She Crossed That Bridge

10

CHAPTER TEN

What's with the rush?

"ANYONE here familiar with Amy Tan?" Ms. Rodriguez asked.

I immediately raise my hand, and Ms. Rodriguez called me.

Marahan akong tumayo saka ngumiti. "She's a California-born Chinese American author," I answered.

"True. Can you give us a title of her novel you're most familiar with and tell us about it?"

"The Hundred Secret Senses. It's actually a novel about China and America. Its key points were love and loyalty, the identities we create and the true selves we discover along our journey."

She let me sit down and flashed me a smile.

Harry raised his hand, getting all excited to tell something about the novel. "Olivia had a lot of choices to make and it included choosing between the Chinese and American experience and with which culture she will ultimately identify," he said.

Woah. That was impressive.

A smile escaped my lips when I realized that there's someone who reads the same novel as I do, but the smile on my face immediately went off when I saw him discreetly checking his phone under his desk.

I rolled my eyes in dismay.

Of course, Google.

I was indeed the only one who's into books. Never in my life have I had a conversation with someone who loves books just much as I do. Oh well, I had, once.

Ideal guy ko pa naman 'yong mahilig din magbasa tulad ko. Siguro kaya wala pa rin akong boyfriend, kasi wala pa akong nakikilala na mahilig din magbasa tulad ko. Kasi naman, sa dami ng lalaki sa mundo, bakit si Dest pa 'yong katulad kong mahilig din sa mga libro?

Napailing na lang ako no'ng maisip ko ulit si Dest.

Ms. Rodriguez didn't seem to notice what Harry has been doing—she's just happy we're all into the conversation, and the truth was that all my classmates were just faking it. And sa totoo lang, nakadi-disappoint talaga.

"Are you that old? Amy Tan's works are one of the old times," Kath whispered to me. Again, I rolled my eyes. I don't know, but rolling my eyes seemed to be my everyday mood.

Sa kalagitnaan ng klase, may tumawag kay Mrs. Rodriguez mula sa pinto kaya napalingon kaming lahat doon at natigilan ako nang makita ko si Helix.

Here we go again with my heartbeat. It kept beating louder and louder whenever I see him.

What was he doing here? He's a senior, and he's not supposed to be here.

Ms. Roriguez walked to the door slowly, and Helix told her something. Few seconds later, she turned around to scan the entire room. When our eyes met, she gestured me to stand up.

"Ako po? Bakit ako?" wala sa sariling tanong ko habang nakaturo sa sarili ko.

"I don't know. I'm not the girlfriend, but you are," she said, raising a brow at me.

Huh? Girlfriend? Okay lang ba siya?

I was about to stand up, but Hel suddenly gestured me to stay in my seat.

I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Ugh. The last thing on earth I have ever wanted was everyone's attention.

Ayaw ko ng ganito.

Hindi ako komportable kapag maraming nakatingin sa 'kin. Pakiramdam ko ang dumi-dumi ng mukha ko.

Ibinaling ko ang atensyon ko kay Hel at nagtataka siyang tiningnan.

"Baby, I'll wait for you at the shrine. See you after class," sambit niya saka siya umalis.

Wait.

What the hell?

What—did he just call me?

***

HELIX drove me home from school. While on our way, all I did was ask him if we were really officially dating, and all he did was nod and smile at me.

Hindi talaga ako makapaniwala sa mga nangyayari. Ano ba 'to? Pina-prank niya lang ba ako?

It felt like everything went too fast. It's perfectly fine with me, though. But I wondered why he does what he does.

He really was unpredictable.

"Gerald would probably kill me once he finds out that we're dating," I said.

"He'll kill me first, so you don't have to worry. And for the record, I'm not scared of him. He can throw me a punch, but that wouldn't change the fact that we're dating."

Natahimik ako at napakagat sa labi ko. Hindi ko inaasahan na ganito kabilis lahat ng pangyayari.

Kailan lang naman kami nagkakilala.

Hindi ko tuloy maiwasang mapaisip.

Bahagya akong lumingon sa kanya. "What's with the rush? I mean—don't you want to take things slowly?"

He glanced at me sideways.

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Oh—okay. Sure," sagot ko.

There's a moment of silence, but he broke it.

"I have cancer."

Napataas ang kilay ko at inis ko siyang tiningnan. "I am serious, Hel."

Ang ayos ng tanong ko sa kanya tapos sasagutin niya ako ng gano'n. Mukha bang nakipagbibiruan ako?

I waited for him to say his real agenda behind rushing things between us, but his silence made me question him even more.

Few minutes later, I ended up staring at him, not knowing how to close my damn mouth. "You weren't kidding?" hindi makapaniwalang tanong ko.

He let out a small smile and stopped the car at the side of the road.

He went out of the car so I followed him.

While watching the sunset, he spoke again, "Three days before I transferred here in De Grande town, a malignant melanoma was found in my trachea."

~

T I A N A V I A N N E