ONCE (One-shot Story)

Once (Pt. 2)

Everyone was already settled in their respective seats that afternoon. We had five minutes to go before the first subject begins. It was announced yesterday that an oral recitation would be conducted so I fished for the Physics notebook in my bag and scanned it for a quick review. I was confident enough that I could answer any question that would possibly be thrown to me, though, because Science had been my favorite subject.

"Hey, bro! Are you planning to be the next Galileo, Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein?" Lee, one of my closest friends, broke a soft chuckle as he teased. He was sitting beside me on the left side and our other friend, Travis, was sitting next to him.

I shook my head slightly while laughing, still looking at the notes, though not reading it. I looked up and turned my eyes to him. "It's better to be prepared, dude."

I closed my notebook and accidentally stared at the corridor. My heart beat wildly when my eyes landed on that familiar face of a girl who was standing beside our Physics professor. They were talking to the couple whom I believed were the girl's parents. She was the same girl whom I bumped with earlier! An indescribable excitement suddenly rushed through my tall frame thinking that she would part of our class.

I didn't know how long my eyes were locked unwaveringly on her lovely face but I didn't realize that my lips were slowly curving a sweet smile. My heart suddenly stopped as I watched her brushing some strands of hair off her face using her fingers. It was like a slow-motion scene in a movie.

"Bro, are you okay? I can't believe you're smiling at that nerdy girl!" Travis said, and then he dissolved into laughter.

Quickly, I composed myself and acted like I never stared at her at all. "Shut up, you prick! Stop teasing me!" I retorted, pretending to ignore his lines.

I knew that it was just part of his banter - as he used to be the cheeky one in the group - but surprisingly, it annoyed me. If he wasn't just my close pal, I would've given his face a hard blow!

The Physics professor stepped inside our classroom together with the girl. She opened her mouth and I knew she was going to tell us that another student would be added to our class.

"Class, you have a new classmate. Is there any vacant seat for her?" Mrs. Delgado's eyes roamed around the classroom at the same time.

Perfect! The seat at my right side was empty.

"Ma'am, she can sit here. This chair is empty." I spoke loudly as I pointed at the chair.

Mrs. Delgado stared at me and turned to her. The next scene left me breathless. I silently prayed that our professor would accept the offer.

"You can sit there," she told the girl. The latter painted a timid smile on her lips and nodded to the woman.

"Thank you, Ma'am."

She started to approach my direction. In that heightened moment, I swore I felt my heart beat faster. My blood pounded in perfect cadence to that sensuous tempo.

I waited for her to sit down. She looked at me and smiled when she reached the chair. I smiled back and introduced myself. I knew that that was my chance to do the first step of making friends with her.

"Hi! I'm Roberto James Borromeo, but you can call me James. May I know your name?" I started, flashing a wide, friendly smile.

She smiled back at me shyly, and then pushed a strand of hair at the back of her ear. That gesture made her look more innocent.

She took a pen and a notebook from her bag, flipped the back page of the notebook and wrote something on the first page. I tore my gaze from it as I wanted to give her some privacy. But unexpectedly, she laid the notebook in front of me.

There was a short note on it that said:

"My name is Katerina. Glad to meet you, James! :-)"

That move might be weird for other people, but I found it cute. I slowly switched my eyes to her. She was smiling, but she wasn't looking at me. She was facing down the floor, which obviously, was a sign that she was shy enough to look at me.

Oh, that was indeed priceless! It simply took my breath away. That really my day and I just found myself still smiling until that day ended.