photograph // darren espanto

chapter three - forever?

Lei

"So basically you just slide, kick, then flip" Nick said as he demonstrated the trick on his prized possession aka his skateboard. He did it so seamlessly and easy.

We're almost done with a small 'skateboard session' for me. Nick's been a skateboarding for a while now, and I thought, why not learn myself?

"Slide, kick, flip. Got it" I say as I slip his old skateboard under my feet. I tried to remember what he did, then copy it on the board. I thought I was doing pretty well.

Not.

Right at the kick part, I tripped on the skateboard, causing me to run straight into the wall, causing a loud thud, with the skateboard rolling out the door then down the stairs.

Probably wasn't a good idea to skateboard in the house.

Nick was snickering from the corner, causing me to shoot him glares. "Alright i'm done for the day"

I get up from the ground then leave Nick's room. I walk downstairs then see my mom downstairs just watching tv while eating a bag of chips.

"Hey mama" I say as I plop next to her on the couch and grab some chips from her bag.

"So how long are we staying here? 4, 5 months?" I ask as I shove some chips in my mouth, keeping my eyes on the teleserye that was currently on tv.

"I don't know, maybeee...forever" My mom replied as if it wasn't a surprising answer. I pause, then turn to my mom in shock.

"Fo e vur?!" I say muffled, talking with food in my mouth. I quickly chew it all.

"But... But what about traveling??" I ask, after swallowing my food. "What about exploring and seeing new sights?"

"Umm, your dad and I think...maybe we should take a break from traveling for a while and just enjoy home here. We're getting old anyways" my mom shrugged.

Why would my mom say that? My parents loved traveling as much as I did. Plus they're like 30 something, they have time.

Ughh. I've lived almost my whole life traveling. There's sooo many places I still wanna go to. I slouch on the couch then sigh. This could possibly not get any worse.

"...can we at least road trip to cool places in the Philippines?" I ask, trying to put some hope into this crap revelation.

"Of course, but it depends on the days you don't have school, we're gonna enroll you in public school in a few weeks" My mom said acting like it's just something normal. I quickly sit up then drop my jaw.

"What?! School?! Can't you and dad just put me an online school like always o-or homeschool me like—"

"Sorry anak, but since we're gonna be here for a while, i'm thinking you should make new friends or something, plus you'll learn more stuff there"

"What? Mom you told me before that you completely hated high school and ditched almost all your classes. Even the principal let you keep your permanent record cause it took up way too much space in their 'inventory'!" I rant to her. She knew I was right, but lifted her arms then shrugged.

"You were perfectly fine in online school. So I see no problem here"

"Mommm" I groan as I tilt my head to the ceiling. "Why kill me like this. One day we're having a bomb-ass time chilling in New York, next day you're telling me you wanna live life in the real world?"