an old crumpled story

Prologue

Prologue

I looked at my wrist watch as I tried to take a look inside the room where my sister is. Today is the last day of enrollment. Hindi ko alam kung bakit ngayong last day pa kami nag-enroll, at hindi ko rin alam bakit sa Catholic school pa. Not that I hate Catholic school but I've heard how my friends doesn't have the freedom to wear whatever they want to wear because of the rules.

In my previous school, I can freely wear whatever I want. School uniforms were just optional. I could've just stayed there and finish my last year of Senior High happily. Kung hindi lang ako naaawa sa kapatid kong walang kaibigan, ginawa ko na sana. Bukod pa riyan, some of my friends are also studying here so I don't really mind leaving my previous school.

The door opened and I immediately found the cold eyes of my sister. She doesn't show any emotion often. She's maybe distant to others, but at least not to us- sa amin ni Mama.

Sinasabi niya sa aking may kaibigan siya. Tingin ko naman wala dahil iba ang ibig sabihin sa akin ng salitang kaibigan. If you have friends, you'll have someone to enroll with. You hang out often and do ridiculous things.

Ako ang kasama niya ngayon, it just confirmed how lonely she is.

"Anong strand kinuha mo?" I asked as we slowly walked.

"HUMSS?"

"You're not sure?" i probed.

"I just picked it randomly. It sounds good so..." she answered boredly.

Hinarap ko siya, kunot ang noo. Hindi pa kami nakakalabas ng building. It sounds good? Nag-STEM nalang sana siya!

"STEM sounds good, too, ba't hindi mo pinili? You know, I can teach you with maths. You know how good I am with math, right?" I said hopefully.

Hopefully she'd agree!

"Well, hindi ko alam? Magaling ka pala?" she said as she continued to walk. Hindi na ako hinintay.

Damn this girl. Kaya walang kaibigan eh. Umiling ako at hindi na sumagot. I am not really good at math. In fact, it's one of the subjects that I hate. Gusto ko lang talagang may kasamang mag-suffer sa strand na pinili ko. Siguro kung hindi dahil sa mga manliligaw ko na tinutulungan ako sa math, noon pa ako nag-palit ng strand. I don't know if that's allowed though.

"Don't you want to look around the campus?" tanong ko kay Lia nang makasunod ako sakaniya.

She shook her head, "I'd rather sleep and study at home. Ikaw ba? I thought you'll study in advance para hindi nakakahiya sa crush mo?"

Umiling ako at nangiti,

"Well, yeah..."

Studying bores me so much. Pero simula nang nalaman 'kong matalino pala ang future boyfriend ko, I feel like I'll spend my weekends studying in my room just so I could match with my future boyfriend.

Dumiretso kami ng parking lot kung saan naghihintay si Mama. Sa gate naghihintay ang mga kaibigan ko. Kumakaway na sila sa akin ngayon. We have a plan to go out and chill but since Lia mentioned what I should be doing today, maybe we can reschedule it next time?

"Sorry, hindi pala ako puwede ngayon." Inunahan ko na sila nang makarating ako.

The three of them looked at me curiously. No wonder bakit kami ang magkakaibigan. Our attitude were almost the same. Minsan pakiramdam ko para akong nananalamin, minsan kapag naiinis ako sakanila, pakiramdam ko sa sarili ko ako naiinis.

"Next time na nga lang talaga! May motivated dito eh." si Trent.

"Sus! Motivated ng isang linggo?" ani Kier.