It was almost 2:00 p.m. when we broke up the “party” my team mates set-up for me. The other Maroons needed to go to their classes. Bang and I walked back to Malcolm Hall. Her car was parked near the College of Law building. My Freshmen orientation will be at 4:00 p.m. There wasn’t any rush… only an awkward silence since the others have left.
“Thanks for joining us for lunch,” I said. “Pasensya ka na at nagkataon na sabay-sabay umandar ‘yung mga topak ng team mates ko. Normal naman ang mga ‘yan most of the time.”
She chuckled. “Ok lang ‘yun. Nakakatuwa nga silang kasama. Ang kukulit pero mukhang mahal na mahal ka nila. Ako yata ang dapat magpasalamat na sinama nyo ako sa bonding time nyo.”
“Mahal pa nila ako sa lagay na 'yon,” I faked a frown. I suddenly had the urge to check my twitter account, at the same time a bit worried about the stunt that KB and the other Maroons did.
“Inintriga ka pa sa twitter,” she laughed. “Nabisto tuloy na stalker ka.”
“Hindi ha!” I denied.
“Does it bother you?” There was concern in her voice. “Kung anung iisipin ng mga tao.”
I paused and thought about it for a while. “Hindi. Wala naman akong control sa kung anong gustong isipin ng iba. People get curious. Sanay akong naiintriga dito sa campus. Kahit sa ibang mga team mates ko naiintriga ako. As long as alam ko naman kung ano 'yung totoo, I don't really care. Annoying lang minsan when people keep asking the same question. Not everyone is entitled to the truth. It would bother me kung may ibang nadadamay.”
She grabbed my left shoulders so I would lean down. “Halika ka nga dito.” She quickly took a photo of the two of us using her phone and then immediately uploaded it. She then gave out a hearty laugh.
"Uy! Ano 'yan?" I tried to grab her phone, sensing she was pulling a prank on me.
She scampered away from me. When I finally caught up with her, she hid her hands behind her back. I tried to reach for her phone, thinking I had longer arms. But she had a firmer grip on the phone.
“Chansing na ‘yan,” she said with a mischievous smile. Then I realized that my arms were encircled around her.
I pretended not to hear what she said… but my face started to feel warm. “Phone mo!” I demanded while she remained in my clasp.
“Pineda!” someone shouted. “I love you!”
“WOOHOO!” others yelled.
Turned out, we were already in front of the Law Library and we had quite a number of curious spectators. There were a few who recognized Bang.
“Go Neta!” another shouted.
So someone recognized me, too.
I let go of her and placed a comfortable distance between us. There was no time to be embarrassed. Despite her coolness, I saw Bang blush for the first time today. She bounced back pretty fast though and smiled to everyone. I did the same. She grabbed my hand and dragged me off. We continued walking a few more meters were her car was parked.
I gave her a nudge. “Pahamak ka talaga.”
She playfully shoved me back with both hands. “Hindi naman ako ‘yung nangyakap.”
We broke out into laughter.
Then I remembered… I took my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. Bakit nga ba ako nakipag-agawan ng telepono, may telepono naman ako. I turned my phone off while we were at Rodic’s because I was being flooded with notifications about KB’s tweet. It exploded with notices when I turned it on. I scanned through the photos I was tagged on Instagram and found the one Bang posted.
It showed a selfie shot by Bang with her disarming smile, and me with my usual goofy self. The caption read: “Sending off my future lawyer @angeliaranetuhhh to her first day in law school. ”
I looked at Bang, who was trying to look innocent.
“What?” she shrugged.
She must have already guessed that her post had generated a lot of likes and several comments. First one was from her best friend, “mandsvillanueva: hoy! @bangnita kaya pala kanina ka pa nawawala.”
She had a lot of followers, and one fan commented, “mas feel ko pa din ang #BAra.” Mababash pa yata ako sa kagagawan ng babaeng ito.
“Akala ko ba wala kang pakialam sa mga sinasabi ng ibang tao?” she reminded me.
“Naisip ko lang baka may humarang sa akin paglabas ko ng Katipunan,” I kidded but that really crossed my mind. Sakit ka sa ulo, Bang.
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A LITTLE MORE COMPLICATED
FanfictionBetween being an athlete and law student, there is hardly time for anything else. You train... you go to class... you practice with the team... in between, you either study or you cram. If you get lucky, maybe you'll find time to have a life as we...
