AN#1: Sorry for really long wait, my excuses are the 2nd author's note at the end of this chapter. Anyway…yeah let's just get on with the story.
Mr. Drawer – Sorry bro, not Filipino I'm Californian; I just grew up in Quezon City, and lived in parts of La Trinidad when I was younger. I still love Pinoy songs though.
joseftanti – Yes I will…
Rorscarch – Thank you, and…I'm really sorry, I thought this story would be updated sooner.
Meolody – Here you go, hope you like this one.
HonorableAuthor99 – Sorry if I kept you waiting, hope you enjoy this chapter.
Princess – You'll find out soon enough, either the next chapter or chapter 4 I'm a little undecided at the moment.
~~~~~(Maybe This Time)~~~~~
(Janna)
Six days ago, a day after Marco and Jackie were notified about the Echo Creek class reunion, Janna had called a few other people in the hopes that they would be willing to help out in bringing the old couple back together.
"So," Tracy asked. "Why are we here again?"
"Like I said," Janna replied. "We're trying to get Marco and Jackie back together again."
"This kinda feels like a waste of time if you ask me," James, one of Marco's students said. "We've tried setting Mr. Diaz up on countless dates, he's just not in the game anymore."
A chorus of agreement sprung up from Marco's other students who were also present. Even Jackie's skater friends had to nod their heads in agreement.
Jackie was practically the same. Her friends would try to set her up on dates but she just wouldn't have any of it. She had turned down every man that was sent after her.
"Jackie's not gonna like this," Amber, one of Jackie's skater friends said. "You know, the last guy we sent after her ended up in the hospital."
"Yeah," Janna said. "I heard about that one. But you need to hear me out; Marco and Jackie are still madly in love with each other, why do you think they keep pushing away the dates you guys set them up with?"
The group looked at each other wearily as it slowly dawned on them that the reason absolutely made more sense than they had thought.
"I need some suggestions from you guys," Janna pleaded. "I really need your help in this, Marco and Jackie are two of the greatest friends I have, and mind you I don't have a lot friends either so they mean a lot to me."
Everyone remained silent, casting nervous glances at one another hoping someone would say something at least.
"Well," Leah, a student of Marco, spoke up. "It might help if you could sneak some of us into the reunion to keep an eye on things."
Janna looked at Bridget and regarded her with a sparkling gleam in her eye. "You, I like."
Leah backed away slightly.
"You know," Janna said cupping her chin. "That might work, I own the catering company responsible for the hors d'eurves being served. I could get some uniforms and make it happen easy."
"I just hope this plan of yours doesn't get any of us in trouble again." Tracy said crossing his arms.
"That was an accident," Janna said waving away Tracy's last comment. "Besides, we were only put in a holding cell it's not like we were sent to jail, hahaha."
Everyone else in the room sweat dropped.
"This might be a bad idea after all." One of Marco's students whispered to a skater girl.
"You're telling me." She replied.
(Line Break Quote: "Can you do anything without magic?")
(Back to the present)
(Jackie)
"So," Jackie said as she looked around the gymnasium. "Janna hired you for what reason again?"
Tracy, who was wearing a waiter's uniform; dress shirt, black vest, black slim-fitted slacks, and black dress shoes, had a serving tray filled with bite-sized h'ordeurve snacks in his right hand, smiled at Jackie. "You know me, I needed the money to pay my rent."
He was right; most of Tracy's financial problems were almost always rent-related. And he was always working odd jobs to help pay. Although there was that sponsorship deal from Monster, to help advertise their product on her channel, Jackie knew that the money the group was receiving wasn't enough to help cover Tracy's cost.
"You know what," Jackie said. "We should take on Tribal's deal as well."
"Now you're talking," Tracy said. "We should give them a call later on…or would tomorrow be better?"
Jackie nodded her head. "We can call them tomorrow."
Tracy nodded. "Well, have fun tonight." He then walked around, as people picked off random pieces of snacks off of the tray.
Jackie looked at the nearby clock and sighed, the blonde was hoping to locate Marco among all her former classmates. But, to no avail.
Jackie walked around and stopped a waitress who was carrying a tray with champagne. She picked a glass of champagne.
"Hey JT." The waitress said.
"Hey Amber." Jackie said absently, she walked a few steps before turning around. "Amber? What are you doing here?"
"Same reason Tracy's here."
"Oh," Jackie nodded. "Wait, why do you need extra money? You don't have rent problems."
"Money, JT," Amber said. "There's this new skateboard I saw at the mall, and I'm dying to get my hands on them."
"Lemme guess," Jackie smirked. "You saw it in the store where that American-Filipino guy works?"
Amber nodded her head. "Yup, I wish I could buy them both."
Jackie shook her head while she had a smile on her face. "Well, have fun at least."
"You too JT, hope you find someone to take home tonight." Amber said a smirk that made Jackie blush a deep shade of red.
(Line Break Quote: "Sometimes there's a sense of satisfaction in doing things yourself.")
(Star)
Star was up in the rafters keeping a close on Marco and Jackie with a pair of binoculars. "So far so good."
"Janna," Star said as she pressed a hearing device in her ear. "Janna come in."
"Janna here, what's up?"
"So far, the plan's going smoothly. Amber managed to distract someone who looked like he was gonna make a move on Jackie."
"Good, what about over on Marco's end, how's he faring?"
"Okay, none of the girls are brave enough to go near him though."
"What?"
"They're too shy to even go near him; he's like the most handsome guy here tonight." Star then looked Marco through her binoculars. "Look at him, all dressed up in that Tux, his slim fitted pants and coat." Star then began fantasizing about Marco.
"Down girl," Janna said. "We're supposed to bringing him and Jackie together…although he does look kinda hot in that Tux. Oh what am I saying? Just keep your eyes peeled and remember watch over the both of them, not just Marco."
"Gotcha," Star replied. Star then switched her gaze from Marco to Jackie. "Let's see how are things going over on JT's end."
Star looked around at the Jackie was at, she then noticed someone standing a feet away from Jackie. "Who's that guy? I don't remember meeting him at the reception table."
(Line Break Quote: "And now, I shall shave this beard off of you- with this tiny razor!")
(Marco)
Marco was chatting with Ferguson and Alfonzo about their YouTube channel and how they became fitness instructors.
It really astounded him that his two best friends actually took up something like this, Marco expected them to have gone down another path, preferably one that involved comedy or pranks.
It was truly a surprise for Marco.
"So how's it been guys?" Marco asked. "You know, outside of your YouTube channel?"
Ferguson nodded his head. "It's been good actually; my health's really improved since last time. Alfonzo's even been seeing this one chick at the gym we go to."
"Really?" Marco asked eyeing his bespectacled friend.
"It's not really that serious," Alfonzo replied. "But she is cute."
Marco and Ferguson shared a cynical smile.
"Ri~~~ght." Marco said with a smirk.
"I'm serious!" Alfonzo snapped he had a pink tint painted of his cheeks.
Marco laughed a little.
"Well, you guys take care." Marco said he took a quick glance around the gym.
"You lookin' for someone dude?"
Marco looked around one last time. "Kinda," his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a blonde haired girl by the snack table talking to Janna. "I'll see you guys in a minute."
Marco slowly made his way through the crowd offering a few excuses and pardons as he kept his eyes trained on the blonde.
When he got there…the party lights, the girl wasn't a blonde she was a brunette, the lights just made her made her hair look blonde from a distance. It wasn't her.
"Oh hey Marco," Janna called. "Hey, this is Kayla, she's a friend of the DJ that Skeeves hired, I asked her to come since I owe her a few things."
"Hi." Kayla said.
"Hey." Marco replied.
"So," Janna said to Marco. "We were just talking about the songs Jon's gonna be playing tonight."
"Jon?" Marco asked.
"The DJ," Kayla said. "His name's Jonathan."
"Jonathan," Marco said to himself. "His last name doesn't happen to be Kessler, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah," Kayla said. "You know him?"
"I know his sister; Leah," Marco said. "She's one of my students."
Marco then noticed a young teen-aged girl with light brown hair walking around in a waitress uniform. He looked to Janna. "Janna Young?"
Janna looked at Marco and smiled innocently. "Yes?"
Marco put his hand on Janna's shoulder, he pointed to the waitress he saw. "Speak of the devil, why is she here, in one of your waitress uniforms nonetheless?"
Janna shrugged her shoulders. "College students, they tend to do a lot of part-time jobs these days."
Marco rolled his eyes. And that's when he noticed another one.
"James?"
And then another one.
"Bridget?"
And another one.
"Arnold?"
And again, another one.
"Erika?"
"Are all my students working part-time for you?" Marco asked.
Janna shrugged. "No, well maybe some."
"Hey Prof." Leah said as she made her way over. "Looking rather well dressed tonight."
"Hey Leah." Kayla said.
"Hey." Leah replied. "Is my brother around?"
"Wait," Marco said looking at the two girls. "You two know each other?"
"Well duh," Janna said. "Kayla is Jonathan's girlfriend."
"Speaking of my brother," Leah said. "Where is he?"
"I'll try to call him," Kayla said. "I'll be outside for a while."
Marco stared at Leah. "Ms. Kessler?"
"Yeah Prof?" Leah smiled in a way that Marco knew she was feigning innocence.
"I hope you a perfectly good reason as to why you're here dressed up as a waitress."
"Come on Professor Diaz," Leah said. "You know exams are next week, I've reviewed and studied all my notes, but I wasn't able to pay the rest my tuition fee. I really need the money."
"How much have you paid?"
"Only about two thirds and I need to pay the rest by next week before the exams start."
"Alright, fair enough. Go on."
Leah smiled and continued making her rounds.
"Whatever you're doing better be legal." Marco said to Janna who smiled innocently.
"What? That was accident." Janna replied.
"Do you even know what I'm talking about?"
"Uh…is this about me setting you up with that psycho Spanish model again?"
Marco shook his head in concern, mainly for himself. He knew Janna was up to something, and Marco could only hope it wouldn't lead to another disaster like last time.
~~~~~(Maybe This Time)~~~~~
AN#2: I'm really sorry for the late update. I hope you guys won't think that I've abandoned this story.
Let me explain. Now that I'm 21 years old things are getting pretty hectic for me. I recently…is 2 months recent? I recently started working at 'Grace's Table', it's a local restaurant in Napa Valley, California that serves global cuisine. I've been having so much fun cooking there that I completely forgot about my fanfics.
This has happened before and I can't make any promises on whether I can really stay updated and focused on my fanfics. But, we'll see how things go on from here.