kundiman.

chapter 19.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S STAYING THERE?" Jason screams into his phone.

"SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO SURPRISE EVERYONE! JUST LIKE YOU WANTED TO SURPRISE HER! SHE TRANSFERRED OVER TO COLUMBIA!" Jamie replies in a panic.

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*flashback to the group call in May*

"Okay! Bye guys! Take care!" Clara says as she drops the call.

She stares at her ceiling. "I miss everyone so much," she thinks to herself. She sits up on the edge of her bed and stares out her window. "I can't do this anymore. I have to go home."

Clara has been having a very hard time being away from home. She misses her mom's cooking and being around her. Though she enjoys the company of her roommates and the experiences she's having as an art student, it is at night when she is alone when she feels terrible sadness.

She talks to her roommates Hannah, Sara, and Vivian. She tells them how she feels homesick and that she doesn't think she can last at UCLA for very much longer. They advise her to do what will make her happy. She tells them that being home would make her happier than anything.

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Clara researches the best art schools in New York and finds the Visual Arts program at Columbia University. She then goes to her advisor's office and works out the process to transfer over. Her advisor tells her that the application to Columbia would take a few months to process, and it's not guaranteed that she would get in. She said she doesn't mind and that she just wants to go home as soon as possible. Everything becomes finalized mid-July. She immediately books her plane ticket home, not telling anyone else about her plans, not even her mom.

She lands in New York late at night. She steps outside of the airport, breathing in the warm, evening Queens air. "I miss you New York," she whispers. She waves down a cab and immediately heads home.

"Thank you sir!" she yells as the cabbie drives away back into the hustle and bustle of New York.

She rings the doorbell to her home, the neighborhood fast asleep. Her mother sleepily opens the door. She doesn't realize at first who it is and says, "Yes, can I help you?", wiping the sleep from her eye.

"Yes, you can help me take these bags in," Clara says giggling.

Her mother's eyes bulge out. She can't believe Clara's home. She bursts out into a crying fit, hugging and squeezing her daughter.

The next morning, she drives to Jamie and Mike's apartment. She asks the receptionist what their room number is but he says he can't tell her unless given permission by Jamie or Mike. She hides her identity and asks, "can you just call them up and tell them that Mariella is here to drop something off?" He agrees and calls up their room. He shortly thereafter says that Jamie is on her way down. Clara waits, sitting down on this very fancy orange couch. Jamie walks through the elevator looking for Mariella. She passes by Clara, who is now wearing a hat and sunglasses to hide her face.

"Where's Mariella?" Jamie asks, walking up to the receptionist.

"Right there, Ms. Jamie," he points to Clara.

"Who's that? That's not Mariella."

"You're right, it's not," Clara says, changing her voice.

She stands up and takes off her hat and sunglasses.

"IT'S ME!" Clara shouts.

"OH MY GOSH!" Jamie replies in a holler, running to her best friend.

After she hugs her, her stomach drops. She suddenly remembers Jason.