Find me in your pages | THE WATTYS 2023

Chapter 20:

A week passed and hell, my head hurts a lot. Dahan dahan akong dumilat. Sobrang stressed ko sa schoolworks simula kahapon, may reporting, may performance task that requires us to recreate a famous painter's art. Panong hindi sasakit ang ulo ko? Buti na lang natapos ko ang Mona Lisa painting ko before the deadline. "What time is it?" Tanong ko habang dahan dahan akong bumangon mula sa aking kinahihigaan. Good thing hindi pa ako late. I still have like two hours to prepare before going to school.

I instantly prepared cereals after I took a bath and got dressed, kumain na rin ako. I still need to catch the bus in a few minutes. I still have time pero higit sa lahat, ayaw ko rin naman nang nalalate sa pagpasok. Agad akong lumabas after ko magtoothbrush para hindi ako malate.

"Tangina!" Someone cursed at nagkabungguan kami sa intersection nang kalsada at muntik naman akong madapa. "Fuck! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine just...be careful next time." Irita kong bulong. Not because of her, but because I'm running out of time. Naglakad na ako papalayo sa kanya at naghintay sa may bus stop. I noticed her pausing beside me na para bang hingal na hingal pa ito. We have the same uniform, I didn't notice that earlier.

We waited there for a good 10 minutes bago kami sabay pumasok sa bus na dumating. "I'm sorry for earlier!" She apologized habang inaayos ang kanyang sarili.

"Hmm.." Tipid ko na sagot sa kanya. There's no need to talk anyways.

Natahimik kami buong byahe pero sinubukan nya ulit na kausapin ako. "Uhm...I'm Hilary. Zahara Hilary Faustino...I...You're Xerena right?" So this is Nikolai's so called girl bestfriend? She looks more decent than what I thought. Tumango na lang ako sa tanong nya sa akin. "I'm...Sorry about what happened. Nikolai never told me a single thing until his father did."

"Even if he posts about me?"

"He does?" Natigilan ako dahil sa sinabi ni Hilary as akin. "I wasn't aware of that actually...I'm sorry. I wasn't careful— I mean don't get the wrong idea! I wasn't careful with my relationship with him. Di ko alam na may girlfriend na pala si Nikolai..."

"Ayos lang. I don't care about him anymore." I coldly replied to her while waiting na dumating yung bus sa school namin. "If we're both not aware of it...I guess I don't have a reason to stay mad at you. Biktima ka lang din."

"Thank you for understanding, Xerena."

"Yeah." Tipid kong sagot sa kanya.

Dumating naman na kami sa school makalipas ang ilang minuto na byahe namin. Bumaba naman ako agad dala ang gamit and Gwen was waiting for someone sa may gate. "Hey." Bati ko kay Gwen noong makalapit sa kanya. "Parang may hinahanap ka?"

"Seven said na lumipat na sya nang school dito kasi lumipat na rin sila nang bahay...sabay sana kami papasok..." wow sana lahat di ba? "Ate cleo isn't with you? Sabi nya susunduin ka raw nya eh..."

"Are you for real? What time did she leave sa inyo?"

"Around six?" 20 minutes or more lang ang byahe, and it's almost 8. Hindi rin naman sya bumusina, if she arrived, she would do that. "Bakit? Hindi ba sya dumaan sa inyo?"

"No...Hindi rin naman sya nagmessage sakin kaninang umaga." Bulong ko kay Gwen. I grew worried now. Nilabas ko ang aking phone at paulit ulit na tinawagan si Cleo, hoping for some kind of answer from her. Pero wala. No one answered the calls at hindi available ang phone nya ngayon. "Are you sure Gwen?"

"Yep? You can ask papa about it din if you don't believe me...Do you think something happened to her?"

Hindi.

Hindi pwede.

"B-Baka nalate lang yon..." bulong ko, but deep down, alalang alala na ako kay Cleo. I couldn't search for her, may quiz pa kami ngayon and I need to pass that quiz to take the exam. "Mauna na ako?" Paalam ko kay gwen. I tried to keep myself calm at inisip ang quiz but my thoughts keeps on leading me back to Cleo.