"HOOOYYY! Bilisan mo! Male-late na naman tayo! Sinabi ko naman kasi sayo na gumising ka ng maaga. Buong linggo na tayong nale-late huy! I even told you to sleep early at night! Ano na naman ang ginawa mo kagabi, ha?" My best friend said continuously without even breathing in between. She is Julliana Ramirez, but I prefer to call her Juls. She is my 'other half.' We literally know each other's problems and secrets. And I am lucky because she never left my side despite all my rants and problems in life.
"Can you please calm down, Juls? Wala tayong klase sa period na to, remember? "
"Yeah, I know. Pero may parusa ang dere-deretsong araw na late, remember?" She said mimicking my voice. "Duh! Ayoko kaya maglinis ng CR! Tss, mag-isa mo! Hmp!" Yes, the punishment for being late for consecutive days is cleaning the toilet. But I do not care.
We're neighbors. And that's obviously the reason why we go to school together. She patiently waits for me every morning to make sure I will go to school every day - because I have so many reasons not to.
By the way, my name is Genoveva Salvador. I am 17 years old and a Grade 12 student. I have the most perfect family - before. I was the class's role model before. I was the most admired student in school before. Good things only happened before. Now, I have the most complicated family. I am the class's problem. And I distance myself to other people except for Juls.
It is because I have changed. My family changed me.
I can still remember the exact date and time. It was July 25 last year at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Juls and I were going home and she kept on telling me a story.
"Gen, you know what? You are the saddest person on Earth!" She said sarcastically.
"Because I have most of the problems here on Earth." I said plainly.
"Come on, cheer up! You still have a lot of time in life. Just enjoy your life and don't be drowned in your problems."
Time. Life. Nevermind. We are all going to die anyway.
Upon walking home I saw a familiar car on the other side of the street. Juls kept on talking and talking and I focused my eyes inside the car. Luckily the windows were open and I could see two persons inside. The other one looked really familiar to me while the other one was not.
"Nakita mo ba yung mukha ni Kamil kanina? HAHAHAHA her cheeks were so red like she was made sampal by ---"
"Hey, Julliana" She immediately stopped talking and turned to me.
"What?" iritadong tanong niya dahil sa naputol nitong pagkukweto. "Nagsasalita yung tao e bigla-bigla nalang --"
"Tignan mo yung kotse." I said and pointed the car on the other side of the street.
"Well, it's your car. So?" She asked.
"It's my dad. Malabo paningin ko pero alam kong kilala ko ang taong iyon." tukoy ko sa lalaking nasa loob ng sasakyan, nakangiti at tumatawa.
Then I saw her focused her eyes on the car.
"Uh y-yeah. It's your dad w-with another woman" she said hesitantly and uttering.
I knew it.
Ayaw ko sanang mag-isip ng masama but the moment I looked at the car again, they were already kissing. And that very moment, Julliana Ramirez dragged me to somewhere I did not know. I didn't tend to know where exactly we were going. All I knew was my heart was beating so fast and I could hardly breathe.
BINABASA MO ANG
Daughter in Distress
Short StoryA story of a depressed, young girl with a very complicated family. Genoveva Salvador, a girl who witnessed her father cheating, has always been wanting to have her family back to what they were used to be, even at least before she dies.
