Chapter 11 - Cheated

"You happy? You ruined it"

"I just wanna be on the tournament bro, tsk"

"Ano bang nagawa ko sayo?! Ha?!"

"Yes! Yeeess!! I cheated!"

...

I still can't get out of my head what mico has said to me, tsk. Besides of the disappointment that I might've found the truth, the burden and guilt also of what I've done to him..

I crushed a person's dream.

"Hey love, it's not your fault pasalamat pa nga dapat sya sayo cause you've noticed his mistake and he could improve himself to be more better someday"

Said Ava habang nakaakbay sya saken trying to calm me down while I was looking at my phone's picture of Mico's test paper, I was examining it.

Yeah I know there's a part na di ko nga kasalanan but arghh..

Akala ko kase sa test paper na sinulat nyang room is yung totoong room talaga nila ni Ava! which is an honest mistake from him daw akala nya daw kase yung room na ilalagay eh yung room kung san ginanap yung exams which is room 9 p0te--

Oh, wait...

"Pasok na daw po kayo Aiden and Ava"

Natigilan naman ako sa pagiisip ng tinawag kame nung staff sa office ni Mrs. Realyn at pinapapasok na kame.

Buti andito si Ava at narinig nya yung chismisan ng mga tao sa nangyare sa building ng rsm na under construction, basta daldalan malakas sagap ni Ava HAHAHA.

"Ai-den"

Agad na tawag saken ni Maam saka kame umupo ni Ava sa right side at katapat lang namen si Mico.

"Do you know Mr. Santos?" Sabay turo nya kay mico na nakayuko hawak hawak yung sugatang kamao nya.

"n-ngayon lang po maam" I said in a low voice cause I still can't stand the damage I've done to him.

"Oh.. ngayon lang?" She repeated my statement in a question saka ako tumango and she also nodded too.

"I wanna thank you for what you've done E-vans cause without you we wouldn't know that Mr. San-tos here tampered his test exams.."

I don't know if I should be proud but I kinda felt a sting inside my chest sa sinabe ni Mrs. Realyn.

"Clever boy isn't he? He used an erasable ballpen the time they took the exam and then after, he sneaked in to my office, looked for the answer keys and erased his original answers and replaced it HA-HA-HA.."

I can tell Mico is pretty much humiliated and ashamed of himself sa mga sinabe ni Mrs. Realyn as he stooped his head more lower and clenched his fist much tighter.

"But there's one thing Mr. E-vans.."

Nabaling naman tingin ko kay Mrs. Realyn ng banggitin nya pangalan ko.

"You know me, I'm a pretty de-cent person, everything's arranged from the biggest to the smallest and tiniest bits.. right?"

I just nodded at her and I felt a little tensed dahil mukhang alam ko na san papunta to.

"How-ever.. remember when I've made you the paperworks? Ofco-urse yes.. now that time my drawers are a bit loose, my papers are kinda messy and coin-ci-dentally it became like that af-ter you've finished what I've told you to do.."

Said Mrs. Realyn in a serious tone haha, mahahalata mo talaga pag si Mrs. Lyn nagsasalita eh no may stress kada syllable yung ibang words nya, hahah--

"Tell me, Mr. E-vans ginalaw mo ba mga drawers ko"

I was paralyzed and I didn't know what to do nor decide if I should say it but just for the sake of it.. I tried speaking and I'll try to tell the truth...

"I'm sorry, yes.. yes I did meddle with your files, I was just curious of Mr. Santos's test paper but maam.. it's not his fault--"

"Don't try to save the boy Mr. Evans"

Agad na putol saken ni Mrs. Realyn tsk..

"B-but.. please, hear me out"

Pagmamakaawa ko kay Maam Lyn and she didn't disagreed nor agreed with me so I just took the silence and talk..

"It's my fault.."

The moment I said those 3 words mico lift up he's head a little higher that boosted my good start.

"I blamed him for the act without solid evidences"

"He personally confessed his actions Aiden, what are you trying to say--"

"It's because he's scared"

Maam Realyn smirked at what I said and I can tell she's not convinced.

"If you're just saying this to save the boy, to save you from the guilt, stop lyin--"

"He's scared of what his friends might do if he tells the truth"

Mico finally lift his head and looked at me with shocked, begging me to stop talking and just agree with his confessions.

"Hmmm.. tell us what you know"

Agad na sabe ni Mrs. Realyn saken and I think she's ready to listen.

"We should not held Mico accountable of an action he didn't do nor he didn't wanted"

I took a deep breathe for a moment at nagulat ako nang hawakan ni Ava kamay ko as a sign of encouragement and a message for me that I have her by my side..

"Hays, It's pretty bizarre for a criminal to be scared immediately on his crime... right? Cause the moment I told Mr. Santos about his test paper he immediately trembles and run away from me.. yeah it could be an attitude of a criminal but that scaredness it's not"

"So? What are you saying about this scared-ness? Mr. Ai-den?"

Tanong saken ni Mrs. Realyn as curiousity started showing on her face..

"Seconds after he trembled about my question on his test paper, he told me something"

"w-wala akong kinalaman.. dyan"

Said mico in a weak voice, finally he's cooperating.

"Then he pointed out his friends telling me to ask them, not him and then he ran"

"What you're saying Mr. Evans are on baseless conclusions.. Where's your proof?"

Tanong saken ni Mrs. Realyn begging me for a proof and a smile suddenly surfaced on my face.

I took my phone from my pocket and went to my gallery to show to Mrs. Realyn Mico's test paper.

"So what? It's just his test paper?"

"Remember what you said that 'he' tampered it?" Sabay nod saken ni Mrs. Realyn with her eye brow raising.

"Well you're wrong.. cause 'they' tampered it"

Question marks covered their faces and curiousity from all of them filled the room as I saw hunger from their eyes begging for anwers.

"Just minutes ago I've asked Mico about the room he wrote on his test paper and he said it's his mistake kase akala nya the room number that should be written is the room where the exams occur which is sa room nyo po Mrs. Realyn room 9"

"Then? Nakasulat dito is 9?"

Tanong ni Mrs. Realyn saka turo nya don sa picture sa phone ko.

"Yes it is 9 po but look at this.."

Then I pointed out on a part of the paper.. a faded number 12 that wasn't fully erased.

"So what? They tampered the room numbers too?"

"Yes and no"

Lalong kumunot ulot ni Mrs. Realyn sa sinagot ko at lalong tumaas kilay nya saken HAHAHAHA.

"When 'they' tampered their test papers they included Mico's without his consent cause they badly wanna join the E-games tournament and you know the qualifications of sports... your grades should be high"

Napansin ko namang nanlumo si Mico sa sinabe ko and he was hurt from what he heard about grades.

"When they were changing their answers from their answer sheet napansin nilang nalagay ni Mico is room 9 imbes na room 12 kaya binura nila yon at binago nila but then they realized that you Mrs. Realyn may have probably seen all the test papers and base from you photographic memory you're great at remembering things so binura nila and they wrote room 9 again and that explains the faded number there"

Sabay turo ko sa part kung nasan yung buradong number and I can tell that Mrs. Realyn was convinced and impressed by my collective investigations.

"Oh another thing.. the writings of 'room 9' didn't match on Mico's writings on his name nor on his section"

Saka turo ko sa name ni Mico and section na nakasulat sa test paper.

Yun lang yung hindi nila matatamper eh yung name nya and also the section at kasama sana yung room kung di lang nila binura yon.

"Great observation Mr. Evans but how can you be so sure it's his friends.."

"Mico is a nice person and I can tell he's innocent and he's just scared of them"

Pagtatanggol ko kay Mico at napansin ko naman sa mukha nyang sumasangayon sya sa mga sinabe ko and he's like confirming my conclusions are true.

"i'-i'm the bait"

Said Mico as he tried to cooperate again.

"W-we badly wanna join the tournament sa Lol cause we really love playing games and we're really passionate about it, we even made our own team hahaha"

Then he laughed shortly at ibinaling nya tingin nya saken.

"But the requirements are grades, always grades and I told them that we should study harder.."

Tumingin naman sya kay Mrs. Realyn atsaka yumuko with his hair blocking his face.

"But they told me 'kameng bahala' then they laughed.. I didn't know what they did but the day after the exams they told me something.."

His fist clenches while his trying to stop himself from letting out a tear to fall..

"t-they told.. me hahaha 'hey! when someone asked anything to.. us or y-you, t-take the b-blame' hahaha"

I can't stand it ng bigla syang umiyak ulet tsk, how can a guy so joyful and innocent like him have this kind of pain inside.

"a-at first.."

He tried speaking more at bigla syang napabuntong hininga ng natigil sya dahil sa pagcracrack ng boses nya saka naman sya inabutan ni Mrs. Realyn ng tubeg saka nya ininom.

Tsk, hays ngina .. what have I gotten myself into?

"T-thank you.. a-at first I didn't agreed to what they said but then binantaan nila kong hindi nila ako isasali sa t-team nila sa tournament at ib-bato daw nila lahat ng ginawa nila saken hahaha"

Napalunok naman sya ng laway nya as he still continued explaining things to us.

"T-then.. I laughed, I thought it was just a joke until the results came out, I was shocked when I've only got 2 mistakes over 80 items at nung magkita kita kame they were all joyful at natuwa nalang den ako lalo na ng maqualified pa team namen sa tournament hahaha, it was fun until my conscience got into me.. mali, mali yung paraan ng pagpasok namen it's wrong.. it is wrong.. it is--"

Paulit ulit nyang sinabe habang nailing iling sya samen habang tumutulo ulet mga luha nya.

"T-then dumating sa point na binantaan nila ko na pag sinabe ko.. t-they won't get rid of me u-until i'm a.. alive, tsk.."

Wtf, for a student to say that he got the balls kung biro nya lang yon para matakot si Mico.

"I-i don't know w-what to do.. then I met Aiden at the ice cream shop.. ice cream nagpapakalma saken eh at napansin ko n-namang bangag si Aiden hahaha, so I helped him para lang m-mawala isip ko dun sa n-nangyare, atleast I could escape hahaha nakakagaan kase s-saken pag nakakatulong a-ako.."

What a soft hearted guy, that's why the first time I saw him I can't even accused him for doing anything bad kase hindi halata sa kanya, he's just so kind.

"t-then bumalik nako non sa p-praktis namen sa com lab sumabay nalang ako sa flow nila at kinalimutan l-lahat then you came.."

Saka sya iniangat ulo nya at tinignan ako ng diretso sa mata.

"when you a-asked me about t-the room number, fear started c-crippling me again... nilayuan kita a-agad and I ran a way to e-escape.. i'm s-sorry"

Sabay yuko nya ulet at tuluyang nagbagsakan mga luha sa mata nya.

Tsk tsk.. anong klaseng mga kaibigan yon para abusuhin pagkatao ni mico ngina.

"Can you tell me Mr. Santos the names of these students na sinasabe mo"

Agad na tanong ni Mrs. Realyn kay Mico saka sya nagpunas ng luha at inayos mukha nya and then he looked at her.

"Reign Justin Castillo..

Melvin Ray Venida..

Jhon Christian Carson..

Stephen Gale Reyes..

Andrew Dylan Arsen.."

Nagulat naman ako pati si Ava ng marinig namen yung huling pangalan na binanggit ni Mico samen.

"M-mico.. sino yung huli mong binanggit?"

"Oh hahaha, si Andrew Dylan Arsen"

Wth, wait.. right nabanggit ng tropa nya kay Dylan nung nagkita kame na itigil na yung away namen dahil baka may dumating pang teachers at matanggal sila sa E-games tsk.

"M-mico.. is he the one that threatened you?"

Nagulat naman ako ng magsalita si Ava sa gilid ko at tinanong nya si Mico.

"Yeah, he is.. that pyscho"

Tsk, Dylan.. kelan ka ba magbabago hays tagal mo ng walang paramdam samen ah buti nga't iba ka ng course taliwas samen ni Ava para di na den tayo magkita, I know you've changed and we've ended up into good terms before, tsk anyare ulet sayo ngayon.

"Thanks for your cooperation Mico and to your impressive observation Aiden but still.. the both of you will receive a punishment it's writ-ten in the law, okay?"

Sabay nagnod kameng dalawa ni Mico kay Mrs. Realyn.

"Now, I will file a report to the office kung anong pwedeng gawin nila sa mga batang ito"

Sabay tingin ni Mrs. Realyn sa papel na hawak nya kung san nakasulat lahat ng names na binaggit ni Mico.

"Oh and mico.."

Sabay tingala nya kay Mrs. Realyn ng marinig nya boses nya.

"Change your teams, marami pang slots sa iba, I'll help you play"

Sabe ni Mrs. Realyn kay Mico at tila nasinagan ng araw mukha nya at bumungad samen ang isang malaking ngiti mula sa kanya.

Finally.. a smile.. hays.

Nagulat naman kame ng biglang tumayo si Mico at inabot nya kamay ni Mrs. Realyn saka sya nakipagshake hands ng paulit ulit at nagpasalamat ng walang hanggan sa kanya na ikinatawa namen lahat HAHAHA.

Now finally everyone's smiling and the atmosphere inside changes..

John Michael Gandia Santos.. you have a soft and kind heart and that doesn't make you a weak person cause in fact you're strong.. even probably stronger than us.. it's hard to fight fear, conscience and threats all at the same time.. salute to you kuya and I'm glad I have helped you..

Awww- so heart warming

Tsk, shut up please.

Wow, di ka na talaga nagugulat saken ah? Sanay na sanay na, well mukhang makakapagstay nako ng matagal dito HAHAHA.

Stay all you want cause I'll get rid of you someday.

Oh really? How? Ngayon pa nga lang nalangoy ka na sa dapat mong liparan eh HAAHAHA.

Whut?! That was such a bad metaphor.

Basta! Keep being distracted me' boy! Patuloy ka lang sa pagbubulagbulagan..

Ding*

Nagulat naman ako ng tumunog phone ko na nakapatong sa table ni Mrs. Realyn.

"Oh, I think may nagtext Mr. Evans"

Sabay abot nya saken saka ko inopen yung messages ko at bumungad saken text ni Joshua.

Joshua

:Pre si Dale? Kasama nyo?

Nagtaka naman ako ng tinanong niya saken kung kasama ko ba si Dale, why? Should I?

Hindi pre baket?:

:Nagexcuse kase sya sa

praktis eh sabi nya

pupuntahan ka lang

daw nya.

Nagtaka naman ako sa sinabe ni Joshua, bat ako pupuntahan ni Dale? Anong gagawin nya?

Bat daw pre?:

:Di nga ren naman

alam eh kaya nga

tinatanong ka namen.

Kanina pa ba sya:

umalis dyan pre?

:Oo

Kanina pa pala umalis eh bat wala pa sya dito? Triny ko namang sumilip silip sa labas ng office ni Mrs. Realyn pero wala naman sya.

Alam ba nya:

kung nasan ako?

:Oo daw.

Weird, wala naman sya.

"Aalis nako, pwede na den kayong umalis at ipapatawag ko nalang kayo next time para sa parusa nyo, o sya la-yas!"

Apaka sweet naman ng goodbye ni Mrs. Realyn nyeta HAHAHAHA, ay bad bat mo minumura teacher Aiden HAHAHA.

"Sino nagtext love?"

Agad na tanong ni Ava saken paglabas namen ng office ni Maam Lyn.

"Si Joshua, pinapatanong kung kasama ba daw naten si Dale kase kanina pa daw sya umalis dun sa kanila para puntahan daw tayo eh di pa daw ata nakakabalik"

Saka nagnod saken si Ava after kong sagutin tanong nya.

"Eh asan na sya? Alam ba nya kung nasan tayo?"

"Yun nga eh tinanong ko den sila Joshua pero sabi daw ni Dale oo daw alam nya"

We got shocked for a second when a hand suddenly appeard right in front of me trying to reach me out.

"Thank you.. Aiden"

Sabi saken ni Mico habang nakangiti and I can tell his pain is kinda healing now at bumabalik naden yung aura nya.

I also reached out to his hand saka ko sya hinawakan at nagkamayan kame hahaha, gesture nya talaga shake hands hahahaha.

"Kita kits nalang pag nagkita ulet tayo" sabay ngiti nya samen atsaka na sya nagpaalam para umalis..

Hays, buti naayos den yung nangyare sa kanya, I really knew from the start na wala syang kasalan eh tsk.

Nagulat naman ako ng bigla akong kiniss ni Ava sa cheeks at hinawakan kamay ko.

"Ang gwapo mo kamo kanina love nung nageexplain ka kila Mrs. Realyn"

Halos masamid ako sa sinabe nya at kung may tubig ako sa bunganga ngayon maibubuga ko talaga yon tf, HAHAHA..Aha, ngina bigla akong nailang sa sinabe nya punyeta, pero di ko pinahalata at sineryoso ko lang mukha ko.

"Love para kang natatae, alam ko kinilig ka wag mo ng pigilan HAHAHA"

Pangaasar nya saken at kiniliti kiliti nya pa tagiliran ko siraulo.

"Oo-- o-oo na! Opoo opoo tigil HAHAHAHAHA"

Agad naman syang tumigil at niyakap nya na lang ako hahaha.

Hinigpitan ko lang kapit ko sa kanya at naramdaman kong hinigpitan nya den hawak nya saken as I gaze off at pinakiramdaman ko lang yakap nya--

Hey, wait..

"l-love si Dale ba yon?"

Agad kung turo sa malayo and then Ava turned and looked at where I am pointing at.

"Sigi, saken mo pa talaga tinanong love kitang malabo mata ko konti"

Sagot ni Ava sa tanong ko at tinawanan ko nalang sya but..

Is it Dale?

He seems.. off

...