CLASS WITH A MISFIT: Along with the Beauties

Session 13

-TO FIX A DEDUCTION-

CHARRE

"Kung gano'n, are you saying that the culprit is a male?" Finally, Celo spoke up.

"Yes," mabilis kong sagot.

Napalarong muli ang daliri ko sa buhok. "The height, the strength, the short timelapse, someone could do the prank if the person meets the call of the setup. I may sound stereotypical here but yes, gano'n talaga ang polite fact about male and female physical differences. The male culprit with a height of 6' to 6'5 can do the set up effortlessly for a minute or two. Then the remaining 12 to 13 minutes will be spent in getting the camera. The fact of how class clashes in each batch occurs, I came to be focal only in our year, and with such height, dalawa lang ang naiisip kong posibleng salarin."

"The tallest students of this batch, Class A's Yoonho, and Class E's Celo."

Hinarap ko muli si Celo na ngayon ay wala lang ekspresyon sa mukha, "But despite my deductions, I still can't put Celo in the picture as the culprit."

"There, you said it." Seryoso ang boses ni Celo na nasabi no'n, "Kumpirmadong pinagdududahan mo nga ako."

"Tell me, honestly..." Nakakatunaw ang pagtitig niya, "Do you really think of me that way, a culprit, Charlotte Red?"

I sigh, "I have to be honest, but, yes."

"Why?"

Hindi ako kaagad nakasagot.

"Dahil doon sa kuha sa larawan?" inunahan na niya ako.

"Yes."

"But if I'm the culprit, hindi ba hindi ko dapat nilalaglag ang sarili ko?"

"Unless you want an out of this school at idamay ang Class E."

"That's absurd, Charlotte Red."

"But you're suspicious! I even saw you checking my account without clearing your intention even when we're actually seatmates in class, and you didn't even seem to care every time something happens to Class E. Do you think your actions make sense, huh, Celo?"

"That's because I-"

"Can you two just shut the fck up?!" Pareho kaming natigilan at napatingin kay Kevent. Inis na siyang nakatingin sa amin.

Silence elapsed for a while, at pareho kaming nagbaba ng tingin.

"But at least you're being honest about how you see me, Charlotte. Now, it's clear that you still don't trust me as a person."

His second statement provoked something from the inside of me.

To me, it sounds like it was double meant.

Hindi ko tuloy maiwasan ang makaramdam ng kaba.

'What do you mean by that, Celo?'

Bumilis ang pagtibok ng puso ko sa hindi ko malamang dahilan.

'You're that guy I met before, aren't you?' I wish I could ask him that directly, but I couldn't.

Sa huli, binasag ko nalang din ang sariling katahimikan at nagpaumanhin, "I did think of you as the culprit, but the fact that you're really seem so eager at proving your innocence..."

Bumalik sa isip ko ang pagtitig at pagsalita niya noong kwenistyon ko ang innocence niya sa klase nitong nakaraan... 'Those were the stares and words of that genuine person I knew back then.'

"And the fact that you're a male and just can't enter the female restroom at the timeframe where the population of this mall is high- just to get the other bucket, makes the fact that it's hard to put your involvement to the case in a picture." Muli akong nagtaas ng tingin sa tangkad niya. "It's why I'm asking you, what you are doing here during the timeframe of the incident, to at least give me an objective reason of clearing your name."