Samantha's Bureau

A day at the soccer field

The fierce midmorning sunlight beat down on the Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Diliman soccer field,  and immediately after our soccer class ended, we flew towards the trees' shade like birds after a gunshot. Soccer was not one of our more widespread sports - it trailed miserably behind basketball, badminton, swimming, and martial arts - but, it was still a sport, and we Pinoys were big on any sport. I rubbed a deluge of sweat off my neck and temples, and gulped down all but a drop of the Four Seasons Gatorade in my bottle. Practice was over.

I smiled thankfully up for the canopy of the narra tree under which my mom waited for me, then handed her the Gatorade bottle and the soggy towel that was inside the back of my tshirt. After I had regained my normal heart rate, I ran up to my friends Emmanuel and Marina, and we began to play tag regardless of having just finished our tiring, but fun, soccer practice. Eventually, we wound down, and Emmanuel gave me a grasshopper he'd caught and Marina went to get something from her mom.

"Whatcha gonna name it?" Emmanuel asked me excitedly. He was a little older than me - a year, perhaps; he was tall and wore glasses. I think he was rather fond of me, but whether as a friend or more than that, I can't recall.

"I dunno, 'Angelo'? Hey, didn't I tell you about that brown ladybug I almost ate?"

He looked aghast. "What??"

"I was running around like Coach told me to, then there was something flying and it went inside my mouth! It tasted... well, yuck!!!!!!"

Emmanuel shivered, and Marina skipped back to us. She was in Grade 6, dark-skinned or morena, spoke in English, and was wearing a 'Nightmare Before Christmas' sleeve top. I didn't know who Sally was, and I remember asking her about it, with her replying in English that sounded intelligent.

"Mom wanted me to ask you guys if you wanted to come over with us to that mango shake place!" she asked.

"Yessssss!" Emmanuel and I said at the same time. We laughed, and raced each other on the smooth tarmac of the university road.

"Last one at the shop's a rotten egg!" Marina yelled. I ran after her, then suddenly an idea popped into my head.

"Guys, why don't we use the shortcut?" I suggested, stopping to gasp. Marina was way ahead of us, and I had to shout it again.

"Why not," Emmanuel grinned, and dashed for it. The short path cut through a field, a pond, and a few houses. It was very adventurous, and I preferred it to the road.

Marina was ahead of us again and we both didn't want to be called a "rotten egg", so we pressed our legs to go faster. But then, Emmanuel halted - something had caught his eye.

"Haha, Eman, I'm going to beat you!!" I jeered back at him, but couldn't help but wonder what had stopped him. It was a good five yards when I turned my head to look at him and heard his footsteps behind me.

"Gabby, look at this!"

I turned my head to look back, and saw both of his hands cupping something.

"What is that??"

He grinned, then revealed a beautiful iridescent azure butterfly. It immediately fluttered away, but I was left standing amazed. It was a thing of wonder, and I wished Eman would hold it forever to show me, but watching it fly away gracefully made me even happier.

He caught my gaze and knew what I felt, and shook off the pale wing-dust from his palms.

"I named it Gabby."

I gasped. "Oh, really! Why?"

He smiled sheepishly, like he was going to reveal something embarrassing but was taking pleasure in disclosing it. "It was as pretty as you."

I felt confused, but was left with no time to put things together because Emmanuel took my five seconds of confusion as a headstart. Oh, now I can see. He did like me. And he was about to beat me to the storefront. What a gentleman.

A/N: This is based off my memories from soccer class back when I lived in Manila as a kid. I know Eman's still out there. Oh yeah, according to my notepad app on the computer this was last edited on April 25, 2015, the day of the Nepal earthquake, so I probably wrote this before that time. I was 14.