Courting a Princess

Chapter 37

Athena

Halos manlumo ako nang makita ko ang babaeng nginingitian niya. Why is she here? Akala ko ba ay hindi siya in-invite ni Kevin?

"Hi!" She lightly waved her hand to our direction.

"Why do we have an uninvited guest here?" Pinilit ni Kevin na ngumiti tsaka umupo sa tabi ni Cold.

"Wala akong magawa eh, isa pa I'll pay for my own food, I can even pay for everyone's... in this store." She bragged and took out a black card from her wallet.

"Ha! Go on, but I'll pay for my friends!" Kevin also took out a few blue bills from his wallet and stood up. Bakit ang dami niyang dalang pera? Pano kung mawala ang wallet niya?

"Let's go friends, order whatever you want, ako ang bahala sa pagbabayad." Nakataas ang baba na sabi ni Kevin at pumila sa may counter.

Nakatingin lang ako sa magkasamang Cold at Tamara nang hilain ako ni Ands papunta sa counter kasama nila.

.

"Saan ka nga pala pumunta kanina, Cold?" Kevin changed the topic when Tamara started talking about herself.

"Cutting classes." Walang emosyong sagot nito habang nginunguya ang kaniyang sandwich.

"Tsk, how many connections do you have huh? Spill it! The teachers never said anything about it." Stone demanded and the rest agreed.

"I talked to them." Sagot niya na mukhang hindi din pinaniwalaan ng iba kahit na hindi na sila nagtanong ulit.

"Talaga?" I whispered to him as I look up to his face. Pinaupo kasi nila ako sa tabi niya.

Napadako din ang tingin niya sa akin.

. . .

"Hmm, but I was working."

I didn't get what he meant by 'working' but I didn't ask any further questions dahil ramdam ko ang pag-init ng aking mukha.

Pagkatapos naming kumain ay itinabi namin ang nga pinagkainan namin tsaka inilabas ang aming learning materials.

Napaface-palm ako nang malala kong dapat pala ay nagdala din ako ng laptop ko para mas mapadali ang pagreresearch at pag-type ng files.

"You can use mine." Sambit sa akin ni Cold nang makita niya akong nagse-search gamit ang aking cellphone.

"Okay." Agad na sabi ko tsaka ginamit ang kaniyang laptop.

"Is it better yo use a question or a quote para sa unang paragraph?" Pagbabangon ng tanong ni Ands na kanina pa nagbubuntong-hininga.

"Quote/Question!" Kevin and Tamara said in unison.

"Using quotes piques your reader's interest." Dagdag ni Kevin.

"Well not only asking a question piques your reader's interest too depending on what you asked, you can use the same question as your concluding sentence. Both the introduction and concluding sentences or paragraphs together with the title are the most important part of an article. That was the method that got me as the champion in feature writing contest back in elementary." Tamara defended.

"Oh 'di sige, ikaw na. Ikaw naman ang palaging tama 'di ba?" Sagot ni Kevin pabalik that sounded a bit as if he's napipikon.

An awkward silence occured in our table. Pinilit na lang ng iba na alisin iyon sa pamamagitan ng pakikipag-usap ng mahina sa mga katabi nila.

Nang matapos na kaming lahat ay sabay-sabay kaming umalis ng café and went on our separate ways. Sinama ko si Ands pauwi. They didn't told me to bring whoever I want pero okay lang naman siguro na isama ko siya since our families are friends and Ands met our cousins on several occasions.