Morning Blushes

chapter one

Sometimes, I still wonder if this is really me when I'm looking at the mirror.

I mean, look at this. All I can see is the usual, boring, ordinary me. I am resting between tall and short. I have long straight hair but not that silky straight from salon posters. I have typical brown eyes and my nose is decent enough to be called a nose. I have a bad case of downward-turned lips that made me look like a walking sorrow.

But my mind is asking why I am actually here. I have a quiz coming up and it's on the first period of my schedule. The coverage of the quiz is not specified but it's most probably about the last lecture. I swear, that particular lesson is really quite boring. Even so, hindi ko maiwasang maisip yung mga quiz simula pa kagabi. I don't think I studied enough but I also know I already did my revisions right after we had the lecture. But that was almost a week ago. I need to get it perfect.

I let out a heavy sigh. Kinuha ko na ang bag ko at bumaba na. I saw Manang cleaning the dining table. She's the only person in this household that I trust more than myself.

"Kain na, Yanna." she smiled at me. 

"May quiz pa po ako e. Mauna na po ako." 

"Sandali, ipagbabaon kita ng tinapay!"

Manang rushed to the kitchen and put her freshly bought pandesal in a Tupperware and handed it to me. Hinatid niya ako sa gate at kinawayan pa. I smiled a bit at Manang's energy. Naglakad ako papunta sa school na nasa may labasan lang nitong subdivision. 

Pagkarating ko sa school, I'm just on time. I'm not looking at anyone and diretso lang ang lakad ko. I'm used to it though. Pumasok ako sa classroom at dumeretso sa dulong dulo na part ng classroom for our first subject. Kinuha ko yung Kindle Paperwhite ko and started to read. Pilit kong kinakalimutan yung quiz dahil sasabog na ako sa kaba. I kept on studying it for the past week already and dedicated a few minutes last night dahil tinapos ko pa ang ibang kailangan gawin. I wish that's enough. 

I pulled out my revisions but that's more like my props into believing that I'm actually cramming. Pinatong ko na lang sa table ko at tinakluban ng Kindle ko to convince myself that this will turn out to be just fine.

Nung dumating na yung teacher namin, natahimik na lang ako. I need to encourage myself na nag-aral ako. I will ace this quiz perfectly. And if not, it's the end of my world already.

"Good morning, class. I'm sorry for being a bit late. Our quiz will be postponed. We've been having some arrangements regarding the transferee. You have a new classmate."

They're all curious about the new classmate yet I am here, plotting and revising my schedule in my head. There's no time for me now to have a new study session for this particular quiz. The rest of my week is fully packed with other projects.

Nagbasa na lang ulit ako. I am simply not interested. Everyone's excited about it but I don't see the point in going high over it. Murmurs started to grow louder probably talking about the transferee. Well, most of them are my classmates since junior high so I guess it's really a big deal for them to look at a new face.

Halos balabag na bumukas ang pintuan kaya napatingin lahat doon. Wala sana akong pakialam but my curiosity won. Napatingin na rin ako.

My eyebrows shot up when a familiar face greeted me. Especially those eyes. I can't believe this. He's the guy who jumped on the rooftop! Is this serious? Among all the people around? I stared at his face for a while and I'm sure na siya 'yon. He's the rooftop stranger who just stands at the edge of the rooftop and had the gut to jump constantly. I thought he's at college because of his height and his kind of profession. 

After that encounter, I went to Google immediately and did some research. I found out what he's doing is freerunning or parkour. I even watched videos of it and there are more nerve-racking heights they go to like literal buildings. Hindi ko kinaya even the first half of the video. They are unholy fearless.