The Trouble of Hellos

One

“The Clevor has done it again.”

One familiar headline ang nagpaalala saking nandito na ako sa Western Cross University. The person of the headline wreaked havoc in an arcade, it says. They’re wasting the publication allowance for these kinds of unimportant articles.

I continued walking as I disposed the paper.

In the hallway the echoes of the students’ voices will echo more inside my head. “Good Morning!” they would all say as if I’m listening to a choir of greetings.

I opened my notebook and tried to catch up things my teacher says. The words are very clear, dissecting every letter in the rough paper with the sharp pen, I slice up every syllable and every punctuation with the bleeding ink; I bet it hurts the paper.

Sa isang iglap ay matatapos na ang mga klase ko. Narinig ko ang isa sa mga kaklase ko na sumisigaw. Maya maya ay may lumapit sa akin.

“Class rep, Sab’s throwing a party, you wanna come with us?” Surprisingly one of my classmates, Levy, asked me. I gave her a sly smile and was about to say: ‘Sorry.’ But before I am to finish the short word, Abbie interrupted me with her; “Alright, she ain’t coming.” and gave me her back. Okay.

I fixed my eyeglasses and left the room. It’s already 3:46 in the afternoon. I took my phone in the bag to check if there were unopened messages. Wala.

Hmm, sa gulat ko ay meron palang isa.

Isang hindi maintindihang letter, oozing with different sizes of hand written ugly-looking hearts, amoy pabango ng lalaki. Dahan-dahan ko itong binuksan. Assuring myself that

This is not a love letter.

Dear Levy,

I think I really like you. You are the first I laid my eyes upon when I got lost looking for a jerk young man. I saw you there sitting in the middle at class 3-A, or is that 3-B? 3-C?. Sorry, I totally forgot. LOL. Your hair looks so smooth, and your eyes are just amazing. I hope to see you smile again, but closer.
Tomorrow, after class, meet me. I will be waiting for you at the rooftop.

What.

Dali-dali kong tinago yung envelope sa bag. Thank goodness no one saw me reading the letter.

Binibilisan ko ang paglakad pauwi, di mawala sa isip yung letter. Sino naman yung magkakamaling ilagay yung letter sa bag ko.

“...chi!”

“....sachi!”


“SACHI!”

I popped out of my bubble when someone pulled me by my arm. “Huy, ang sakit ah.”  Pagrereklamo ko.

”He said get out of the way.” Sabi nya, one whom I do not know of. “Huh? Sino?”

“I did.”

And so a tall, Asian guy appeared by my sight giving me a glare. I know him well enough, for being the headline boy. He’s the notorious one. Everybody fears him. The last one everybody would wish to meet in the hallway.

Nanliit ako sa agwat ng height at aura naming dalawa. Nginitian nya ako at ginulo-gulo yung buhok ko.

“Hello, when you walk, just walk, when you stop, stop not in the middle of the hallway. Do you understand?” Sabi nya ng may mala pangiinis na ngiti.

I gave him a satisfying little nod before he left. Nagbubulungan ang lahat ng estudyante sa paligid namin nang lumagpas na sya.

I wonder who gave him the right to mess with my hair when It’s already messed.