CHAPTER 33: DREARY MONDAY
THE GIRL WHO CAN’T DATE
By Eleventh
CHAPTER 33: DREARY MONDAY
“I knew that he was initiating a kiss. It would then be my first. But I felt weird. It was too public and unromantic.” – Ira P.
On a Monday morning, Ira went to work with a drifting mind. Every time she closes her eyes, she vividly remembers those pink lips that almost touched hers.
“Ugh! I wanna get this out of my head!” she exclaimed, shaking her head realizing that she was fantasizing.
She has been replaying what happened back at the cinema the whole weekend, wondering how those cherry lips must have tasted.
“Seriously, Ira? Are you that curious? Oh my god!”
“You’re drooling. Do you realize that?” Skye uttered as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
She touched her lips. But it was dry. So she looked at him with crinkled eyebrows and snapped at him saying, “No, I’m not! Twerp!”
Skye sniggered.
Staring at him with a feisty look, her gaze fell on Skye’s wet red lips, and gulped.
[Those lips... they look luscious! What the! Snap out of it, Ira!]
Embarrassed by her thoughts, she shook her heavily and dashed away leaving Skye with a baffled look.
When she reached the room, she fell on her chair and wondered in disbelief why in the world she looked at Skye with lust.
“I am going nuts!” she whined pulling her hair from the crown.
She took a deep breath and decided to snap out of it. She did her usual morning preparations – putting her pens in a basket, piling the books she needed, scanning through her lesson plan, and checking her schedule for the day. She went through her attendance book and as she scanned it, she paused when she saw 5 red marks, indicating that a student has been absent for consecutive days last week.
“Why haven’t I noticed this?” she muttered worriedly under her breath, realizing that she has been out of focus lately and that she did not even notice her student's absence.
The bell rang. She rushed to the classroom for the homeroom chat and checked the attendance.
“Carlos Pineda?”
Nobody answered. Worried was painted on Ira’s face when she called for the student and found the seat empty.
“Does anybody know where Carlos is? He has been absent since last week.”
Tristan raised his hand. “I live in the same village as Carlos. He lives next door. The last time I saw him was last Monday morning in his uniform. Since then, I never saw him, not even inside his household.”
Ira tilted her head with crinkled eyebrows. She checked the attendance again, but Monday had a red mark. During recess, Ira was still bothered about Carlos. She seemed to have forgotten about her lust for Adrielle’s lips, not until her colleagues joined her at the table.
“So how was the date?” Maggie merrily asked, nudging her shoulder to hers.
Ira sighed.
“What’s with the long sigh, girl?”
“I don’t wanna think about it and I don’t wanna talk about it. I have more important things in mind right now.”
“I waited for the whole weekend to hear from you and you’ll tell me that you don’t wanna talk about it? Oh, come on, Ira! I wanna know what happened to your date!” Maggie was adamant. She won’t leave Ira alone.
“Nothing exciting really except that we almost kissed.” She faintly answered.
Maggie gasped. “Oh my God! What do you mean almost?”
Skye spitted his drink and looked at her staggered. “You almost did WHAT?”
“He held my face. He was moving closer and closer and…” Ira paused and bit her lower lip.
“AAAAND?” Maggie waited with an open mouth.
“I sneezed.”
“Mmmppp!” Maggie squeezed her eyes with tight lips. She was dismayed. “Why did you sneeze? Ugh! That could have been your first…”
“Wait a minute! You allowed him to touch you and stand so, so close to you and if you did not sneeze, give him the consent to kiss you?” Fuming, he looked straight right into Ira’s eyes which stared back at him fondly and perplexed.
“So? They’re adults, Skye! Surely, that’s not an illegal thing to do.” Maggie noticed he was intense.
“He is not your boyfriend, Ira!”
“NOT YET!” Maggie emphasized.
“Not yet and he’s already making a move on your first date? I see a red flag here!”
“Why are you so worked up, Skye? And I'm the one talking to you so I would appreciate it if you direct your answer to me. Hello!” Maggie complained.
Ira did not drop her gaze as she waited for an answer to Maggie’s question. Why was he angry? Why was he fuming mad? Does he care? But why would he? She wondered.
But Skye was tight-lipped.
“If you have no reason to act like this, mind your own business,” Ira gently spoke.
“Right! This is none of my business!”
Skye grabbed his things and walked out.
Maggie watched him leave with crossed arms. Standing next to her friend, she was as confused as her.
“Look at this guy! Acting weird again! You know sometimes, I don’t get him. Sometimes he acts like he's jealous but we know that’s not it, right? But if he cares like, you know, as a friend, he could have just said so. Why walk out and tell us it’s none of his business?”
“It’s probably best not to find out.” Ira grabbed her things too and prepared to leave.
“Hey! You're leaving too?”
“I gotta go, Mags! I told you I have something very important to do. See you in the faculty room.”
Maggie let her go and shrugged her shoulders as she took a sip of a can of soda. Ira has five minutes before the next class so she hurriedly spoke to Tristan. The kid, noticing his homeroom teacher outside, stopped messing with his friends and left to talk to her.
“I need more information about Carlos.”
“Mmm…” Tristan bit his lower lip and thought. “I got a scoop, Coach P.!”
“And what’s that?”
“I heard he was living with his girlfriend.”
Ira stroked her temple with closed eyes, processing the information in her head.
“How old are you, guys, again?”
“Fifteen. Te-hee!”
Ira breathed heavily and pressed her lips tightly, trying to be calm about the situation. She remembered when she was fifteen, she always caught her dating classmates smooching in the room whenever it was empty. She would watch them silently at the door and look at them with disgust. Her mind would rant about how shameless and stupid they were.
What were they thinking? Isn’t exchanging saliva disgusting? Does he have to hold her boobs when they kiss? What if a teacher walks in and finds them? What if they get tempted to do more? What if they make a mistake? Haven’t they thought of their parents? These are the questions that run into her mind whenever she sees them smooching.
“Do you know her? The girlfriend?”
Tristan shook his head.
“She doesn’t study here. I heard she goes to Mastersons High School.”
“So, that means you don’t know where she lives?”
Tristan shook his head again.
“I’m sorry, Coach P. I couldn’t be of more help to you.”
“You’ve helped me enough, Tristan. Thank you!”
Ira ended her conversation with Tristan and went to her class. She was in her room no longer than ten minutes when Skye appeared and knocked on the doorway.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Mr. Romualdez is asking for you in his office.”
Ira was stunned.
That name rang a bell in her ears and triggered distress.
Why is she summoned to the prefect's office?
She hasn’t set foot there since her high school days.
She dreads the place.
She dreads Mr. Romualdez.