Deprived

Deprived 5

Pass the message

"SONG to Celia was written by Ben Jonson. Now class does anyone here knows Ben Jonson or have had heard of him before?"

Walang nagtaas ng kamay sa mga kaklase ko. My teacher, Miss Guztov sighed. She fixed her eyeglasses then turned the PowerPoint to the next slide.

"He was one of the greatest poet back then. Even greater than Shakespeare! But his fame died down because of the crime he committed....."

I was listening intently to our teacher. She instructed us to take out our notebook. When I remembered that I lent it to Riri.

I looked around the room to find where he was currently sitting. I bit my lower lip when I saw him sitting at the very back of the room. Medyo malayo saakin since I was in the middle.

I tried to call his attention by doing hand signals but he's too focus on what he's reading. I decided to tear a piece of paper and write my message.

Napagalitan pa ako ni Miss dahil nakita niya akong kaway ng kaway.

"Is there a problem Miss Salcedo?" I felt my classmates looked at me. Naramadaman kong uminit ang aking pisnge because of embarrassment.

"Uhh, nothing Miss. uhh I was just ahm-stretching po. Hehe."

Mukha namang binili ni Miss Gustov ang palusot ko. So she let it slide and continued discussing.

"Psst Xylie."

"Ano?"

"Can you pass this paper up to Riri? He has my notebook."

And so pinagpasapasahan ng mga kaklase ko ang maliit na note until it reached up to Riri. When he got it. Nagtaas siya ng tingin probably looking where it's from.

Our eyes met so I raised my eyebrows at him. I frowned at him to make it look like I'm annoyed.

He opened the little note. His mouth formed an 'o'.

Riri opened his bag. Nilabas niya pala ang notebook ko. He scratched his head before asking one of my classmates to pass the notebook to me.

"Sorry." He mouthed.

I just gave him a small nod. Ng makarating saakin ang notebook ko binuksan ko iyon when a note fell out. I tried to stop the grin forming in my lips.

"Sorry. Is that why you were scolded? Galit ka ba? Thank you though for your notes."

- R.Madrigal

I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to write a note back. We were in the middle of the activity when Xylie tapped my shoulders.

Inabot ko sa kanya ang correction tape because she always borrows it. Pero hindi niya yun tinanggap and tapped my shoulders again.

"What?"

"Oh." She then handed me a piece of paper. Kumunot ang noo ko at tinanggap iyon.

"Gabriela hindi tayo naglalaro ng pass the message para magpasapasahan ng note ha." pabiro niya akong inirapan.

Inilingan ko na lang siya at bumalik na sa ginagawa ko kanina. Binuksan ko ang papel, there was a note inside!

"Luh, galit ka talaga? Libre kita ice cream mamaya. Huwag ka na umirap huh? You're prettier when you smile! :)"

-R. Madrigal