His Innocent Secret

V. SUGAT

“Here’s the rule that Ms. Rodriguez instructed for the graded oral recitation:
The set of questions covers all of our lessons from the first day of the actual classes. She already left the box which was delivered from the faculty room earlier this morning. Andun ang lahat ng tanong na pagbubunutan natin. We are going to pick 2 pieces of papers and they will contain our assigned questions. Each question is equivalent to 10% of our grades. So our scores will only either 10, 20, or 0. Nothing follows”

Biglang napuno ng ingay ang classroom dahil hindi inaasahan ng lahat na dalawang tanong pala ang sasagutin at walang kahit points for effort man lang kapag nagkamali.

“Pero huwag kayong masyadong mangamba. Ms. Rodriguez allowed one help from another classmate. Kaya pwede kayong manghingi ng back-up para isa sa dalawang tanong, and the classmate you chose will give you a hint of what he/she thinks is the correct answer.”

“Can we choose you, kuya?” Agad na naitanong ni Winny.

“By all means. But remember, isang beses lang pwedeng tanungin ang isang estudyante. So if may nakahingi na ng tulong ko, I will no longer be available again.” Agad na bumagsak ang mukha ni Winny, pati na ng iba ko pang mga kaklase. Kuya didn’t seem to notice.

“Again, ako raw ang mauunang sumabak. Also, to be fair, Ms. Rodriguez said that I will be graded by someone else. And she just told me who it would be,” Ramdam ko na ang kasunod nito. Pero sana mali ako. I don’t want to deal with him right now at baka kung ano pa ang mailagay ko, “Rynn Lexie Gererra.”

I exhaled deeply. Fine, then. Just get done with this, Rynn. Dumiretso na lang ako sa pinaka-likuran kung saan madalas umuupo si Ms. Rodriguez para obserbahan ang mga class reporters. Nang makaupo na ako, lumapit si kuya Jasper para ibigay ang class list where I would record his grade. I took it from him and nodded, using the same authoritative look that he was giving us since he started. Akala mo ikaw lang?

“Any words to cheer me up?” He asked with a smile, as if hindi nangyari yung kanina. As if I still see him as my kuya crush.

“Good luck, Mr. Sevilla.” I replied with utmost neutrality, and without looking up. I just kept myself busy by pretending to look for his name in the list; kahit pa man halos luwain na ng sistema ko ang nagwawala kong puso. Well, in my defense, ganito naman talaga ‘to kapag lumalapit sa akin ang kahit na sinong kinasasamaan ko ng loob. Pramis. Peksman. Mamatay man—
yung butiki na nakita ko kagabi sa CR.

Siguro naramdaraman niya rin ang pag-iwas ko kaya bumalik na lamang siya sa harapan. Bumunot na rin siya ng tanong mula sa box. The first instruction was to enumerate the different stopovers of the pilgrims from Tabard Inn in Canterbury tales. Nakuha ni kuya Jasper lahat nang walang kahirap-hirap. Then he picked another paper and began to read the next instruction. It said:

“Recite at least three stanzas from Kahlil Gibran’s poem, A Lover’s Call”

“Hala teka, kasama pa yan?” Tanong ng kaklase kong si Rina.
“Hala lagot wala akong namemorize na Kahlil Gibran!” Giit pa ng isa
“Ako nga rin eh. Paano yan? Sana walang ganyan satin!”
“Hala baka mahirapan si kuya niyan.”

“Shh!” Pagsasaway ko. “Hayaan niyo siya. Kung talagang nag-aral siya makukuha niya ‘yan.”
The heck, who are you kidding Rynn? Kahit hindi pa mag-aral yang si kuya, alam niya na yan.

Baka nga tuwang tuwa pa ‘yan sa nabunot niya, eh.

Pero sandali lang, bakit parang hindi siya mapakali? Namental block kaya siya? Imposible. Baka bothered lang siya dahil sa sinabi niya sa amin at sa hindi ko pagpansin sa kanya kanina. O baka nagpapanggap lang na tensed para hindi magmukhang know-it-all na katulad ko.