The Sun, The Moon, and Their Stars

31 : Ball

Benjamin

It's six thirty-five on my phone. I'm standing next to a plant box near the gate.

Daryl texted me that he's on his way. Steve is already at the gym, ridiculously early. Jay doesn't have a cellphone, but we agreed to meet here first, at six-thirty, so I wait. I see him now, entering the gate with a camera bag hanging on his shoulder.

"Sorry, I forgot my ID earlier," he says. "I had to go back."

"You ditched the tie?" I point at his light yellow shirt.

"I'll have a camera around my neck the whole time, anyway."

"Daryl will meet us there, and Cap's been here since five-thirty."

"Okay," he nods, "let's go."

We start walking to the left of the old quadrangle, passing by the small park-like area, where there are concrete benches and tables, and tall trees surrounding them. Kim and I sat on one of those benches earlier this week, while we waited for the rest of our classmates to gather at the nearby space, where we practiced for our section's class dance.

"What's with the blue?" Jay points at what I'm wearing, a light-blue long-sleeved shirt and a necktie with variations of blue in diagonal stripes.

"I like blue," I casually say.

"Since when?"

"A few months ago."

"Right," he says with a laugh, "of course."

It's starting to get dark when we reach the walkways going down to the gym, and the lights overhead are already on. We see some of our other batchmates gathering around. Some of them wave at us, and we wave back at them.

"Hey, we're finally going to hear that band," Jay quietly tells me. And we share a laugh.

"I bet they'll play that Eraserheads song."

"I'm kind of hoping that they'd do a Rivermaya instead."

"Not an E-heads fan?"

He answers me with a shrug.

"Well, I'm just kind of hoping that they sound good," I say with a slight laugh. "I mean, who would want this night to end off-key?"

We're outside the gym now, and I can hear music coming from inside, though I don't recognize the song. The freshies are taking group pictures at the side by the concrete wall.

"Things were so different this time last year," Jay says, looking away from them.

I look away too. "I know."

I see Lawrence right by the doors, talking to a middle-aged woman, who's probably someone from the events provider that they hired.

Jay and I step onto the red carpet. And the first thing I notice is the silver round figure hanging on the ceiling in the middle of the half part of the gym. Whoever's in charge of the music plays something familiar this time, and the colorful lights dance along with the tune.

I read through the cardboard on top of the tables and search for those assigned to my section. Wisdom is on the left side of the gym, in the middle of the rows of tables, and near the refreshments area. Then I start looking around at the people.

She's part of the committees, and she's never late, so she's definitely somewhere here right now.

I spot Mela, across on the other side, next to one of the long tables, and talking to Crystal. I turn my head right, and I see a group of people in front of one of the tables. I turn to my left and face the corner near the foot of the stairs going up to the stage. And there are Aldrin, Mary Anne, and Kimberly. They're walking along the middle of the gym, going to where Mela is.