“Sam!” I turned from my book to see who was calling my name only to see a guy I haven’t seen in class until today.
Playing cool, I removed my earphones and smiled. “Oh, baket?”
He smiled and thrust a pen and paper at me. “Pagawa naman ng parental consent para sa basketball practice namin, sigi na please, please, please, please, please?”
“What the hell?! Muka ba ‘kong nanay sa’yo? Ayoko nga!”
He actually got down to his knees and put his hand together like I’m some sort of altar. “SIGE NA, PLEASE! KELANGAN KO LANG TALAGA! PRAMIS, BABAWE AKO SAYO, SAM!”
Yep, I thought. That’s how you get popular around here. Try to make a scene. As loudly as possible and make sure there are people watching. Mas marami, mas maganda.
Titigan ba kamo? I could feel my face burn as he stared intently into my eyes, still begging muted “pleases.” I tried to make a bored expression and stare back. Tangina dis, andami nang nakakita ng eksena namin. Finally, I couldn’t bring myself to stare at him more as I felt my eyes water up. I sighed.
“Fine. Akin na.” sabi ko.
“OH YEAH! SALAMAT, SAM! I LOVE YOU, SHET!” HE actually attempted to murder me with a hug. I pushed him away, impatiently away, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
I positioned the pen on the paper and immediately stopped, halfway through. “Ano nga ba ulet pangalan mo?” I asked.
“Aw, grabe ‘yun.” He replied, looking falsely hurt.
“Eh, baka naman kase tatlong linggo ka nang ‘di pumapasok. Baka lang naman po.” I recalled that one of our classmates supposedly had dengue or something and haven’t been in school for more or less three weeks.
“Hehehe. Jason. Jason Sarmiento.”
“Ah.” I looked at him from head to toe. I had a vague memory of him on the first day of school. I think he was the noisy guy sitting at the back of the room. Nangitim si gago mula nung last time ko siyang nakita. “Parang… umitim ka yata?” I said as I handed him the letter with a fake name signed on it.
A moment of panic filled his eyes, immediately replaced with a grin and he brought a finger over his lips. “Thanks, Mom, I owe you one.” He winked and planted a quick kiss on my forehead. I felt my face burning again. “Babawi ako sa’yo next time, pramis.”
I pretended not to hear him as I put on my earphones and tried to cover my red face under my book. Bullshit, medyo malandi si koya.
~xoxo~
Dismissal Time.
“Cassy, kilala mo ba si Jason Sarmiento?” I asked my bestbitch as we walked away from school to a local cafe.
“Oh, ‘di ba yun yung dalawang linggo hindi pumasok? Yung pinahiya ni sir G?” Cassandra Martinez laced an arm around mine as we talked.
I chuckled. “Actually, three weeks siyang ‘di pumasok.”
“Anyeye. Ano meron sakaniya?”
“Wala lang. Asan ka ba kanina? Alam mo ba—“
“Speak of the devil…” Cassy pointed with her lips and I saw him. Mag-isa sa telephone booth. He looked kind of bored and when we passed him and when he saw us, his lips formed half a smile. I tensed up but I hope it wasn’t so obvious. I raised a hand and smiled.
“Ahem!” Cassy said, suppressing giggles as we entered the café.
“What?” I asked.
“Anu ba yun? May something, ha.”
