Sincere Lies

Fourteen

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"Class, I will be needing four students to answer these problems on the board," Mrs. Trinidad said, knocking on the white board as a way to bring attention to what's written on the board.

Isa lang ang nagtaas ng kamay. Dapat ba akong magsagot? I asked myself upon looking back at my grades in General Mathematics. Hindi naman General Mathematics ang pinakamababa ko, but it was one of the subjects I got line of eight from.

"Okay, ikaw, Ramona," Mrs. Trinidad said, handing a marker to Ramona when she stood up. "Next is. . . ."

Nagtaas ng kamay si Joel. Kailangan kong mag-recite para masama man lang ako sa honors list. Para 'di na ako pagalitan ni Mom.

"Joel for item number two," ang sabi ni Ma'am at saka nag-abot ng isa pang marker kay Joel pagkarating niya sa tapat ng board.

And my decision was final. I raised my hand, and I was going to answer item number three.

"Okay, Stephanie for item number three," ang sabi ni Mrs. Trinidad at saka ako tumayo para mag-solve na sa tapat ng board. "James for item number four."

Nang makaabot na ako sa tapat ng whiteboard ay binigay sa akin ni Mrs. Trinidad ang purple na marker. Nice, one of my favorite colors. She always has a lot of markers, I mentally giggled nang makita ko ang isang malaking pouch niyang puro markers.

"Alam niyo, class, marami akong dalang marker kasi lagi ako nauubusan ng tinta sa gitna ng klase," Mrs. Trinidad laughed. "Kaya ayon, nadala na. Tingnan niyo."

She then raised the large pouch of whiteboard markers.

Our class laughed at the obnoxious amount of markers she brought.

"O, tama na tawa riyan, Stephanie, James," ang sabi ni Ma'am, at agad akong napatigil sa pagtawa kahit na light lang ang mood 'pag si Ma'am ang nagtuturo. "Doon na kayo sa kabilang side ng whiteboard. 'Wag kayong magsiksikan dito. Nandoon ang sasagutan ninyo."

And so we did. Pumunta kami ni James sa kanan kung saan nakasulat ang mga sasagutan namin, at nagsimula na akong magsagot. Sa una pa ay kinakabahan ako at pinapawisan ang kamay ko, pero nang sinubukan kong ignore-in ang lahat ng 'yon ay malapit na akong matapos. Final answer na lang ang isusulat ko sa baba.

"Uy, bagay kayo," ang pagkakarinig kong boses ng class president namin kaya lumingon ako kina Ramona at Joel, pero nakaalis na pala sila.

"Sino?" ang tanong ni Mrs. Trinidad.

"Sina Stephanie at James, Ma'am," ang sabi ni Lea, ang class president namin. " 'Di ba, Ma'am?"

Mabilis kong kinahon ang final answer ko nang marinig ko 'yon dahil nahiya ako bigla. Agad akong dumeretso sa upuan ko at naupo nang tahimik nang mabigay ko na kay Mrs. Trinidad ang marker. Well, it was kind of embarrassing. Talaga bang bagay kami? I asked myself. That's kind of weird.

James was my crush. And I forgot why, but when I looked at him as he walked back to his seat, I remembered why. His nice smile, his messy hair, his (a bit) fidgety gestures. But that didn't matter anymore, with just a snap. Why? you ask? Because I have Chris now.

Before I even knew and realized it, Mrs. Trinidad was already done explaining and checking our answers on the board, and we were already standing up, saying good-bye to her.

"See you next time, class!" And she walked out the door.

Just in time, the school bell rang, and Abby was saying something to me as everybody left the classroom.

"Sabay-sabay na tayo umuwi nina Lea at James," ang sabi ni Abby habang pini-picture-an ko ang mga nakasulat sa whiteboard. Wait, what? Did she just say na sabay kami uuwi?

"Sige, sige," ang sabi ko naman, at noon ko lang na-realize na kasama namin si James. Si James.

Ang dati kong crush na kanina lang ay ni-ship sa akin ni Lea. Oh, no, sana 'di maging awkward.

"Ay, sandali lang, may ayusin lang kami nina Lea at ng ibang mga class officers sa labas, ha?" ang sabi ni Abby. "Wait niyo kami."

"Sige, sige," James and I said in unison, unaware at first, but then, nagkatinginan kami.

And out of awkwardness, maybe, his mind told him to sing to me in such a lullabylike way, as though I was a baby being talked or sung to, "Wise men say. . . ."

Umiwas na ako nang tingin bago pa niya matapos ang kinakanta niya dahil alam ko ang last na linya ng kantang 'yon, which is ". . . but I can't help falling in love with you," at alam kong magiging awkward pa lalo 'yon. As if hindi na siya awkward.

Is he out of his mind? Sobrang awkward, fuck.

"Don't cuss!" I heard Chris say, and it echoed through my head, like it reminded me of two things. The first is that my heart was already Chris's, and the second is that I must not cuss.

And all on a sudden, may nahulog mula sa desk ko, and it was the kneaded eraser I got from Abby by begging. LOL, if you ask me. So I looked for it under my chair, but by the time that I already was looking at the ground, the lights of the classroom turned off. And when I looked for who might be the culprit of turning the lights off, I saw James, who, I assumed, accidentally turned it off.

I ran towards the switch because I wasn't going to lose the kneaded eraser Abby gave me, but James covered the switch teasingly with his hands.

"HOY, HAHAHA!" I laughed as I tried to take his hands off the switch. "Kasi, dali na."

"Ayaw ko," James chuckled, turning the lights off as soon as I turned it on.

"Bagay talaga kayo," Lea said as she entered the classroom again with Abby, giggling.

"Ano ba puwedeng ship name sa inyo?" Abby said, laughing. "StephaJames? JameStephanie?"

I shook my head as I turned away. This is going to have to be told to Chris for me to get this off my chest. Damn it. Mukhang mahihirapan akong makaalis sa ganitong sitwasyon, ah.

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