Make Me Fall (ON HOLD)

Three: Partner

COLUMBUS

"Do we have any new faces here?" 

Yan ang bungad na tanong ng professor namin for the first class na sa palagay ko, kung pagbabasehan ang itsura, malamang ay nasa mid twenties palang. No doubt about that. Walang sumagot sa tanong niya dahil wala rin namang nakikinig. May kanikanilang kwentuhan sila. No wonder dahil mukhang bata pa ang prof at hindi kami nagkakalayo sa age. Students tend to be more submissive when they know that the prof is strict especially when it comes to physical appearance. 

"Ma'am." I raised my hand and that, took everyone's attention. Lahat sila ngayon ay nakatingin na sa akin. 

"Okay. Please introduce yourself because everyone here knew each other already." she instructed me. I can see that. Halata namang magkakakilala na sila. I bet magkakaklase na tong mga to simula pa dati. Hindi naman siguro sila iingay ng ganito kung hindi pa sila magkakakilala. 

I stood up to introduce myself.

"Columbus Perez." Tipid kong pakikilala at umupo na ulit. My name is enough for them to know me. Isa pa, it doesn't matter kung kilala man nila ako o hindi. Hindi rin anman akong interesado na makilala sila. I mean in a deeper way. Knowing them by their names is more enough. I don't have any plans of hanging out with them in the first place.

"Oookay." Kung pagbabasehan yung reaction niya, walang duda nagulat siya kung paana ako nagpakilala. I bet she's expecting a little bit longer and more detail introduction. I don't do that. 

"Listen everyone. Since it's a Literature class, I want you to pick a partner and create a literary piece. I don't mind whether it is a poem, song, essay or story. That will be your first assignment and that's due on next meeting." 

Now that's something I was not expecting. She ended the class with an assignment. No, don't get me wrong. I am expecting the assignment thing but not by partners. Mabilis silang humanap ng ka partner. I remained sitting in my seat. No, I don't need a partner. I can do this assignment alone. I'll just talk to my professor about it. 

"Wag mo ng balakin na pumunta kay ma'am. Sigurado akong hindi siya papayag sa pinaplano mo." Yan ang sinabi ng babaeng nakaupo sa tabi ko pagtayo na pagtayo ko palang. Tumungo ako para lingunin siya. She's putting her notebook inside her bag. 

Wait. How come na alam niya na plano kong pumunta sa prof namin? 

"Tatanungin mo si ma'am kung pwedeng gawin mo yung assignment ng mag-isa right?" she tilted her head upward to face me. What the hell! How come she knows exactly what am I going to do? This woman is creeping me out. Is she some sort of mind reader?

"Wag mo akong tignan ng ganyan. I can't read minds. But I can read actions and gestures." Tumayo siya at sinukbit ang bag sa balikat at umalis. Hindi ko alam kung bakit ko siya sinundan ng tingin habang palabas siya ng classroom. Hindi ko alam. 

Hindi ko sinunod ang sinabi nung seatmate ko. Wala akong plano na sundin yon. You will never know if you will never try. There's no harm in trying. Kung pumayag siya na ako nalang mag-isa, than that's great. Pero kung hindi, well I guess I need to look for a partner. Hindi naman siguro aabutin ng isang buong araw yung paggawa nung assignment na yon. 

But before I could even get to the faculty, I saw Ms. Cruz walking towards my direction. Sakto! I got her attention by calling her out by her surname. To my surprise, she's with someone. Standing beside her is my seatmate. Oo, yung babae na nagsabi sakin na wag ko ng i-try pumunta kay ma'am. But why is she with Ms. Cruz? Are they somehow related to each other?

"Yes, Mr. Perez?" she asked as I walked closer to them. 

"Ma'am I just want to ask permission from you regarding with the assignment you've given to us. Instead of doing with by two, can I just do it alone?" There. I asked her already. She smiled at me and shook her head. 

"I'm sorry but I can't allow that. I know you're new here and probably you still don't know anyone in your class. But I wan to be fair with the others. You should look for a partner and work it out together." I am prepared with this kind of response from her but somehow, it kind of problem to me. 

I am not good at communicating with other people. I mean it's just that I really prefer to do things alone. I smiled back at her despite of being turned down. Guess I need to give it a try and ask somebody to become my partner. It's a matter of grade so I really need to. 

"Thank you ma'am." I smiled and turned around. Now, how am I going to look for a partner? I don't know them yet. Not even one! The hell!

Alam ko na! Maghahanap ako ng kapartner ko pero ako lang ang gagawa! Papalabasin ko nalang na dalawa kaming gumawa. For sure pabor yun sa magiging partner ko dahil hindi naman siya mahihirapan. Ang gagawin niya lang is pumayag na maging partner ko and I'll do the rest! Great! That's a great idea! It's a win-win situation for the both of us. We'll both benefit from it.

Hindi pa ako nakakalayo ng biglang tawagin ulit ako ni Ms. Cruz sa surname ko. It gave me a little hope that maybe she had change of decision and will finally allow me to do it by myself. So I turned around again to face her. She's smiling like she's about to say something great. Okay, she's going to allow me!

"Yes ma'am?" I asked. Please tell me that you are changing your decision and you are allowing now to do my assignment without any partner and just by myself. Please. I crossed my fingers inside my pocket. 

"This is Ms. Ellie Anne Casas, your partner."