A Hard Habit To Break

Chapter 7

KNOX

Pagkalabas ko ng opisina ay marahan akong naglakad pabalik sa table namin. Ngunit hindi nakaligtas sa aking paningin ang mga ngiti ng mga babaeng nadadaanan ko na para bang kinikiliti sa kilig. Hindi ko sila pinansin at itinuon na lamang ang atensyon sa aking mga kaibigan na ngayo'y binibigyan ako nang mapanuring tingin.

Pagkarating ko sa table ay inilabas ko muna ang aking cellphone mula sa bulsa ng aking pantalon bago naupo sa dati kong pwesto. I was busy scrolling over to the messages in my phone and still not minding my friends' scrutinizing looks when suddenly Lance broke the silence.

"What took you so long?" Lance wondered, eyeing me warily with his hawkish-eyes.

I just shrugged. "Nothing," I answered with a bored tone, not bothering to glance up and just focused on my phone.

"Asa ka pang sasagutin ka ng matino niyan ni Knox," Justin jested. "Man of few words kaya 'yan at lagi pang may PMS," he added, laughing his ass out.

I gave him a deadpan look. "Fuck you," I said, then raised my middle finger to his face. Tumawa lang si Justin at si Lance naman ay napailing na lang habang si Cloud ay busy pa rin sa pag-ubos ng kanyang cake.

"Mami-miss ko talaga 'tong Mocha berry cake ng Heaven's cafe." Cloud suddenly spoke out-of-nowhere with his mouth still full. We all just gave him a bored look before looking away and went back to what we were doing.

Umingos bigla si Justin. "Kadiri ka, man! Pwede ba 'wag kang magsalita kapag puno pa 'yang bibig mo?" He exasperatedly swiped his phone with a tissue before turning his gaze again to Cloud. "Natalsikan tuloy 'tong phone ko ng kinakain mo!"

"Sus! Arte mo naman, man!" Cloud argued, and just continued eating his cake.

Hindi ko na lang sila pinansin at ipinagpatuloy na lang ang pagbabasa ng mga messages sa phone ko. I deleted some of them when I knew they just came from unknown numbers. I don't know how these fucking people got my number, and it annoys the hell out of me. Sa pagkakaalala ko ay iilan lang ang nakakaalam ng number ko pero habang tumatagal ay dumadami na ang nagse-send sa'kin ng random messages na wala namang kwenta.

Kahit sa Facegram ay gano'n din. But I just all ignored them for they don't deserve my fucking time, unless they are my family or my friends. I'll just buy a new sim tomorrow and make sure only selected people will know it. I guess these unknown numbers, which are from random girls, will never stop from pestering me if I won't change my number the sooner.

"Don't you have a practice today, Knox?" Tanong ni Lance na nagpaangat ng ulo ko mula sa pagkakatutok sa aking cellphone. Shit! I forgot.

"Yeah. But I'll skip today."

Nakakatamad nang pumunta ng university ngayon. Mamaya pa namang hapon ulit klase ko pero may practice kami ngayong umaga ng Football. Kaya pala may nakita akong message mula kay Coach na di ko inabalang basahin man lang. For sure, that old man is already cursing me to death by now.

"Coach Martinez called a while ago and was looking for you," Lance said nonchalantly.

"Let him be." I don't give a fuck. "He's just a nuisance."

"Spare the old man with your rudeness, man," Cloud chastised. "He is just doing his job as a coach and might only know a thing or two about you, but that doesn't give you the right to be like that to him." He was giving me a serious look while wiping his mouth with a tissue. I didn't answer to his derisive remark and just looked away from him. This jerk! How dare he?

" Whoa! For the first time in forever... " Justin interjected, singing the line in a sing-a-song voice. I don't know where the hell he heard that. "Ghad, man! Magugunaw na ba ang mundo at sa wakas ay may lumabas din na matino diyan sa bibig mo bukod sa pagkain?" He shook his head in disbelief.