Toto and the Boys III: Dannie

Chapter 9

A piece of the past…

She was back to school and she was aware of the curious glances her classmates threw at her direction every now and then. Though Jackie and George never told her anything about any rumors about her, she was certain there were at least two.

She was not obliged to explain her domestic problems anyway, she thought.

But her friends were also affected in a way and they probably had a lot of questions they wanted to ask, things they wanted to be clear. George, for one, was someone who wanted things in place. Dannie would bet anything she was itching to find out what was happening with her so she could finally put the matter at rest and go on without wondering about things people only talked about behind Dannie’s back.

During lunchtime, on her first day back at school, Dannie finally decided to tell Jackie and George.

“I know it’s not a secret that I have some family issues at home,” she started.

Jackie immediately stopped moving and George just looked at her as she munched her food. Neither of her friends blinked an eye.

“And I know that the two of you have a lot of questions so I decided I better just tell you myself. My parents are not like yours. They chose different things, most of them wrong, and they do things in a different way.”

It seemed that her openness finally gave way for George to speak her mind and her friend said, “Like beating you and Tessa up.”

Dannie’s lips thinned. She nodded her head.

Jackie was nearly in tears.

“You should do something about it,” George said strongly.

“They feed us. They try to find work for a living. They give us roof over our heads. They have a lot of frustrations,” she reasoned. When she met George’s eyes, she immediately had to look away. There was a curious, knowing look in them that she didn’t want to face at the moment. George’s always imagined things far beyond what normal people would go for and most often, they were justifiable. She would think worse of the bad and expect something bad from something good. And at that moment, Dannie knew her friend was doing just that.

“Dannie,” George started but Dannie stopped her with a smile.

“I hope you can understand my situation. Don’t worry so much about me. I can handle everything.”

George opened her mouth to argue but closed it when Dannie continued eating.

She didn’t want to answer what her friend had in mind. Maybe in the future, she’d face that question. But not right now.

Some more horrible things were better kept locked up from other people.

PRESENT DAY

I said Troy was going to do something awesome, right?

Well, it actually happened while we went out of town to Cadiz to attend the Dinagsa Festival which is kind of a big thing every January in Negros. Like the Masskara, it comprises of a lot of street parties. But it has its own twists. You see, people who’d come for the Dinagsa Festival have to be ready to get dirty. You will not survive the day without being smeared with different colors of latex paint all over your face and body. People would go home looking like walking canvases who met a two-year-old painter wannabe.

I didn’t know how I felt about the festival, actually. For most vehicles, it is a nightmare. Imagine the horror of being smeared with paint, though water-based, and you couldn’t even lift a freaking door to ward off your attackers.