Dominika (Pale As Dead I) | COMPLETED

𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

┗━━━━━━━ ｄｅｅ ━━━━━━━┓
𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟺, 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝟽:𝟸𝟶 𝚊.𝚖.

Today marked the first week since the incident. Kakauwi lang namin from Pampanga last night and feeling ko, nahawa na yata ako sa accent nila. Though I did not mind. Ang sarap kasing pakinggan.

"You should've gone back on Monday na lang," sabi ni Gwen as she sipped through the straw. Rinig na rinig ko pa yung sound ng pagsipsip niya. We were drinking cold brew we bought from Starbucks na malapit sa school.

"Didn't you miss me?" I said.

"Of course, we did. Kami yata ang hindi mo na-miss, eh."

"Ali!"

"What?"

"It means no in Kapampangan! Bilib ka na naman sa'kin!"

May nakasalubong kaming girls na hindi namin kilala, but we knew they were from 1-B, and they looked at us as they whispered among themselves. Not really at us, but only at Helen na nasa gitna namin ni Gwen.

I glared at them kasi wala silang right para tingnan ng gano'n ang friend ko. The issue was already dying. They did not have to reawaken it. Ngayon nga lang pumasok ulit si Helen. She did not go to school for two days, faking a cold para hindi magtaka ang dad niya.

Sunday morning, a post in Kurai Miwako appeared. I saw it that afternoon din. It was a blind item that went like, Who is this girl (we're calling her HL) who kissed another girl (we're calling this one EA) at Baron Beer Garden in Nunier? Comment your guesses!

I had no idea how they guessed it. Saka mali yung wording nila. It was supposed to be 'who was kissed' and not 'who kissed' kasi si Emma ang humalik. The be-verb was important. But Paris told me when we talked about it through text na kilala si Emma na palaging pumupunta sa BBG and si Helen lang naman ang nakikita ng iba na kasama niya na nagsisimula sa H ang pangalan. He heard about it from Amy who showed him the post.

Helen said na nakita sila ni Callie. We checked the account that was used to post it, but it was a new one. It did not reply to the post din. It looked like it was specifically made just to post it. They did not talk to Callie kasi it would be like admitting na siya nga 'yon. I asked them what Amy did about it kasi friend niya si Callie, but hindi naman daw siya nagsasalita.

I asked Paris kung ano ang comment ni Amy when she showed him the post, but sabi niya, kay Amy niya nalaman na si Helen nga 'yon kasi sinabi rin ni Callie sa kanya but she also said na she was sure that Emma initiated it. Sabi pa raw ni Amy, she refused to talk about it with her friends after they told her that. I asked Paris din if he believed it and he said na kung totoo man yun o hindi, it was cool as long as nag-consent si Helen. But kung hindi, it was Emma's fault.

For the past two days beginning Wednesday when Helen went back to school, hindi na siya napunta ng Kapisanan to avoid Emma. Gwen said she still spoke to Emma because of the project but she could not open the topic about that kiss to her kasi it would be awkward. As for Helen and Paris, sa cafeteria or garden sila nagpa-practice. Emma texted Helen once daw, Monday evening, but my friend did not respond.

Sabi ko, okay lang yun na umiwas siya. I wanted to ask Helen if she liked Emma, but that would be awkward. It would appear like I was implying something na baka offensive sa kanya. She was my best friend, but I wanted to respect her privacy to things she did not want to tell us.

We went to the faculty to submit the excuse letter that my mother signed for my four-day absence. It was almost seven-thirty and we had gym class at eight-ten after the attendance was taken in Homeroom. We needed to change into our gym clothes pa. After the faculty, we went to the shower room na para magpalit.