There, Somewhere

Chapter XIV

"Are you ready?" Gavi asked me as he settled beside me after he calmed someone from the other group.

"Yeah." I merely mumbled. In fact hindi ganoon kalaki ang role ko sa play. I don't sing and I'm not an actress. At ako na rin naman ang gumawa ng script pati iyong mga kanta, so they're fine with it. Sabrina's our ace for our presentation this time. Aside from her perfectly fine appearance, she's a good singer too.

"Is everything in place?" Tanong ko sa kanya na agad niya lang din tinanguan.

"I've talked to each of them." I nodded at him, satisfied with how he maintains the group all throughout. From the task distribution until this time, he never failed to keep the group intact. There are only minor problems that we faced during the preparation phase and those are mostly with regards to our main characters voices getting hoarse while few was just the time. Both of which we couldn't control.

I looked at my other group mates who were busy practicing their lines. The majority of them seemed truly anxious and they're trying to brush it off by making noises.

Ilang sandali pa'y nagpaalam muli si Gavi na may pupuntahan lang daw siya sandali. I didn't mind kaya tumango nalang ako. When he's gone, I stole a glance at where his friends settled. Kanina pa sila dumating at wala sa kanila iyong isa na galing sa ABM department, but a new face was there to join them. They're at the back of the complex where we are about to perform and none of them dared to distract their friends.

Our eyes met for the second time and I nonchalantly broke it off like I did the first time.

Pagkatapos pa ng ilang minutong paghihintay ay nagsitahimik ang lahat. Gavi returned to his seat holding two bottles of water which he put down on the floor.

Ms. Tolentino began to talk and everyone hastily settled. I heard the others speak about their nervosity and their fears of forgetting their own lines. I heard it became as low as hushes as Ms Tolentino welcomed us, and even lower to silence when she finally drew the first group to perform from her list.

"The first one to showcase their art through theater play is.." Ms Tolentino took a pause. A probably excruciating pause for others.

"The group of Gavi Abraham Noxoji Villafuentes" Whispers of surprise and anxiety seconded the announcement but my groupmates stood nonetheless.

"Sabrina, you can do this!" I heard Guiana exclaimed, tapping Sabrina's shoulder before they finally went on the stage. Nauna na akong umakyat sa kanila but I proceeded straight at the back. That's because I am with the external committee, the group tasked behind the scene.

I faced the sound system together with Kenji. He nodded at me and we waited for Gavi's signal. And as Kendra relayed the signal to us, we immediately started.

The task was easy really. It went smooth for the next couple of minutes not until something came up. A technicality.

Kendra started to panic when her laptop stopped responding. The only console we had was that Sabrina just started singing. We have at least three to four minutes to figure out what to do and to fix the problem before it affects the performance.

"Shit. Shit. Shit.". Kendra cussed as she tried to open her laptop. Kenji was the sound system operator so he couldn't be disturbed while I was the one who manages the performance's settings.

"Shit. Hindi mag-open. Dala niyo ba laptop niyo? Shit." Natatarantang tanong niya. I checked the time and found we only have two minutes left to fix it.

"I'll get it. Give me a minute." I said and excused myself. Hindi na ako naghintay ng sagot at agad nang tinakbo ang distansya patungo sa classroom namin.