Hardest to Lose (Villaraza Series #4)

23 | Annoying

23 | Annoying

*****

Malapit na ang foundation day kaya sunod-sunod ang meeting na dinadaluhan ko. The next day was always busier than yesterday. It was really tough.

“Hindi ba natin aawatin, Pres?” bulong sa akin ni Katrina, secretary namin.

“’Wag na. Titigil din ang mga ‘yan ‘pag napagod.”

Two of my co-officers were presently in an argument concerning the budget of the office. Medyo mainit na iyong ulo ng isa at hindi yata talaga patatalo. Napagod na akong umawat kaya nangalumbaba na lamang ako saka nanood. They both got valid points, anyway.

“You should have seen how we failed the past year,” pikong sabi ng vice-president. “Malaki ang nalugi natin dahil mabilis nasira ‘yong food. If we are to prepare it again now, without even other measures to meet the lapses last year, what difference does it make? We are bound to fail!”

“I didn’t say na wala tayong preparations, VP—“

“You said so kanina! And I told you: we’re tight on budget. Hindi natin kakayanin whatever you think to counter that. Are we even on the same page here? Hindi mo ba alam kung anong nangyari last year?”

Sensing that the cool one was about to lash out, I decided to intervene and said that we would discuss their concern further next meeting. Mabilis naman silang kumalma. As I was busy gathering my stuff, I heard the vice-president apologize to the other one, which was really cool.

“Mauna na ‘ko sainyo, a,” sabi ko.

“Okay po, Pres. Ingat sa biyahe!” nakangiting tugon ng auditor namin saka kumaway.

One last goodbye, I headed to the door with all the exhaustion for the day. I badly wanted to sleep already. Pero may quiz pa ako bukas. Kailangan kong mag-aral dahil nahihirapan ako sa subject na ‘yon.

With this situation, I wasn’t confident if I could maintain my name in the dean’s list. It wasn’t really a big deal if I would be dropped. Pero natatakot ako sa magiging reaksyon ni Mommy. Mayabang pa naman iyon at laging sinasabi sa mga amiga niya na napakatalino ko raw. She would be very upset.

I decided to go inside the bathroom I passed by earlier. I looked awful when I stared at my reflection. My eyes were puffy. Gulo na rin ang buhok dahil sa paroo’t parito. My ‘it’ girl image was tamed.

I groaned and aggressively washed my face before entering a cubicle. That image shouldn’t be my concern anymore. Being a good student and a responsible leaderwere what mattered the most now.

“Grabe. Are we always going to have this kind of meeting? Sobrang late na!”

Napaayos ako sa pagkakaupo nang narinig ang tinig na iyon. It was our auditor. And based on the footsteps, she got company.

“I know, right? Hindi ‘ata naiisip ni Pres na may klase rin tayo bukas. Yes, we’re officers. But we’re also students. Like her!”,

I clamped my upper lip with my lower teeth. The other one was our secretary.

This was uncomfortable.

“What do you think of her?”

Napalunok ako sa tanong na iyon ng sekretarya. It felt illegal to be here even though I wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping.

Should I show myself? No, it would be a disaster since they already knew I had heard them. So the best to do was to wait for them to leave.

Goddammit.