The blue book was an open secret. Everybody knows it exists but nobody talks about it. Inside the book were pictures of beautiful, young women from different universities and colleges. They were the student prostitutes. Being beautiful and young made them more special and desirable. They had higher status and charge more than the regular escorts.
After days of battling with myself, I gave in and decided that this was the right way to find a woman. I never thought I would even consider doing this, pay for sex. I didn't need to. I could get laid for free if I wanted to. The problem was the girls I'd hooked up with always try to put their hooks in me. I was so sick and tired of them expecting more than what I could give them. Hindi pa ako handa sa seryosong relasyon at iyon ang hindi nila maintindihan. I was a 20 year old man with a very active libido. I needed sex. Nothing more, nothing less. Just plain, urgent body pounding against body sex where nobody gets attached. Sex with someone that doesn't expect anything in return. Except money because that was all I could afford to give.
I was in an empty classroom with a guy holding the blue book. Their pimp, I guess. Dito namin napag-usapan na magkita pagkatapos ng third period. Tumakas lang ako sa mga barkada ko dahil ayokong malaman nila ang gagawin ko. They would just make fun of me. Inabot ng lalaki ang libro sa akin ang libro at kinuha ko yun. I opened the book and started flipping the pages, looking at pictures after pictures of pretty babes. Talagang magaganda ang mga babaeng nandun pero wala akong mapili sa kanila. None of them interested me enough. All generic beauties. I sighed and flipped through another page and then I came across a picture that caught my attention. The girl in the picture had a delicate face that looked like it was carved by angels. She looked pure and wholesome, unlike the others who looked superficial and worldly. Her eyes were big and brown and innocent with thick lashes. Her black hair was swept into a lazy low ponytail. Her sweet smile was infectious and there was just something about her...
Without a second thought, I picked her. She was perfect.
Nakaramdam ako ng awa at panghihinayang. What made her do this? How many clients had she slept with? I shook the questions out of my head. What do I care? Hindi ko na dapat pinakikialaman ang mga bagay na iyon. It shouldn't matter as long as she's clean. Of course, i was going to have her checked first before we do anything.
Sandali kaming nag-usap bago ako umalis. Sabi niya tatawagan niya na lang ako kapag nakausap niya na ang babae. As I was walking, I couldn't get my mind off the girl in the picture. She was just so beautiful. I wanted to see her, I wanted to know if she was as beautiful as she was in the picture. I wanted to know how she would sound like. I wanted to know how her skin would feel against mine.
"Wayne!"
Lumingon ako sa tumawag ng pangalan ko. Si Axel ang tumawag sa akin at lumapit ang apat papunta sa kinatatayuan ko.
"Saan ka galing?" Tanong naman ni Seth. "Kanina ka pa namin hinahanap. Bigla ka na lang nawala."
"Sa library." I lied, not wanting them to know anything about it. A guy who pays for sex was automatically a loser.
"Ikaw? Pupunta sa library? Lokohin mo lelang mo." Sabi naman ni Tristan.
"Tara na! May klase pa tayo." I said, changing the topic.
"Late na tayo ng five minutes." Nick said, looking at his wrist watch. The four of them exchanged looks and I knew exactly where this was going.
"Then let's just skip class." Axel finally said what all of us wanted to hear.
And skip class we did.
