Maybe Next Time

Chapter 1

The room was eerily quiet, save for the soft hum of my laptop. I had been staring blankly at the screen for what felt like an eternity—thirty minutes, to be exact—while my professor's voice droned on in the background.

I couldn't grasp a single word he was saying; it was all white noise to me. The only thing that mattered was my little green dot on Google Meet, proving I was present.

Last week's earthquake had shaken more than just the ground beneath us; it had also shaken up our schedule. Our face-to-face class was canceled as the DPWH needed to inspect and approve each university building for safety. So here I was, half-awake and barely functioning, attending yet another online lecture.

Despite being sleep-deprived, I had forced myself out of bed at the crack of dawn. My International and Business Trade class started at 8:30, and I didn't want to be late. As soon as I got up, I mechanically went through the motions—tidying up my bedsheets, fluffing my pillows, and preparing breakfast for my family.  Of course, I didn’t take a shower right away—I was too lazy for that. At isa pa, hindi naman alam ng professor at mga kaklase ko kung nakaligo na ba ako dahil lagi naman akong naka off-cam. Mas lalong hindi naman nila ako maaamoy. 

Since I couldn’t understand anything in the class, I decided to ask in our group chat with Naina and Joyce to find out what the professor wanted us to do. 

triplets 

nonchalant: 

guys, ano daw ang gagawin? 

Joyce: 

group daw sabi ni ma'am, reporting daw tayo next week

super oa: 

hindi ka nakikinig no? 

baliw ka, makinig ka nga

may class pa tayo finman2 after neto 

nonchlant:

thank you joyce mylabs, sa isa wala akong pake.

Since it seemed like ma'am was too busy getting mad over gadgets, I decided to pay attention. There were only 5 minutes left anyway, so it would be over soon. My groupmate was Kattie, which was better than being stuck with the freeloaders.

Sa wakas tapos na ngang magalit si ma'am. Proceed na kami sa next class which is Finman2. Ganoon pa rin wala pa rin akong maintindihan.

Katulad nung nasa una kong klase ay iginrupo rin kami ni sir into seven. At sa kamalas-malasan, ako pa ang naging group leader. Wala akong choice. Nakakainis. Nakakabadtrip. Ayaw na ayaw kong maging leader. Sinabi ko pa naman sa sarili ko na hindi na ako magiging leader pag tuntong ko ng college.

Bahala na nga. Pero maswerte pa rin naman ako dahil naging kagrupo ko si Joyce at si Jana. Ang isa ko namang member ay hindi ko pa kilala. Siguro ay shiftee siya o di kaya ay transferee. Minsan kasi nahahalo rin sa amin ang ibang course ko kaya minsan ay nakakalito na rin. At another kamalasan na naman dahil lalaki pa.

Wala naman akong galit sa mga lalaki siguro mga 45% ay meron. Sila kasi yung mga madalas na pabigat— tiga hawak ng manila paper noong high-school. Nakakahiya naman kung pabigat pa rin sila ngayon. Hello! College na po tayo konting character development naman diyan!

Finman2 is my last class of the day. Fortunately, sir ended the class early and instructed us to discuss within our groups and start the task he assigned, which is computation for time value analysis and financial analysis.

Since Joyce and Jana are my friends, I immediately added them to the group chat I created. May problema nga lang  don’t know the other member, so I opened Google Classroom to look up his name.

Lachlan Hex Madden 

Grabe naman ang pangalan neto. Sobrang haba pa talaga. Buti nalang nahanap ko. Malay mo naman kasi baka anime pa ang profile niya.

Minessage ko nalang sa google chat. Syempre, ayaw ko kayang nag me-message sa messenger lalo na kung hindi ko naman close.

I’d rather not message someone on Messenger, especially if I’m not close to them. Who are they, anyway? If it weren’t for this group task—one that could easily be done individually—I wouldn’t even bother searching for this group member's Facebook.

Shouldn’t the member be the one approaching the leader? Ba't parang baliktad?!

Minessage ko na nga sa google chat. Sana ay magreply ng mabilis dahil antok na antok na rin ako. Gusto ko ng matulog. 

Zaylee Amara Sevilla:  

Good morning. May I know your facebook account po so I can add you on our group chat? Thank you. 

Lachlan Hex Madden: 

Lachlan Madden (yung naka luffy po) 

My goodness. May lahi na ata akong manghuhula? Kasasabi ko lang kanina na anime at anime nga talaga ang profile ng isang 'to. One piece pa nga, hindi ba aware ang mga tao na red flag ang mga mahilig sa one piece.

Mabuti at online siya dahil hindi na ako pinahirapan pang hintayin siya ng ilang oras. Dahil nahanap ko naman na agad ang facebook niya ay inadd ko na siya agad. Mukhang mabait naman pero siguraduhin niyang hindi siya pabigat dahil tatanggalin ko agad ang name niya. No matter what it takes. 

After adding everyone to the group, I got straight to work on our assigned task. I divided it into four parts, even though there were only three questions. Don’t ask me how I managed that—I’m not entirely sure myself, but I did.

I assigned question 1 to Joyce and handed question 3 to Jana. Lachlan wasn’t online yet, and I didn’t know if he could handle question 2, but I gave it to him anyway and decided I’d help Jana with question 3. Once I had everything organized, I posted it in our group chat. I can't stand cramming; I refuse to let myself get stressed out..

I assigned question 1 to Joyce and handed question 3 to Jana. Lachlan wasn’t online yet, and I didn’t know if he could handle question 2, but I gave it to him anyway and decided I’d help Jana with question 3. Once I had everything organized, I posted it in our group chat. I can't stand cramming! Ayokong mastress!

Finman2

Zaylee Amara Sevilla: 

hi guys. eto yung tasking, number 1 ay kay joyce at number 3 naman ay kay jana. hindi pa online yung isa eh pero if di siya mag chat dito sa gc, ako na ang mag answer. dapat by 19  tapos niyo na sagutan, thank you. bawal ang pabigat, wag niyo ako subukan. 

Hindi ko na hinintay ang reply nila at ini-off ko na ang laptop ko. Bahala na sila. Kailangan nilang tapusin 'yon dahil ichechek ko na agad sa saturday. Dahil sa pagod ay hindi ko na tinignan man ang mga social media accounts ko. Ngunit bago ko pa maoff ang wifi ay may biglang tumunog. 

Lachlan Madden messaged you.