A/N: This is my first story, ever. Patience, please hehe. :)
The incessant and annoying ringing of your phone wakes you up. It's Batchi calling. She's your best friend, and also a constant pain in your ass. You check the time at the upper right corner of your phone. 3:23 a.m. "Son of a bitch," you tell yourself. "It's so early."
"Batchi, what's wrong? Someone have better died if you're calling me at this unholy hour," you greet her. "I am allowed to sleep, am I not? Do you know what time I came home this morning?"
Seriously, you want to sleep. You got home just around 12 a.m. You've barely been asleep for three hours.
"And good morning to you too, sunshine," she greets you back with a slight laugh. It's as if she gets pleasure from waking you up and annoying you. She probably does. Typical Batchi. "Chong, wake up. You have an assignment for today."
You let out an annoyed huff. Isn't today it supposed to be your day off ? "Batchi, did you forget? It's my day off today. Day. Off. Which means that I am not going to do anything. I am going to stay at home and sleep. And then I am going to watch some TV, eat, and hang out with Miggy all day. I don't have time for any assignments today. So please, I'll call you back later, okay? Let me sleep."
"Choooooong," Batchi whines pathetically before you can cut off the call. "Chong, this is important. And it's big. The shoot is for Glamour magazine. And their cover girl is that heiress-slash-socialite... Jane? Joan? Basta. The granddaughter of the owner of those big-ass Tanchingco malls all over the country."
You roll your eyes at her, even if you know that she couldn't possibly see you. "Batchi, I don't care. I'm going to sleep and get a well-deserved day off. I haven't had a break for a month, for God's sake."
It's true. At the start of the month, you were in Palawan to cover a huge wedding. You were there for two days, and it took around four days to process, edit, print, and distribute the humongous amounts of pictures you took. After that, you had a photo shoot for a big beauty pageant. Then the cover of a housewife magazine. Then the summer campaign of an apparel brand. To top it all off, you shot a prenuptial shoot for three days in Batanes. You just got to Manila last night, and the you went straight to a business meeting that went on until 11 p.m. In between all of those shoots and all of your meetings, you finished off your shots and portfolio for the coffee table book your creative agency is producing, not to mention your editorial for that teen magazine. It's been a busy month to say the least. Hello, even you need a break.
"You can have your day off tomorrow. Just please, please take this gig? Leo's supposed to handle this one, but he had a family emergency. His dad was rushed to the hospital so he had to fly to Cebu. Please," Batchi begs you. "The magazine has to shoot today to meet their deadline, and I told them I could find a good replacement quickly. We can't back out, you know how big of a client Everest Publishing is."
Christ, Batchi can be so infuriating sometimes. "I have an event in Tagaytay tomorrow. A favor for a friend. I'll be busy the whole week. And why did you even tell them that? You weren't even sure if I was available. What if I was sick pala? Plus, why don't you just do it yourself? It's not as if you can't do it."
Batchi gives a sigh of her own. "Sorry, Althea. I am really, really sorry. I know you need a break," she tells you. "I would do it, but... but Marinelle has a school play. And I wanna watch. Abby isn't here, and I wanna watch so that our daughter can at least feel our support. Feel my support. I also wanna record it so I can send it to Abby. She's kinda bummed that she can't watch our daughter live. And I know it's kinda selfish of me to ask, but... pagbigyan mo na ako?"
Oh my God. It's one thing to say no to Batchi, but to Marinelle? "You're infuriating and annoying but ugh, fine," you tell her while sitting up. No sense going back to sleep. You might as well prepare now. "Text me the details. You owe me one. And tell baby girl that Tita Althea wishes her good luck. I'll bring her doughnuts the next time I visit. And it's not selfish to want to watch your daughter star in a freaking school play, okay? I just wish you could've told me sooner."
"YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!" Batchi screams from the other line. Your poor ears. "Of course, I owe you one. My baby will be so thrilled. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much Althea. You're the best, hottest, prettiest, most intelligent best friend a person could ask for. I'm not kidding. I'll just text you the details, okay? Thank you, thank you so much talaga mwah mwah mwah. Love you, chong."
Hay. The things you do for your best friend. You need at least five espresso shots to get through this day.
