One Day In Your Life

Chapter 4: We are B.A.C.

"Thank God some things still have not changed." I say to myself as I look over the calm water that is an awesome shade of turquoise blue and the smooth, white sand beach is still as secluded as it used to be when the BAC and I used to escape here back in the days. I'm holding my Caramel Frapuccino and warm bibingka while sitting under the nipa hut umbrella overlooking the beach from a small hill. I take a picture of the scenery with my drink and bibingka on the foreground and post it on Facebook with my status update of "My escape..." That's because I really am escaping.

I close my eyes and with the sounds of the lapping waves and the cool breeze blowing in my hair, I'm instantly taken back in time.

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FLASHBACK

"Girl seriously! It's a friendly beach volleyball game for us to relax. No need to go crazy like you wanna take my head off with that ball trying to win the championships or something!" says Ash to Justine. Even though all of us are on the varsity volleyball team at school, Justine and I do have the tendency to take volleyball just a tad bit too seriously sometimes. Ok. Most of the time.

"You girls need to chill" says Basti.

"Yeah, just like you guys were so chill when you all got into a fight at the village last week while playing basketball" retorts Lyka.

"Well those bastards were cheating!" shouts Jay.

"Really? I thought you guys were just all riled up because they were talking about a couple of girls you guys got crushes on!" teases Michelle.

"Psshhhh...crush? You kidding me? Sila pa kahay nangulitaw namo ni Franc. (Those girls they are talking about are practically courting Franc and I!") "Diba Franc?" asks Luis. Francis just grins like a buffoon.

"Yuck! Why would they do that?" says Justine complete with scrunched up, grossed out look on her face just to piss off Luis.

"News flash girls! The five of us happen to be smart, good looking and nice guys" declares Antonio.

"Well of course all your mothers would say that! But they don't count!" I butt in. Everyone breaks out into laughter with the girls high fiving each other.

This is how my close friends and I hang out most of the time. We know how to get on each others nerves just to get a reaction but we also know when to back off.

We all live in the same subdivision and our parents all went to college together. Heck, we practically live in each other's houses most of the time. Its hard not to miss us since there are ten of us hanging around together and we are never quiet either!

I'm Maria Cristina Razon. Friends at school and family call me Maricris while my very close friends call me Raz. I'm 17 years old and the eldest of three kids. I'm in the volleyball varsity team at school but I also do Tae Kwon Do. Oh and I love to skateboard as well, much to my mom's dismay. Among the girls in my group I'm probably the least girly one of all. I'm also the class vice president of our year.

There are ten of us in our group: 5 boys and 5 girls. It's funny how it just ended that way. We all have other friends but for some reason we all just gravitate towards each other. All ten of us have known each other since we were learning how to walk.

All five of us girls go to Archstone Prep, an all girls private school and we are all on the varsity volleyball team. There is Justine Dee or JDEE who is into soccer and tae kwon do. She is also the Student Body President of the school. Among us girls she is the serious one.

Then there is Lyka Romano or Lyks. She is the maarte/fashionista in our group. Aside from volleyball, LYKS is also into dancing (ballet, jazz and cheer). She is also the Student Body Treasurer.

Then we have Ashley Rodriguez but we call her ROD. She is an awesome swimmer and is also in cheer team and is the class representative for our year. Most of all, the girl is one huge flirt. OMG!

Last but not the least for the girls is Michelle Tianchan or CHAN. She is the artist among us girls. She loves to paint which I think complements well with the fact that she is also into cheer and drama club and is the Public Relations Officer for our year.

Admittedly us five girls tend to be outspoken, outgoing, fairly level headed, competitive but most of all we are close like sisters even though we all have real sisters as well.

The five boys all go to the same all boys school called Stonehill Academy. They are all in the boys varsity basketball team but they also have their varied interests. Now, the five boys are all very self confident and competitive as hell.

First there is Jay Cochan or J.CO. He is into tennis and is the nerd/techy among the five, and he is also the Student Body President of his school.

Second is Antonio Ozeguerra or OZ as we call him. Swimming is his other sport and the other word to describe him is playboy! But the serious side of him shows through since he is also the Student Body VP.

Next is Sebastian Toledo or BASTI. He is the comic/prankster and he plays soccer and is the class representative for his year.

Francis Diaz or FRANC is my Tae Kwon Do buddy. He is a big bully for people who don't know him and he is the Peace Officer for his class. Not sure how that happened, seems really ironic to me.

Last of the boys is Luis San Diego or SANDI. Among all five of the boys, he is the most laidback and chill guy. He is into baseball and is the PRO for the Student Body.

We are all very close and we have each other's backs. We are B.A.C.....Bad Ass Crew...don't ask me how we got that name. Us girls tried to veto it but after we could not come up with a name that we all could agree on so we decided to keep it.

I have to admit that Antonio was telling the truth earlier when he said they were all smart, good looking and nice guys. Actually, make him really, really, really good looking. I don't know what happened. One day he was this skinny and lanky guy that looked like a pole. Next thing I knew he filled out, got a real haircut from a barber (and not from their driver), wore clothes other than shorts and a worn out t-shirt and voila! he looks human! LOL....

Looking back it was on the first day of our Senior year earlier this year when I noticed during our ride to school that Antonio looked different. We have a service that takes all ten of us to school and picks us up in the afternoon. Even though we all know how to drive and have our own cars, we prefer to take the service because we get to hang out more. And quite frankly, we don't want to sit in traffic.

We are all quiet in the van on our way to school when Antonio caught me staring at him from behind the seat. Picture one of those 12-seater vans and I'm in the last row while he's in the row in front of me on opposite ends of the bench.

"Raz are you okay? Why are you staring at me?" asks Antonio.

Crap! Was I staring at him?

"Dude, don't flatter yourself! As you can see I'm leaning my head on the window and as such my head is angled towards you but does not necessarily mean I'm looking at you!" I brattily said.

"I'll leave the staring of your face to your fans and admirers nga imong binayran! (that you paid off!) I added.

"Ouch!" says J.CO while everyone else laughs.

"It's okay if you stare. I don't mind." OZ flirtily teases me as I feel myself turning red.

"Whatever dude!" I say.

"Girl, why are you turning red?" Lyks whispers to me since she is sitting next to me.

"I am not turning red dammit!" I hiss at her.

"Yes, you are" joins in FRANC who is sitting in front of me. Apparently he heard Lyks' whisper and he turns around to look at me as well with a big ass goofy grin on his face. Sometime I wonder if this guy lives to just give me a hard time.

"Whatever!" I said. Ugggh! It's going to be awhile until we get to school because of the traffic so I decide to just close my eyes before I get caught staring again.