Chapter Text
HI! H-HELLO!
5 YEARS OLD
“Hi!” A girl with brown eyes and brown hair, the brightest smile Beatrice had ever seen, sits in front of her. The smiling girl's face was barely 5 inches from hers.
“H-hello.” Beatrice sniffed; she gave the other girl a tight smile. Trying to look brave even if her tears continued trailing down her chubby cheeks.
“Why are you crying?” The brightly smiled girl asked who was on a deep squat, her feet flat on the ground, her hands on her knees. She pushes the hair out of Beatrice’s face.
“I-I think I lost my mummy,” Beatrice said, her chin quivering. Her little heart's smallest left of bravery slowly faded upon confessing her real dilemma.
“Oh, that’s not good.” The girl’s brows furrowed. "Hmmm,” she hummed, seemingly in deep thought. She then tapped her little index finger on her chin. “Do you want to go home with me then? You can sleep in my bed!” Big smile.
“No! I can’t!” Beatrice said indignantly, tears still flowing from her eyes, “I want my mummy!” Then she started sobbing loudly.
A sad look washed over the other girl’s face. “Umm…okay.” The girl wrapped her arms around Beatrice.
“What are you doing?” Beatrice asked the other girl, sounding utterly confused.
“I’m giving you a hug,” the girl pulls from Beatrice, nonplussed. “Sister Suzanne said that hugs always make everyone feel better.”
Duh!
“Oh, okay,” Beatrice said, fully accepting the simple explanation of the girl whose arms are again starting to go around her. Still sniffling, Beatrice lets the other girl. And the girl was right; feeling her chubby little arms around her made Beatrice feel a little better. Beatrice, too, started to wrap her tiny arms around the other girl.
But their awkward positions were too much for their little bodies to handle, and it threw off their center of balance, and Beatrice fell on her little butt, taking the other girl with her.
They were suddenly both giggling. Beatrice momentarily forgot she was crying and giggled hysterically with the little girl, but neither of them moved from being slumped on their butts still on the ground.
After a moment of constant giggling, the other girl suddenly stopped.
“I’m hungry!” The girl said, then pouting.
“Oh, umm, where is your mummy?” Beatrice asked the other girl. “Maybe she has food for you.” Once again, Beatrice reminded that she, too, had lost track of her mother. They were still sitting on the hard floor together after bouts of laughter and giggles.
“Hmmm…” The girl scrunched up her face, “I don’t have one of those.”
“Don’t have one of what?” Beatrice asked, confused.
“A mummy,” the girl said honestly, but Beatrice could not detect any discomfort on her face. “I only have the sisters to take care of me.”
“You don’t have a mummy?” Beatrice said with her mouth open, not believing what the girl had just said, and who was now shaking her head to say no.
“I guess I did, but now she’s dead!” The girl said, like it’s just a matter of fact. She only shrugged her shoulders when she shared this detail about her.
“Oh! I’m not sure I understand.” That is all that Beatrice could think to say, then felt bad for the girl, considering she was already balling her eyes out and she’d only not seen her mother for a few minutes; she couldn’t even imagine not having her mother for a long time, much more, to be dead!
“Ava!” They heard a woman call out, “What are you doing sitting on the floor!?”
“Hi, Sister Suzanne!” Ava, the girl with a bright smile, shoots the lady clad in all-black an even brighter smile. Even at age five, Beatrice knows that the woman Ava called Sister Suzanne is a nun.
Sister Suzanne pulled Ava by the arm, not harshly but with enough force to pull the chubby little girl from the ground. Who nothing but giggled at what Sister Suzanne just did. “Weee!” She squealed.
Beatrice couldn’t help but smile at Ava’s antics.
Sister Suzanne started shaking the dirt off Ava’s skirt with her hand, “We take our eyes off you for a few minutes, and you’re already out on your little adventure.”
Ava once again giggled, not offended by Sister Suzanne’s scolding. “But Sister Suzanne, I just made a new friend, she was crying, she said she lost her mummy. And then she asked me where’s my mummy, and I told her I don’t have one, and I only have you and the other sisters, and I said my mummy is dead! Can she live with us? We can both sleep on my bed!”
“Oh!” Sister Suzanne replies to the little girl’s rambling. She bites her lower lip, feeling a pang of pain in her chest. Ava says her mom is gone as if saying the sky is blue. Then Suzanne finally seems to have noticed the other girl sitting on the ground. The nun gently holds a hand out to Beatrice, greatly contrasting how she handled Ava.
Beatrice took the nun’s hand and, with her help, pulled herself up from the ground.
“What’s your name, child?” Sister Suzanne said, with caring eyes, that Beatrice quickly felt comforted.
“M-my name is Beatrice,” the girl said, but her chin was once again quivering. Either from the fact that she felt seen and Beatrice could once again feel lost or due to shyness, she felt seen and silly to have lost her mother.
Beatrice’s tear fell on her cheek again. Just like that, she felt a little body crash into her with full force. Ava again wrapped Beatrice in a tight embrace. This time, Beatrice instinctively wrapped her arms around the other girl, too. Making her cry worse; she was once more sobbing.
“Ava,” Sister Suzanne sighs and rolls her eyes slightly, “Ava, please don’t suffocate the girl.” But the nun can’t help a small smile creep up on her lips.
Ava can be many things, but being sweet and caring has always been a big part of the girl’s personality.
“But she’s sad; you said hugs make everyone feel better, Sister Suzanne!” Ava protested.
The sight almost looked endearing and comical simultaneously because Ava is slightly shorter than Beatrice. But Ava gently brushed her hand on Beatrice’s head. It nearly made Sister Suzanne giggle. The two girls are quite too cute a sight to look at. She quickly suppressed it to hold it. After all, she’s a nun and must practice decorum.
“Alright, Beatrice,” Sister Suzanne decided to address the lost girl instead, “I’m Sister Suzanne, and this is Ava; we’ll help you find your mummy; is that okay?”
She bent down a little to be face-to-face with the two girls, still in a hug.
Beatrice nodded slowly, now starting to rub her eyes off tears that continued to flow out of her eyes while her other hand was not letting go of Ava.
Sister Suzanne took Beatrice’s hand and led the two girls to the customer service area of the dinosaur museum, which they were all in.
Ava still had both arms around Beatrice’s torso, and Beatrice had one arm on Ava’s shoulder. The two would sometimes slightly trip on each other’s feet for having to walk so close together but would only giggle about it.
Beatrice would still sometimes sniffle when she remembered she was still lost, despite Ava's best attempt of comforting her.
Sister Suzanne could only shake her head with the two girls. Even if Ava is a handful and can sometimes test the limit of Sister Suzanne’s well-practiced calmness and patience, the girl is her favourite amongst the girls in her care at the orphanage. Ava has the gift of being lovable; every person she comes across can’t help but love and adore her. Beatrice seemed comfortable with Ava's overly overbearing interaction with her; it’s evident that she, too, had been enthralled by Ava's bigger-than-life charm.
When they reached customer service, Sister Suzanne talked to the lady at the desk and then turned to Beatrice, “Do you know your mummy’s name?”
Beatrice held Ava’s hand and swayed side to side to the tune of Ava’s singing for both of them. But, having her attention interrupted by Sister Suzanne, Beatrice sniffled briefly and remembered she still needed to find her mother. “I think mummy’s name is Betty. That’s what father calls her and her friends.” For good measure, she sniffed once more. Ava makes her feel so comforted that she sometimes forgets her predicament.
“And your last name?” The lady behind the desk asked; she was not as warm and caring as Sister Suzanne seemed to be. She sounded bored.
“Stephens-Yeoh,” Beatrice replied to the woman.
“Okay,” the woman behind the desk took a deep sigh and spoke to the phone she had picked up from the desk. “Could Betty Stephens-Yo please come to customer service? Betty Stephens-Yo!” she announced over the PA system.
“It’s Yeoh, not Yo,” Beatrice protested with eyebrows arching closely together.
The lady behind the desk just glared at Beatrice.
Even Sister Suzanne let out a disappointed sigh at the customer service lady. Suzanne is a nun, so she can’t just tell the woman off and not give them her bad attitude. Suzanne just reasoned with the other woman that she must be bored with her job. “God bless, and thank you for your help; we’ll just sit right over there. If the mother comes, please point them in our direction.”
“Okay, sister,” The woman said with a fake smile.
“Okay, girls,” Sister Suzanne turned to the two girls who were again happily playing together, “Let’s go sit over that table. The nice lady will tell your mother where we will be, Beatrice.”
The three of them hadn’t even been sat for more than five minutes when a woman called out, “Beatrice!”
Beatrice's head perks up. She quickly lets go of Ava’s hand, jumps off the bench they were sitting on, and runs to the woman who called out to her. “Mummy!”
Beatrice jumped into the woman’s arms, and she quickly scooped her up.
“Mummy!” Beatrice again called out against her mother’s shoulder and started crying uncontrollably.
“Shhh, I’ve got you, baby,” Betty, Beatrice’s mother, said while brushing her head with her hand.
Betty approached Sister Suzanne and little Ava. “Thank you, sister, for finding my daughter. I don’t know what happened. We were at the Pterodactyl displays, but when I turned around, suddenly Beatrice was gone.” Betty, who looked like she’d also been distraught with the loss of her daughter, had mist in her eyes and cradled her daughter tightly close to her.
“Do not thank me,” Sister Suzanne said with a smile. She pulled Ava in front of her, “This little girl found your daughter. She tried to console her when she found Beatrice crying.”
“Hi!” Ava said with a big smile for Betty, one of her front teeth missing, “I’m Ava!” Then, she holds her hand up to wave at the woman, carrying the still-crying Beatrice.
“Thank you, Ava!” Betty said, smiling at the little girl, tears running down her cheeks.
“Well, we better go,” Sister Suzanne said. "I’m glad Beatrice is finally with you and safe. My other sisters must be looking for us now, too.” Suzanne brushed her hand on the still-crying Beatrice down her back.
“Thank you again, sister and Ava,” Betty said, and the two left to leave to meet with their party.
Betty soon turned to leave as well, and that’s when Beatrice finally took a break from her sobbing and looked up. She saw the backs of Sister Suzanne and Ava. She called out, “Bye, Ava!”
The girl with the brightest smile that Beatrice had ever seen turned around while holding Sister Suzanne’s hand and waved back to say goodbye. “Goodbye, Bee-trees!”
As they returned to reunite with her group, Ava looked up at Sister Suzanne and tugged at the hand holding hers.
“Yes, Ava?” Sister Suzanne asked the girl without looking at her.
“Sister Suzanne, I did a good deed today,” Ava said again with the brightest smile. “Can I please have some ice cream?”
Sister Suzanne smiled at her and said, “Yes, Ava, you did very well today, child. And yes, you may have ice cream. But just one scoop: God knows you don’t need more sugar.”
13 YEARS OLD
Beatrice and her team were jumping and cheering as they celebrated winning the Volleyball tournament for the first time their school had qualified for.
“Okay, okay,” Their coach, Andy, chuckled and said, “We will go for some milkshakes after. Now, off you go and change out of your stinky uniforms in the locker room.”
The team cheered, “Yay!” Then, they started chanting their school’s name. “OCS! OCS! OCS!”
They all march to the locker room to change out of their sweaty Volleyball uniforms.
“Good job on the field today, Beatrice!” Lucia, her girlfriend, throws her arms at Beatrice as they leave the locker room.
Beatrice had to adjust her gym bag on her shoulder as the other girl's weight added to it. “Thanks, Lucia!” she said, beaming at the girl who kissed her after her congratulations.
There were more overhead high-fives and cheers amongst the team when Beatrice felt heat on the back of her neck. She quickly rubbed it with her hand as if someone was watching her, and she turned around to see.
Beatrice scanned her eyes to look around. When she looked up at the second-level bleachers, a girl looked at her with a beaming smile. Beatrice thinks.
Beatrice squinted, unable to make out the other girl’s face as she stood before the sun, casting a shadow on her face. The sun's brightness cast a halo glow around the girl's head, still standing on the second-floor bleachers.
As Beatrice squints harder, she puts one hand over her brows to get a better look. The girl on the second floor waved at her. Beatrice reluctantly lifted her other hand to wave back until she felt another body come crash into her from behind.
“C’mon, Beatrice. The coach wants to get to the diner to beat the crowd!” Lucia once again wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. “Who are you waving at?” the girl asked with a hint of jealousy.
“N-nobody,” Beatrice replied, then smiled at her girlfriend.
“Ava! Let’s go!” Someone else called out from behind the girl on the second floor. “The bus is leaving!”
Hearing the familiar name, Beatrice looked back at the girl with the sun's halo, “A-ava…!?”
But the girl was gone. Beatrice stepped away from Lucia’s hold and was about to go where the mysterious girl stood moments before, but Lucia grabbed her by the wrist this time.
“Beatrice, come on! Coach Andy will be pissed if we hold the team back any longer,” Lucia said, sounding a little put out that her girlfriend looked like she was ready to run away from her to go chase someone else when Beatrice was supposedly waving at nobody.
“B-but…” Beatrice turned to Lucia this time. Lucia didn’t look too happy, so Beatrice could only sigh and walk with her girlfriend to meet the rest of their team. “Alright, let’s go.”
They walked hand in hand towards the school bus their team rode in to get to the tournament.
The parents hugged their kids, who were part of the team.
Betty and her husband, Andrew, gave Beatrice a well-deserved congratulatory hug. Before letting their daughter join the rest of her team on the bus for some well-earned milkshakes at the diner. Some burgers, if they could talk their coach into buying them, too.
Meanwhile, on another bus heading back to St. Michael’s Convent and Orphanage, Ava sat by the window and looked at the crowd pouring out of the arena, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone.
“Who were you waving to?” Zori asked Ava, sitting beside her. Zori was getting ready to eat the well-squished sandwich they had been given earlier before leaving the convent.
“I wasn’t waving at anybody,” Ava lied.
Zori licked her hand, stained with jelly, before scrunching her face and looking at Ava. “Stop lying; you were waving at someone when I called you.”
Ava took a deep sigh and finally gave in, “Fine. I think I saw her.”
“Who?” Zori said, having difficulty talking after taking a big bite of her sandwich and now trying to chew the sticky, thick mixture of bread, peanut butter, and strawberry jelly in her mouth.
“Beesties,” Ava replied.
“Beesties?” Zori tried to swallow quickly, but it didn't prove easy. "You mean the friend you made at the museum when we were five?” Zori laughed hysterically at the thought Ava might have just lost her marbles. "Honestly, Ava, you think every new girl you see or meet could be Beesties! You’re just seeing things.”
Zori took another bite of her sandwich, shaking her head. "It’s too weird if you would see that girl again.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Ava said sadly. "It’ll be too weird.”
Ava only met the girl at the zoo by chance, and by chance, they would never meet again.
When they finally reached the convent, everyone excitedly jumped out of the buses.
Most of them were still reeling and talking about the field trip they were allowed to go on—watching a Provincial Championship Volleyball tournament!
Especially since not everyone could go, as there were only a limited number of seats on the two school buses they were allowed to use to watch the tournament.
It also took them a while to get back, as the convent was about two hours from where the game took place. So, it was quite a treat for the children to be on the other side of the confines of the convent's walls.
Ava, too, was excited at the start, but she was not as excited anymore as the others.
She was very much pleased with the experience they’d just had, but not as much as everyone would expect the bubbly Ava to be.
Ava walked towards Sister Suzanne's office instead of joining her peers, fueled by the adrenaline of their field trip. They all continued talking about it and sharing their personal experiences. She knocked on the door softly.
“Come in,” A voice called out from the other side of the door.
“Sister Suzanne?” Ava called in as she opened the door and walked inside the office.
“Ava, a pleasure to have you,” Sister Suzanne said, closing the ledger she was trying to read and putting her hands on it. “How was your trip?”
“It was good,” Ava said, picking at her cuticles as she sat on the chair before the nun’s desk.
Sister Suzanne tries to lower her eyes to catch Ava’s. “Is something the matter, child? Did you not enjoy it? Are you again in pain?” The last question fills her with worry.
Ava bit her lip as she looked up at the nun, who had been her carer since she arrived at St. Michael’s and now manages the convent's books and finances.
“Sister, is it possible to miss someone you didn’t spend much time with?” Ava asked reluctantly.
Sister Suzanne took a deep breath and looked at Ava more intently. She always has a special place in her heart for Ava.
They have cared for Ava since the girl was three years old. Suzanne sees Ava differently than the other kids; she has a special kinship with the girl. Ava came to them when she was three after her parents died in a car accident. It was such a bad accident that both of them died at the scene, and Ava had to spend a year with half of her body in a cast. Suzanne was tasked to take care of the child and had to hush her softly as she cried in pain and, even at a young age, longed for her birth mother and father.
As much as Suzanne loved Ava as her own, even a three-year-old would miss her mother and want her over anyone. Sadly, but much to Suzanne’s honour, she was the one who would go with Ava to her therapies, and she witnessed the frustration and pain through all of those.
“Is this about your mother, Ava?” Sister Suzanne asked.
Ava had to bite her lip again, “Ummm, y-yeah,” She lies. “But it’s okay, maybe I’m just tired.” Ava starts to stand up to leave.
“Ava,” Sister Suzanne had to call her name sternly, “Sit back down, child.”
Ava sits back down but can’t look Sister Suzanne in the eyes. She did lie about Beesties.
“It’s okay to miss your parents, Ava,” Sister Suzanne said affectionately, “I am here for you, as you know. But I will never be able to replace your parents, especially your mother. It’s okay to be sad, Ava, and we can work through this together, as always.”
With that, Ava ran to wrap the older woman in a tight hug. “Thank you, Sister Suzanne.” Ava let a tear roll down her cheek silently. This time, she’s not thinking about Beesties; she’s heavily affected by how open the nun is about her love for Ava, and the girl greatly appreciates it. “You’re enough for me,” Ava said as she hugged the nun tighter and returned the hug.
As Sister Suzanne hugged the 13-year-old girl, her eyes also misted. She’s glad that Ava appreciates her love and concern for her; it would break her heart if Ava ever felt like she had no one to turn to.
Meanwhile, in the Stephens-Yeoh residence, Beatrice walks through the front door.
“Mum, I’m home!” Beatrice calls out as she walks into their house.
“In the kitchen, love,” Betty called back. “Congratulations, Miss MVP! How did you get home?” she said as Beatrice kissed her in the kitchen.
“Lucia’s asked his brother to pick her up from the diner and drive me home,” Beatrice said, stealing a piece of carrot her mother was chopping.
Betty took a deep sigh.
“What?” Beatrice looks at her mom as she takes another carrot, which earned her a slight slap on her hand.
Betty stopped chopping and turned to look at Beatrice, “You know, honey, that we support you with everything you do. Even with your sexuality, we didn’t stop you from having a girlfriend.”
“But….?” Beatrice knows there’s a but to her mother’s statement, and she almost knows where this is going.
“But,” Betty leans her hip on the kitchen counter and crosses her arms, “You’re too young to be in such a serious relationship. Your father and I think you and Lucia are rushing into things. You should be having fun.”
“I am having fun!” Beatrice protested; how dare her mother tell her how she should conduct her relationship with her girlfriend? “We’re not doing anything wrong. We’ve only gone as far as kissing, mother!” She said indignant.
“Okay, I don’t need to hear what you do behind closed doors. But I’m glad that there’s no sex involved yet – “ Betty said, and she just got cut off.
“Mummmm!” Beatrice whines, “Please do not talk about sex casually with me; it’s giving me the heeby-jeebies.” And Beatrice shook her body to cringe to drive home the point.
Betty chuckled at her daughter’s antics, “Okay, fine. That’s for another conversation.” But she wiped the smile off her face and tried to look at her daughter more seriously. “Your father and I think you and Lucia are far too serious about your relationship at only thirteen years old. What you two have might not be the only relationship you will have in your life. You two are spending way too much time with each other. It seems you’re putting aside your other friendships.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Beatrice takes another carrot.
“Am I?” Betty challenges her daughter, “When did you last spend time with Mary? Or Camila? Or even JC?”
“We hang out!” Beatrice said defensively. But she, too, knows she’s been neglecting her other friends. It’s just that Lucia loves only to spend time with Beatrice and no one else—or so Lucia claims. Truthfully, though, there’s no problem when they hang out with Lucia’s friends, but Beatrice will not tell her mother about that, lest Betty should think less of Lucia. “It’s just that I’ve been busy, and our schedules don’t meet.” She said to her mother instead.
Betty looks Beatrice in the eyes, “I just don’t want you to regret neglecting your childhood friends because you’re too into your new girlfriend. You must remember that Mary, Camila, and JC have been your friends since you were in first grade.”
“Yeah, I know.” It's Beatrice’s turn to take a deep breath. “I will make time for them and hang out. You’re right, mum.” Beatrice hoped to convince Lucia to hang out with her and her friends. She could already anticipate the discussion or argument this would bring between them.
“Okay, go on and change your clothes. Dinner will be ready at six,” Betty said, returning to the chopped vegetables.
Beatrice smiled and put her bag on her shoulder to go to her room. But before completely disappearing, “Mum?”
“Hmmm?”
“I think I saw Ava at the tournament today,” Beatrice said.
“Ava? Who’s Ava?” Betty asked without taking her eyes off the carrots.
“Never mind,” Beatrice said, then ran up the stairs to her room on the second floor.
“Seriously, Ava, who?” Betty asked, but Beatrice was already gone. She just shook her head and focused on getting dinner ready.
17 YEARS OLD
“Lucia, what are you doing here?” Beatrice asked the girl who was closing the door behind her. “I thought you weren’t feeling well.”
They were at a party hosted by someone from their school, whose name they don’t even know, and whose parents were on vacation somewhere in Mexico.
“Why are you here? I thought you were not going because I’m not going,” Lucia asked instead, one eyebrow raised at Beatrice.
But because Beatrice is stupidly in love with her girlfriend, she feels guilty when she asks, not realizing she was the one to ask Lucia first. She’s easily rattled when it comes to her girlfriend. She’s always trying to find ways to prevent them from getting into arguments or fights. “Uhhh—I mean…”
Then, the door that Lucia was trying to close opened quickly, and a boy came out, tightening his belt on his waist. The boy turned to kiss Lucia, Beatrice’s girlfriend (the love of her life, the one that holds the moon and stars), on the cheek. “Hey, Lucia, nice to meet you again. I had fun.” Then, the boy’s eyes go to Beatrice, whose jaw had dropped to the floor. “Who’s your friend? She’s cute!” The boy Beatrice doesn’t know said. The boy eyes her with a smirk from head to toe, then gives the overtly lesbian Beatrice a wink.
And that’s all Beatrice needed to hear and witness. Her fist flew straight to the boy’s nose, and Lucia screamed when she heard the bone crack.
“Beatrice, what the fuck!?” Lucia dared to yell and question her girlfriend.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Beatrice asked the girl while the boy was bent over, holding his bleeding nose. “How long have you been cheating on me, Lucia!?”
“UhhthhhnnnkkkngggkHyuubwkmahnohhhsss!” The boy said in pain.
“What’s going on here!” The boy who was hosting the party asked, looking at the boy bent over and the blood pooling on his mother’s beloved hardwood floor, “Holy shit! Don’t fucking bleed on my floor, man!”
“You just broke Jake’s nose, Beatrice!” Lucia yelled back at her, “Are you crazy!?”
“Fuck you, Lucia!” Beatrice said; her face felt hot, and her knuckles felt like she broke a bone, too, with how hard she punched the boy named Jake. “We’re done!”
“No, we’re not!” Lucia yelled back and tried to grab Beatrice by the arm.
But Beatrice just shook Lucia’s hand off her harshly, which made the other girl stumble backwards on the wall. “You’re a joke, Lucia, I can’t believe I’ve stayed with you for four fucking years!” And with that, she turned around to head down the stairs that had started to fill up with people trying to find out what’s been happening and what the yelling was about. She can still hear the boy griping about their ruined hardwood floor and how pissed his mom would be if they found out he had a party and some blood spillage in the process.
Beatrice had to push her way down the stairs, forcing people to the side to get as far away from Lucia as possible.
Lucia was still calling out to her as she tried to zoom past everyone.
She heard a lot of whispers and saw people pointing fingers at her. But she didn’t give a fucking damn to any of it. She just caught her girlfriend cheating on her, and she broke the boy’s nose. She’s also fuming because she might have broken a bone on her knuckle.
“Beesties?” She heard someone say. “Beesties, wait!”
She didn’t know what that meant, and she didn’t care to know. Beatrice just charged angrily out of the stupid house.
“Let me through!”
Beatrice doesn’t know if she was the one who said that or not. She was too focused to get to her 2015 Toyota Prius to analyze it.
The people behind her started panicking when they heard a police siren from a distance.
“Fuck! Someone called the Popo!” – Someone yelled, and people started running out of the house.
That made Beatrice nervous, and she quickened her steps to get to her car and exit the scene; she had just assaulted another person, and she would for sure end up in jail if she got caught at the premises. She doesn’t know how even to begin if she had to make her one call to Betty and Andrew to bail her out of jail. Her parents would ground her ass until she graduated high school, probably until she would leave for college!
And as Beatrice sped to get her ass out of there while honking at the people running to cross the street to get away from the house. Beatrice managed to look up at her rearview mirror and saw the light of the police car light up behind her. Then Beatrice saw a girl running, looking like she was trying to catch up to Beatrice’s car, but she got pulled by another girl to the side of the street, and both ran away from the police cars. She just shrugged it.
It was probably, Lucia, she thought, but Beatrice was finally done and over with that bitch. No one should dare think and make Beatrice Stephens-Yeoh a fool and get away with it!
Beatrice knew her love for Lucia had blinded her for so long, and being played like she was that night was enough for her to throw away the four years she’d been with the girl.
She’s done everything to make Lucia happy. So far, she’s cut off and lost some of her friends. “Fuck!” Thinking how awful she’s been to them because of a girl.
***Whatever happened to bros before hoes, Beatrice!? - Gives a Ghost side eye
And just like that, she soon found herself in her friend Mary’s room while the latter tended to her knuckle, wrapping it with ice.
Mary had called Camila over, and the three silently sat in the room. Nobody dared speak until Beatrice broke the silence with her sobs. Camila quickly wrapped her in a tight hug as Beatrice apologized to her best friends over and over between sobs.
Camila rubbed her back as Beatrice cried in her arms, shushing her apologies away. And Mary just cracked her knuckles and promised to slap the hoe out of Lucia when she saw her.
“I can’t believe you’re going to run after that car, Ava!” Zori calmly said as they tried to climb into their bedroom window at St. Michael’s.
“Shut up, and get inside!” Ava chided as she pulled Zori’s butt up through the window. “I swear to you, it was her! It was Beesties!”
Finally, inside their room, Zori blew her hair out of her face as she landed on the floor. “Beesties or not, what were you planning to do? Chase after it, it was obvious she was speeding away to escape the cops.”
“I don’t know,” Ava said with her hand on her hips. Now she’s not sure if it was Beesties that she saw running away from the party.
She removed her top and changed into her sleep clothes to get into bed. Is she losing her mind now that Ava thinks she sees Beesties wherever she goes?
“That was fun, though,” Zori said from the other bed. “Sneaking out and going to a party like that. It almost felt like we were normal teenagers.” Zori then giggled.
“We are normal teenagers, Zory, but yeah, it was,” Ava said less energetically.
“Normal? We live in an orphanage with a bunch of nuns, Ava!” Zori said with a laugh, “Get real, girl.”
Then, the door in the room opened. “You two will be doing dishwashing duties for three months, no arguments.”
“What!?” Ava replied indignantly, “Three months? That’s too long!” She sits up on her bed.
“You can’t do that, Sister Suzanne!” Zori exclaimed, also now sitting on her bed.
“Oh yes, I can!” The woman at the door said, “And when will you both learn? It’s Mother Superion, now! Hmm?”
“But three months with kitchen duties? That’s child abuse!” Ava tried to argue.
“That’s one hour for every hour you two were gone from this convent,” Sister Suzanne, now Mother Superion, said.
“You can’t do this to us, Sister Suzanne. We’re graduating this year, and we have so much schoolwork,” Zori tried to plead their case this time.
“You are right, Zori,” Mother Superion said, “And for calling me Sister Suzanne, let’s make it four months!”
“What!?” Both girls exclaimed.
“Maybe this will teach you both to follow the rules,” Mother Superion said. “And when to zip it.”
“But…!” Ava was quickly interrupted.
“One more peep from you, Ava, and you'll be in the kitchen for half the year.” Mother Superion raised her chin to challenge the lippy teenager.
Ava couldn’t do anything else but take the punishment for sneaking out.
A few minutes later, after Mother Superion left them alone, Zori was already slightly snoring in her bed, and Ava was still wide awake.
Ava has to get over Beesties. She’s never going to see that girl again. All those times she thought she had seen her or picked her out of the crowd were nothing but illusions. If Ava is being honest, she can’t even really remember what Beesties look like, except for the freckles that the girl she befriended briefly at the museum had sprinkled across her cheeks and nose.
Ava doesn’t even know why she’s so attached to Beesties; it’s not like they spend much time. They barely spend a whole hour at the museum together, if that.
But Ava also has to admit that she’s somehow drawn to the girl; she wishes she had gotten to know Beesties more. Even though it’s cruel, she hoped that Beestie's mom would never have come to claim her at the museum that day and that she would end up in the orphanage with Ava and Zori. Ava was truthful when she said she’d share her bed with Beesties; she would gladly have. The space at the orphanage is limited. Ava is quite aware that they had to turn some children away who didn’t have anywhere else to go because the orphanage was already full to the brim, and the lack of funding has made taking care of many children sometimes a struggle for the nuns who take care of them.
18 YEARS OLD - OFF TO COLLEGE
“How you landed a full scholarship, Ava had been one of God’s greatest miracles!” Mother Superion said.
“Hey! I thought you’d be the first to be proud of me!” Ava said to the nun who’s become her surrogate mother through her life in the orphanage. “I earned that scholarship, even if you kept Zori and me in kitchen duties for six months!”
Mother Superion chuckled, “I’m not saying I’m not proud of you. Of course, I am my child. I’m only saying it as a miracle because, with our situation here at the convent, even though I would love to send you to college, I wouldn’t have the means to.” The nun explained, “You have worked hard to get this scholarship, and by God’s grace, it will lead you to a better life. One that I’m sure your parents would be proud of and would be happy for you to have.”
Ava sighed, “I wish they could be here with me sometimes.” She looked up at the woman who’d been a mother to her since her parents’ passing. “But I’m not saying either you weren’t enough…it’s just that.” Then, she ducks her head in shame, feeling like she’s sounding ungrateful to the woman before her.
“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Ava,” Mother Superion smiled at her and scooped her up on her chin so she’d look at her, “You are allowed to miss your parents. I’m happy you’ve not forgotten to think of them. But it would be best if you didn’t wallow in the sadness of not having them. I know it is sometimes hard, but I want you to know, Ava, that you are loved. In this life and the next.”
“Thank you, Mother,” Ava smiled at the woman, “If not for you, I would probably have lost.”
This time, Mother Superion pulled Ava into a hug.
“Well, all you have to do to repay the gifts you’ve received in your life is to pay it forward and always to make me proud, as you always have,” The nun said, “You will be moving out of here in a couple of months, I hope that you will come to visit an old woman who has nothing but love for you, my child.”
“Stop making me want to cry,” Ava said, tears already trailing down her cheeks. “You know you can’t get rid of me that easily. I will come back here to bother you, always.”
“Always,” Mother Superion said, tears flowing freely from her eyes.
Even with no parents growing up, Mother Superion’s love for Ava was enough. The woman has done a good job being a second mother to her. Now that she’s moving out, Ava is both excited and scared. How will she navigate living in the real world?
Now that Ava is 18 and has aged out of the orphanage, Mother Superion is gracious enough to let her stay until she has to move to her dorm room at the University. Zori has moved out and is taking her college courses in another city.
They’ve promised to stay in touch and be friends forever. They have gone through many things, but some things sometimes change as you move from childhood and maturing to adulthood. Such as leaving the only home Ava has ever known her whole life and how life has been with the nuns. However, growing up in an orphanage could be different from living like a regular kid in a normal, socially acceptable setting. They were homeschooled by the nuns and taught by them, too. Their interactions with the outside world were somewhat limited. They didn’t grow up with the latest gaming devices or had cell phones to stay connected with friends. They lived more modestly, almost similar to how the nuns lived. What they owned and could call their possessions were limited to what they needed to live their lives with the nuns. Daily prayers and masses were the norm.
The exciting part for Ava would be tasting the life she’s longed to have, as she has seen on TV. Boy, will she be in for the shock of her life, though? Stay up past curfew, go out with friends whenever she pleases, watch TV to her heart’s content, eat anything, and whenever her little tummy requests food.
And sadly, part of growing up for Ava is letting go of the illusion of Beesties. She has decided to let go of hoping to meet the girl once again. When she thinks of it now, she can only shake her head for how long she held to that hope. Her childhood fantasy is that she’s made friends with a stranger. She loved the thought of being friends with Beesties. She loved Beesties like a lifelong friend in her young, immature heart. She had more times than she could count and fantasized about spending time with her imaginary friend, where they would dance together, run together, have sleepovers and make messes of themselves as they ate ice cream together that would end up in food fights.
Ava didn’t think of those as unhealthy habits for a child; rather, she felt it enhanced her imagination and creativity to create a world and scenarios in her mind, even if she was the only one who enjoyed those moments with Beesties.
So!
Goodbye, Beesties! I enjoyed my childhood a little extra because of my thoughts of you. But little Ava has grown into a lady, and childhood fantasies have no space for the life I’m about to embark on. I’m letting you now go, be free! I love you. In my little child's heart, I did.
Ava does say goodbye, but a piece of her heart breaks.
“Beatrice, are you sure you have everything packed up?” Betty asked her daughter as she locked the front door of their home.
“Yes, Mother,” Beatrice rolls her eyes. Her mom knows more than anyone how organized her daughter is. She’s labelled every box and checked every little item on her checklist.
“I’m only trying to ensure you have not left anything,” Betry replied, “Areala University is quite a drive away. You can’t expect me or your father to drive six hours to bring you your favourite stuffed dog. You know you can’t sleep without it, Frankie.”
“Could you please keep it down, Mother?” Beatrice said, embarrassed, “The whole neighbourhood now knows I still sleep with a stuffed animal named Frankie…at 18!”
“Beatrice, we all know what happened when you went to camp when you were 14, and you cried on the phone until we promised to bring it to you that same night,” Betty argued.
“My dear wife,” Andrew now intervened, “Please cut your daughter some slack. After all, you were the one who trained her to be a responsible and organized, proper young lady.” Then, he gives his daughter a wink and a smirk.
“Thank you!” Beatrice mouthed to her father.
That did the trick, and Betty finally stopped nagging her daughter about her personal belongings. Who better should know Betty than Andrew? Having been married to a woman for almost 23 years, Andrew is quite savvy about dealing with Elizabeth Marie Stephens-Yeoh!
Happy wife, happy life, as the saying goes!
Beatrice is also riding on a full sports scholarship, thanks to being the star player and captain of her high school Volleyball team.
She’ll be majoring in Business Management and Administration.
After her breakup with Lucia in 11th grade, Beatrice managed to mend her friendship with her three childhood friends. They all managed to get into the same University. God can’t show Beatrice enough how much they’ve forgiven her. She will also be Mary's roommate in the same dorm room, and Camila will only be one floor below them.
Beatrice couldn’t be more grateful that no matter how shitty and much of an asshole she’s been to her friends. They have forgiven her and have embraced her back into their group. Mary didn’t manage to beat the ‘hoe’ out of Lucia, but her ex-girlfriend did get a mouthful from the former.
It was the tiny Camila who managed to slap the bitch out of Lucia another time when Lucia tried to ambush Beatrice and won’t leave her alone until they got back together. And much to their surprise, Camila stood between Beatrice and Lucia and told the much taller girl to back off her best friend. Camila’s hand flew across Lucia’s face after berating Camila to step aside, accusing the tinier woman of only using Beatrice for clout and wanting helplessly to be part of the in-crowd at school.
“Listen, you hoebag!” Beatrice remembered Camila saying to Lucia after her ex-girlfriend fell on her knees how hard Camila had slapped her silly, “You don’t know shit as to how deep our friendship goes. Before you ever existed in the scene, we’ve already been in a pact, and you only ruined it with your selfish fascination with the star player of the school’s volleyball team. You were the one who used Beatrice to get into all the parties and enjoyed all the perks of being my best friend’s girlfriend. But you’re nothing but a piece of shit!” And Camila was in the act of about to kick her when JC’s arm quickly wrapped around the tiny woman and pulled Camila away from Lucia.
“James Carlson Garcia!” Camila screams, trying to get away from her friend’s muscular arm, “Get your greasy monkey arms off me. I need to slap shut that stupid bitch!” Arms and legs flailing aimlessly in the air.
Someone let out a gasp, “Not the full name!”
“You wouldn't want to be sacked out of school during your last year of high school, Camila Sophia Andrea Dela Cruz!” JC said as he tried to prevent Camila’s hand from flying everywhere.
Lucia got up to her feet, and after seeing that Camila was quite secure in JC’s arm, she stepped up bravely and said, “Let me get at that tiny sorry excuse of a bitch!”
This time, Mary stood before Lucia with a threat: “Go ahead and try. I promise you, you will regret touching another one of my friends!” She then raised one eyebrow to emphasize her point.
Beatrice stood silently through all this. She was still very distraught about how things had ended between her and Lucia. Beatrice was dumbfounded and shocked by their current situation and the words everyone was throwing at each other. Her friends would stand up for her, and she’d wasted four years with someone else who didn’t deserve her time and love.
While Lucia thought it would be better if Camila could bring her down to her knees, she was unwilling to know what Mary would do to her. She walked away, but she started spewing empty threats and curses when she was at a good distance.
“Come back here and say that to my face, you slut!” Camila was not relenting. Thankfully, JC has not let go of the feisty little fighter.
Being Mary’s roommate was quite amazing, she kept her shit on her side of the room and kept what’s in Beatrice’s neat.
JC and Beatrice fell into the competition in who could sleep with the most girls. They’ve excluded JC’s experimentation with men from the total count.
Mary was initially in the competition, too, but she was quickly kicked out of the running when she met her girlfriend, Shannon. Although, in the beginning, they had quite a very toxic relationship with fight and make-up rotation for a full six months until they both got their shit together and learned to communicate with each other and compromise.
Camila had her version of fun, joining every social event and club that has come her way. She dated men and women but didn’t join the fuccboi competition with JC and Beatrice. She thinks that her friends are playing a dangerous game with their health. The two just shrugged off. They kept insisting they were safe and using protection every time.
Unlike Camila and Beatrice, JC wasn’t lucky enough to land a scholarship or, like Mary, had a rich Uncle paying for her way through University. He took up a part-time job as a gym instructor. He figured he might as well use his physique and good luck to charm the ladies at the gym to have a good lineup of clientele. And, of course, it has worked, and the gym won’t let him go as a part-time out of all the instructors. He’s the only one with full extended health benefits, hushed down from the other employees. They have offered JC a full-time position, which he quickly turned down. As much as he’s enjoying the perks and the pay from the gym, JC still wants to finish his Business Management course with Beatrice and hopefully open his gym one day.
However, they always attended having dinner together every Friday, no matter what they had planned out for those nights. They made sure to schedule anything only after their dinner.
That continued even after Mary and Shannon graduated in their third year and moved out of the campus.
AGE 22 - FOURTH YEAR OF UNIVERSITY
“What’s new with you, JC?” Shannon asked as she took a bite of her lamb kebab. “You don’t seem very cheery tonight.”
“JC got ghosted!” Beatrice said, making fun of the only guy in their group of friends.
“Shut up, Yeoh!” JC chided. “I met this girl at the gym…”
“Not another one of your clients!” Mary rolled her eyes, which made Camila giggle.
“No, no, she’s not,” JC said, shaking his head. “She was working at the gym.”
“Was?” Mary asked again, now taking a sip of her Coke.
“Yeah, she quit and didn’t show up for work after JC slept with her…ghosted!” Beatrice laughed more hysterically this time.
“Ouch, karma!” Camila teased.
JC threw a fry at Camila, which the other just caught and threw back at him, “Why are you all ganging up on me for?”
“Well, how you’ve played the women at your gym was quite a legend, JC. We can’t help but feel triumphant with a slap of karma that has come your way.” Shannon replied with a smile. She was with Camila on this one.
“But you all love me. Why would you say these things?” JC said, looking like a hurt puppy.
“Even if we love you!” Shannon, not letting up, “Karma sure is a bitch, and we’re lucky enough to watch it manifest on you.”
“I don’t like you all,” JC says, still looking hurt. “A girl broke my heart, and my friends are all on her side instead of mine.” Then, he rolled his eyes to look away from all of his friends.
“Fine, fine,” Mary said, “Tell us about this girl then.”
JC turned again to face his friends. “She was really cute, funny, and smart!” His eyes lit up as he said, “She just moved here from down south, she said, and working at the gym was her first job in town. Everyone at work loved her. She became part of the clique, you know.”
“The clique you have with your beefy gym friends and snotty female friends?” Mary said, turning to roll her eyes. She didn’t like that JC associated himself with that group of people.
“Yeah, exactly that!” JC points to Mary and then puts some French fries in his mouth before continuing, “I mean, if you can break yourself into that group, that means something else. She’s just like this magnet. Everyone at the gym, including me, was all drawn to this girl.”
“If I didn’t know any better, it sounded like you got whipped by this girl!” Camila teased.
Beatrice held her hand up for a high five, and Camila responded with a giggle.
“You’re not wrong,” JC admitted, “I think I loved her.”
“Shut up!” Beatrice smacks him right upside the head. “Did you just say the L word?? That’s sad, man!”
“Ow!” JC rubbed the back of his head. “I’m being serious. This girl broke my heart and handed it to me on a platter!”
“Awww, our boy had his whittle heart bwoken by a whittle girl!” Camila said with a sad pout, still teasing.
Mary and Beatrice joined in on the laughter with Camila. They have never seen JC this sad before because of a girl, and it’s amusing and weird at the same time. They don’t know how to console a boy who’s always so sure of himself and confident, and girls line up to hook up with him, only to be dumped by JC after a date or two.
“Okay, enough, guys,” Shannon said, smiling, but she was quite concerned that JC was hurting over being dumped by a girl. “Do you want to talk more about it, JC?”
“No, these losers are just going to make fun of me more,” JC pouted.
“C’mon, Garcia. We’re just teasing you,” Beatrice said, but she was starting to feel bad for her friend. She’d never seen him down this bad for a girl. “How about you and I go to the club tonight after dinner, and we’ll find you another girl? I’ll be your wingman. I won’t even take one for myself. We’ll focus on getting you back on your feet.” Beatrice was sure it would work because they had done this setup before. As long as Beatrice said she would not take a girl home that night, the chances of JC getting one increased. Just facts, Beatrice gets the girl more than JC could.
“No, I think I’ll just go home and play some games,” JC said sullenly. He sat slumped down on his chair, looking very defeated.
The four women looked at each other; they could now sense this was really bad!
“How about we all hang out at our apartment then and just chill?” Mary offered. She’s giving up on teasing JC. It looked like the boy needed his girls to rally behind him tonight.
“Are you sure?” JC asked, “Didn’t you say you and Shannon have a thing to go to tonight?”
“Yeah, of course, I’m sure!” Shannon beams at him to tell him they’re sincere with the offer, “Let’s make it a sleepover for everyone, and Mary here,” Puts both hands on her girlfriend, “Will make us all eggs benedict in the morning. How’s that?”
Mary glared at her girlfriend. She loved that Shannon cared for her friends as much as Mary did, but sometimes, she would get carried away with being motherly to the group. “Mmmhmmm! I love how you get the credit, but volunteer me to do all the work, honey!”
And it was settled. After dinner, the group headed to Mary’s and Shannon’s, where they made it a girl’s night out. They gave JC a facial, mani, and pedi and even treated his hair with hot oil.
JC loves being the only boy. He gets to be babied by all his best friends. Even Beatrice treats him like his younger brother and usually pays for dinner. And in turn, he takes care of his girls by being sweet and caring to all four women equally. Keeping them all safe when they go out is a default that he is the main muscle for moving things. Just like when Mary and Shannon moved to another apartment, JC led the move of the big pieces of furniture along with Mary and Beatrice. More importantly, he always finished the food the women couldn’t finish to eat. That’s important! They don’t like to waste money, and JC is quite happy enough to do them all the favour.
That same night, they planned to all go together to watch Beatrice’s game next Saturday. It’s only her team's third game for the season, but the one coming up is very important—it’s against the best rival team in their division. They have to beat the other team. The win will boost Beatrice’s team’s morale and give them confidence to win the division championship.
Saturday, game night! The university gym burst at the seams at the number of supporters Beatrice’s team had. There were a few from the opposing team, but they were quietly keeping to themselves lest they get booed and taunted to leave by the home turf team fans.
The energy of support was palpable, and Beatrice’s team was milking it to their advantage, soaking it all in to boost their morale and confidence. They utilized the crowd's energy, encouraging them to make loud noises when their team scores.
Beatrice is rotating her right ankle as she shakes both hands. She’s on the sideline for a sub. Her coach approaches her, “Are you okay, Yeoh?”
“Yeah, my ankle just feels a little bit tighter today. It must be the cold weather,” Beatrice replied to her coach with a tight smile.
“Andres, work with Yeoh and stretch these ankles and calves,” Coach Durant called out to one of his assistants, waving Andres in to come over to where he stood with Beatrice.
Beatrice looked out to the crowd. She knew where her friends were seated and were with Betty and Andrew. Her parents had driven for tonight’s game; they knew how important it was for Beatrice for them to be there. Beatrice waved at them. The assistant coach would try to help her with stretching. She didn’t want her parents and friends to worry if they saw her on the floor doing extra stretches.
And Beatrice was right. Her friends' and parents’ eyes were already on her. She’s been on the bench longer than usual.
They quickly started with the stretching.
“What’s going on?” Camila asked, pulling on Mary’s shirt’s sleeve. “Why isn’t Beatrice on the court? Is she okay?”
Mary had to pull her sleeve back up before replying. Her sports bra was starting to show how much Camila was tugging on her sleeve. “I’m sure Coach Durant is caring for Beatrice, Cam.” She rolled her eyes. She’s their star player. They can’t afford to bench her for this game.”
“Look, someone’s helping Beatrice stretch,” JC says as he points out to her friend, sitting on the floor on the sideline and with Andres helping her stretch her right leg.
“Is our daughter okay, Andrew?” Betty asked nervously to her husband.
“Yes, dear wife, I’m sure it’s just routine to stretch in the middle of the game,” Andrew replied, trying to calm his wife down. But he’s also starting to get nervous. Beatrice has never been off the court for this long. “She’ll be back on the court in no time,” Andrew told Betty to assure her everything was routine.
“This is not good, Shan,” Mary whispered to Shannon, “They have to get Beatrice back on the game. “The other team is starting to catch up.”
“I know, hun,” Shannon whispered back, nervously holding Mary’s arm. “I hope Coach Durant puts her back on soon.”
“Boooooo!” The crowd chanted as the other team scored another point.
“Mary! Mary!” Camila cried out, “I’m so fucking nervous, I think I’m going to piss my pants!”
“Piss away, my dear, if it will make you feel better,” Mary teased with a laugh.
“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that, Mary?” Camila said, pushing her friend slightly.
“I think Durant’s putting Beatrice back on the game!” JC said excitedly.
And they all looked at where Beatrice was standing. She’s huddled with Coach Durant, with his clipboard covering his mouth while he is talking. The whole gymnasium is on fire, and everyone is cheering loudly. Chants and cheers were booming all around.
“Beatrice, you got this!” Coach Durant whispered and yelled in Beatrice’s ear, “We’re down five points. We need to catch up. We must show these Marauders (the other team) that we’re better than them. Now go and do your thing!” And the older woman pushed Beatrice into the court with her clipboard.
“YEOH! YEOH! YEOH!” Everyone chanted as they saw Beatrice step back into the court, slapping her teammate Amanda’s hand to signal the sub.
The opposing team serves the ball with a very powerful hit. The ball goes back for the Libero to take. The Libero manages to receive the ball and hit it so it gets to the Setter, where their Opposite Hitter hits it back to the other team’s court.
With this strategy, the other team didn’t anticipate the hit to their court would come from the Opposite Hitter; they all guessed that Beatrice, fresh from the sidelines, would attack to get the point. The Setter set it perfectly. Beatrice did a fake jump, and the Opposite Hitter spiked into the other court. The other team miscalculated and missed it, and Beatrice’s team scored!
It made the whole gym erupt even more with cheers. Camila was jumping up and down as she tugged on Mary’s shirt sleeve, and JC had both arms up and screaming. Their whole group was so loud and happy that Beatrice’s team had just scored again. The other team had gained the last five points to them.
The next set was even more intense. The other team was more focused this time and answered every attack with an even stronger one. Every volley and closed call received loud gasps from the crowd and a big cheer every time Beatrice’s team responded with a big hit back to the other team.
“C’mon Yeoh!” Someone from the crowd yelled, “Score one for the team!”
“YOU GOT THIS BEA!” Mary yelled out loudly, too, from the crowd.
Beatrice got a nod from their Setter and immediately knew what it meant. They will do the same gameplay as last time, but this time, Beatrice will take the ball and do the spike into the other team’s court herself, no more faking from the star player!
The ball goes in the air, and the Setter has her back on the net. She is ready and uses her fingers to set the ball. Beatrice and the Opposite hitter, Janice, go up in the air. This time, the other team is more ready for either of the hitters to do the attack. Everyone in the gym held their breaths. Beatrice goes in the air, Janice does the fake, and Beatrice does her signature power hit! It was too fast, but even if the player on the other team saw her strike, they couldn’t get to it fast enough. Two players went for the ball but ended up hitting their heads with each other.
AND BEATRICE’S TEAM GOT THE POINT!
An even louder cheer erupted. It was so noisy the whole building was vibrating. It was enough to loosen the screws of the roof of the gymnasium. Semantics!
While Beatrice was still in the air and saw her opportunity, she heard a pop. No, the pop wasn’t from the ball that landed freely on the floor, gaining her team another point; it came from lower down Beatrice’s extremities.
“Oh shit!” Beatrice knew she was in trouble.
And as she landed on the floor, a searing hot pain crawled up her right leg. She couldn’t brace herself for the fall, and her whole body was soon on the ground. And she cried in pain as she cradled her right leg. She squeezed her eyes tight as she felt tears roll down her cheek from the pain.
She heard loud gasps from the crowd. Not a moment too soon, her coach and her assistant, Andres, hovered over her, along with some of her teammates who were with her on the court.
“Beatrice, are you okay?” Coach Durant said.
“No, it hurts! It hurts so bad!” She cried out.
“Can I look at it, Beatrice?” Andres said, and Beatrice nodded. As Andres could look at the injured leg, he looked back up at Coach Durant and shook his head.
“What is it?” Coach Durant was in a panic. "This couldn’t be happening—Her star player, Beatrice Yeoh, was down on the ground in pain.
“It’s torn Achilles, coach,” Andres said calmly.
“Fuck,” Coach Durant couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Stretcher, we need a stretcher. We need to get Yeoh to the hospital.”
Andres told the other assistant to call 911 and asked another person to help him support Beatrice and walk her out of the court.
It was at the hospital that Beatrice’s parents and friends finally met up with her.
Her ankle, for now, was taped and iced while they waited for an operating room to do the surgery and connect her torn Achilles back together.
Betty was inconsolable, Andrew behind her rubbing her back. “Dear wife, it’s just a tendon. Your daughter will live.”
“Are you in pain, Bea?” Camila asked.
“A little bit,” Beatrice said, “But not as much as earlier. The nurses here gave me some pain meds.”
“You’re a champ. You’ll get through this one with flying colours,” JC pats her on her shoulder, “And will soon be at the clubs hooking up with girls!”
“JC!” Betty chided. Beatrice had been friends with the group, and they all felt like the other parents were another set of parents for the rest. “My daughter is just about to go into surgery, and you’re already thinking about going to clubs with her. She should rest and rehabilitate after.”
“I don’t know, Auntie Betty,” Mary replied, “It’s exactly what your daughter would do!”
Everyone around Beatrice laughed except for Betty, who only sees her daughter as a saint and pure. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing, dear wife. The kids are just trying to say, Beatrice likes to have fun.” Andrew looked up at her daughter and gave her a wink. “It’s probably what the doctor would order for her to do, back into the groove of things!”
Beatrice bit her lip to stop laughing and gave her dad a thumbs-up.
“How soon can you start your rehab, Beatrice?” Shannon, who always makes the most sense out of the group, changes the subject.
Beatrice cleared her throat, but the stifled laughter still caught, “Umm, the doctor said he’ll check the stitches after two weeks and see if I’ll be ready.”
“Okay, everything is ready, we’re bringing you in,” A nurse entered Beatrice’s room announced.
Betty automatically cries louder.
“Betty, it’s just on her leg,” Andrew said, rubbing her wife’s arm up and down.
“Okay, you got this, bro!” JC said and was the first one to hug Beatrice.
Camila started crying, too, “We’ll be here when you wake up, Bea!” Sniff!
Everyone hugged Beatrice, and the hospital staff were soon wheeling her bed into the operating room.
Two weeks later, Beatrice and Shannon sit together at the doctor’s office for the assessment of her leg.
“Well, everything is looking good.” The doctor moves her leg gently, side to side. “Looks like the stitches are healing well.”
“Would I be able to go to rehab then?” Beatrice asked excitedly.
“I don’t see. Why not,” The doctor shrugged, “They’ll start you off slow anyway. They’ll better judge what you can and can’t do for now.”
“Will she still have to be in a cast,” Shannon glared at the discarded cast with disgust.
“No, we’ll have her wear an air boot instead,” The Doctor replied. “Which she can take on and off during the day.”
“Oh, thank God!” Shannon rolled her eyes to the back of her head in relief. That was starting to smell disgusting. I'm sorry, Bea. It’s true!”
Beatrice only giggled, “None taken, Shan.” She said to her friend.
“I will send you to this rehab center. A colleague highly recommends it,” The Doctor started typing on the computer. It’s a new center, but the staff is very capable of handling your case, and with their latest equipment and techniques, you’ll be better off going there.” The doctor smiled.
Beatrice returned the smile to the doctor, then looked at the man more intently and slightly tilted her head to the side. He looks like Uncle Vernon with a thicker walrus mustache!
Shannon quickly swatted Beatrice on the arm when the doctor went to get up to get something from the printer. She knew exactly what Beatrice was thinking because she had the same thoughts.
“Don’t!” Shannon chided with her index finger up, trying to hold in her laugh.
“But he does!” Beatrice argued.
“Shhh!” Shannon shushed her as she saw the doctor walking back to them.
“So, here it is. Just give this to the clinic; they know to call me if they need it,” the good doctor said, looking more and more like Uncle Vernon.
Shannon had to pinch Beatrice’s leg to stop the other from laughing.
Beatrice cleared her throat, “Thank you, Doctor.”
“Set up an appointment with the receptionist before you leave to book for next week so we can remove the stitches.” The doctor was already walking out of the small room they were in. “A nurse will be right with you to fit you with the air boot.”
When they were in Shannon’s car, Beatrice was fitted with the air boot but still needed crutches until she could consult with the physiotherapist about starting to put weight on the leg.
“I won’t be able to come with you to the Physio, but I think Mary is free that day,” Shannon said.
“Thank you guys for helping me get around,” Beatrice said as she did her seatbelt, “Why didn’t the tendon on the left tore instead? I could’ve at least been able to drive myself around.”
“Things happen for a reason,” Shannon said. Maybe this is the universe saying for you to tone down the machismo and let us, your friends, show you how much we love you and would always be here to help you.” Then Shannon giggled. “It’s humbling you down, Yeoh!” She chuckled more.
“He-He!” Beatrice laughed sarcastically, then rolled her eyes, making Shannon laugh more.
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