About You

IX.

-I think I like her... wit. Parehong pareho kasi sila ni Renea. Amazonas trapped in a damsel's body.

The next day, I went to school earlier than usual. Syempre baka mauna pa sakin si Ms. Taray at itrash talk na naman ako. Mas okay na yung sigurado.

"Good morning Leoel! Bat nag-iisa ka? Wanna grab breakfast with us?" tanong sakin nung muse ng basketball team namin. She's with her usual circle of friends.

"Oo nga naman Leoel, come and join us!" her friend insisted.

"Thanks for the offer ladies, but I'm meeting with someone and if you're wondering why I'm alone, well tulog pa sina Iris so..." feeling ko naman ay gets na nila yon.

I passed by them at pumwesto sa isang table sa tabi ng bintana. Holding Ms. Taray's notebook I started playing with its pages and smiled when I saw the last page. Just like on Maxwell's notes, I also doodled on Ms. Taray's notebook. Hehe. Sana di nya ako saktan dahil dito.

Maya-maya pa nakita ko na ang date kong papasok ng cafeteria. Compared yesterday, she looked cuter today with her low Pigtails. In fairness. Itinaas ko ang kamay ko to catch her attention. At mukhang hindi lang attention nya ang nakuha ko. I saw the group of girls a while ago, na nagsimulang magbulungan. I even saw them glared at Ms. Taray when she passed them. Ugh girls.

"Good morning Ms. Taray este Ms. Lacsamana pala." I greeted her while smiling from ear to ear. Inirapan nya ako bago ilahad ang kamay nya sa harap ko.

"Give me my notebook back."

Umiling ako "Uh-uh-uh. Not until you treat me breakfast." at umirap na naman po sya. Seriously di ba sya nahihilo kakairap?

"Fine. What do you want?"

You. Joke haha "Pancakes with honey syrup and iced coffee. Thank you!" Iirap sana sya ulit pero inunahan ko na sya.

"Ops. Tama na irap. Baka mahilo ka na nyan." pinagtaasan nya na lang ako ng kilay at pumunta na sa counter.

"Wow thank you Ms. Lacsamana!" I joyfully ate a spoonful of pancake bago sya inalok. "You want?" Bili ka ng sayo haha.

"No thank you. Now can you please give me back my notebook?" alam mo yung tono ng pananalita na gigil na gigil ka na pero pinipilit mong kalmahin sarili mo kasi maaga pa para mangtrash talk? Ganung-ganon ang tono nya. Haha grabe wala pa akong ginagawa nyan ah.

"Mamaya na, baka iwan mo ko bigla e, hindi masaya kumain mag-isa."

"I don't care. Isa pa I already bought you food so give me back my notebook. PLEASE." Ayan na, she's loosing her temper na. Oh well wala naman talaga akong planong galitin sya, atleast not now. Masyado pang maaga.

Dahan-dahan kong ipinatong sa table ang notebook nya. When she was about to get it, hinigpitan ko ang hawak ko sa notebook nya. Haha. Ayoko syang galitin, pero asarin? Gustong-gusto.

"Hey! Let go." But I didn't loosen my grip on her notebook.

"I said let go!" Di pa din ako bumibitaw. She deeply sighed before holding the glass of ice coffee with her other hand. "Bibitawan mo o papaliguan kita ng kape?!" Uh-oh. Sayang kape.

Wala na akong nagawa kung hindi bitiwan yung notebook nya na agad nya namang kinuha.

"Thank goodness." Ms. Taray immediately scanned her notebook but before she reached the last page I spoke already. "Your works are nice, you can submit it to the campus journ. They can include it on their literary section."

Ms. Taray raised her eyebrow "Oh really?" she closed her notebook and sarcastically smiled. "Let's get this straight Mr. I don't even know you so please stop talking as if we're friends. We're not even close okay?"

She's really a no chill babe. I offered my hand to her "I am Aristotleo Cahel Jimenez, junior, campus' photo journurnalist. Nice to meet you Ms. Hera Artemis Lacsamana."

Kumunot ang noo nya, she looked questioning. "Your precious notebook has your name on it if you're wondering how did I know your name." Hera simply nodded pero hindi nawawala ang kunot sa noo nya.

"Your name is Cahel? Cahel as in orange?" She pointed at the orange cover of her notebook. I nodded. "Hm. In fairness your name is cute. Unique."

Huh. Now she's starting to compliment me."Hindi lang naman pangalan yung cute, pati syempre yung may ari ng pangalan." I wiggled my eyebrows.

Syempre irap na naman sya. "I said your NAME, not you. Feeling to." Natawa naman ako. "Anyway, your name reminds me of my dog. Kaso he died years ago."

It's my turn para kumunot ang noo.
"What? Dog! Why? Do I look like a dog? Grabe ka ha."

"Sabi ko yung pangalan mo. Hindi, ikaw mismo. Ano ba naman yan."

"Ohh..sorry na. So Cahel din pangalan nya?" I curiously asked. Himala, we're already having a decent conversation.

"Not exactly, it's Orange and he's a corgi. And besides my dog is way better than you Mr. Aristotleo." Hera said confidently. Huh.

"Call me Leoel but if you want, you can call me Cahel, feel free to do so." cute daw ng pangalan ko e. Inilahad kong muli ang kamay ko."So can we be friends now, Ms. Hera?"

Nag-isip pa muna sya bago tinanggap ang kamay ko. "Dahil, kapangalan mo naman ang aso ko, fine. Call me Heart. I prefer it that way." Heart. Her name is cuter than mine.

Pagkabitaw nya sa kamay ko, she stood up immediately. "It's time already. I have to go. Thanks for returning this, but I don't really appreciate you reading my poems. Hmn. Bye"

Pfft. "Haha thanks also for the foods! See you around."

*
I was brought back to reality when my phone rang. Sinagot ko agad ang tawag ni Iris.

"Pre kumusta edit? Marami ka na bang na screenshot na mukha ni Heart?" His chuckle irritates me big time.

"Siraulo." Iris laughed even more. "I'm still reviewing the clips. Balitaan ko kayo bukas."

"Orayt. Anyway, Saturday will be the next shoot. Wanna come?" Napabuntong hininga ako. "As if I can. You know Heart's condition."

"Is she really that mad? Parang sobrang OA naman."

"Kasalanan ko di naman. Kung hindi ko sya sinaktan, hindi naman kami magkakaganito."

"Kung hindi mo sya sinaktan, wala sya sa kinalalagyan nya ngayon." Iris has a point. We're just complicated.

"Anyway, the next shoot will be about the inspiration of Heart's 'Heartless Heart.' We all know that it's about your past relationship and I think... she'll reveal something important that will make things clear. Sigurado ka ayaw mo pumunta?" Ah. The missing piece of our past, the thing that prevents us from fixing things up.

I clicked the next clip and stared at Heart's face on the screen. She's now introducing her workplace. I touched her smiling face. I made up my mind.

"Sige. Pupunta ako."

***

Thank you for reading my story! 💜