Maginoong Medyo Bastos

Chapter Nine

"You know that they hate you because you're brave, right? And because you are the embodiment of the person that they can never be?" asked Santi who was looking outside the window of her car. Nakataas ang mga paa nito habang ang suot-suot naman nitong long dress sa party ay nasa back seat. She took her dress off and was already wearing a pair of jogging pants and a black t-shirt.

Vannessa looked at her for a brief second before looking at the road. "Well, that's just petty, ain't it?"

She grinned before nodding in approval. "May mga tao talagang ganyan. When they realize that they can never become the person that they wish to be, they attack the people who are that person. Maybe to make themselves feel better? I don't really know." She let out a sigh. "After all, no matter how bad it may seem, those fuckers had been dreamers who were denied of their dreams. And it had turned into hatred and denial."

Natahimik silang dalawa pagkatapos n'on. Vannessa took the time to ponder on what Santi said, and she would agree that her cousin might be right. Hindi niya kailanman inasahang maririnig niya ang bagay na iyon sa pinsan. They never really talked that much, but she knew that Santi didn't dislike her, at least that was what she was assuming.

She had always known the girl to be overly playful and abrasive. Lahat ng gulo'y hindi nito inaatrasan kaya kahit marami ang may ayaw rito, marami rin ang ayaw itong makabangga. One of the worst enemies was the one who was insistent for a fight, no matter what it'd cost.

Santi was that kind of person, and after hearing the things that she just said, Vannessa realized that there were a lot of things that she didn't know about the girl. It was as if she was an enigma.

"Alam mo bang dati kaming mag-best friends?" Tiningnan siya nito. Nagtaas naman ang kilay ni Vannessa, bahagyang nagtataka kung anong ibig nitong sabihin. Santi grinned before looking back outside the window. "Well, Stella."

"Oh."

Natawa ito sa naging reaksyon niya bago tumango-tango. "Kagulat, 'no?" natatawa nitong tanong. "High school. She wasn't as awful as she is now, pero medyo maarte pa rin."

Hindi niya kailanman nakitang magkasama ang dalawa noon. Stella had a circle of friends. Kaugali nito ang mga kaibigan kaya hindi niya maiwasang magtaka kung paano nangyaring nagkalapit ang mga ito. She just couldn't connect the dots, especially when she considered how different their personalities were.

"Secret lang 'to, ha. She used to admire you. Hanggang college din ata iyon? She admired your guts. You could stand on your ground firmly raw, and you do not let people dictate your future. She also loved your singing." Bahagyang nakangiti ang babae habang nagkukuwento habang si Vannessa naman ay bakas ang pagkagulat sa narinig. That was the first time that she heard about that. "In fact, you were the person that kind of pushed her to go to the path that she'd always wanted to take. Music."

Nanlaki ang mga mata ni Vannessa sa narinig. "What? Music? Do you really mean like performing music?"

Tumango-tango ito. "She wanted to be in a band. Do you remember when you got your guitar, and later on, she also got one?" Vannessa nodded. "Well, she wanted to be a lead guitarist in a band. When her parents found out about the guitar, they wanted to throw it away kasi nga raw, she should be practicing piano and violin. Then my daddy asked for the guitar kasi sayang naman, diba? That was when we kind of gotten closer to each other. I told her that she could practice guitar in our house kasi hindi siya isusumbong nina daddy."

Hindi alam ni Vannessa kung ano ang dapat na maramdaman sa nalaman. She had never thought that there was a part of Stella who was like that. She had always seen her as someone awful who liked picking on her for some reason. Even when that didn't really change the fact that the girl had done things that had done Vannessa no good, she still couldn't help but feel a little compassion towards her cousin.