Rainbow Behind Stars

Chapter 5

"May gusto ka ba kay Ali?"

Athena asked me all of a sudden when I was telling him everything that made me feel heavy earlier. 

"Bonak, issue ka na naman! Ikaw ba, kapag nakita mo bestfriend mo na may kasamang iba, hindi ka masasaktan?" Tanong ko rito.

"Siyempre! Support ko siya sa kaharutan niya! Pero kung crush ko siya siyempre masakit!" Sagot nito sa akin,

I was left confused because of what she said. Should I support Zane? Wala namang mawawala siguro sa amin kung gano'n. And besides, kaibigan lang naman ako nito.

Agad akong bumalik sa room para maghanda sa susunod naming klase. When I entered the room, I found out that Zane's bag wasn't on his chair already, instead, I saw him sitting beside Mikael. Agad namang dumating ang teacher namin sa Araling Panlipunan at nagsimula na itong magklase.

"Class, I also want to congratulate Villega for acing his exam yesterday. He scored 49 out of 50, followed by Antiforda who got 45." Ma'am distributed our answer sheets. He gave me a cupcake as a congratulatory gift. 

"Kayo ba, ano sa tingin ninyo ang dahilan kung bakit overpopulated ang tao sa Manila?" Tanong ng guro namin,

without contemplation, I raised my hand to answer ma'am's question. I love araling panlipunan. In fact, this subject was literally one of my favorites. 

Plus I want to earn high grades to maintain my performance since elementary.

Ma'am called me and I stood up to answer her question.

"Ma'am.. a-ano po kasi. Mas marami p-po yung opportunuty s-sa manila kaysa sa ibang lugar sa atin. Marami po ang tao na ang tingin sa manila ay lugar pangkabuhayan kasi bukod po sa siyudad ito at mas modernized na po, mayroon pong malawak na access ang Maynila sa lahat ng pangangailangan." Pagsagot ko.

"Exactly! Manila is one of the most civilized cities in our country. It is where we can find a lot of infrastructures, there are also a lot of access to everything— including healthcare, economical, and even educational services, which is why most of the people who are living in different provinces are wanting to go to Manila because they thought they can grab a wider range of opportunities there. Nakakalungkot lang din na dahil dito, may ibang probinsya na ang napag-iiwanan at hindi nabibigyan ng pansin dahil pinipili na mas palawigin at mas ginagawang sibilisado ang ibang lugar na sa bansa. But I don't have any dissatisfaction about that. In fact, there's a part of me who is happy dahil unti-unti nang nagiging modernisado ang Manila. But still, that doesn't mean they'll just disregard other provinces. We should also give the development that other provinces should have the same energy they pour into some modernized cities."

This is true. Marami pa rin ang mga probinsya na napag-iiwanan at tila hindi pa nakakapaghangad nf modernisadong pagbabago. Masyadong nakafocus ang gobyerno sa pagpapaganda sa ibang siyudad na tanyag at nalilimutan nang punan ang pangangailangan ng iba pang lugar sa bansa.

Our class went smoothly and it was very productive. I've heard a lot of things that really contributed to my knowledge about society. Well, I really love loving everything that is all about society. Since I became an editorial writer in elementary school, I was able to learn a lot of things, to where I should stand and to where I should give my opinions.

Our class ended and I'm one of the cleaners in our room kaya naiwan ako. I saw Zane who stayed outside and I thought he was waiting for me. He's talking to our classmates about something.

"Ayos 'yan, binata na si Ali shet shet shet!!" Sigaw ni Mikael at Cristian sa labas ng room na agad namang binatukan ni Zane. Nagkakatuwaan sila sa labas at ako naman ay nagpatuloy na sa pagwawalis.