My Little Moon - 𝗂𝗋𝖾𝗇𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖼𝗈𝗌

31. whomever

The bell rang through the halls of the academy as students piled and began to disperse out of their own classrooms. Their cheers echoed along with the thousands of footsteps that seemed to never end.

Lunch had officially begun, the most prominent activity if students say so themselves. Likely the most favored one too.

The two bestfriends eagerly sought out the doors and hastily headed through the school's gates. It was always Harper who dragged Catrina away, I'd think that wouldn't change in the long run.

"Come on, ang bagal mong lumakad! Maubusan tayo n'yan eh!"

"Oo na! Ano ba kasi ang bibilhin mo?" Catrina looked as if she had run a marathon; sweat began to pour atop her forehead, and the way she was catching her breath wasn't exactly the look she was going for.

"Basta! Just follow me, and if it makes it any better. . .I'll buy you whatever you want."

The streets were lined with vendors, and students flocked around it with no remorse whatsoever. Bumping into somebody has never been considered a sport, but it might as well be, seeing as Catrina struggled.

Harper walked, passing through multiple groups of people; not even bothering to mutter an apology. Meanwhile, Catrina helplessly trailed along. She took it upon herself to make amends with the people who Harper shoved away.

Their feet brought them to a small little cart and a man who was busy frying street foods. Harper immediately took out her wallet and practically thrust it forward towards the man. "Hello, manong! Pabili po ng cheestick!"

Catrina looked at her friend with quizzical eyes. There's nothing wrong with buying cheesticks for lunch. . .it's just that, wouldn't that be enough? 

"Ilang cheestick hija?"

Catrina's jaw dropped hearing what left out of Harper's mouth. Even the vendor did a double-take and looked at the young girl with startlement. Harper hummed and simply stood, waiting for the man to finish her order. Other students also lined up behind them, oblivious to what was going on in front.

While the man was busy frying away, Catrina cleared her throat. "Oy, alam kong mayaman ka pero beh, slow down. . .? Hindi ka n'yan mauubusan ng cheestick, kalmahin mo."

"Easy for you to say! Look oh, even manong is happy na binili ko lahat ng cheestick niya." Harper pointed, shrugging her shoulders. "—and besides, I'm doing charity work din naman. At the same time, busog ako. Oh, diba?"

Catrina bit her lip and nodded. She can't stop Harper anyway, so there was no point in arguing with her. The two girls waited for the guy to finish and hand it out to Harper. She almost dropped half of it before Catrina volunteered to help her out.

"Here's my bayad, manong." Harper handed out one blue bill, making Catrina shake her head in return.

"Ay, hija. . .wala ako pang sukli d'yan." Napakamot ng ulo si manong at akmang ibalik ang pera ni Harper. The girl stopped him, however, and simply declined.

"Oh, no don't worry manong. Keep the change na lang po. Thank you!" She didn't even wait for the man's reply as she grabbed Catrina's arm and pulled her away from the growing crowd.

They found a somewhat vacant street to stand by; Harper enjoying her cheesticks whilst Catrina could only stare in awe; she was petrified.

"Baliw ka talaga!" Catrina blurted, "Bakit 1K binayad mo? One hundred lang 'yon beh! Tapos wala ka pang sukli!"

"Oh my god, you're being dramatic. Calm down, Catrina. . .like I said, charity work."

"Calm down? Anong calm down? Baon ko na 'yon for three days eh!"