If This Was A Movie

Chapter 1 - 500 Days of Summer

Summers back home always reminded Carmela how full of plot twists life is. As a film major, she loved movies that are filled with flashbacks, foreshadowing, ironies and twists much like how her family ended up in Baguio City--a mountainous province in the North of the Philippines.

When she was 7, her father was working as a general manager for a huge construction company. They were living a well-off life. Her parents had just purchased a huge lot in a private subdivision in the city where an architect, who was a family friend, had already drawn up the plan for her parents' dream home. Of course being an only child, she was showered with everything she needed-- pretty clothes, dolls, a nanny, and a home. Although her father was busy with work and her mom was always running around doing errands, managing the home and their family affairs, they would always find time on Sundays to take her to the ice skating rink. She didn't really know how to skate, staying mostly on the sidelines, but she loved being part of it. Maybe she liked being part of something.

Unfortunately, the CEO of the company her father was working for faced multiple cases of embezzlement and fraud that the company had close down and her father was left jobless. They had to sell everything they had, including the land of the dream house, to move back to their hometown in Baguio.

The bus ride to the province was long, Carmela didn't really understand why they couldn't bring their car and have the driver take them instead. She didn't really understand why they were suddenly packing up all of their belongings, some of it being taken by strangers, including her father's precious record player and amplifier which he would wipe with a piece of cloth every night while it played his favorite Beatles records. She didn't understand why they had to move eight hours away from the city. To her, the mountains wasn't where you live in. It was a summer destination. A family trip.

After what seemed like forever, they finally arrived at their new home. Her parents were able to purchase a house in the outskirts of town. It was a humble, two-bedroom house with a beautiful backyard for gardening. Her mom always wished they had more space in their former house in the city. She's already made plans of raising chickens here too. Her father unlocks the door, and reveals a tiny living area but the light shining through the glass window was beautiful. Her mother was already scanning through the backyard, planning out how to set-up her garden and little chicken farm.

"Dad, pwede nako mag alaga ng manok dito. Ang daming space!", her mom shouts from the backyard with excitement. Carmela explores her new room. It was surrounded by old wood and there was a huge window that looked out into the trees, letting in the coldest breeze. The clouds would occasionally let some sunlight in making her face feel warm as she stared out window. Two hands eagerly waving catch her attention as a little girl shouts at her, "Halika dito! Baba ka!" Carmela agrees and rushes down the stairs and out in the back to meet the kid with the biggest smile. The little girl was definitely a little younger than Carmela. She wore a pink tank top and white shorts with two pigtails putting her dark brown curls on her sides. "Hi! Ako si Jamee. Taga dyan lang ako." as the little girl points to the house with the blue roof.

"Hello, ako si Carmela", she awkwardly replies.

"Tara, laro tayo lutu-lutuan," as Jamee pulls Carmela to go to the house with the blue roof. Carmela wasn't always good at making friends. She had a few she would play with at school but she never had a go-to friend. A friend she could share her new toys with. A friend she could ask to come over in the afternoons for snacks. A friend she could cry to when her classmates bullied her. And Jamee was just that.

Jamee made it easy for them to become best friends. She always made sure to call Carmela outside to play. She made sure Carmela was invited to every children's birthday party in their neighborhood. She made sure Carmela was part of every group of friends she was in. Jamee made sure they would become the best of friends.

So now that Carmela's studying in Manila, she could only manage to spend holidays and summer breaks back at home. And every single time, it would make her sentimental about what her family had gone through. And how, still, she was grateful because she got to meet her best friend, Jamee.

"I really wish summers were longer." Carmela regretfully says as she packs her bags to go back to her apartment in Diliman.

"I know. Daya mo eh, lagi mo na lang akong iniiwan," Jamee complains as she gives Carmela an eye-roll.

"You can always come with me to Manila after you graduate. We can get an apartment together and we can finally do whatever we want, whenever we want."

"Hmmm..." Jamee looks at Carmela's packed bags and the suggests, "What if sumama ako sayo today?"

"Huh? But you have school."

"Don't get mad... but I decided to take a gap year."

"What? Why? What happened?"

"I just... I don't know if I want to really become a psychologist, you know. I only took it cause it seemed interesting the time I was applying to college."

"But you're already on your third year next year. Two more years and you'll graduate. And you're doing so well naman in school. Why the sudden urge to take a break?"

"I don't know. I just wanna know if there's something else out there for me. Something right for me."

"Okay, well, if you come with me to Manila, what are you planning to do there? I'll be busy with school so I can't come with you all the time."

"I don't know yet, I'll figure it out there. Maybe get a job at a cafe or something."

"Well, okay. It does sound fun having you there."

"Yeah, and I'll finally meet Yoongi and Seokjin."

"Well you better pack your bags na."

Jamee pulls out her suitcase under Carmela's bed, "Ready na ma."

"Tangina mo, pano mo nalagay yan dyan?!"

"Secret ko na yun."