Ethereal Love

Chapter 12

Chapter 12
 
Lost
 
 
After the confrontation I thought, slowly, everything will go back to normal.

The pain did subsided, pero may guwang pa rin sa aking kalooban. I've been spacing out a lot these days too. At tila kay bagal nang mga nagdaang araw.

I never heard anything from him since then. Mabuti na 'yon. Iyon din naman ang gusto kong mangyari, hindi ba?

I sighed as I stared blankly at our school principal while he’s delivering his speech for us, dahil ga-graduate na kami ng Senior High. Napalingon ako sa katabi ng maramdaman ko ang pag-hilig nito sa akin. Ngumisi si Dennis.

"Kapatid mo ba 'yun?" tanong niya at ini-nguso ang gawi ng bleachers.

I turned to where he is pointing and saw Cranleigh sitting next to my parents. He was smiling while mouthing something to someone.

I followed his line of vision which led me to where Nic is. She smiled at my brother and nodded her head.

"Laki na, ah... 'di ba 'yan 'yong sinusundo mo dati sa classroom nila?" ani Dennis nguni’t hindi ko na napansin nang mapansin ang paglingon sa akin ng katabi ni Nicole.

Anthony's innocent looking round eyes widened when he caught me looking at him. I tried to smile at hom, nguni't mabilis siyang nag-iwas ng tingin. Bumagsak ang balikat ko.

The confrontation with Eliron was just the night before our graduation ball, and I was so down that time. Hindi ko alam kung paano ko iyon natawid. I’m so thankful to Nicole dahil palagi niya akong pinagtatakpan nang gabing iyon mula sa mga tanong nila Bea at Shane.

I tried to push all the negativity out of my system that night, and have some fun pero hindi ko magawa.

Nakapuslit sila Ralph at Liam, with the help of Nic. I expected Liam to throw me some questions for what happened at his party, but he never asked. Sa huli, ako pa ang nagbukas ng usapan tungkol doon.

"Liam, sorry about last night," I said.

Sandali niya akong tinitigan bago tumawang bahagya at umiling. "Ayos lang!"

That’s it? And here I thought he’ll react the same way as Nic did when he learned about me having a certain connection with Eliron.

Madalas ko siyang nahuhuling nakatingin sa akin ng gabing iyon. Tuwing nahuhuli’y ngini-ngitian niya lamang ako at bumabaling na sa iba.

I danced with him, gano'n na din kay Anthony at kay Kevin. Mas nauna nga lang kay Kevin dahil agad siyang nag-ayang sumayaw matapos si Liam.

Nang si Anthony na ang kasayaw ko, hindi ko inaasahan ang biglaan niyang pagtatapat. I didn't know what to say.

"It’s okay, I’m not asking for an answer. Gusto ko lang sabihin sa 'yo na… gusto kita, Zaylee," he said that when I was panicking, not knowing what to do.

I was awkward with him after that, while he’s trying hard to act normal kahit na alam kong naa-awkward din siya. Gusto kong umaktong tulad ng dati sa kaniya pero nahihirapan ako, lalo na't alam ko sa aking sarili na hindi ko maibabalik ang nararamdaman niya para sa 'kin.

Hindi ko man gustong iwasan siya ay nagagawa ko. Kaya hindi ko rin siya masisi nang iniiwasan niya na rin ako.

After the whole program, Nic quickly went running to me. Niyakap niya ako at tumalon-talon pa. I laughed a bit.

"We did it, Zay!" masaya aniya.

"Congratulations to us!" I said happily.

Kinalas niya ang pagkaka-yakap sa akin at niyugyog ako ng marahan sa balikat. Hindi matanggal ang malaking ngiti sa kaniyang labi.