Aurelio

ONE: Twenty Questions, a Seatmate and a Nickname

June 25, 2018. Monday. 0730 hours. BeetchMont High School. Room 11-C.

Nasa Aurelio

"These three here will be your classmates starting today. I know you have questions but please refrain from making them uncomfortable." A bearded old man wearing a light blue long-sleeved polo said. His name is Mr. Jonh Ricafort, the homeroom adviser.

"Hi, everyone. I hope to be friends with you. This guy on my left is Casa, and this guy's name is Dasa." I looked at my right. "And I am Nasa. Nice to meet you everyone." I said looking at everyone staring at us, kinda bewildered. "And yes, we're triplets." I added.

The classroom is big and spacious. There are six columns and four rows of chairs as well as tables, and currently, there are only five vacant seats. There are only eight boys in this class, excluding my brothers.

"You see, this class has the least number of students, there are only twenty students in this class and since kaunti lang sila we have this rule that if someone transfers to this class, each one of these students get to ask the new comer one question. But since there are three of you, masyadong matatagalan kung sasagot ang bawat isa sa inyo ng twenty questions kaya instead of sixty questions, you'll answer twenty only." Mr. Ricafort explained.

"So, the three of us will answer twenty questions. One question per student." I nodded. "I'm ready."

A boy who has a red-dyed, shoulder-length hair raised his hand. "Who's the eldest among you three?"

"Me, then Dasa, then Nasa." Casa answered.

"Bakit first syllable lang ng name niyo 'yung naiiba?" a girl who has a long wavy hair and green eyes asked.

"Ow, our great grandmother's name was Casadana." I answered. "Casa's name was the first two syllables of our great grandmother's name, then -sa was added at the end of -da and -na for our names." I pointed Dasa.

"As in Nasa, NASA?" the guy in front of the red-dyed guy asked, referring to the science institution.

"Yes, as in NASA, same pronunciation, same spelling."

"What are your hobbies?"

"I have sharp eyes since I trained it ever since I was young. I like archery and guns." I answered. "If you like we can go shooting, I know a place." I added.

"I like sports. I was a varsity of ice hockey back in our previous school but since there's no ice hockey here I would like to join the basketball team." Casa answered.

"I'm a member of the Book Club. I hate noise, especially those unpleasant ones. I have a sensitive hearing, you see? How do I explain this?" he asked himself. "Uhmm, the frequency and-" he stopped explaining instead, he fished his phone out of his pocket and played a song. "This is what you hear, but this is what I hear." He maxed the volume and I can see his discomfort since his creasing his eyebrows already. He stopped the music and massaged his temples.

"So you can hear us if we whisper?"

"Yes, but just like what others hear, he might not be able to make up what you're talking about." I answered for Dasa. "If you whisper something and I hear 'whooshiwoosh' then he'll hear 'wooshiwoosh' too but just a little louder."

They nodded.

"Do you have any other siblings?"

"Yeah. 26, 26, 25, 24, 24, 22, 20, 19, 19, 18, 18, 17, 16, 16, 16, 16, 12, 10." I stated. "Those are our ages. There are two 26s, one 25, two 24s, one 22 and 20, two 19s and 18s, one 17, four 16s, one 12 and a 10."