A note. That was all it took to change our fate. And all I had to do was eat at Wong’s.

“Hey kid, you up for lunch?” Lark asked, using that annoying endearment, as usual.

His arms were over my shoulders like clothes on a hanger. The ass. I rolled my eyes at him. Even without me saying it, we’d be eating over at Wong’s anyway, as usual. It’s been a tradition since freshman year.

“Is your new haul coming with?” I retorted, referring to this week’s armcandy-I mean girlfriend. He shrugged and walked away, leaving me to contemplate whether or not I will have to deal with another score.

I went through my flow of classes and waited for Lark’s text confirming where we were going to meet.  I set my book bag down on the green grass and plugged in my earphones, blasting Lorde’s White Teeth Teens.

I wasn’t even finished with the song when Lark’s message arrived. I stood up, gathered my things and walked towards the parking lot, where Lark was wasting daylight waiting for me. My footsteps were timed with the music on purpose, damn Lark. He can get a tan while he waited. I was snapped out of my Lorde state of mind when a tap on my shoulder made me remove my blue lego earbuds.

I faced the person, hoping it wasn’t a teacher because I do NOT want to be asked to do another errand for a while, thank you very much.

I turned around and in front of me were two girls, taller than me but also younger, judging by their taste in clothing and hesitation.

“Umm, excuse me- I mean us! Yeah, us. We-we saw the back of your shirt that says ‘Press’ and we were wondering how we could sign up for the club.” The taller one said, her companion shying away behind her.

I gave the two a small smile and replied. “Well, to join, you have to fill up forms that you can get outside the faculty room, and show up during screening. You can go ask Mrs. Macy for more information on the matter as I have an important adventure to return to.” Both girls nod, the tall one more haphazardly than the other, as if she was a dog shaking water out of her fur.

“I really hope to see you at the screening! We’re in dire need of new talent and my co-editor quit on me and I’ll be looking for a replacement soon.” That’s it, give them what they want to hear.

The complete lack of interest in actual journalism is annoying. I really am going to need them. I nodded at the two of them, crossing my fingers and walked away, plugging my earphones back in and listening more Lorde into my system.

When I got to Lark’s car, he was leaned against the trunk, looking cool and collected, as usual. And then I noticed that there was no other girl in sight. I neared him and pointed to the back seat.

“Is it inside?” I asked, my face contorting weirdly. Lark looked at me, completely confused. “Your girlfriend. Is it inside because if it is, I swear on my life, I am not going to Wong’s with you.” I clarified, using big hand gestures to get my point across.

He mouthed ‘o’ and then shook his head. I’ll assume that he means we’ll be dining alone. Without some gaggle-brained, Victoria Secret walking perfume stick and actually chill for once.

“I shall cherish this day forever!” I told him, putting my arms in the air before getting into his car with its black leather and no name band cd’s.

“Shut up,” he replied, starting the engine.

The ride to Wong’s was fairly silent. Well it was silent up until I changed the song that was playing. “Put. The Boonies. Back. On.” Lark threatened, his eyes alternating from the road to my grinning face as a Halyse song came on.

I smirked at his mad face and winked. “Make me.” I taunted, sticking my tongue out at him. He childishly responded with a grunt.

Using his free hand to slap my shoulder. I screeched in fake pain. “you meanie!”

It was Lark’s turn to smirk as we neared Wong’s.

The moment the car was properly parked and shut closed, Lark had me in a headlock.

“Thought you could get away with it, now did you?” He mocked, whispering in my ear.

“Let. go.” I rasped. To outwit an idiot, you must act like an idiot.

Lark instantly let me go like the idiot he was. It pays to have an idiot best friend, ladies and gentlemen.

“Quit it. We’re wasting precious Wong time.” He ordered, pulling me towards the place with my elbow.

He dragged me to the usual table we occupied, right beside one of the big windows that gave us a great view of the parking lot so Lark could guard his precious baby as he sat eating Asian cuisine.

Besides the fact that Lark can be a proper bastard to girls, excluding a few, he was a good chap to chill with. A waitress approaches us and I let Lark order for us both while I observed a couple from another table.

The lady who owned Wong’s saw me and waved. I poked Lark and we waved back. “What do you think she’ll give us this time?” Lark asked. I shrugged in reply. Knowing Mrs. Wong, it could be anything.

Weirdly enough, her weirdness contrasts to the food she served. With her husband, she’s Filipino-Chinese and moved here to start up a restaurant to share their knowledge of Filipino AND Chinese food. She calls us her ‘suki’ which she explained to us meant ‘regular customers’ in her olden country.

“I ordered us steamed dumplings, fried pork rice and some sort of thing on the menu called ‘lechon manok,’ whatever that is.” Lark told me. I glared. Something was missing. “Chill. I didn’t forget our weekly fortune cookie, kid.” He assured me.

Lark rolled his eyes as my glare retracted and I eased my clenched hands.  Mondays were always for Fortune cookies. Tuesdays, we have icecream, Wednesdays we head out for a slurpee, Thursdays we grab a pancake and Fridays we get tea sandwiches and ever chocolate anything on any of those days.

As we waited for our food, both of our phones were out as we scrolled through articles about the weirdest things ever in an attempt to outdo each other.

The waitress soon came to serve the food.

Apparently, ‘lechon manok’ was just roast chicken.

Wordlessly, we dug in, forgetting about the empty space on the table meant for fortune cookies.

As we chewed, I could feel eyes staring at our table. I looked at Lark and hoped he could sense it too.

He kept eating, the pig. I guess it’s nothing then. I kept feeling the stares throughout the rest of the meal and I had enough after a while.

I kicked Lark underneath the cloth-covered