Chapter 3: The Drama Begins
Xia's POV
After dinner, Mei and I went back to our shared room to work on our math homework. We played 4 Town songs while working on it together and helping each other. Both of us really enjoy sketching and drawing as well and I noticed Mei drawing someone in the corner of her notebook page. It was a boy wearing a hat and he had a bird in his hand.
"Hmm. Kinda looks like Devon," she muttered to herself.
"Ooh, does someone have a crush?" I teased.
"Speak for yourself, cous," Mei remarked, "I see the way you stare at Tyler dreamily."
By the way, Mei was the only person who knew that I liked Tyler. She accidentally found out a few months before because I used to keep a diary. One day, she found out about my drawings of Tyler and asked why I was drawing him. Then she asked if I liked him and I obviously denied it but she knew the truth. I told her not to tell anyone and she said okay.
Xia's face went red.
"What! No I don't!" Xia mumbled, embarrassed.
"I don't see, Xia, I just wanted to feel your reaction," she giggled, "You two would be cute together. Plus, I don't know why I'd have a crush on Devon. I don't get what Mir sees in him. He's not that cute."
Mei continued drawing him.
"Okay, his shoulders are kinda nice, I guess," she said quietly. "His eyes are... fine."
Mei continued drawing him and then her eyes widened. It looked like a light bulb had gone off in her brain and she stopped talking.
"Mei? Is there something wrong?" I asked, slightly concerned.
She didn't answer and she quietly left her desk with her sketchbook and suspiciously went under her bed.
"Mei?" I questioned.
Once again, no response. Since the duvet was covering her under the bed, I couldn't see what her cousin was doing. But she could hear a pencil scribbling on paper, pages flipping and the occasional guilty giggle.
"Meilin! Tell me what the heck you're doing before I come under there!" I sighed.
The scribbling and page flipping was getting faster and faster. Xia knew she must be drawing something, but had no idea what she was drawing or why she wasn't answering me. That's when I realized what she was drawing... Devon!
Mei started drawing right after sketching Devon so she must've been drawing her and him!
'Oh, gosh! What if Auntie Ming sees? Mei would be in trouble!' I thought worriedly.
"Mei-Mei, Xia," we heard Auntie Ming say from outside our bedroom door. This caused Mei to hit her head on her bed's underside.
"Mei, quick!" I whispered and we both sat on the lower bunk of their bed, acting like nothing had happened. That's when they noticed that Mei's sketchbook was slightly out from under the bed. It was too late to hide it!
Auntie Ming opened the door with a plate full of sliced oranges.
"Girls, do you want a snack?" she asked us.
"Cool, great, thanks!" I nervously replied.
We hoped that Auntie Ming wouldn't see Mei's notebook. Unfortunately, she noticed it and started walking towards it.
"Mei-Mei, is this your homework?" Ming smiled as she opened it and started flipping through the pages.
"Mom, don't-" Mei started
She started looking at the Devon drawings in disgust and horror.
"Mei-Mei, what is this!" she exclaimed.
"It's nothing, just a boy, he's no one-" Mei mumbled nervously.
"A boy!?" Auntie Ming gasped before showing one of the drawings, "Who is he? Did he do these things to you?"
I tried snatching the notebook from her hands.
"Calm down, Auntie! It's just made up!" I exclaimed, "It's not real!"
Mei and I both tried to get the notebook and then the page ripped and Ming ended up holding the drawings. She then examined the drawing.
"That hat..." she murmured before shouting, "Is that… the sketchy clerk from the Daisy Mart?!"
"Mom, no!" Mei shouted as Ming took the two girls to the car.
General POV
The three arrived at Daisy Mart, with Mei looking nervous and Xia looking concerned, primarily about what Ming is gonna do. Even though it wasn't happening to Xia, she still felt scared for Mei.
"No, no, no!" Mei muttered.
Auntie Ming stormed through the door angrily.
"Oh, snap!"
Xia turned around to see Tyler laughing smugly. 'Oh, great. Him again. Could this evening get any worse?'
"Auntie Ming! Stop!" She yelled in fear for Mei.
"You!" Ming hissed, pointing at poor Devon, causing him to sit back in fear, "What have you done to my Mei-Mei?"
"Uh, who?" he asked.
"Meilin Lee, right here!" Tyler smiled, pointing to her so that everyone knew this was about her. Mei's eyes widened as Xia turned to him in anger.
"Tyler!" she hissed.
"What?" he shrugged dismissively before resuming laughing at Mei.
"I should report you to the police!" Ming continued shouting at him, "How old are you? 30?"
"I'm 17..." Devon mumbled, nervously.
"Oh, see, see?" she exclaimed, "This is what happens when you don't wear sunblock and do drugs all day! She's just a sweet, innocent child. How dare you take advantage of her!"
Auntie Ming pulled out the drawings.
"Mum! No!" Mei screamed.
Ming slammed the drawings on his desk. The drawing was of him as a shirtless merman. Mei's eyes were wide and her cheeks flushed red. Everyone in the shop gathered around the drawings, laughing and whispering to each other. I saw Tyler with tears in his eyes due to how much he was laughing.
"What a weirdo!" he laughed.
Due to the amount of stress Xia was feeling, she felt a sudden rush of anger.
"Just shut up, Tyler!" she shouted and took off her right shoe. As she prepared to throw it at Tyler, Mei grabbed her by the arm.
"Xia, no. He's not worth the trouble right now." Mei said as Xia put her shoe back on her foot.
"The Daisy Mart has lost a loyal customer today!" Ming shouted as she took our hands and stormed out the shop. Everyone in the shop was still laughing at us even when we left. Mei had looks of horror spread across her face. They all got in the car.
"Thank goodness I was here," Auntie Ming sighed, "That degenerate won't come near you again. Now, is there anything else I should know about, Mei-Mei?"
"Nope, all good!" Mei fake-smiled.
"And Xia, have any boys been harassing you as well?"
"Clean slate." Xia said as she raised her hand to show they are clean.
As soon as the three of them got home, the girls both changed into pajamas and Mei ran into our room and screamed into her pillow.
"I'm sorry about what happened, Mei!" Xia mumbled, even though it wasn't her fault. "Auntie Ming needs to control her outburst and not make you the victim of an innocent person."
"It's okay, Xia! I'm such a sicko!" she sighed, "Gah! What was I thinking?! Why did I draw those things?! Those horrible, awful, sexy things!"
Xia sighed. Her own cousin was going into full Meilin-Lee-embarrassment mode.
"It's fine though, Xia," she smiled, "Both of us could move to another city and change our identities!"
But then her smile faded.
"But that wouldn't work!" Mei sighed and screamed into her pillow once again.
"Mei, I-" Xia started.
"But mum was just trying to help me! Why!" she sighed and burst into tears.
"Mei, it's going to be okay-" I reassured, hugging her.
"No it's not!" she groaned before looking in the mirror, "Meilin Lee, you are her pride and joy! So act like it!"
"It's fine, Mei," Xia muttered.
She started tearing the drawings out of her notebook and threw them in the bin.
"This will never happen again," Mei told herself quietly before taking off her glasses and getting into the lower bunk of our bed. I climbed up the ladder, turned off the lamp and got into bed.
"Mei, I'm honestly so sorry about what happened back at the Daisy Mart," Xia sighed.
"Like I said, it's okay, Xia. It wasn't your fault and I kinda overreacted," Mei said back, "Besides, if Mom and Auntie Ai discovered drawings of Tyler, she would've gone postal, too."
"I highly doubt that they'll ever." Xia replied as the two girls ready for Dreamland.
A/N: I have to admit. The scene at Daisy Mart really had me both laughing at Ming accusing an innocent store clerk who is a minor for harassing Mei as well as worried for Ming since her mom is embarrassing her in a public place, and worse, with Tyler nearby.