Dominika (Pale As Dead I) | COMPLETED

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

d e e
june 20, wednesday, 9:30 a.m.

"Calling the attention of all high school freshmen. All high school freshmen."

Ms. Angeles, our English teacher, stopped reading the passage from The Catcher in the Rye. It was the second class for the day and it was going quite slow. Beside me, Shishi raised his head from his sleep sa ibabaw ng bag niya. Lahat kami ay napatingin sa speaker na nakasabit sa itaas ng chalkboard, on the right side, near the door.

"Please proceed to the gymnasium and bring your things with you. I repeat, please proceed to the gymnasium and bring your things with you. Thank you."

Ms. Angeles sighed. "Okay, class dismissed. Proceed to the gymnasium now, please."

We were like rabid animals na biglang pinakawalan sa wild dahil madaling-madali kaming lumabas. I headed straight away sa kabilang room to meet my best friends. Nakasalubong ko pa nga si Paris who must be looking for Shishi. He said hello and even winked at me kaya natawa ako.

Sa gym, we were asked to line up like noong opening ceremony. Gwen and I were towards the end of the line, while Helen was at the frontmost because she was apparently the shortest in our year.

On the stage, standing there in a lovely olive dress, was the school's headmistress, Ayako Matsuoka. I had found out from Kurai Miwako last night that she was Kyo's cousin. Fuck me, I had been stalking their band online again. But I had thought na magka-surname lang sila at first. Behind her were some members of the faculty including our Homeroom teacher, Mr. Gutierrez.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," she greeted in Japanese. I knew it meant good morning. Watching anime all my life, I knew the basic greetings in that language. Besides, it was taught here once a week. We had our first class for that subject yesterday for thirty minutes.

Binati din namin siya in unison ng, "Ohayou."

"I won't take this any further," Ms. Matsuoka said. "I've called for this assembly to announce something which I'm sure will make you all love this school more."

Whispers erupted. Saying something like that would of course trigger everyone's curiosity. And the fact na para lang sa freshmen ang assembly na 'to had made it more interesting.

"Let's just say I've done a little observation since school started on Monday to see how everyone was holding up, especially sa mga new students natin."

"Ano kayang na-observe niya?" Gwen wondered.

"Makinig ka kasi," I told her.

"Nagtatanong lang ako, ang arte mo."

"So I've found out that most of you have friends from other classes which you are not in. Please take a look at this picture for example."

Kasabay ng paglabas ng picture sa PowerPoint presentation ay ang tilian ng girls. Well, it was none other than a picture of Paris and Shishi together kasi. It looked like a selfie taken by Paris in which he had only dragged Shishi with him. Mukhang napilitan lang talaga si Shishi sa picture. The upper half of his face was hidden beneath the bullcap he was wearing. I had also seen that on Kurai Miwako. Fuck me talaga.

I looked around me, trying to find the Vandalics, and I located them standing a line away to our left. They were at the back, with Paris sa pinakadulo and si Shishi sa unahan niya.

"We all know that Mr. Dominguez and Mr. Abrell are really close friends even before they started their music career, and even before they joined our own prodigies, Mr. Chavez, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. Amore, in their band Pale As Dead. And it is such a shame that they are separated this school year."