Next Day

The next day, Briseis woke up early because of her cellphone alarm from a deep sleep.

She sat down and looked to the side. Her brother is still asleep while her mother is gone.

It also wakes up early to take care of its merchandise.

When she came out of the room she saw her mother serving on the pallet.

"You're awake, my dear," said the mother. "Here and I have already serve the food. Your food is ready. Have breakfast."

She went there and ate.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Briseis asked.

"Nope," said her mother. "I'm full. Your brother will still eat."

Briseis stood up after taking two batches of a spoonful food.

"Oh you're done already?" hermother asked.

"Yeah I remember," Briseis said. "Our friend Shawna will be treating us in the morning so I need to leave early. She will treat us a breakfast. You can eat my food. I will take a shower now."

She left the living room before her mother could speak.

They were all lies. He just made excuses so that her mother will eat a breakfast too because if she says that she will just give her food to her mother for no reason, she will not allow it and her mother will force her to eat it.

Just thinking of it her heart is already turning into pieces so she was determined to do the ritual she had planned with friends.

After tidying up, she said goodbye to her mother. Her mother gave her a penny.

"This money is yours," said her mother.

"No, Just take it," Briseis refused. "Just buy use it to buy a food for us later."

She was about to leave when her mother held her hand.

"My dear," said her mother while inserting fifty pesos in her palm. "Your pocket money is included in your budget. I know a lot of you friend always treat you but you should know that you need money for yourself too."

Briseis averted her eyes. She knows that her mother would force her to accept it no matter how she refused so she took it.

"Go home early dear," her mother said to him. "Don't stay up too late. You know Manila. The bad guys are always around."

"Don't worry about me," Briseis said. "You have to be concern of yourself especially on the road. you have to be careful or you will get hurt again later."

Her mother smiled at her.

"All right, I'm leaving." Briseis said goodbye because she might be late for class. She will still walk.

On the way, she met Marissa who was also walking.

"It looks like the teachers at our school didn't even know the book was missing." Marissa said as she approached Briseis.

"Bret chatted me. The professor didn't mentioned the book yet. The three came in early to catch up on what is happening in the school."

"What?" Briseis asked. "That is absurd! They might get suspicious. Those three will surely drag us on a pit!"

"Im sure they were not going to base on that," Marissa said. "So relax."

Briseis looked at Marissa's face. Marissa has a bruise on the side of her lip.

"You have another bruise," Briseis said to her friend.

"My older brother came home drunk yesterday," Marissa said to her friend. "He lost the gambling and he throw to me all of his resentment. I don't know how he was till able to waste money when we need it very much. And do you know that he still buys drugs. I really want to report him to the police. Our mother loves him so much that why I can't do it. "

"And when are you going to report it?" Briseis asked. "When he killed you already? I told you since then to report him si he would be imprisoned. That will teach him a lesson. He's not doing anything good anymore. He's just making you a punching bag."

"If I were your mother I wouldn't allow that," Briseis added.

"You know my mother hates me too," Marissa said to her friend. "She loves my older brother more than me. My mother might even put me in jail. You know I'm just an illegitimate child and she blames me for why her ex -husband left her."

"Don't worry," said Briseis. "Soon everything will be fine once the ritual is executed."

"I just hope I'm not dead yet," Marissa joked to her friend.

"Crazy. You are crazy," Briseis said to her friend and laughed.

They arrived at the school and Shawna immediately greeted them.

"What happened to you briseis?" Shawna asked her friend while looking at the friend who seemed to be carrying a heavy load on his shoulder.

"Is your bag heavy and you're hunched over?"

"I don't even know why I feel ambiguous," Briseis told to her friends. "Maybe I'm just really tired."

"Oh you girl," Shawna said. "You have another bruise. I told you to join taekwondo so you know how to defend yourself."

"I'm so thin, will I still participate in taekwondo?" said Marissa to her friend. "I might just break my bone."

Briseis pulled Shawna away.

"Did you hide it?" she whispered to her friend.

"Don't worry," Shawna said. "I locked it in my grandmother's trunk. I put it under the bed so no one could see."

Briseis nodded.

"Good," she said. "Where are Bret and Seven?"

"They are in the other section," Shawna said. "You know those two are dating someone in the other section."

"They have the guts to flirt?" Briseis said. "They don't even have jobs."

"Why?" Shawna asked with a laugh. "Do only those who have a job have the right to flirt?"

"My only concern is for them not to increase the number of the poor in our country," said Briseis. "Where will they get a money for their date? From their parents who are working so hard to support them?"

"You're crazy," Shawna said. "They haven't married yet. They're still dating. Then let them go. That is their life. They are already old to know what is right and wrong"

"She is just jealous," Marissa said raising Briseis's eyes.

"Stop it, Marissa," Briseis said. "I'm not jealous."

"Girl don't say you still has crush on Bret until now," Shawna said laughing. "Why don't you just turn your attention to Kyle? He's stupid but he's rich. He likes you so much briseis. You are his first love."

Briseis smirked at Shawna.

"Don't make a story," Briseis said. "That man doesn't like me at all. Can we take a seat? before we chitchat?"

The two girls laugh at Briseis when they saw her frowned face.