A Love that Lasts

Chapter 2

It was lunch time so we decided to go sa cafeteria. Complain ng complain si Trent na wala daw siyang naintindihan sa lessons. I mean, I'm not surprised at all. Tulog ata siya half ng lecture. Buti nalang at hindi siya nahuhuli kasi nasa bandang likuran kami.

Naglalakad kami ng madaanan namin si Zyld with his friends. Napatingin ako sakanya at nahuli siyang nakatingin sakin. He smiled at me and I smiled back. May sinabi sakanya ang isa nilang kaibigan at nagtawanan sila. I shook my head thinking na baka inasar siya.

I looked at Trent and saw him raising a brow.

"What? I know him." I said defensively. He just shook his head at dumiretso na kami sa cafeteria.

I just bought fries. Not really in the mood to eat a proper meal because of what happened. Kahit hindi ako nag breakfast kanina hindi naman ako nakakaramdam ng sobrang gutom. Chloe on the other hand, eats like a guy. Bumili siya ng chicken with rice, sandwich, fries, blueberry cheesecake at soda. My gosh, sana all nalang talaga sexy kahit malakas kumain.

"San napupunta lahat ng kinakain mo? Eh ang liit liit mo?" hays, ayan nanaman ang pam-bubully ni Trent kay Chloe. Sinamaan siya ng tingin ni Chloe, she hates it when someone calls her maliit.

"Wow ha, nagsalita. For sure naman mas maliit yung sayo." I laughed at Chloe's remark napaka-manyak talaga nito.

"Baka pag pinakita ko sayo to tumakbo kapa. Matakot ka kasi akala mo ulo ng Dinosaur" wtf, kadiri napakamanyak din talaga nitong si Trent.

"Ewwww, amoy Dinosaur din siguro. Amoy pre-historic." I can't take it anymore. "Guys, stop. We're eating." Sabat ko. Baka san pa mapunta usapan nila.

Napatingin ako sa entrance ng cafeteria ng makita kong pumasok ang group nila Zyld. Tinawag sila ni Trixie, classmate nila para umupo sa table nila. Zyld and his group went to the table. He sat down and roamed his eyes. He caught me looking at him so nag-iwas ako ng tingin at nagpanggap na nagdidip ng fries sa ketchup.

"Btw, malapit na ang intrams. Sino kayang kukuning representative sa pageant para sa grade 12?" Chloe asked. Oo nga pala 2 weeks from now intrams na and may pageant na paglalabanan ng grade 7 up till grade 12. Well, I'm not interested kaya hindi nako nakinig sakanilang dalawa ni Trent.

Naalala ko na I turned my phone off before class starts. I turned it on and I saw numerous texts and call from mom. I noticed that dad called me too. Maybe nalaman niya ang nangyare from manang. I excused myself and went outside para matawagan si dad. I don't want him to worry.

I went near the tree malapit sa likod ng cafeteria. I called dad and it just took 2 rings at sinagot niya agad. "Hey, dad" I greeted.

"Sigrid, I am so worried? Are you ok? Nalaman ko kay manang na nasampal ka ng mom mo?" I sighed. Manang talaga, napaka daldal. "I'm ok dad, don't worry too much." Ayoko ng pahabain pa ang explanation because I'm too tired of it.

"Why don't you just go here. Dito kana mag-college. Atleast here I can protect you from your mom. I can't let her na kunin ka sakin." I shook my head even though hindi niya ako nakikita. "No dad, I'm fine. I like it here. Don't worry, hindi ako sasama kay mom." I assured dad.

"Fine. But you can always come here anytime you want ok." One thing I love about my dad is he respects my decisions. Unlike mom who always wants me to follow her.

"Dad, I need to go. Lunch is almost over. Always take care." He bid goodbye as well and I ended the call.

I took a deep breath and lalakad na sana pabalik ng cafeteria ng pagharap ko ay nakita ko si Zyld. I was taken aback dahil I didn't expect him to be here.

"Uhm...Pinapatawag daw tayo ni Ms. Castro" he blurted. Pertaining about our Science teacher. "Sure, sa faculty room daw ba?" I asked. Maybe its about an activity or something. Tumango siya at nagsimula na kami maglakad.

"You know me, right?" tanong niya habang naglalakad kami. Maybe he is hesitant kasi naman the last time na nag-gather ang dad ko and his parents was years ago. Dahil nga nagpunta ng Spain si Dad. I nodded and said "Don't worry, I know you." He smiled at me. My eyes widened kasi naman ang cute niya mag-smile. Napatingin ako sa mga tao dahil tinitignan nila kaming dalawa. Hays, chismis nanaman. This is new sa paningin nila. Don't get the wrong idea people.

Nakarating na kami sa faculty room and he opened the door for me. Still the gentleman that I knew. Ms. Castro spotted us so she called us at sinenyasan niya kami na lumapit sa table niya.

"You two knew that intrams is approaching right?" Zyld and I both nodded as a response to our teacher. Oh no, I think I knew where this conversation is going.

"All the Grade 12 teachers decided na kayong dalawa ang magiging representative sa upcoming na pageant." I knew it...I never liked doing such things in public. I have stage fright. I don't like being the center of attention and performing something in a big crowd. Sinubukan na nila akong kausapin before about the same thing pero I refused them, multiple times. Napagod nalang siguro sila at di na inulit pa. But I'm shocked na this time ay tinatanong nila ako ulit.

"I think I'm fine with it." Zyld answered. Not surprised, he likes the attention. I mean his father is a politician he is used to it. They both looked at me waiting for an answer. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry Ms. Castro. I'll need to decline it. I'm sure you'll find a lot of suited candidates' para sa pageant. After all, there are a lot of pretty girls here in Royce." Ms. Castro shook her head.

"This is your last year sa Royce. You think about it. All the teachers want both of you to be our representative." I really don't want too. I was about to decline again when Ms. Castro stopped me.

"Don't give your answer now. I'll talk to you again tomorrow" she dismissed us and both me and Zyld went out of the faculty room.

"Why are you declining it? Are you not comfortable in doing pageants?" Zyld asked while we started walking.

"I just think that I'm not suited for such thing." I don't want to elaborate more and sabihin na may stage fright ako and all para hindi na humaba ang usapan. I don't like explaining. I think you can easily tell that.

"Why not? I mean you're so pretty." I stopped walking and looked at him dahil nabigla ako sa sinabi niya. "Why can you easily say that, are you blind? I'm not pretty." syempre ideny natin ng konti. Alam kong maganda ako noh... hahahahahha.

He also stopped walking and looked at me intently. "I think kailangan mo ng magsalamin. Malabo na mata mo. You can't see how everyone looks at you when you step in a room. Don't ever say that you're not pretty. You don't see what others see, so you don't fully appreciate it" he said seriously at nauna ng maglakad.

Naiwan ako nakatulala. Nabigla ako sa sinabi niya. Sobrang honest naman nun. I held my face and naramdaman ko ang init sa pisngi ko. No one ever told me such words. Am I touched? I shook my head to remove such thoughts because I can't afford too. I started walking pabalik sa classroom.