My Kind of Perfect (6 page)

Why the hug, Mom?

And so I had to make an excuse before I’d bawl my eyes out
here. I hurriedly grabbed my phone out of my pocket. The two could think that I
had a telepathic ringing tone that was why they didn’t hear it. Then I started
to fake a conversation, “Hello? Yes, Kayla here. What? You haven’t finished it
yet?”

Mom pulled back for a moment as I excused myself out of the
table and talked on the phone like I was some angry boss who just found out
that the presentation for tomorrow wasn’t finished yet. Then after a minute of
nautical nonsense, I angrily put down the phone and impatiently tapped my head
with my forefinger like the way my boss did yesterday. If there was one thing I
learned from her, this was it. She was so good on being a ‘boss’.

“Is there anything wrong?” asked Dad as he watched my
oblivious display of pretensions.

Hey, I could be a pretty good actress at times. This act
sounded believable to them, I think. I mean, Dad didn’t say it in such manner
as the one he used a moment ago.

I looked at him, still annoyed supposedly, and answered,
“Yes, there are some problems at the office. I’m afraid I have to get back
tonight.”

“Are you really leaving now?” asked Mom as she looked
outside.

If there were owls in that big tree out in our front yard,
then the owls would be doing owl sounds outside our house. And she must be
worried about everything that I had gone through. But nevertheless they could
rest assure that when I got my hands on whoever that was, I would atone for my
sin and ask him to cast off his curse on me. It would be as simple as that and
my luck would just flow back to me naturally.

I hugged both of them and said, “I’ll be visiting you guys
some other time. I just got some more work to finish.”

Dad’s eyes grew sterner. Oops! Let me take that best actress
award. It appeared that he wasn’t convinced. But he did let me go nevertheless.
My mom was still worried about my ‘painful’ arm but I told her that it already
got better when I saw her. She had a soft spot for that. I said goodbye once
again and hurried outside towards the bus station. Good thing I managed to get
on the last trip.

When I got on the bus, I hurriedly look into the first
journal. I had this feeling like I’d be dead in the streets if I wouldn’t be
able to find out the identity of that person. This person had to have a valid
excuse for making my life this miserable. Or else, I’d hunt him down and make
him pay. And then in turn he’d use his super magical powers and make me pay
again.

Fine. I would just ask for forgiveness if that would all it
takes for me to have my perfect life back. It was going well as planned until
the curse came.

I started scanning the pages, looking intently for any guy’s
name. There wasn’t many. I mean, I was a pretty faithful girl so my
relationships lasted longer than a few weeks. Then finally, after a long and
seemingly futile search, I came across the first name—Carter Ross.

September 21, 1997

Dear Diary,

Carter Ross smiled at me this morning. I was like whoa! I
mean he’s the cutest and the most popular guy in school and he noticed me! I
can’t stop giggling... oh my gosh, what if he asks me out? Should I say yes
right away? I think I will. Whatever they say, I think I will. I don’t what to
do and I can’t even sleep a wink.

Yours forever,

Kayla

Carter Ross.

A dark aura dampened my not-so-good mood even more as I
recalled his name again. How could I ever forget him? He was the jock who
dumped me for a not-so-hot cheerleader who was also my ‘friend’. And even now I
couldn’t find the heart to forgive him. I let out a sigh as the events of the
past came back. This was the kind of time when I actually wished that my
memories of him were erased permanently. If there was such a thing like that,
tell me, for I would trade anything for it.

I detested that guy to the core.

Momentarily pulling me out of my surging hatred, the bus
came to its final stop. I found my way down across the group of people who
hovered around. And like me, they were all trying to get out of the bus right
away. I kind of squeezed myself out, which of course, annoyed most of them. But
I was kind of in a hurry so they had to understand. I was certain they didn’t
have this life and death situation like I did. And after what it felt like a
long time, I was finally out of the crammed bus.

My feet reached the pavement of the streets of New Waulds
and I breathed in for air. I opened the diary that I’d been holding for quite
some time now. Then I flipped on the pages some more as I trod down the
pavement back to my apartment.

All the other entries were about that jerk. I couldn’t
believe that I had spent so much time and effort on him. He was not totally
worth it.

I suddenly felt the urge of ripping the pages and throwing
them off to the air. Yeah, like the one you’d seen in movies where the lead
girl angrily tore the pages and sent the pieces flying everywhere. But then I
remembered that for the last few days, I was not acting like my usual self. My
neighbors might doubt my sanity even more so I’d rather not make that kind of
scene now.

And let them call a mental institution on my behalf.

Nevertheless, despite my muggy mood, I hurriedly scanned through
everything. I clearly knew that Carter Ross was out of the picture anyway
because we broke up during sophomore. Sophomore was like twelve years ago. In
case the fortune-teller didn’t know math, that would be the only time I’d
consider Carter Ross. And I’d rather not cultivate the budding hatred that I
was feeling right now for him, yet again. If there was someone who should ask
for forgiveness, it was him and not me. Not in a million bad luck would that
fact ever change.

I turned on the pages some more. Then after a while, another
name came along—John Brooks. I felt a click in my head as his name echoed in my
mind.

John Brooks. Glasses. John Brooks. Nerdy glasses. John
Brooks. Overalls. Eww.

Slowly, it came back to me—the memories of my old friend and
confidant, John Emerson Brooks. It was too much of a coincidence that I also
happened to use his name when I lied to my dad earlier. It must have had been
second instinct. I mean, I did use his name a lot before whenever I was making
up excuses. He was that kind of a good person that whenever my parents would
hear his name, my actions would instantly be justified.

February 19, 1998

Dear Diary,

He’s annoying! I officially declare. He’s a nerd alright and
that alone scares the heck out of me. His fashion sense is way down low. I mean
come on, why is he wearing his grandpa’s trousers and not to mention the
suspenders to school. And that bow tie almost killed me. My eyes widened in
shock and my heart thumped fast. Oh, not because I like him but rather it’s because
of the anger that flared inside of me for he was like the worst dressed person
on earth. And he did what? Confessed to me or whatever you call it. Argh. How
dare he? Who even gave him the right to like me? Hello... earth to Mr. John
Brokes, I don’t even know if I got his name right, we’re not on the same page.

Here’s the annoyed,

Kayla

I laughed a little as I remembered how our first encounter
had been. As resenting as that entry sounded, things got a lot better after
that day. I was actually given the chance to know him more. And he turned out
to be a good guy despite his repulsive appearance. I suddenly felt like reading
some more about our good old days but then I felt a string being pulled in my
heart as I recalled how things hadn’t gone that well after graduation. Some
things had happened and it sort of put off the friendship that we once had.

I stood there for a moment in front of my apartment door and
blinked twice before I realized who that fortune teller was talking about. The
answer was right in front of me. I didn’t have to go through all the pages to
know who that old lady was talking about.

It was him, definitely him.

I shook my head a little in realization that it was Mr. John
E. Brooks all along. Of all people, he was the supposedly ‘sincere soul’ that I
had offended. But then it couldn’t be. He was too good to even build up hatred
towards me. I mean, he was the nicest person on earth. How could he hate me?
His pure heart would never do that.

Did he take it too personally after I dumped him for
Jonathan? Come on, he should have had realized that we were not supposed to be
an item to begin with. Anyway, I must talk to him and ask his forgiveness. And
maybe by then everything would be back to normal. I just needed to fix this
whatever hatred that old lady was talking about.

So, after the epic realization of the mysterious person who
put on me that curse thingy, it dawned to me that I actually had no idea where
he was. Now it felt like my good old friend was suddenly a total stranger. Oh,
I didn’t quite get that right. Maybe I needed to remind myself that we actually
were, given the situation we had been before and the things that had happened
afterwards.

I suddenly felt kind of apprehensive about the idea of me
asking his forgiveness. Years ago, I thought that I could just needlessly
disregard him since I knew that I wouldn’t be in need of him any longer. I
already found the love of my life after that terrible heartbreak. And he was a
friend. He was just a friend, or so I supposed. Friends were supposed to
undertand. But really, I did nothing wrong.

I only fell in love. Just not with him.

Seriously, did I actually need to think about all this and
constantly explain everything to myself? It was in itself a plausible argument.
Nothing from what I’d done was irrational or beyond anyone’s comprehension.

And so here would be the plan. Okay, so this time around, I
would just approach him with an all-business like attitude. I would just get
what I needed then head off. And who knows? He might be happily married by now.
I mean he might be a nerd but there were girls who liked that kind of guy. But
then, if that was the case, shouldn’t he suppose to have forgiven me already by
this time?

Oh my gosh!  After all these years, was he still holding a
grudge for such a petty thing like that?

I grabbed my phone from my bag and searched for his name.
After going through all of my contacts, I realized that he wasn’t in the list.
So I failed to recall, yet again, that we lost total communication after that
eerie ‘event’. Maybe Sandy could help me out with this one. We all attended the
same high school after all. Perhaps she knew where he was or what he was up to
now. Probably, she ended up being his good old friend when I didn’t.

I dialed up Sandy’s number.

She picked up a moment later. “Hi Kayla, I’m sorry but I
haven’t been able to do anything about it. I’m trying to...” Her voice broke
off midway. Then she continued speaking after seconds of sobbing, “...contact
them. But I can’t seem to find their location. I have reported it to the police
and they said that they would do anything to help us out.”

Oh yeah, in case I forgot, I recently lost all my savings.
Goodie, she reminded me again. With a sigh, I told her, “Enough with that for
now. I really need some information about someone. It’s urgent. Remember John
Brooks?”

“Who?”

“John Brooks,” I repeated, emphasizing every word. I wanted
to add the word ‘nerd’, but I refrained from doing so. Maybe I should be much
nicer to him, for like starting now.

“Oh, him,” she finally said. “I heard he’s working in a
hotel. Why did you ask about him all of a sudden?”

“I need something from him. Do you happen to know his
contact number so that I can give him a call?” I asked her.

“I’m sorry but I’m afraid I don’t have his number. Maybe you
can search for his Facebook account if he happens to have one. Or google him? I
heard that he was very famous now,” answered Sandy.

I was taken back for a moment when I heard the word
‘famous’. John Brooks was never equal to that word. In fact, he was the
opposite of it.

Were we talking about the same person?

I wanted to ask her but then I sensed the exhaustion in her
voice. Maybe I should give her a break from all the inquiries for now. Later,
definitely. I seriously would like to know when the world, without warning,
turned upside down.

“Maybe I’ll do that. And about our money, I’m sorry if I
can’t be of any help in the moment. I’m quite busy with... uhmm... things. Sort
of. Anyway, I’m in a hurry. Will give you a call later or maybe you can call me
when you hear from that company,” I said as I searched for my keys.

“Okay, I’ll do what I can. You must be busy with your work
right now so I won’t be much of a bother. We’ll get it back, Kaye. Don’t
worry,” she replied.

“Uhmm… right. I’m busy with things... or work. But rest
assured that you’ll be hearing some good news soon. Bye, Sandy,” I said before
hanging up.

Just wait, Sandy. When I’d get my hands on John Brooks,
everything would be solved by then. And after I made up with him, I’d have my
good fortune back and things would slowly return to normal.

I pushed the door of my apartment and hurriedly grabbed my
laptop from the coffee table. I opened my Facebook account and searched for the
name as I lazily lay on the sofa. John Brooks. I got up a little bit as I tried
to find the most comfortable position. Then I focused my eyes at the screen and
saw the long list of names that appeared. Did I need to go through all this? I
didn’t have that much time. I needed to find him fast.

Nevertheless, I did try to scroll down the first two pages
and gave up when I reached the third one. This could take forever, of which I
couldn’t actually afford. Forever might mean another set of heartbreak,
joblessness, lost savings, and car accidents on my part. I clearly knew that I
can’t manage to go through all that again.