Shot in the Dark

03

---- Present day: July 2018(First day)----

I adjust my glasses as I see that the car is already going in the academy’s driveway. First day of being a senior. There’s really no change just that from freshman to sophomore to junior and finally 

I’m now a graduating senior highschool student and in a few months’ time will be able to leave this stress-filled-and-drama-packed-hell called high school.

I say goodbye to Mang Ernesto and enter the school. I’m dressed in plain dark blue skinny jeans, a Guns N’ Roses tee shirt and my white Converse sneakers, wala kasing uniform ang DXIA eh so we get to wear what we want. 

I adjust the strap of my knapsack on my right shoulder. I go by the Registrar’s office to get my schedule. As soon as I do, I check the time, 7:30 AM. Well I’ve always been an early bird. 

I make my way to find my locker and when I do I hastily open it. Hay, gagaan na sa wakas ang bag ko. I was putting my books and other requirements nang biglang BANG!

I turned to who hit the locker beside me to give them a piece of my mind when I hear a very familiar laugh that resembles a hyena... though I’d never tell her that. I roll my eyes to my very amused best friend Xy or better known as Xyriel Margaux Jacques, my best friend as long as I can remember. 

She’s shorter than me with her 5’ flat against my 5’5 height but she exudes confidence which I get jealous of and she doesn’t take shit from anyone probably why she never got bullied even though she looks so fragile. A face of an angel with a demon’s mind.

“Hello to you too Xy, ang aga-aga nang gugulat ka na” sabi ko sa kanya. All done with my stuff. I close and lock my locker and turn to face her fully. “It’s never too early to have fun by the way, did you pick up your sched na?” ang sagot at tanong niya sa akin. 

I chuckle at this “Of course I do, wanna compare it with yours noh?” I tell her and at the same time binibigay sa kanya ang papel kung nasaan ang sched ko. She just nods as she starts scanning both papers to see kung may mga pareho ba kaming subjects o wala. 

I highly doubt it though cause I mostly take AP or advanced classes if there will be one class that we’d be together that may have to be Literature or history because not so many people know but despite my best friend’s fierce personality she is a self-proclaimed mythology and history buff. If there’s any subject that we can get together except those 2 it would probably be homeroom.

     “Awww, we only have AP Literature and History together, Ash” as expected. “Why do you take subjects that are mostly advanced classes kasi eh! Ang unfair! Sa ating tatlo, ako ang may pinaka minimum na number of AP classes so mabalang lang tayong maging classmates! Ugghh I feel so dumb” she complains, I roll my eyes at this and we start walking to the school’s lounge aka tambayanan ng mga students pagwala silang magawa.

“You’re not dumb and you know that besides it was your choice not to take too much AP classes remember?” I remind her she shrugs and with that the topic is dropped. 

“By the way, why couldn’t we contact you during late summer? We tried IM, chat. e-mail, skype, viber, text and call pero di ka namin mahagilap. Wala ba uso wifi o kahit signal man lang sa lugar kung saan kayo nagmedical mission?” reklamo at tanong niya.

Umupo kami sa isa sa maraming mga sofa sa lounge nung sasagot na sana ako ng biglang may humampas sa isa kong braso sabay sabi “ASH!” hay, bakit parang battered friend ako ngayon? 

“Hi rin sayo Val” Valerie Asuncion is one of my best friends and has been since as long as I can remember too. She’s to simply say it, the goody-two-shoes in our group of friends. Maputi, maganda, matangkad with her 5’6 height, matalino and umaapaw sa bait. 

Kaya naman siya ang naturingang ‘Campus Sweetheart’ di ko na mabilang kung ilang lalaki na ang nagkagusto at nagtangkang manligaw sa kanya. Pero of course she turned them all down sabi niya studies first daw pero alam namin pareho ni Xy na may hinihintay lang talaga siya. 

Me, Xy and Val became best friends thru our mothers who were best friends since high school.

“Bakit di ka namin ma reach nung late summer ha?” tanong ni Val and Xy gave me the i-told-you-look. 

“Probinsya po yung pinuntahan namin so pahirapan talaga ang means of communication and I went there for the experience of doing a medical mission para makatulong sa kin for college and experience purposes na rin so I thought that it would be logical to focus on my task I can just tell you all about it when I get back here naman so yun na yun okay?” I explain.

 “Nakahanap ka ba ng papable doon? Share ka naman” asar ni Xy sa kin. “Ikaw talaga Xy puro lalaki nasa isip mo eh, I told you I focused my task on helping the people there because thats what I went there for” I told them pero nagtinginan sila at nagtaas baba ng kilay nila sa kin 

“Oh, baka single but taken ka lang” sabi naman ni Val. 

Tinignan ko siya ng nagtatanong kung anong ibig niyang sabihin. “Hay, kahit di mo aminin Ash alam naman namin na may nararamdaman ka para sa nag- iisang guy best friend mo” sabi naman ni Xy. 

“Sa pagkakalaam ko may 3 akong guy best friends and wala akong gusto sa kahit isa sa kanila so I don’t know what you’re talking about” sagot ko habang binubuklat ang novel ko to continue reading from where I left off last night. 

“Sus, deny pa more” asar nilang dalawa sa kin, I roll my eyes at this. 

Di na nila ako kinausap kasi nagbabasa na ako. Nagpaalam ang dalawa sa akin na pupunta kung saan and I just nodded pretending to be too busy reading my book. Pero sa loob ko napapabuntong hininga na lang ako. 

Deny pa Ash, ideny mo lang ng ideny baka sakaling maniwala ka rin sa kasinungalingan mo para mawala na yang walang patutunguhan mong feelings para sa kanya.

Parang maliit pa lang ang nababasa ko ng biglang may humablot sa novel ko. What the?! Sisigawan ko na sana yung tao ng makita kung sino yun. As always napatiklop ako at napa upo pabalik sa sofa at humalukipkip na lang sa pagbabaka sakaling it’ll calm my own heart.

“Wala ba kong ‘welcome back’ hug Lee?” isang tao lang naman ang tumatawag sa kin noon. And as if on cue, the warning bell rang signaling that we need to get to our first period classrooms 30 mins from now.

Tumayo ako at hinarap siya, nasa kamay niya parin ang “An Abundance of Katherines” novel na binabasa ko kanina. He has that cheeky smile on his face that makes my heart skip a beat every damn time! Pero hindi! 

I have to act annoyed at him. Kaya kahit gusto ko siyang yakapin kase aminin ko man o hindi namiss ko siya these past few weeks. 

Hinablot ko ang novel ko mula sa kanya atsaka sinabi “Ewan ko sayo, Jax” atsaka ako tumalikod at lumakad palayo sa kanya and at the same time trying to calm my raging heart.

Damn that smile! 

❣️