SSS [III] (COMPLETED)

Part 10

"Totoo?" At bumulanghit nanaman ako sa kakatawa. "Crush mo yun? Yung si White Lady? Oh my God!"

Gumaralgal na yung boses ko dahil sa malalaki kong tawa habang inis naman na nakatitig sa akin si Chua. Mukhang kating-kati na siyang buhusan ako nung iniinom niyang Coke.

Nasa Council Office kami ngayon. Sa opisina ni Prez to be specific, pero wala siya doon. He was making brief rounds tuwing lunch time. Apparently, I was supposed to go with him.

"Dapat talaga hinayaan nalang kita kay Jer, e!"

He grumbled habang may hinahalukay siya sa bookshelf. And when he finally found what he was looking for ay inilapag niya iyon sa katapat kong mesa.

"O ayan!" He smirked. "Sabi ni Jer imemorize mo daw ang contents ng handbook!"

Inirapan ko siya. As if naisahan niya ako.

"This is chicken feed, Chua." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Baka nakakalimutan mong running for Valedictorian din ako nung elementary?"

Yup, you heard me right. Meaning, kung may makakamatch man sa competency ni Prez ay ako yun. Like I said, I was raised by typical Asian grand parents who taught me to aim for excellency in whatever I do, but not in a toxic way. It was solely for my self-development. I grew up well-rounded. I aced all of my tests, I was a valuable player in whatever sports activities, and I won the hearts of the people around me.

I was running head to head with Prez, who didn't care much about anything else but his studies and the books he read. He was never in it for the ranks or for additional points. He was only in it for the sake of being in school.

He had no extra-, and even co-curricular activities even if everybody was urging him to join. Ano bang pakealam niya? Until I signed him up to run for presidency na ako dapat yung tatakbo. Instead, I ran for the Batch Rep position.

Hindi niya yun alam, until he had no chances of turning back. Wala man lang siyang campaign speech. He was so angry at me, lalo na nung nanalo siya. Syempre, we were under one partylist, sino pa bang tatanggi sa kanya, when I campaigned for him passionately?

And I guess nadala niya yung pagiging Council president niya hanggang sa nakabalik ako ng Pinas.

Nakanganga ako matapos kong basahin ang buong handbook. Hindi naman mahirap imemorize ang handbook. Ang bottomline lang naman ay kung ano ang tingin mong bawal ay talagang bawal yun.

But inside my head, I was already laughing at myself. The major clauses inside the handbook was not that hard to monitor. Ang nakakabagot lang naman ay yung mga clauses na ni-note ni Prez, talagang may specifications para sa newly appointed secretary niya.

Which is--no other than--me.

And my major role was not only to take minutes for Prez on Council meetings, and to live by his biddings... pero ako pa ang ginawang Role Model Student!

Meaning! No lusot for kalokohan!

I sighed in exasperation. This is no fun! Sanay ako na ako yung parating sinisita, hindi yung ako ang naninita!

Even when I was Batch Rep ay nakakalusot pa din naman ako sa mga kalokohan ko. But now that I would work directly with Prez ay...

"CA! SSI! DY!!!"

Hindi ako natinag sa sigaw ni Chua mula sa kabilang sulok ng classroom. Wala nanaman na matinong klase. Nagkanya-kanyahan nanaman ang lahat sa mga ginagawa. Maraming gusto nanaman na kumulit sa akin, pero nung nakita nilang nakabuklat ang handbook sa mesa ko ay nagdesisyon silang huwag na lang ako isali sa usapan.