The Weird Existence of Henry

ch. 01

n e w s

Napapaligiran ako ng mga tawang hindi pamilyar, ng mga kwentong hindi gamay ng aking mga tenga at ng mga bulong na hindi ko man lang mapangalanan. Ganito. Ganito ang takbo ng buhay ko. Hindi ko lubos mawari kung bakit pakiramdam ko, lagi akong nag-iisa. Hindi ko alam kung bakit, kahit lagi nila akong sinasama, kahit lagi nila akong kasama, bakit parang...parang napapag-iwanan pa rin ako sa alapaap?

Here we are, having lunch in our usual table, they were talking about some tumblr meme I have no idea about, gaggling over and over again while throwing snarky comments about it. And then, there was me. Thinking, kung hanggang kailan kaya ako magpapanggap na naiintindihan ko ang pinag-uusapan nila?

Ganito naman lagi eh. If not a meme, it's going to be a bastketball game that Dave and Simon went to, with their girlfriends Cindy and Stacey. They will go on and on about how lame their lay ups were, cracking some jokes and then, I would pretend to laugh and get what they were talking about but in reality...I don't.

They were not entirely that bad though. Siguro kasalanan ko rin kung bakit ako naa-out of place. Hindi rin kasi ako pumupunta sa mga games nila. At kapag pumunta naman ako, parang wala lang din kasi sa halip na ituon ang pansin sa laro, ay tinatansya ko ang oras kung kailan matatapos ang lahat. Kaya nang dumating si Wesley sa buhay namin, I was super happy. Finally naging even ang number ng grupo. May kakampi nako.

Wesley Abueva was part of Dave and Simon's org. He also plays ball for the university kaya nagkakasundo sila. But unlike them, Wesley talks about real stuff. He asks you if the food you're having was fine or how lame the class was. To be honest, he was fun to talk to. Kaya naman, hinihintay ko siyang dumating dahil hindi ko alam kung hanggang saan ang kaya kong makinig sa pinag-uusapan nilang player na masyadong mahina raw kung maglaro.

Speak of the devil. He's finally coming this way. He was in his usual blue varsity jacket with a white shirt underneath. Mula sa malayo, pinapakita na nito ang kaniyang perpektong mapuputing ngipin. Pero bigla akong natigilan dahil sa mga daliring nakadantay sa kaniyang kamay.

"What up bruh?" paghi-high five ni Dave sa kaniya habang namamangha pa rin sa kasama nito.

"Where u been at?" pagtataka ni Stacey habang ang mga matay nakatuon sa imahe ng dilag.

"You guys, I'd like you to meet, Amy," inakbayan niya ito, senyales ng halaga nito sa kaniya. "My girlfriend."

I was taken aback.

Girlfriend???

"OMG!! Finally!!" tili naman agad ni Martha. 

"Congrats bro," naghigh five ulit Dave at Simon sa kaniya.

"Amy, these are my friends," pagpapakilala nito. "Dave, Simon, Stacey, Cindy, Martha and Gwen."

"Nice to meet you everyone," she said, beaming from ear to ear.

"Nice to finally meet you too! Gosh! We had no idea!" reaksyon naman ni Stacey.

I could feel Cindy's hand subtly caressing my back, that says, it's okay, you know this is bound to happen right?

"Ikaw ha, di mo man lang sinabi sa amin?!" ang sabi ko naman, medyo pabirong nagtatampo, pilit na binabaon sa tono ang gulat at sakit.

"Well, I wouldn't want to tell you guys about it before it becomes official," sagot ni Wesley, this time, nagkatitigan ang magkasintahan na para bang naglaho ang mundo sa paligid nila at sila nalang dalawa ang magkasama. "Anyways, we better get going. May pupuntahan pa kasi kami. Sige later man."

"Bye Amy!!" pamamaalam namin sa 'girlfriend' ni Wesley.

Nang makaalis sila, I assumed this would be the conversation about. I mean, I couldn't blame them. It's so sudden.

"Can you believe that?" reaksyon ni Cindy.

"The girl seems so familliar," dagdag pa ni Simon.

"Please, every girl seems familliar to you Simon," komento naman ni Martha.

"Well that's a bummer," komento naman bigla ni Stacey na pumukaw ng atensyon naming lahat. "I thought there's going on between you two, Gwen."

Nanlaki agad ang aking mga mata. Nanlamig ang aking mga palad. Ngayon, sa akin nakatuon ang kanilang mga mata, naghihintay ng kung anong klaseng reaksyon. I opened my mouth and closed them. I didn't know what to respond.

"What? What are you talking about Staice? Wala namang meron samin ni Wes ah," I reacted, putting some laugh in between my sentence, trying to put emphasis on what I meant.

"Well I just thought na you two went out. Masyado kasi kayong close. Minsan nga kayo lang ang lumalabas eh," she's not letting this go. I never thought she actually noticed that.

"Sus wala lang yun no. Classmates din kasi kami sa ibang subjects kaya madalas kami magkasama," sagot ko naman.
They were still looking at me. Totally not convinced with everything that I've said. Sa mga ganitong sandali ng buhay mo, dito mo talaga mararamdamang talagang nag-iisa ka.

"Gwen has a boyfriend," all of a sudden, Cindy just blurted it out.

"What?" sabay naming reaksyon ni Stacey.

"Whoah, you have a boyfriend?" halatang nabigla si Simon sa sinabi ng girlfriend niyang si Cindy.

"Yes! They always exchange emails every night," sagot naman ni Cindy.

"You read my emails??" tanong ko agad sa kaniya, trying not to panick and keeping my cool.

"No but I've seen you type on your laptop every night. I think I remember his name. It goes something with H right? Hector? Oh!!! Henry!" dagdag pa ni Cindy.

"How come you never told us about this guy?" Stacey asked, suspense was evident in her voice.

How could I tell you guys about my boyfriend, Henry, when he doesn't even exist????!!! I was about to answer her but then the bell rang. So we started gathering our stuffs.

"We are not done talking about this. You need to tell us every single detail okay?" ang sabi naman ni Martha bago siya pumanhik.

"Yes we need to hear about this," pagsang ayon naman ni Stacey.

"Later pips," pamamaalam ni Dave. Sabay ring umalis si Simon at Cindy at naiwan akong tulala.

I can't even wrap up my brain with the fact that Wesley has a girlfriend all along and now I have to tell them that I write to my fictional boyfriend whose name is Henry every single night, telling him how shitty my life is!!! I know my life's not perfect at all, but I didn't know it could be this worse.

What should I do???

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I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it :') This is Patch saying Yes to Happy Reading and Happy life ❤