Chapter 3

I clutched my bag and flung it on my right shoulder. I adjusted the black cap on my head with white bold letters printed on the right side just below the visor which spelled; Not today.

"Nana, I'm going..."

I said from the front porch and headed for my bike. I was about to hit the road downhill when Nana came down.

"Wait, hijo..."

She tip-toed and kissed me on both cheeks and slipped a 500 peso bill on my polo's front pocket.

"What's this?"

"It's a 500 peso bill, haven't you seen one before?"

Nana can be such a sass when she wanted to.

"I mean, what's this for?"

I knitted my eyebrows. I always ride on my bike to go to school. She also cooked for my lunch and merienda so I don't know what the cash is for.

"Shhhh...stop protesting, you can buy yourself new clothes or go buy yourself a friend..." She smiled.

Nana has flipped the switch from sass to an ass.

She had put an amulet on my wrist before I can complain. She believed it wards me off from bad luck. I doubted if that was the case because its last bearer happened to be my dad and he was very dead now. I was about to protest against this sort of divination bullshit but I did not. 

I can remove it later when she's not watching.

"Alright now, off you go and take care!"

She waved at me as I pedaled towards the school, the most boring institution on earth.

I was half-way down the streets when the structural integrity of my bicycle experienced a non-passive failure. The chains were broken and from how I assessed it, not a tinker of chains in the whole world can unbreak it.

I looked at Nana's amulet and groaned.

"Nice...wards of the bad luck my ass."

I parked my bike beside the road and thought of a valid excuse to not go to school. I thought of Nana and her unsolicited 500 peso bill. It would invalidate my excuse because, with this stupid money, I can afford to commute.

I looked down at the broken chains as it dragged across the pavement and fought the urge to toss my bike in the middle of the road.

Above, the summer sun started blasting the earth with ultra-violet rays and my skin responded with droplets of fat sweats that were dripping down from my forehead. My white polo uniform too started to feel moist so I undressed it and hang it on my left shoulder.

In my head, I was estimating 4-5 kilometers of the sweat-drenching walkathon when suddenly a maroon pick-up truck halted at a meter-length from the corner of the road where I was walking. The tinted window slid half-open and a guy wearing a black Ray-ban peeked outside from the driver's seat.

"Need a lift?"

Said the Ray-ban guy as he dragged his sunglasses at the tip of his nose and looked at me behind his long eyelashes.

I presumed that he was a tourist. The place was quite a popular tourist destination during summer, compliments to the spring resort above the mountains.

I pointed the direction towards the resort hoping he'd leave me alone but he squinted his blue eyes instead which looked bluer than the sky when the sunlight passed through them and then he smiled at me like that kind of smile that would land you a deal with the toothpaste commercial. He rolled down the tinted window of his car at a full length. This revealed his uniform that had the same blue logo on it as with mine.

He's from Mary Knoll High School I supposed but I have never seen him before. Perhaps he was a transferee or from the other department. Not that I care.

"Hop-in, at this rate, you're gonna be late."

He said casually like I was not a stranger but an old-friend he happened to meet outside.

"Alright then, if you insist..."

I said it like I'm the one who's doing him a favor. The engine roared and we drove off, two strangers on the road.

When we arived in the campus, I jumped off of his pick-up's rear end and fetched my bike. I walked towards the driver's seat and said: "Thank you..." Like I meant it. (Perhaps I did)

He was wearing his Ray-ban on top of his head so some of his light-brown curls dangled in front of his face like strands of wet noodles. He playfully blew it off with his mouth so the wet noodles flew-off from his face to his forehead and dropped at exactly where it was before he blew it. He did it again and it fell right back on his pale-white freckled face. I wondered what he was trying to achieve by doing that.

"No biggie..." said he smiling.

I had a weird urge to punch him in the face. But I walked away instead, wondering if he ever stopped smiling.