Trickster of the Butterfly

Chapter 3- A Clique and a Voice

There were only two guys and 38 ladies in the whole class block. Michael wasn't quite friendly to the other dude.

Now there was Sarah Quilala, Joy Milya, and Hera Soriano, friends since first semester. He had never really expected to end up hanging out with these three ladies. It was more like they took the initiative to reach out to timid Michael. If there was anything they held in common it was their knack for harmless mischief and after-school food expeditions.

The group of friends walked down to the first floor then down the open-air hallways of PLM going to the canteen.

"Grabe talaga! Three hours ng Psych Stat! Kung buong sem pa natin 'to gagawin, ewan ko na lang!" Sarah said as they walked through the hallway bustling with students.

Not-so optimistic Sarah was the chatty lady in the group. She always seemed to have a comment for everything that happened around her. She had a Middle-eastern look and sported straight long black hair, was short and a little chubby with a dark skin tone.

"Hay nako, Sa. Tiisin na lang natin. Buhay pa naman tayo ah. Kinaya naman natin first sem diba?" Hera said as she was fixing herself while looking at her smartphone's Mirror App.

You couldn't think of a more motherly friend as Hera. She often becomes the butt of jokes for her clumsy behavior. She had shoulder-length natural auburn hair, was as short as Sarah and was fair-skinned and had the average beautiful Filipina look.

A guy with a trolley hauling monobloc chairs almost hit Hera before Joy pulled her to the side.

"Babae! Tumingin ka naman sa dinadaanan mo!" Joy scolded. "Muntikan ka na ma-Butterfly effect ng telepono mo! Sunod niyan masisira mukha mo then that, in turn, will make you look really ugly," Joy said mimicking Mrs. Nadora.

Joy was as conservative as a bulldozer. She'll be quiet for a second till you piss her off (which is easy) then she'll give you her barrage of intellectual reasoning just to correct you, but not without humor of course. She had the average Filipina look, was tall, had long black curly hair, and was fair-skinned. She also wore oval-rimmed glasses.

Alora just giggled quietly as she tagged along with them.

The group finally reached the canteen with food stalls stationed along the both sides of the hallway. It was crowded with students ready for lunch. The afternoon canteen air was humid and filled with all sorts of smells of saturated oil from noodle stands, deep-fried hashbrown stands, and whatnot. The line for the chicken chops stall was as long as always.

"Haba na naman. Sabay ko na lang order niyo?" Michael asked his friends.

"Thanks Mike! Hintay lang kami sa shed," Sarah shouted through the noise of the crowd.

"Saang shed? Ooph! Sorry!" Michael exclaimed as he bumped into a student carrying a plate of pasta.

"Diyan lang sa likod banda ng chicken chops," Sarah said.

Then the three ladies handed him their money and headed for the shed and sat on the seats under it.

Michael loved doing favors for his friends. He does it out of his little code of honor to not let ladies stress about physical stuff, as if waiting in line was the toughest job ever.

As he was waiting in line, he counted the money given to him and noticed there was only enough for four orders.
"Uhh, teka lang. Sino hindi nagbigay..." Michael muttered to himself.

He looked behind him and saw Alora standing in line.

"Ah Alora, nandyan ka pala."

She giggled and just smiled at Michael.

Michael guessed she was willing to just wait in line instead of trusting her money to a guy he just met.

"So," Michael said. "You're a shifter right?"
"Mm!" She hummed in agreement.
"Anong course ka dati? Nung first sem?"
"Public Administration"
"Oh cool! Second choice ko yun," Michael said enthusiastically.
"Ah ganun po? Nabagsak ko lang kasi yung History ko eh," she said it like it was a joke. "Kaya nag Psychology na ako."
"Ahh, okay."

He didn't realize it was already their turn in line until Alora pointed to the chicken chops stall. He asked Alora if she would like to include her order with theirs. She agreed and gave him the money then asked the stall guy for five orders of the famous mayonnaise and coleslaw smothered chicken chops meal.

Michael held the stack of meals in cardboard containers and walked alongside Alora to the shed with the seats arranged in a circle.

They sat down and all of them ate with much glee.

"Mike, alam mo bagay kayo ni Alora," Hera said playfully.
The three ladies laughed.
Michael knit his eyebrows. "Tumahimik ka nga diyan Hera!" He protested.
"Oo nga parang pwede kayo," Joy supported.
"Guys, shut up," Michael said sternly.
"Chill lang Mike," Sarah said. "Pero okay talaga kayo eh."

Alora just looked down and ignored them, apparently also feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.

Michael glanced at Alora. Then he got back to eating, silently.

"Haha. Sorry na guys. Kain na lang tayo," Joy said to break the tension. "Punta tayo sa part ng GV building na dinemolish na. May papakita ako sa inyo. May one hour pa naman tayo bago mag Pol Gov eh."

They all finished their meals then headed to the partly demolished left wing of the Gusaling Villegas building.

The structure had been hollowed out, leaving only the building's frame still standing. Cautionary tape and plastic canvases were put around the perimeter to keep people at a safe distance from the building.

"May assignment tayo sa Nat Sci diba?" Joy said. ""Take a picture of a broken or withered object that is atleast 10 years old. Then, make a hypothesis on how it was destroyed,"" Joy gestured toward the frame. "Oh, ayan na."

The group marveled at her cunning. They took out their phones and snapped a shot of the building.

Michael was still rummaging through the messy contents of his bag for his phone while the others were already leaving.

Alora was still trying to get a good composition with her phone's camera.

"Uy, guys iwan na lang natin yung dalawa, magbonding muna sila diyan," Sarah teased.

Michael grunted, again annoyed by the teasing. "Whatever. See you guys in class."

He gave up looking for his phone then stormed away from the group.

"Mike joke lang! Eto naman oh!" Sarah shouted.

"Sarah kasi eh. Yan tuloy," Hera scolded.

Alora shot a clueless expression to the three.

Michael marched back through the hallway.

MICHAEL... a loud deep voice called out.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway then a student cursed as he almost spilled his juice bumping into Michael.

"Uy gising pre!" the guy said, muffled as Michael heard him, like his ears suddenly had cotton balls plugging them.

He turned around and could've sworn the voice came from the demolished left wing.

COME... he heard the voice again.