DISTANT {ALE}

Chapter 2

     Game namin sa Shakey’s V-League against Adamson. And apparently, we lost. Konting konti na lang eh. Muntik na. Kaya lang, hindi daw kami prepared for today. Sinesermonan kami ng coaches namin and quite frankly, medyo irritated na kami. We get it. We lost.

     “Ang dami niyo kasing appearences sa media, nawala kayo sa focus! Anong nangyare sa inyo, ha? Bakit ang galling galling nyo noong DLSU chaka NU tapos Adamson lang di niyo matalo?” Sabi sa amin ni Coach Tupaz.

     “What happen? I said focus! FOCUS! You’re always TV you forgot FOCUS!” Sabi ni Coach Tai via Skype.

     Ang dami ding tweets and posts about yung pagkatalo namin. I came across a certain post by Sam Reyes sa FB.

     Ang tatanga ng mga nasa shakey’s v league group.

     Mga naniniwala kagad sa mga dummy account natgawa ko. Hahaha.

     Kasing tatanga ng mga fans ng ADMU.

     ZINAT, RACHELLE DE GUZMAN CHRISTOPHER JOHN REYES OFINA mga dummy account na nagawa ko para pag-awayin mga admu fans.

     Kasing tatngatng admu wvt ang mga fans ng admu.

     Palibhasa chamba lang ang pag ka panalo ng Admu sa Dlsu.

     Kita mo natalo naman sa AU tanga kc.

     “Ly,” Sabi ko. “Nakita mo na to?” I showed her the post.

     “Hindi pa, ano yan?” She got the phone.

     “Tinitira na nila ang fans.”

     “Sinong sila?”

     “Haters. They’re doing it again. Nangyare na ‘to last year with sina ate Gretch and ate Fille and they’re doing it again this year. Except, nanalo tayo this year so mas lumala ang mga banat ng haters. Remember dati, tayo lang tinatarget nila? Well, ngayon fans na.”

     She read the Facebook post with her evebrows furrowed. “What the hell,” Sabi niya pagkatapos niyang basahin.

     “I know.”

     “Okay lang kung tayo kaya lang, they’ve started hating on fans na din.”

     “I can’t just stand here and let them do this.” Sabi ko.

    She sighed.

     Sabi ko, “Sabi ni coach wag pansinin ang hate para sa atin kasi hindi nila alam ang pinag-dadaanan natin as volleyball players and scholars and in some cases, student council members like you pero iba na. Hindi na tayo ang tumatangap ng hate. Sila na. Mga supporters natin. They’ve crossed the line. We have to do something about it.”

     “No, Den. We can’t. It would just make matters worse. Basta alam natin at alam din ng mga fans na wala tayong ginagawang masama.”

     “That doesn’t change anything. Patuloy pa rin sila mang-bubully sa fans.” Sabi ko.

     “Pag pinatulan mo yan, mas lalong lalala yan kasi alam nila na na-bobother tayo.”

     “Kaya nga, na-bobother nga tayo. So at least just send a message on Twitter or something telling them na tama na, tigilan niyo na, nakakapicon na kayo.”

     “No, we can’t do anything about it directly, lalaki nga ang gulo! Yan ang gusto nilang mangyare, don’t you see?”

     “So ano gusto mo, nakatunganga lang tayo dito and wait for the fans to give up on us because pinagtatanggol nila tayo pero tayo mismo walang kibo?”

     “I never said that.” Galit na si Ly.

     Galit na rin ako. “Edi ano? Anong gagawin natin? Tell me, Ly! Anong plano mo for these people na nasasaktan dahil sa innosenteng paghanga satin?”

     Biglang bumukas ang pinto, revealing two girls in blue shirts and shorts. “Guys, may replay ng game natin—” Sabi ni Mich.

     “Are we interrupting something?” Sabi ni Jia after an awkward silence.

     “May replay? Saan kayo nanonood?” I asked. I wasn’t interested in the replay, I just wanted us to stop yelling at each other. “Can I come?”

     “Um… kung gusto mo pero I think you were in the middle of a conversation.”

     “Hindi, okay lang. Saan kayo nanonood?” I said, dodging the question.

     “Uh, sa dorm namin.” Sabi ni Mitch.

     “Sige, sama ako.” I said, gathering my things from the bench and storming out the door.

     Pag alis ko, narinig kong nagtanong si Jia. “Is there something wrong?”

     Sagot ni Ly, “Ewan ko sa libero.”

     I passed by Michelle’s dorm room but I didn’t go in it. I went straight to my dorm and put my stuff down, got my phone and ran out before makarating si Ly sa room, considering, we are dorm mates after all.

     I ran out the building, with confusing looks lingering behind me. Kailangan ko lang ilabas yung anger ko.