Eloisa the Fifth Wheel (COMPLETED) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Chapter Nine

Here is another thing about being a fifth wheel: everybody jumps at a chance for you to get a boyfriend.

Months have passed since the mall fiasco. I was on the verge of believing that I lived a life that millions of other fifth wheelers lived, until I was called in by our homeroom teacher, Miss April Co. With her signature amicable smile and light-hearted giggle, she handed me several forms. Deadline for those documents was next week.

Hmm, I thought. What could this be?

I glanced down at the forms that I was holding. When I did, my heart stopped.

~o~

The next week after that, I was able to hand in my documents to my homeroom adviser. All throughout my ordeal, not a single word slipped out of my mouth about what was in those forms. Not that I had to keep it confidential. At the same time, I felt the need to keep it confidential because I did not want to deal with the commotion that came along with it.

Ever since I signed those forms, I knew that I had to brace myself for inevitable drama. Still, I was not ready for drama. Not on that week, at least. Things were not going to start happening until a month later. That was if I kept my mouth shut. Otherwise, I was going to be beat before everything even began.

I had to enjoy my last few weeks of my peaceful life as a fifth wheel.

For your information, I was not supposed to sign up for this. However, I needed to. It was not a need that was expressed by Miss Co nor my academics nor my extracurricular activities.

Trust me: it's complicated. Please don't get mad at me, but I am honestly new to this.

~o~

One month in and all eyes were on me as I entered the campus gates. I was being my usual self, but the difference from that day to the days before that day was the fact that I spent far less effort to amp up my appeal on the former than the latter. However, I couldn't take credit for all that attention.

After all, none of this wouldn't have happened if not for the reason why a humongous crowd of students gathered around us, and why a huge tarpaulin hung from the rooftop of our school buildings. All of these tarpaulins screamed, in funky, neon-coloured font: WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES!

As for the reason? He was nowhere else but standing next to me.

To be fair, I guess I have to explain what was going on.

Miss Co tasked me to host an exchange student from Spain. His name was Antonio Quebec. He was going to stay for one week here in the Philippines. The first time I saw his picture, I knew I was in for a week of fame. As I read his information sheet, however, I realized that there was more to him than the allure of his picture. His papers implicitly stated that he was smart and he was well-off. I did not mind hosting him, but I still took the effort to consult my parents. They barely finished reading the first page when they said, "YES! TAKE THAT GUY IN!"

Still, I couldn't help but wonder why I was going to host a guy. Most of the time, guys hosted guys and girls hosted girls. I asked Miss Co about it.

"Actually, I forgot to include this." She rummaged through her documents, and fished out a blue Post-It. She placed it on top of my hands. "Antonio included this in his application forms."

I read the note.

"If it is possible, can you make Miss Eloisa Muñoz my host? If it is possible. – Antonio."