Plain Vanilla

By Ines Bautista-Yao

 

Despite her quirky name and equally quirky family, 16-year-old Tempest Juan knows she's ordinary. After reading a comment on Facebook which likened her to vanilla ice cream, Tempest decides she has to do something about it or be forever branded as plain, lukewarm, and well, vanilla. It doesn't help that the comment was made by Paco Lorenzo, her cousin's cute friend (no longer cute in her book!). When she happens upon a book of dares, she decides to attempt each one, no matter how hard. This is her personality at stake, after all. But somehow, Paco, the cause of all this, finds a way to be at every dare Tempest attempts, confusing her and forcing her to question what's really going on inside her heart.   

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ines Bautista-Yao
• Release date: Jun 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227666727

Book preview

Grace Upon Grace

Plain Vanilla

Ines Bautista-Yao

Plain Vanilla

table of contents

Plain Vanilla

Double Dare!

Philippine Words

Special Thanks

About the Author

This book is fiction. Names, characters, some places, and incidents have come from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons (living or dead), events, or places is coincidental.

Copyright 2015 by Ines Bautista Yao

Cover illustration and design by Martina Bautista: [e-mail] / martinabautista.com / Instagram and Twitter: @martinabautista

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

To Marc, who has always been my number one fan and cheerleader.

Yes, this is just for you.

IT WAS ALWAYS like this. The loud, colorful, crazy-themed parties, the boisterous laughter, and the token titas sprawled on the floor in fits of giggles because they had fallen off their chairs and couldn’t be bothered to get up again.

Tempest Juan was used to it. She even dressed the part. Tonight’s theme was Hello, Hawaii. She begrudgingly put on her mom’s long grass skirt but drew the line at a bikini top. Who wore a bikini top to her lola’s house—a cozy two-storey that didn’t even have a pool? A quick glance around the paper-flower-strung living room said her cousins did. All twelve of them in brightly colored triangle tops, plastic leis around their necks, and, yes, the required grass skirt. Tempest had begged her mom to let her come in a floral dress. A simple floral dress with, fine, a flower in her hair. Her mom gave her a silencing look and handed her the grass skirt. Discussion over.

The Juan family did not do simple. They did not do chill. They lived for over-the-top celebrations. Tonight wasn’t even anything special, it was Valentine’s Day. Who threw a party on Valentine’s Day? The Juans did, apparently. And her mom embraced her husband’s festive family as if they were the fountain of youth she had been thirsting for all her life.

Tempest jumped up when her cousin Margarita yelled, Photos! They all ran to the hallway where a backdrop was set up just for this purpose. Shoving three boys out of the way, Tempest smiled, trying her darndest to get in front of the lens. Most families had strict rules about behavior and etiquette. Hers expected her to be just as nutty as they were. So this was the only time she allowed herself to look like a fool. When Tempest was younger, she would insist on what her little brother scornfully called prim and proper outfits while the rest of the Juans sported loud accessories, wild prints, or, like tonight, costumes. The Juans were big on costumes. None of her friends had a collection like hers—and she didn’t even dress up for Halloween unless her relatives threw a party.

Pesty!

Tempest groaned. There was no escaping the ridiculous name her parents had given her or the equally mortifying nicknames everyone else did. She turned as Margarita flung an arm around her. Guess who’s coming over? Wait. I think he’s here already.

This was another sore point. Her cousins always invited their friends whenever there was a party. And these outsiders would look at her, their mouths unapologetically open in shock, You’re related?! You’re a Juan? And she would frown and mutter, You’ve always known my last name. Then they would say, "Yes, but I didn’t know you were that Juan." She got it. She was different. She wasn’t like Margarita with her flaming red hair that was long on the right and short on the left. Or Clara who always, always had flowers woven into her braids.

Well? She poked Margarita’s exposed tummy.

Margarita giggled and did a little belly dance, contorting her stomach in the freakiest way. Paco’s here. He begged me to invite him.

Paco Lorenzo? Isn’t he out on a date? It’s Valentine’s Day. Paco was one of Margarita’s closest guy friends, and he was also one of those who laughed when he found out they were related. So already, Tempest didn’t like him.

Maybe not this year. Margarita appeared distracted as she scanned the room. She picked up a red plastic cup filled with Hawaiian fruit punch, most probably laced in alcohol, and drained it in one gulp. In the Juan family, when you turned sixteen, you were indoctrinated in the fine art of drinking. They believed it was safer to have your first shot (or more) at home rather than with friends they didn’t trust.