ONE SHOT STORIES (COMPETITION)

AT THE BEGINNING

We were strangers starting out on our journey

Never dreaming what we'd have to go through

Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing

At the beginning with you...

* * * * * *

You are my first...

The first one who made me feel like this...

The first one to made me feel LOVE...

I still remembered that day...when we're still strangers. I was a transferee back then, probably we we're grade two that time. He was the one first one to approach me..."Hello, Erika ang pangalan mo diba?" Yan ang mga unang salitang narinig ko mula sa kanya...ang cute cute ng boses niya nun tsaka ang ganda ng ngiti niya.

"Ah...oo ako si Erika, ikaw...anong pangalan mo?" tanong ko din sa kanya.

"Brian. Brian, ang pangalan ko." sabi niya sabay ngiti ulit.

Since that day...lagi na kaming magkasama. Lagi niya akong sinasamahan tuwing recess he even defend me against sa mga nang-aaway sa akin. Laging siya nga ang naglilinis para sa akin eh dahil ayaw kong madumihan ang kamay ko. Nagi-guilty nga ako tuwing pinapanood ko siyang maglinis. Ang dami niyang ginawa para sa akin. He would often give me his handkerchief tuwing tumutulo yung sipon ko. Medyo gross ako noon eh, grade 2 nga lang diba? And then one day...I realized I started liking him...CRUSH ko na siya.

As days and months passed, mas naging close pa kami sa isa't isa. Our classmates would often teased us na kami na daw. Grabe nga lang eh! Imagine! We're just grade two that time. I''ll always find myself blushing tuwing tinutukso kami ng mga kaklase namin pero siya he'll just smile and say, "Ano ba, tama na nga yan...baka umiyak ang bestfriend ko eh."

I know I'm too young that time para sabihing nasasaktan ako sa mga salitang yun...pero ganun naman talaga ang nararamdaman ko eh. Parang may kirot sa puso ko everytime that he'll say that we're bestfriends. I should be happy, right? Bestfriends kasi kami eh.

Nakikita kong he really cares for me. Yun nga lang, bestfriends nga lang kami diba? Everyday that I'm with him is perfect. I'll always imagine na kami ang magkakatuluyan sa hinaharap kaso "imagination" ko nga lang lahat yun eh. Then one day, kinailangan kong magtransfer ng school bacause of my health conditions. Umiyak ako nang nalaman ko yun. Kahit mabigat, I said goodbye to him.

"Bestfriend, iiwan mo ba talaga ako?" tanong niya sakin that day. Umiiyak siya nun...isang musmos na batang umiiyak sa harapan ko na nagmamakaawang wag ko siyang iwan. Para kaming mga ewan noon...ang bata pa namin para mag-react ng ganun but we're really feeling that way.

Pero kahit ayaw kong mahiwalay kay Brian eh kailangan ko. I transferred sa isang school in Manila. At first, wala talaga akong mga kaibigan. My mother would always ask me why I'm always alone. Grade 3 na ako that time...but still I can't forget the boy who is always there for me. The boy who could make me blush like some spaced out idiot...

5 more years passed and I'll be in grade 3rd year high school sa pasukan. Sa 5 years na pananatili ko dito, I also found friends...but all of them are girls. It's late afternoon when I came home from a friend's house and I saw my mother packing our clothes.

"Ma, saan po tayo pupunta?" I asked her

Binigyan lang niya ako ng isang tipid na ngiti saka nagsalita, "Babalik na tayo ng probinsya, Erika...May kailangan akong asikasuhin dun eh."

When I heard those words came out from my mother's mouth, it's like I instantly felt happiness...I also don't know why...

Finally, the first day of school came. Grabe ang kaba ko noon...OO, kilala ko ang iba sa mga magiging kaklase ko pero kinakabahan pa rin ako. Maybe...because I would see him again. I would see Brian again. Nabalitaan kong dito rin kasi siya pumapasok. Ano na kaya ang itsura nun ngayon? May girlfriend na kaya siya ngayon? Ay! Anubey! Ba't ba ganyan ang pumapasok sa isip ko?