Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 82: Sunday Show 

EMMA’s POV :

I didn’t expect I would spend Thanksgiving with Sophie and Tristan and their family, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

They had a karaoke machine in their basement and we took turns singing and dancing as the night went on.

The food was amazing too.

I had a newfound love for kimchi and Sophie wasn’t kidding about her dad grilling the best pork belly barbeque ever.

They also got something called Makgeolli, which was a milky off-white sparkling rice wine drink.

It was sweet, tangy, and a little bitter, but it also very refreshing.

I might have had a little too much rice wine by the end of the night, I ended up dancing to K-pop videos with Sophie on the couch.

On Friday, I visited Kristen and Hailey and spent some time with them.

They went out of their way to make sure I was feeling at home, even though lan wasn’t around.

Kristen taught me how to make her famous gravy and stuffing.

She taught me a lot of recipes on what lan liked to eat, so I could make it for him someday.

I also chatted a bit with Hailey and I told her about my reservations with Ally.

Hailey dismissed it quickly, saying, "Don’t worry about Ally.They've been friends since forever.If he'd wanted her, something would have happened a long time ago.He doesn't like her like that.He only has eyes on you,"

That was what lan said as well, but maybe I was just being a petty and jealous girlfriend, I still couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Ally secretly likes him.

On Saturday, I spent more time with Sophie and Tristan as they took me on a tour around Atlantic City.

We were not the gambling type, so we just took a walk around the boardwalk and visited the Korean War Memorial.

We talked about everything from their family’s immigrant stories to Sophie’s dream of becoming Forbes’ 30 under 30, to Tristan’s dream of traveling the world as a journalist, and of course, we had to talk about their love lives.

Sophie was still on and off with Micah.

They broke up for a bit a couple of months ago, but now I guess they were back together again.

They broke up and made up so many times already within the year, I've lost count after twenty.

Tristan was moving on from Monique, and that was long overdue.

She still liked to taunt him, though.

She liked having guys’ attention, even though she had no interest in actually dating them.

She still sent Tristan snaps or DMs in the hopes that Tristan would come crawling back to her.

Sophie and I acted as his bodyguard slash overbearing parents.

We prohibited him from replying to any of Monique’s vain texts.

"You are not letting Monique string you along anymore.You are so much better than that,"

Sophie said it all, loud and clear.

"We did not fight the Korean War so you can be imperialized by a white girl in short shorts,"

Tristan and I burst out laughing at her reference to the Korean War, which was fitting since we were walking through the memorial’s park.

"First of all, we weren't even born yet during the Korean War.Second of all, don’t worry about her any more.I’m totally over her,"he laughed.

"You are?"I questioned.

That was a lot quicker than I had expected.

He was basically in love with this girl for almost three years.

"Yeah.Once you guys showed me what she truly is, I’m so turned off by her now,"

It wasn't pretty, but Sophie and I contacted our friends at various frats and we got hold of a bunch of pictures, snaps, videos, and texts between Monique and a whole slew of frat guys all around campus.

Let's call it what it is, Monique is a player.

She enjoyed toying with people’s hearts and she took advantage of their kindness.

After we showed everything to Tristan, he got so disgusted by her, he deleted everything about her on his phone.

Even though he didn’t wanna admit it out loud and he acted tough when we were around Sophie, I could see that he was completely heartbroken over Monique.

He had a crush on her ever since they were in high school.

He put her on such a high pedestal that he was blind to her manipulation.

"Glad you finally see the light, Hallelujah, praise the Lord,"

Sophie sang dramatically.

"It still sucks.But Emma's right.Time heals everything,"Tristan nodded.

I did give him this advice that day we went out to karaoke.

I got the same advice from Tiff and Carrie when I got my heart broken the first time, and it was very good advice.

"On a scale of one to ten, how healed are you right now? Ten being completely heartbreak free,"

Sophie asked him.

"Right now? I would say...a nine?"

"Nine? That's quite high,"I noted.

"Yeah.Especially after you stayed with me and we went to karaoke.That night was a big turning point for me,"Tristan smiled at me and said, "Don’t know what I'll do without you,"

I remembered that night like it was yesterday.It was a great night.

We were screaming our lungs out at karaoke, singing all these heartbreak songs that he related with so well.

Tristan got so drunk, he blacked out.

I was only a little drunk, and when I got home, I had my first virtual sex experience with lan.

Okay, I got sidetracked, but my point was this: we all could use a friend.

As much as I hate to admit it, what I was doing for Tristan was the same thing that lan was doing for Ally right now.

No one should go through heartbreak alone.

I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

So I guess...I have to take my own advice and be more accepting of lan and Ally’s friendship...

On Sunday, the Parks and I went to church.

I had been to church before for Christmas and Easter, but my parents were never the super devout type.

Sophie’s parents, on the other hand, were super devout Christians.

The Korean church was okay.

A lot of the songs were in Korean, but hey, I was only there to enjoy the experience.

The most awkward thing about it was that a lot of people at church thought I was Tristan’s girlfriend.

They assumed that when two people of the opposite gender around the same age who are not siblings are sitting together at church, it must mean that they are dating.

Anyway, we shrugged it off no problem.

Tristan and I were cool with each other like that.

After church, Sophie’s mom made us lunch we lay around the house for a bit and watched Easy A on Netflix.

We had to drive back to Philly that night, so we didn’t wanna do anything too exhausting.

We got back to our apartment late that night.

Traffic was horrible, as we predicted.

We were all tired and we had classes the next day, so the three of us got into our respective rooms and got some rest.

I had been keeping my communications with lan at a minimum level.

He was out there helping out his friend, and I wanted to gave him the time and trust he deserves.

Although I missed him terribly and we hadn't spoken for days, I simply texted him goodnight and I went to bed.

On Monday morning, the three of us were all back on campus.

Tristan and I had the same Feature Writing class and Sophie had a business class at around the same time.

After our classes were done, we met up at the quad and talked about getting lunch together.

We were in the middle of a hot debate between Chipotle and Popeye’s when Sophie spotted something on the corner of her eye that made her gag.

"Ugh, that’s Monique," she groaned.

Monique was with her group of sorority sisters.

They were giggling and laughing as they walked.

Monique caught sight of Tristan and her eyes lit up.

She whispered something to her friends before strolling over to us.

"Shoot.She’s coming over here,"

Tristan muttered under his breath.

"Stay strong, You got this,"

Sophie urged him.

Monique stopped when she was an arm's length away from Tristan.

She tilted her head to the side and played with her hair as she said, "Hey Tristan, did you have a good Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah.How was yours?" he shuffled awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with her.

"It was fabulous," Monique smiled.

When her eyes landed on Sophie, she gave Sophie a curt nod and said, "Sophie,"

"Monique," Sophie replied with the same amount of sass.

"So, anyway, I heard you haven't had a partner for the Feature Writing class’ final project?"

Monique said as she stepped even closer to Tristan, causing him to move back.

She laid a hand on his chest as she said, "What do you say we work together?"

"Uh...I..."

Tristan was losing control, he looked like a lost puppy.

"He can't.He’s already got a partner,"I said quickly and firmly.

"It’s me,"That wasn’t true.

We hadn't discussed that at all.

But I saw that Tristan needed help and I did the only thing I could think of.

"Who are you again?"

Monique turned to me, eyeing me from head to toe.

"The name’s Emma...and I'm Tristan’s girlfriend,"

I didn't know what has gotten into me.

Maybe it was the movie that I watched on Sunday.

Emma Stone was playing a girl who pretended to date her gay friend in order to help him out.

I was doing the same thing."What?"

Sophie and Tristan squeaked in unison.

"You have a girlfriend?"

Monique turned to Tristan, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course, he does,"

Sophie got my drift and nodded along.

"Y-yeah," Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

Tristan said as he looked at Sophie and me in confusion.

"You never told me you have a girlfriend,"

Monique hissed.

"Does he have to tell you everything?"

Sophie interjected.

"Do you have to always speak for him?"

Monique clapped back.

"Soph, I got this,"

Tristan put a hand in front of his sister as Sophie was ready to pounce.

He stared straight at Monique as he said, "Emma is my girlfriend.

So, uh, I'd really appreciate it you can stop sending me snaps or DM -ing me at 1 AM in the morning,"

"What?"

Monique gasped, clearly she wasn’t expecting that.

"Ouch, burn,"

Sophie said in a sing-song way.

"Honey, if he’s not replying to you, means he’s not into you, okay? So, do yourself a favor and stop hitting on my boyfriend.He’s not interested,"

I was channeling my inner Emma Stone.

Sophie and Tristan stared at me with wide eyes and Monique was seething out of her teeth.

"Whatever," she spat when she didn’t have a_ better comeback.

Linking my arms around Tristan’s, I held him close and kissed him softly on the cheek, saying, "Come on, babe, let's go get lunch,"

Tristan was frozen in shock.

I tugged on his arm and he followed me out of the quad.

Sophie stuck her tongue out at Monique before following after us.

As soon as we were out of the quad and away from Monique's sight, the three of us broke out in wild laughter.

"Oh my gosh, that was so funny.Did you see the look on her face?"

"It was priceless.Nice job you two!" Sophie gave us both high-fives.

"It was all Emma, she deserves an Oscar for that performance,"

Tristan shook his head in awe.

"Nah," I shrugged.

"But seriously, I’m hungry.Let's go get lunch,"

"We still haven't settled the debate.Chipotle or Popyeye’s?" he replied.

"Both!" I said in a commanding tone.

"And since I’m your girlfriend, you're paying for it," I laughed.

"Ha, extortion nice. You must've learned that from my sister," he rolled his eyes.

"Nope, just from my roommate,"

Sophie looked at Tristan and to me, and then back to Tristan as she said, "You two are too adorable, I can't,"

She then linked her arms around Tristan and mine and pulled us in the direction of food.

"So this is what it feels like to be a third wheel, huh?" she commented.