I'm Busted Loving the Prince (A Story About Us)

Ch.20: Cleaners

Ch. 20: Cleaners

"Hay, nakakapagod naman. I'm freakin' tired."

Charles grabbed his towel at naupo siya sa bench. He's resting and wiping his sweat. Maaga pa pero he's already tired kasi may practice game sila. Halos lahat ng teammates niya at members ng pep squad ay nagpunta na ng cafeteria para kumain, excused kasi sila sa kanilang morning classes to practice for the upcoming interschool sports fest.

"Ahem."

Charles turned his head towards the person who obviously cleared her throat.

"Dianne?"

"Duh. It's Jane," she corrected him.

Actually, nahihirapan si Charles alalahanin ang mga pangalan nila. Besides, normal lang ito as if naman na nag-a-attendance siya ng mga girls niya. At most of the time nakakalimutan na niya sila kasi sa rami sila and some of them are just plain vain and annoying.

"Oh, Jane."

It's Jane, a junior. Popular siya sa batch nila dahil maganda siya. But she's also known to be clingy on her boyfriends and even crushes.

"Bakit hindi mo sinasagot ang mga tawag ko? Are you avoiding me? Don't you love me anymore, honey?" Jane started asking, clinging her arms to his arms.

"Whoa, wait! Wala akong sinabi na I love you," he replied, removing her arms.

"But you kissed me!"

"Pero that doesn't mean we're in a relationship. And stop pestering me," Charles replied coldly.

Jane scoffed, "Hindi mo ba maintndihan? Can't you get it? I. Love. You."

Charles scoffed too,
"Hindi mo rin ba maintindihan? I. Don't. Love. You. And besides, matagal na 'yon. That was months ago. Nagbago na ako, Jane. I don't want to play games anymore."

"Stop it! Sinungaling! You're always a player!" Jane bursted out. Paiyak na nga siya eh.

Itinaas niya ang kamay niya para sampalin si Charles.

Charles just closed his eyes waiting for the blow. Pero unti-unti niyang binuksan ito because it never came.

His eyes widened realizing what happened. Jenny is gripping Jane's arm tight, before it could even reach him.

"You're cutting classes," Jenny said firmly.

The other girl gulped. Kilala si Jenny na easy-going at friendly but everyone knows better than to piss her off.

Hindi mo magugusthan ang kaya niyang gawin sa school life mo dito sa Kent High.

No one defied her, ever.

Binitiwan na rin ni Jenny ang kamay ni Jane.

"Narinig mo ang sinabi niya, that was ages ago. Stop clinging onto him."

"But! He--"

"I said stop it!" Jenny rose her voice.

That made Jane gulped and felt scared.

Bihira sumigaw si Jenny. You would always see her smiling and laughing.

"I-I'm..." Jane stammered.

It's really bad to mess with her. At alam ito ng mga ex-girlfriend ni Charles.

Then, out of the blue, Jenny smiled geniunely and widely, making Jane bewildered to her limit.

Eh? Akala ko....galit siya?!

"I'll just take care of him for you," Jenny said cutely, winking.

Eh? What's wrong with her?

Jane sighed.

Alam na niya that this smile and that sentence would only mean one thing. Isa 'yong indirect na paraan ni Jenny to say that, "Tumigil ka na or else ako ang hindi titigil sa'yo."

"O-Okay," Jane gave up.

At umalis na rin siya. Jenny sat next to Charles on the bleachers.

Suddenly, Jenny slapped Charles' arm.

"Aray! Jenny! Para saan 'yon?!"

"Makakatikim ka pa sa akin kung ipagpaptuloy mo ito. Stop playing around!"

Charles smiled, it only shows how Jenny is concerned about him.

"But you seriously looked cool kanina ha. 'You're cutting classes'," Charles commented, mocking her voice.

Pinalo ulit siya ni Jenny, mas malakas na this time.

"HOY! KAPAG AKO NABALIAN, YOU'LL GONNA BE PAYING FOR MY HOSPITALIZATION!!"

"Then stop mocking me! You player!"

"Whoa, look who's talking! 'Di ba tayo ang tinatawag na THE 'players'?" Charles said, smirking.

She sighed, "What am I going do with you?"

Si Jenny at Charles ay mag-bestfriends na since birth. But instead of being BFFs, they call each other partners in crime. Sobrang malapit sila sa isa't isa and their relationship is pretty cool.

It's true. The two of them have that reputation...pero noon 'yon. They would make boyfriends and girlfriends left and right and then dump them tomorrow or even later in that day. So, they're called THE "players". Pero kahit na ganoon sila, many still admires and love them kasi mabait sila, carefree, friendly at masayang kasama.

And in reality, their reputation being players is different. Si Charles...ganoon na talaga siya. Para sa kanya, hooking up with someone is always as easy as blinking an eye but breaking the ties with that someone is as hard as putting an acid on an open wound. So, Jenny would often take care of those girls para Charles.

Pero hindi katulad ni Jenny si Charles. Her relationships are because of love. Kahit sabihin na marami na siyang naging boyfriends, at least hindi katulad ni Charles who's just looking for fun, she's always looking for love. And she's confident enough to hook up and break up.

And at least now, hindi na nagpumilit pa si Jane. Probably, having enough Charles' girls on Jenny's list made Jane shut up.

Ngayon, Jenny insists that she's no longer a player and had changed, since discovering something. And as expected, Charles is also starting to change like his partner in crime.

"Dati 'yon...but I had changed," she said slowly.

Charles chuckled before putting an arm over Jenny's shoulder.

"Of course, alam ko 'yun. But seriously, thanks for always cleaning up my mess especially from these girls. You're the bestest of the bestfriends all ooooover the world," he said, smiling.

"Oh kain na tayo! Gutom na ako! Let's go bestfriend," he added, holding her hand and dragging her to the cafeteria.

"Oo...friend.." Jenny said mumbled.

"Huh? May sinasabi ka?"

"Ha? Ah...wala."


***

Wave is looking at the whiteboard with his ever bored and sleepy expression. Nagtuturo ang teacher nila about monomials, binomials, polynomials at wala naman siyang balak makinig. Wala siyang pakialam kahit ang tinuturo pa niya ay millionomials or even zillionomials.

Suddenly, Jeryll put a small paper on his desk. It was folded into half. Tiningnan niya si Jeryll with "what the hell is this" look. She just nodded at him.

Wave rolled his eyes at her and opened the paper.

Binasa niya ito....


"Hoy! Stop daydreaming! Makinig ka nga! Remember, 'wag ka uuwi kaagad, mag-aaral pa tayo!!!"


Jeryll looked at him and he just whispered, "Inaantok na kasi ako. But don'tworry, sagot ko na ang entertainment."

Then he smirked. Suddenly, Wave took the paper in his hand and crushed it into a ball. He stood up and swung his arm holding the ball. He threw the paper ball, with all his might, towards....


The paper ball traveled across the classroom and crashed firmly on the....


....back of their teacher's head who's writing something on the board.


What the?! Nababaliw na ang isang ito!!!!

Umupo kaagad si Wave para hindi mahalata. Then, nag-panic si Jeryll and out of reflex napatayo siya dahil hindi na niya alam ang gagawin niya. It was an automatic reaction for her.

Sira ulo ka talaga Wave!!!!

"Sino ang nagbato nito?! Ikaw, Jeryll?!" The teacher yelled. Sobrang galit ito.

Si Jeryll, ang nag-iisang taong nakatayo, syempre ang una mong pagkakamalang nagbato. Pero she's determined na hindi maparusahan sa kasalaang hindi naman niya ginawa. Sorry, pero kailangan niyang ituro ang may kagagawan nito.

"Sir! Hindi ako ang nagbato! Si Wave!" She pleaded innocently sabay turo kay Wave.

"Wave?!" tanong ng teacher nila.

"Sir! Hindi niyo naiintindihan! Kanina pa niya ako ginugulo dito. She's passing to me love notes while we're having a lesson," Wave defended.

"What a nonsense accusation is that?! Ikaw nga ang natutulog dyan eh!" Jeryll argued.

"No!"

"Yes!"

An argument started between the two habang pinapanuod lang sila ng buong klase. They're all amused on their childish act. In fact, they really looked cute.

Nagpatuloy lang ang pagbabangayan ng dalawa at walang nagpapatalo sa kanila kaya nainis na ang teacher nila.

"So hindi kayo nakikinig sa lesson ko?!" The teacher said angrily.

The two gulped.

"Sir hindi--"
"We are--"


"Well, then. Para matapos na ito at matuto kayo. You two will..."


***

"Argh! Kasalanan mo ito kaya naglilinis tayo ngayon ng room!!!" sigaw ni Jeryll kay Wave.

"Aba at ako pa ah. Stop complaining. Just clean the room."

Bilang kapalit ng hindi nila pakikinig kanina at pag-aaway nila sa harap ng teacher nila, they were punished to clean their classroom after class.

"Hoy mahal na prinsipe! Bakit ako lang ang naglilinis dito? Bakit nakaupo ka lang dyan?!"

"Ikaw na ang nagsabi. Because I'm the prince," he replied, smirking.

"Hoy! Tutulungan mo ako o ikaw ang ililigpit ko?!!!!"

Then, Jeryll started chasing Wave around their classroom holding a broomstick.

"Haha! Sige! Tingnan natin kung mahabol mo ako!"

"Hoy! Bumalik ka dito!"

Nagpaikot-ikot sila at naghabulan sa loob ng classroom. Nakakapagod pero ironically, the both of them are having fun. Then after a few laps around the room, tumigil sa pagtakbo si Wave to catch his breath. He saw Jeryll came running towards him.

"What the?!"

Nagpatuloy lang si Jeryll sa pagtakbo papunta sa kanya.

Lagot ka ngayon sa akin, Zamora!!!!

Suddenly, when she was just inches away from him, she stepped on a rug on the floor.

Nadulas siya.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

Both of them fell to the floor with Jeryll on top.

Nahilo si Wave sa impact. He slowly opened his eyes.

It was then that he realized that someone is on top of him and his hands are on her waist.

Binuksan ni Jeryll ang mga mata niya and found two brown eyes staring back at her.

Those eyes are...gorgeous.

Before they knew it, nagkatitigan sila. It was like they were magnetized.

They are just mere inches away from each other. With just one wrong move, they can be kissing. Jeryll can feel his hot breath on her cheeks and vice versa.

This feeling is nice....


Slowly, they both started to close their eyes...


They leaned in...


Then...


"Tingnan mo!" a familiar voice said.

Napatigil sila and they shot their eyes open. They saw  Lilian and Daniel giggling.

"Look! They're making out!" Lilian pointed at them.

"On the floor!" Daniel stating out the obvious.

"Hahahahaha!"
Daniel and Lilian started laughing out loud.

What the?!

Then the two scrambled onto their feet and dali-daling tumayo.

"Hoy hindi ah!" they both denied, blushing madly.

Then, pumasok si Ashley sa room.

"Guys, tumigil na kayo. Nagkakamali kayo ng nakita," she said.

"See! Tama si Ashley!" Jeryll and Wave agreed in unison.

Then Ashley continued,


"They're not making out, tinutulungan lang ni Wave si Jeryll by using their bodies to wipe the floor!"

"Hahahaha!!!!!"

Tapos, the three of them bursted out laughing loudly.

"Shut up! We're not!" the couple yelled at them blushing still.

Mas lalo lang natawa ang tatlo.

Ashley shook her head, "Yeah right! Hindi ako naniniwala sa inyo. Mas maniniwala pa ako kung sasabihin niyong si Lilian at si Daniel na."

Napatigil si Lilian at si Daniel sa pagtawa. Their eyes widened at Ashley's comment.

"EWWW!!!" They both said at the same time with glares and disgusted looks from their faces.

"Hahahahahaha!"

And now it's Ashley, Jeryll and Wave's time to laugh at the two.