his clothes into his closet again. “I’m not saying you should be like Alex—“

“You mean be overfriendly and touchy feely?” Anthony raised his brow.

“—but you can really use more friends, Anthony,” she continued, ignoring his statement.

“More friends?” Anthony shifted on his bed, ready to go back to sleep. Oh, only if they let him. “I have zero friends at the moment.”

Eliza rolled her eyes and shooed Alex off the computer chair so she could clean around the computer table. Alex then sat on the edge of Anthony’s bed, patting his leg.

“Come on, Anthony,” he grinned. “Come with us.”

“For the last time, I’m not going to the beach with you beach freaks,” he said with a scowl.

“We already told your mother you’re coming with us last night,” Eliza muttered.

“And she even offered to make us food though we told her she didn’t have to. She’ll be very disappointed if you won’t come with us,” Alex ended.

Anthony felt the urge to shout at them. They weren’t playing fair by dragging his mother into this. He slowly sat upright, taking in a deep, calming breath. The walls were thin and if he were to shout, his mother was surely to go into a state of panic.

“Fine,” he grudgingly acquiesced, earning huge grins from both of them. He’d have his revenge on the two dumbasses later. “Will it be the three of us again?”

Eliza looked away and started arranging his Gundam collection. “Marco is coming with us.”

A muscle on his jaw ticked. “Ah.”

She frowned at him. “He hasn’t visited our beaches yet. They’re our town’s pride, you know. We need to show him some hospitality.”

“Hospitality. Sure.”

“Anthony, I swear to God…”

“It was me who invited him,” Alex interrupted. “So don’t tease her. Since I’m not allowed today, you shouldn’t be too.”

Whatever. He didn’t care anymore.

Anthony scratched his head and kicked the blanket off his body. “Whatever. Now get out of my room so I can change.”

Eliza eyed him with suspicion. “You’re not going to run away through the window again, are you?”

Anthony pointed at his door.

“Out!”

**********

The sun was hurting his eyes.

Anthony adjusted the sunglasses on his nose and let out a heavy sigh. He, Eliza and Alex were by the bus stop near his house, waiting for Marco to arrive.

Eliza had a small beach bag over her shoulder and was holding a picnic blanket in her arms. Alex was holding a skimboard, a bag and the basket packed with food that Anthony’s mother had prepared. Anthony didn’t bring anything. His stuff was in Alex’s bag. They had already inconvenienced him by waking him up and forcing him to come. He might as well inconvenience them too.

Their highhanded manner still annoyed him and the wide, pleased smile on his mother’s face when she saw them leave made his annoyance worsen. His mother had always wanted him to make friends and apparently, she thought he was friends with Eliza and Alex.

Though things might have slightly changed since Alex saved him from Manuel Torres and his minions, he still didn’t think he deserved to be friends with them. And he still didn’t think they deserved to be friends with someone like him.

“Where the hell is the rich kid?” he mumbled, breaking the silence.

“Don’t call him that,” Eliza scolded, giving him a sideway frown.

He smirked. “Why are you getting offended for him?”

“I’m not. It’s rude to call people names. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“You don’t have any problems with me calling you nutty or loopy loo.”

She sighed. “I’ve already given up on that.”

Alex patted her head. “You know he only calls the people he likes with weird names. We should count ourselves lucky.”

“Whatever, tallass,” Anthony muttered.

A gray pickup truck was moving down the road. It crawled to a stop in front of them and out came Marco from the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said in an apologetic tone. “I was gassing up.”

The three of them slid their gazes from him to the truck. Eliza distractedly noted how handsome he was in just a white t-shirt, beach shorts and sunglasses.

“Good Lord,” Anthony breathed. “Is there no end to his ostentatious display?”

Alex was the first to recover. “It’s alright. We didn’t wait long.”

Marco must have noticed their astonishment because he said, “I just thought it would be easier to bring a ride. You did say it was a long walk.”

He was nervous, Eliza realized. Was it because they were going to the beach, a place he told her disliked? She began to feel bad. She should really have stopped Alex from forcing him to come with them.

Promising to make sure he had a good time, she plastered a smile on her face and took a step forward. “And that was very thoughtful of you. Thank you, Marco.”

Her sincerity must have appeased Marco because his tense shoulders relaxed. He stepped aside and gestured for them to get into the truck. After another glaring contest with Alex, Eliza happily slid in the backseat with Anthony while Alex got in the front seat again with Marco.

“He’s really ostentatious,” Anthony mumbled as he sank into the soft, black leather.

“Shut up, Anthony,” Eliza and Alex said together, making him snicker and shake his head.

**********

Before they could arrive at the beach they were heading to, they had to go through a small cavern pass. Eliza hugged herself as she stared at the semi-darkness ahead and the light at the end of the cavern. The three boys were gathering their things from the truck bed and she waited for them to finish.

She sucked in a deep breath.

Then another.

And another.

Relax, she told herself. Relax. Just breathe.

“Let me help you with that,” Marco was saying and she turned her head. He already had his backpack over his shoulders and was now helping Alex carry the food basket.

“Thanks, man,” Alex told him. Then he looked at Anthony. “You could learn from him and actually carry your own stuff, you know.”

Anthony snorted and put his hands in his shorts. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”

She rolled her eyes at that and returned her gaze to the cavern. She felt someone behind her and she bit her lip.

“It’s just a short walk, Eliza,” Alex murmured down on her.

She managed a smile. “Don’t worry about me, Alex. I’m not scared.”

“You’re not scared now. But how about when we get inside? It’s been awhile since we’ve come here. Maybe we should have chosen another beach instead.”

“But I missed this place,” she told him. “And this is the best we could show to Marco. Please don’t worry about me, Alex. It’s not even that dark.”

Before Alex could reply, Anthony gained his attention by shouting, “Hey, Alex. You’re forgetting your board.”

“Ah, yes. You couldn’t just take it out of the truck bed, can you?” Alex sighed and left her to go back to the truck.

“My arms are tired.”

“Dude, stop gaming too much.”

A snort, then, “No game no life.”

“And stop watching anime.”

“What’s wrong?” Marco asked, moving to stand next to her. “You look a little tense.”

Did she? Eliza pursed her lips. She had got to snap out of it.

“Closed and dark spaces make me anxious,” she muttered. No use hiding it, she was sure he’d noticed anyway because he was observant.

She didn’t see Marco’s reaction to her confession because Anthony suddenly started mocking her and she had to turn her head to glare at him.

“You’re going to fry your skin again, loopy loo. All that work to use a whitening soap will be in vain.”

“I don’t use a whitening soap,” she denied hotly, her cheeks reddening. What the heck was he doing, telling lies about her in front of Marco?

Anthony raised his eyebrow at Marco. “You should have seen her when she was in grade school. Her skin was so brown she looked like a little monkey.”

“A cute, little monkey,” Alex supplied as he pulled along an embarrassed Eliza into the cavern.

Her surroundings turned dark and panic made her throat close. The path was smooth and easy to tread upon and it wasn’t too dark but still, it was dark. She felt the walls closing in and she tensed even more.

Through her state of panic, she heard Anthony say in a dry tone, “Just a monkey.” He and Marco were following closely behind them. “She’s just a monkey. She’s not cute.”

Eliza gasped and twisted her neck to look at him. She could just about make the expression of his face in the dark. He was smirking. He was definitely smirking and enjoying riling her up.

“I wasn’t that brown, Anthony. And I don’t use a whitening soap. Seriously.”

Marco cleared his throat, then said, “It’s no big deal, Eliza.”

“No big deal? They’re making lies about me!” she burst out, pinching Alex’s arm. Alex burst out in laughter and put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her gently.

“Fine. You were a cute, little tarsier, not a monkey.”

“Are you saying she’s got big, bulging eyes?” Anthony asked.

“Stop twisting my compliments into insults, Anthony.”

“Like calling a girl a cute, little monkey is even a compliment.”

“We’re here,” Alex announced and Eliza looked beyond her. An awe-inspiring scenery greeted them as they exited the cavern. They all paused, even Anthony, to stare upon it.

“Whoa,” she heard Marco whisper and she smiled.

Eliza had been to many beaches around town and other places in the country but this mile-long crescent cove was her favourite. A long white sandy beach with tall coconut trees. Crystal blue waters and strong waves. It was a breathtakingly immaculate hidden paradise. And she was glad Marco was able to see it.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it, Eliza?” Alex mumbled down at her, removing his arm from her shoulders.

She glanced behind her, shook her head and burst into laughter. She realized what happened then. They had deliberately teased her to get her mind off the dark cavern.

“No. It wasn’t so bad at all.”