Chapter 2

February 2011

My mother bought me a new phone! It was just a small one with little keypads on it but it's a phone nonetheless. I could finally text and call my father anytime!

Mama wouldn't like it, I was sure. She didn't even let me come with Papa when he visited me last week. It's okay though because now I just texted Papa to fetch me here in school. We could spend time together again!

I waited for his reply for a few minutes and when it came, my excitement immediately turned into disappointment.

From: Papa

2012/02/20 MON

04:16PM

I still have work, Nene. Maybe next time.

~

I looked at my reflection in the mirror in the school bathroom. A pair of almond-shaped eyes looked back, lacking with something I couldn't quite figure out what.

My skin was splashed with warm, golden-brown tint complementing my brown eyes. My small lips and nose sat well on my round face as my lustrous hair cascaded down at my back. Neatly clothed in a blouse tucked in my cigarette pants and a pair of loafers, I looked perfectly fine. Beautiful even as what they said.

"Tati, aren't you done yet? The fried chickens are getting cold!" Daniella shouted from outside. After another quick look at myself, I went out and saw my friends leaning against the wall of the gymnasium staring at me impatiently.

Daniella Cruz was wearing her thin hair in her iconic ponytail as usual. At first glance, you would think she was still in elementary with her oversized shirt and pair of athletic shoes but we're all in our ninth grade in high school, and honestly we all looked like kids compared to those teenagers in the city. I didn't know if it's because we were from the province or we were just really plain potatoes in the form of old kids.

"What took you so long? Did you took a shit?" Louise, my other friend, asked with mirth in her voice. Her face looked fuller as she smiled wickedly at me. "Don't be shy now, Tati. We won't judge you. We all took shits. You're lucky, your shit seems not to be hard. You finished fast."

"What in the world are you talking about!" I snapped at her, looking scandalized.

Maria Louise Torres laughed with all her might as she reveled with my disgusted look. Her round eyes twinkled with merry behind her bushy hair that fell off her face as she bent, still laughing. I scoffed when Daniella joined her. They always made me their laughing stock. Did I really looked that funny? Ah, and here I was, just convinced that I was indeed beautiful when now my friends were laughing at me. I scoffed.

"Come on, you clowns! We won't be able to eat if you guys don't stop. Livvy is also waiting for us!"

"It's because you took shit!"

"Don't blame us!"

"And Livvy never waits for us!"

They answered, still laughing. I shook my head and just left them there.

•••

Livvy's chubby form approached us as we walked down the hallway of the second floor of the school's main building toward her.

"What took you so long? I already finished my lunch", she whined. Olivia Lackson, our friend, was already looking intently at the bag of fried chickens Daniella was holding. I rolled my eyes. What a pig!

"You didn't even wait for us!" I pointed out.

She tore her eyes away from the bag of fried chickens and pouted at me. "Oh, you know I always don't wait for you guys!"

I rolled my eyes again and retorted, "Well, maybe next time you should, Livvy."

"Don't you dare ask for fried chickens again, you pig!" Daniella just then exclaimed hiding our lunch behind her back. She scurried away as Livvy came running towards her shouting, "You selfish devil! Daniella, come back here!"

Didn't I just said that we were like kids? Well, that's the proof. I shook my head.

"What did James told you earlier that made you speechless?" Louise teased. I scowled and rolled my eyes for the third time.

"You wouldn't believe it, really", I answered.

"What? Why?"

"He said he wanted to help me—", Louise scoffed, "—because he said he noticed that my hands were full."

"He just noticed that now?! The audacity of that man!"

she exclaimed which made me chuckle.

"Well, at least he noticed."

She turned to me with a frown. "You're gonna ask for his help?"

"Of course!" I answered which made her frown even more. "Most of the boys don't listen to me but they oblige to him like puppies, so he will prove to be useful."

"Whatever you say."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just worried about you."

I was lost at first but when I realized what she was trying to say, my eyes rounded.

"What the hell, Louise!" I exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe you just thought of that! Do you think I'm that stupid to fall for the charms of that tardy ass?!"

"What? I'm not saying anything", she chortled. I felt weird sensations run through my system. What the hell?! James wasn't even that handsome! He was attractive, yes, and maybe charming too and alluring and ta—

"—ti! Tati!", I blinked. Louise was already in front of me walking backwards. She stared at me with knowing eyes but she didn't voice out her thoughts. Instead, she just said, "Come on, I'm hungry. You can daydream about him later."

"I wasn't—"

"—Okay", she cut me off and turned her back on me, walking away towards the end of the hallway where we usually spent our lunch times. I mentally scolded myself for allowing such thoughts in my head before I followed her, suddenly feeling the gush of hunger when the smell of fried chickens filled my senses.

•••

When the bell rang, the quiet room was suddenly filled with sighs of relief.

School has finally ended, at least for today.

After an hour or so of note-taking, I was ready to claim my well-deserved rest but, of course, that wasn't really the case. I still had a lot of tasks on my list that were waiting to checked off.

It seemed that I would need the company of my old friend, coffee, again.

I started to put my things back in my backpack, preparing to leave, when my stomach suddenly churned, showing signs of hunger.

I turned to my left side where my food buddy was."Harlyn, I want some calamares and ice cream", I stated and she flashed me her famous lopsided smile. In my head, my mouth has slightly opened in awe looking at my friend. She's really a beauty and everybody else would definitely agree with me.

Harlyn Jane Bautista has the most arresting face I had ever seen. Her brown eyes, slightly pointed nose, and full lips were beautifully nestled in her small face. She was sporting a pair of white sneakers, a denim pants and a tank top that hugged her curves. What a woman.

"I thought you're on a diet?" she asked in return.

"I'm hungry", I pointed out. She just rolled her eyes at me knowing full well that my inconsistency and gluttony were getting the best of me...again. I groaned mentally.

"Very well. Come on, I'm starving too", she muttered and started walking away. I scoffed. She's no better than me. "Wait up!"

•••

We were already out of the main building and were making our way to the gate when someone suddenly came out of nowhere and found his way beside me.

"Hi, Harlyn", James chirped at my friend before looking at me. "Hello, Tati!"

"What do you want, James?" I asked dryly.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you walking with us?"

"Nothing", he answered and smiled widely at me. "Where are you guys heading?" he asked which I ignored. I honestly had no idea why this guy was tagging along with us. We were not friends to begin with. We didn't even talk that much!

Maybe he was pestering me just like what he would usually do to other girls.

James has a known reputation among girls in the school. See, he's a charmer but not really the playboy kinda thing. He was just sweet to everyone, I supposed. He has his ways around girls but he rarely pursue anyone. It was actually just last two months when he and his then girlfriend, Sam Villa, a very beautiful girl from the other section, broke up. That was also when he first talked to me about something that did not involve school stuff.

He was asking me to help him win Sam back, and I was sure as hell that I didn't know what to do, because first of all, I wasn't really friends with the gal. Yes, we may had been together when we competed in a quiz bee last year but that was just it. I wasn't close with her! I didn't even know that they were an item when we were together reviewing. I only knew it after their thing ended, so I was at lost when James asked for my help.

But I helped him anyway. The man seemed to be desperate enough to had asked someone who has no experience on such matters. I was not that heartless to refuse. Although I was pretty sure I wasn't able to do much. I just talked with Sam to try and put some sense on her head which ended quite badly, I would say, seeing that James didn't won her back.

Well, as I said, I had no knowledge on such things. I was yet to secure myself with a boyfriend which would probably take years, if not decades, because I wanted to fix my issues first.

"Manong, two 20 pesos worth of calamares", Harlyn ordered and it was just then that I realized that we had reached Manong Robert's food stall. I blinked, trying to grasped the fact that I had been zoning out all along.

Harlyn turned to me. "You, go get our ice creams and bring James with you. I don't want a child with me."

It was also just then that I remembered that James was with us.

"I'm not a child!" James exclaimed exactly like a child. I rolled my eyes, having been able to recover from my shock of how distant I could be.

"Come on then, adult guy. Let's buy some ice creams", I mocked to James and started walking towards the ice cream shop just across the street. I chuckled when I heard James blubbered something incoherent before he followed.

"Calamares and ice creams? That sure is a weird combination, Tati."

"It's not like you're the one who's gonna eat", I replied, "Why are you even with us? Your friends ditched you?"

"What? No!" he jabbered and added, "Can't I simply hang out with you guys?"

"Yes, you can't", I said matter-of-factly as I reached the counter of the shop. "Can I please get two large cones of vanilla ice cream?" I ordered to the lady behind the counter and rummaged through my bag in search for my wallet.

"Do you want some?" I asked James, my face still on my bag. "Where in the world did my wallet went?" I mumbled to myself.

When James didn't answer, I turned to look at him behind me and saw him looking at me with a frown. I frowned too. "What?"

"Why?"

"What why?" I asked back, mirroring the puzzled expression he has in his face.

"Why can't I hang out with you?"

I snorted, "Why would you even want to hang out with me?" I added before he could answer, "And why would I hang out with a tardy ass like you?"

"I'm not tardy", he defended, "And I'm not an ass."

"If you say so", I shrugged and looked down at my bag to look for my wallet again.

"But seriously Tati, why don't you wanna hang out with me?"

I sighed and turned to him. "Well, we're not friends to begin with", I uttered and added, "I don't even know anything about you except that you're a basketball player who makes every girl in the school swoon and that you're a tardy classroom president and student. You also don't know me. And I don't really hang out with people who aren't my friends. You're lucky you're my classmate."

"I make you swoon?"

"What?! No!" Of all the things I just said, that was what he caught up on to?

"You just said that I'm a basketball player who makes every girl in the school swoon. You're a girl", he pointed out.

"Here's your ice creams", the lady behind the counter disturbed before I could answer.

I turned to her, "Wait a sec. I'm just gonna look for my wal—"

"—Here", James cut me off handing out a hundred-peso bill to the lady. The lady smiled at him as he accepted the cones of ice creams in return.

"I'm gonna pay you tomorrow", I said as he passed me the ice creams.

"No, no. Consider that as my token."

"Token for what?"

"Token to be your friend", he elaborated as he reached for his change the lady handed out. My brows knitted together with what he said.

When he looked at me again, he added, "You said so yourself that you don't hang out with people who aren't your friends. So, consider that", pointing at the ice creams that were probably starting to melt, "as my token to a friendship with you."

He then smiled widely at me and I just looked at him like he has grown another head. I was not quite sure why he would actually want to be my friend.

"What?" the only word I could think of as of the moment.

He sighed. "Look, I wanna hang out with you, okay? Don't be so weird about it." He chuckled and continued, "I just wanna be friends with you, I guess."

He averted his gaze from me, looking quite shy which baffled me the most. James Carlo Alejandre, shy?

When I failed to reply, he rolled his eyes and whispered to his self loudly, "Is that so hard to believe? Don't I look friendly?"

He looked at me impatiently. "Well, it seems like you're not gonna talk anytime soon so I'll probably just head out", he uttered, "Say my goodbye to Harlyn, okay? Bye, Tati. See you tomorrow", he added and like earlier, he lightly pinched my cheeks again before walking away.

I stared at his retreating form, lost with what just happened.

"Tati!" Harlyn shouted from across the street. "Let's go!"

I shook my head mentally, denial of the fact that James has rendered me speechless twice this day. Oh, goodness.