Celestine And Her Summer

Kabanata 9

After Francis and Lester left with the girl, hinablot agad ako nina Kylie at Jill pabalik sa cottage namin. Hind ko rin sila masisisi kasi ang rude nung ginawa nila Francis at Lester. Pero hindi ko man lang magawang magalit or something, I don't know why. Hindi ko rin magawang magjudge kay Francis.

"Bagay kayo, okay?" Sabi ni Kylie nung nakaupo na kami sa higaan niya. "Pero that was rude. Mahirap bang magbabye? Kahit wave lang, hindi magawa? Gosh let's stop this nonsense since wala ka namang feelings sa kanya, Cel."

I replied with a shrug. I couldn't really bring myself to judge. At parang gusto ko rin siyang ipagtanggol sa mga kaibigan ko.

Mygad, Cel. What the hell?

"If he was going to be like that, hindi na ako boto para sa inyong dalawa, Cel." Sabi ni Jill with finality in her voice.

"Chill lang guys." I chuckled. "I don't really care."

"Kahit na. I still didn't like the attitude." Sabi ni Kylie at umirap sa kawalan.

"Baka may reason guys." Thank God for Sandra bringing that up.

"Anong reason naman? Nakalimutang kausap si Cel dahil lang sa may dumating na magandang babae?" Sabi ni Kylie. "Anong klaseng rason yun?" Dagdag pa niya.

"It's true, that happens too. And it happened to me once. I was talking to my friend sa school hanggang sa may lumapit na teacher sa amin and asked for my time. I knew we were going to talk about my failing subject kaya hindi na ako nakapagpaalam dun sa friend ko and hurriedly walked with my teacher to his office." Maureen said, explaining something to make things clearer for us.

"Iba yung sayo Maureen kasi you needed to attend to your grades pero nung kay Cel? Just so they could both hang out with a girl?" Kylie still wasn't convinced with Maureen explanation. I don't blame her. She's got her reason and I love her for being on my side all the time.

"Seriously, Ky, no need to worry. Ito ngang si Jill at Sandra, parang naiintindihan na yung sitwasyon kaya chill kana, okay?" Sabi ko sakanya habang tinatapik tapik yung balikat niya. She didn't say anything but she huffed which caused her bangs to fly a little. Natawa kami dun.

Just when I was thinking of something para madivert yung topic at mawala na ang init ng ulo ni Kylie, may lumapit sa aming babaeng younger sa amin.

She gave us a smile. "Hi mga ate. Do you want to play Uno with us?" Tanong niya at tinuro yung mga kasama niya. Napatingin kami dun. May isa pang batang babae and the rest, ka-age na ata namin. We all nodded na medyo na eexcite. Finally! A bond with my cottage friends.

Yung nag imbita sa aming maglaro ay si Cathy. The other young girl ay si Patricia, best friend ni Cathy. Yung tatlo pang babae na ka-age lang namin ay sina Brenda, Georgina, at Valerie. And we played Uno for 3 hours straight nang hindi namamalayan ang oras. Pagtingin namin sa labas, madilim na. Mabuti nalang at dumating si ate Jules habang naglalaro pa kami dahil siya nalang yung nagbukas nung ilaw para sa amin since tinatamad kaming lahat tumayo.

I enjoyed playing with them. We laughed like we've known each other for so long. We talked with excitement. And I was just happy na finally, mga kaibigan ko na sila. I still had 24 people to go. It was one of my goals this summer. Na maging kaibigan ko lahat sa guitar team.

The clock was about to strike 9 PM after dinner. Kaya pagkatapos naming mag dinner ay bumalik agad ang lahat sa kani-kanilang cottages para magready na makatulog.

I was the last one to take a half bath sa cottage namin. It was already 10:24 PM nung matapos ako. Paglabas ko ay tulog na si Jill. Si Kylie naman ay busy pang mag cellphone.