Chapter 11: Falling-Out
Mei's POV
Later that evening, me, Xia, Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby were all up on the roof of Tyler's house. Under the moonlight with 1 true love by 4 Town blasting on our radio, we were all having a mini celebration for ourselves while gobbling uneaten slices of birthday cake.
"Yeah! We did it! We are seeing 4 Town!" I squealed happily.
The six of us chomped our slices of cake and then we looked down into Tyler's garden. He was walking around quite annoyed.
"Hey, has anyone seen Mei?" Tyler was asking people and then groaned when people ignored him.
"Dang, he is working you," Priya told me.
"Ugh, what a diva!" Abby growled before shoving her cake slice in her mouth aggressively.
"But it'll all be worth it," I sighed, smiling.
The six of us lay back on the roof and looked up at the beautiful night sky as I poofed back into my human form.
"Tomorrow, we are walking into that concert girls and coming out women," I smiled.
"Literally, goosebumps," Miriam sighed.
"Hmm, what do you think Jesse smells like?" Priya asked us.
"Milk chocolate and wet rocks," Miriam responded while swooning.
That's when we heard beeping. Me and Xia pulled out our Tamagotchis from our pockets. Xia's was called Cara and mine was Robaire, Jr.
"We did it, Cara!" Xia smiled.
"It's happening, Robaire, Jr!" I grinned at the virtual pet, "You're finally gonna meet your daddy!"
"And your hot uncles!" Abby exclaimed, causing the six of us to burst into laughter, "What? It's true!"
When we finished laughing, Miriam looked at me in the eye.
"Mei, what if you didn't do the ritual?" she suggested, "What if you kept the panda?"
"What do you mean, Miriam?" Xia asked.
"Look at your cousin! She's not the same feather-dusting, straight-A, goodie-goodie-" she compared.
"Who we never saw like, ever," Priya sighed.
"She's such a rebel now!" Kendra smiled.
"Guys, we know Mei can't be like this forever," Xia told them, my smile fading.
"Our whole family would freak!" I explained, "Especially my mom. All her hopes and dreams are pinned on me."
"We know," Kendra told us, "But you guys have really changed and we're all proud of both of you. Just don't get rid of all of it, you know?"
"Yeah!" Abby agreed, "If it weren't for you guys, none of this would be happening. You two da bomb!"
"Word, you da bomb, Mei and Xia," Priya added.
"No, you da bomb," I smiled.
"We all da bomb!" Miriam exclaimed.
The six of us started laughing and we excitedly stood up and started jumping up and down in happiness and excitement that our plan had worked! Then the six of us put our hands in for success. We all had a group hug while jumping up and down as the radio played.
"Alright, homies, next up is 4 Town. The boys are coming to Toronto on the 25th!"
When the six of us heard that, our hearts dropped.
"So get your tickets now! And check it, they'll be cranking open the SkyDome and performing under a red lunar eclipse!"
My heart sank.
"Abby..." I murmured nervously, "You said the concert was the 18th..."
"It-it is! He's wrong!" Abby told us, paranoid as she whipped out her 4Town concert sheet and showed us, "Look! The 18th, Toronto!"
We looked at it and it said Toledo on the 18th and Toronto on the 25th.
"Uh... that says Toledo..." Priya told her.
"What?!" Abby exclaimed and then she checked. When she realized that she read it wrong, she panicked and started tearing up the paper while shouting things that seemed obviously like swear words in Korean.
"What the heck is Toledo?!" she shouted.
Xia and I looked at each other, panicking. The concert on May 25th? That can't be happening!
"4 Town's the same night as the ritual?" Miriam gasped.
"No!" I exclaimed as I poofed into my red panda form, "The same night? The same night?! What?!"
"Mei, calm down!" Kendra attempted to reassure me as my breathing got quicker.
"It's okay!" Priya told Mei.
"Reassuring her won't work, guys," Xia told her.
"No it isn't!" I snapped, "We can't miss 4 Town! We worked so hard! But the ritual, I will let everyone down! No, no, no!"
Before any of us could respond, someone spoke to us.
"Hey, Panda Girl!" Tyler called up to me, "What are you doing? We want more rides."
"Buzz off, Jerkface! I'm busy!" I retorted angrily.
A couple of Tyler's friends pushed him, laughing while saying things like "oh snap!" or "you gonna take that, Tyler?"
"You want your money? Then get your butt down here now!" he told her, annoyed.
"Forget your money and forget you!" I yelled back.
"Mei, let's just go!" Miriam told her.
"He really isn't worth it!" Xia said.
"What about our deal?" Tyler asked.
"Shove your deal!" Mei shouted.
"Fine! Get out of here!" Tyler shouted back, "Go back to your psycho mum and your creepy temple, you freak!"
Upon hearing those insults, I finally lost it as my rage is boiling over again. I furiously pounced off of the roof, right onto Tyler and started shaking him violently while shouting in his face.
The next thing was Xia trying to pry me off of Tyler. Normally I would do what she said but since I was so mad, I thought she was a threat and slapped her aside.
"Mei-Mei, stop! What is going on here?"
We turned and saw my mom and Auntie Ai. What were they doing here? I stopped shaking Tyler and looked to where I pushed Xia aside. I noticed her lying on the grass, clutching her cheek in pain. I took a closer look and noticed something red coming from under her hand. Oh no. Blood. I then looked at Tyler, crying and with scratches all over his jersey.
"I'm sorry! Just get off of me, please!" he sobbed.
That's when I realized what I had done. I accidentally hurt Tyler and, in the process, scratched my own cousin and scared everyone present.
General POV
Ming and Ai noticed Xia's cheek scratch as well. After looking after it, Xia was taken inside Tyler's house to treat her cheek wounds while Auntie Ming called his parents to explain what happened and that they needed to get home.
After her wounds were disinfected and gauzed up, Tyler approached Xia.
"Xia, are you okay?" he questioned, concerned.
"Yeah, but still, what you said about my family is clearly unforgivable!" I argued.
"I know. I-I had a lot on my mind..." he told her, causing her to slap him again, "Ow!"
"Mei and I worked so hard on that concert, only to find out that we got the date wrong and now we won't get to see 4 Town..."
Her mood changed from angry to sad and she started crying. Xia felt Tyler wrap his arms around her, hugging her while she sobbed.
"I know I hate you but why do I care about you so much?" Xia sobbed.
"I don't know..." Tyler told me.
Then he pulled away and looked at Xia in the eyes as she wiped my tears away.
"Xia, I've wanted to tell you this for a long time," he told me, "But I-I think I li-"
"Tyler, your parents are here," Ai interrupted.
"See you soon, Tyler," Xia said as she waved goodbye at him. He seemed disappointed because he was interrupted but he waved back nonetheless.
Ai and Ming walked with Xia outside. She saw Mei, Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby standing outside. Mei was looking incredibly guilty and when her cousin came out and she saw her the gauze on her cheek, she looked guiltier than ever. It was obvious that she regretted losing control. Of course, Xia knew it was an accident and Mei never intended to hurt her.
Tyler's parents started getting angry at Ming for what happened.
"I cannot believe you let your daughter do this!" Mrs. Nguyen-Baker complained.
"Do you understand what she did to my boy?" Mr. Nguyen-Baker scolded.
"I am so sorry," Ming apologized, "She's never done anything like this before. I don't know what came over her."
"I don't want to hear your apologies, okay?" Mr. Nguyen-Baker finished.
"She is an animal!" Mrs. Nguyen-Baker disdainfully looked at Mei. "She even hurt her own cousin."
"Alright, party's over! Everyone go home!" Mr. Nguyen-Baker said to all the kids present.
Ai and Xia turned and saw Mei looking hurt by what they said.
"You're not an animal, Mei," Ai reassured her quietly, "I mean, you can become a red panda but you're an amazing niece and cousin."
Ming turned around and she looked very angry. As she started walking towards Xia, Mei, and their friends, Mei clenched up, prepared to get told off but Ming walked right past them and started speaking to Miriam, Priya, Kendra and Abby, to everyone's shock.
"I can't believe you girls would use my daughter like this!" Ming accused them.
"What?" Miriam asked, perplexed.
"But we didn't." Priya protested.
"No, we'd never!" Abby added.
"We had nothing to do with all this." Kendra complained
"What?" Mei asked, going towards them. She was about to defend them but Ming held her back.
"I knew you were all trouble," she hissed, "Putting all these thoughts into Mei-Mei's head, parading her around. Now she's lying, sneaking out, dragging her own cousin into your zany schemes. And now, Mei-Mei attacked Xia and a defenseless boy! You think this is a joke? Do you know how dangerous this is?"
She was getting it wrong, Mei was in on this and her cousin and friends just went along with it.
"We didn't mean to," Miriam reasoned, "We just wanted to see 4 Town."
"4 Town!" Auntie Ming shouted, "You manipulated my daughter and my niece for a bunch of tacky delinquents?!"
"No! But they wanted to-" Kendra tried to explain.
"Don't you blame them!" she snapped as she hugged Mei, "They are good girls and you've taken advantage of them."
"Mei, Xia, tell her!" Miriam told the two cousins.
"Auntie Ming, we wanted to-" Xia started defending them but then she noticed Mei turning her back on them, "Mei? What?!"
Xia saw the four of them look very hurt. She was in complete disbelief; why would her own cousin go against them? They were their friends and she chose her own mom?
"I'm sorry," Xia whispered to them as they nodded solemnly, knowing she was defending them.
"Come on, girls, let's go," Ming snapped as she took Mei's hand while Ai approached Xia. As they walked to their cars, Xia noticed from the corner of her eye Kendra flipping the bird. She knew that gesture was for Ming but what's the point? The damage is already done. Mei and Ming got in their car and started driving away, with Xia and Ai following them in their car.
Both mothers and daughters were in silence for the entire drive. Xia felt a lump in the back of her throat as she held back tears.
During the whole drive, Xia sadly looked out the window at all of the city lights and cars passing by. It was beautiful but it was a shame that she had to see it on such an unfortunate night. As soon as they all got home, Xia solemnly walked to the bedroom and burst into tears. It was the best time to cry it all out.
'I couldn't believe what had happened. I lost everything I worked for in just one night: my school reputation, my chance to confess to Tyler, the 4 Town concert, my friends, and most of all, my bond with my own cousin,' she thought through her tears.
Soon after, Xia changed into her pajamas. She and Mei said goodnight to each other and that was it. Usually they'd stay up chatting for a while but after what had happened, they only looked at each other solemnly as they went to sleep.