Dear Katharine

October 02, 20xx

TRIGGER WARNING: This entry contains alcohol and drug abuse.   this entry could be a trigger. If you feel like your mental health could be affected, I advise you to read no further.

October 02, 20xx
10:24 P.M.

Dear Kath,

 
                 We won! Winning the cheerleading competition is crazy, even though we're not the overall champion of the sports fest. I'm so happy! I cannot believe it. All our hard work has paid off.

                   Anyway, to celebrate, our class together with our adviser ate somewhere nice. After that, Rob and Alexa invited me to play billiards. So I went with them, thinking it's all nice and safe.

                   The bilyaran* is kind of sketchy. It's a tambayan* of students where they can smoke and drink inside, which gave the enclosed shabby establishment an unpleasant smell. People who stay there have a different culture that I am unfamiliar with. Whenever they have inuman, every participant must take turns sipping from one cup. They never mind trading salivas as they sip as a symbol of trust that their immune system will fight whatever disease their friends might infect them. They even speak a dialect that I have yet to learn, but words like “moni-moni” and “ednis” are the ones I commonly hear.

                I was uncomfortable staying there, I have never thought how sheltered I was until I entered that den. Mama would scold me if she hears that I've been near the area of informal settlers because she shares the popular opinion that it's the “breeding ground of crime”. But you can't avoid passing by their settlement because they are near our subdivision.

                 I wanted to leave, but I don't like to be a sissy in front of Rob and the others. They taught me how to play bilyar, and I'm terrible at it. I have to put a lubricant of some sort called borax on my hand. And I have to use the tako to strike the white ball. I can't remember the other terms mean, but I know they say pektus when there's a sidespin, tapyok when you miscued and sargo for breakshot.

                Rob is a Bata Reyes, a natural tirador*. No one can stand a chance against him because once his turn comes, that's the end of the game.

                  Oh, I forgot to tell you, your brother was there too. He was with Ken and they're both smoking. I didn't greet him because I was afraid of his companions, but he saw me. He was so surprised I was there.

                  That's why he messaged me as soon as I got home. He greeted me by saying, “Susumbong kita sa Mama mo*.” I teased him back by calling him a tattletale. Although I'm worried if he'll tell my mother. But I'm glad that I'm seeing the old him again, the most annoying person in the universe. Still, i have no doubt he has changed. I never get any compliments from him, but he told me, “Pumuputi ka*.” I never even noticed that the Papaya soap is working.

                   So I stood into the mirror to see if I look lighter. I suppose I do, just a little. I'm hoping that there will be more improvements.

                   I want to sleep. This has been a tiring day.

*
Bilyaran - the place for playing billiards
Tambayan - hang out
Tirador - slingshot, but in this context good in billiards
Susumbong kita sa Mama mo - I'll your mother about this
Pumuputi ka - your skin is getting lighter