Littlewood (Saint Teresa Academy)

Chapter 2: When You're Upset, Just Eat Caramel Cake

Meg waited for a few more beats before she straightened from where she was crouching. Her knees complained from the movement. She really needed to take PE more seriously. She tried to walk off nonchalantly. Hard to do with all that information reeling inside her head. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going kaya naman when she emerged to the walkway leading to the main street ay halos magbangga sila ng kasalubong niya.

Something clanged to the ground.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Meg chanted. When she looked up, more of her apologies died on her lips.

Can you really summon the devil when you speak his name?

Not that the person standing before her was the devil. In fact, his face probably belonged to human's romanticized version of an angel, as he looked at her with a pleasant apologetic smile. What were the odds na ang taong pinag-uusapan lamang kanina nina Crawford at Perez ay nasa harap niya ngayon?

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," wika ni Vidal, Saint Teresa's golden child and subject of Crawford's malicious machinations. Nakatingin ito kay Meg nang hindi nawawala ang bahagyang ngiti sa mga labi. "I was walking too fast," he added. Even his voice was pleasant. Meg didn't think she had ever seen anything else displayed from Vidal's facial expression other than pleasantness.

He bent down to pick up whatever fell. When he straightened up, he held a single arrow. He inspected it closely. Meg watched him and realized that he was still wearing his archery club uniform without his chest guard.

Wow, nagpapractice pa rin ang archery team kahit midterm period?

Running into Vidal only echoed everything that Meg heard just a few moments ago. Now here he was in front of her. Should she tell him what she heard? Here, in the street? Will he even believe her or think of her as crazy? Or worse, think that she was in on the plan?

But was that the only choice? Maybe she could tell a teacher or a staff. But she didn't have any evidence and if she told someone in authority nang walang dalang ebidensiya, maaaring ipatawag ng mga ito si Crawford, and then it would become a matter of she said/he said. Meg wasn't confident na papanigan siya ng mga otoridad kung mauwi sa ganoong scenario. In her experience, nobody ever sided with someone like her.

Meg's head started to throb. Kailangan niya ng karagdagang panahon para pag-isipan ang susunod niyang hakbang. Sa dami nang tumatakbo sa isip, hindi niya napansin na nakatulala na pala siyang nakatunghay kay Vidal.

"Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" Vidal moved closer as if to inspect her.

Meg had been in a handful of classes with Vidal since freshman year, ngunit ito ang unang pagkakataon na nakita niya ito ng ganito kalapit. There was only half an arm's length between them, but the streetlights illuminated only half of his face. This close, he was a statue classically sculpted from marble, the shadows enhancing his chiseled features.

Oh, his eyelashes are very pretty.

That unprompted thought made Meg step back instinctively from Vidal.

"No," tugon niya sa tanong nito. She shook her head. "Okay lang ako. I'm sorry, hindi kasi ako nakafocus sa nilalakaran ko. I hope the arrow didn't break." Meg pointed to the arrow he was holding. From what she knew about archery, the equipment can be kind of expensive. At dahil isa si Vidal sa mga may pinaka-bughaw na dugo sa mga nag-aaral sa Academy, tiyak na hindi mumurahin ang mga equipment na ginagamit nito.

Vidal watched her for a moment, still with that pleasant smile, bago bumaling ang tingin nito sa hawak na bagay. "The arrow is fine. It's sturdier than you'd think." Ipinakita nito sa kaniya ang palaso. Meg inspected it from his hands. Her heart started to race.