Salem's Eyes (COMPLETED)

05 Salem

"I don't know what to do first. Alin ba ang mauuna ang due? I still need to revise my business plan. I mean, everything was already graded but why do they want us to edit all of it?" reklamo n'ya. Nasa empty room kaming dalawa. We could do it in our own classroom but we both hated noise while working. Nakabukas parehas ang laptop namin at tambak ang mga folders sa mesa.

"I did your narrative report and your reaction paper already."

"What?" gulat na tanong n'ya.

"I already passed them together with mine yesterday." Nagpatuloy ako sa pagta-type. I was already done with my business plan. Two more papers and I'd finally be done. Iilang oras lang ang tulog ko dahil gusto ko talagang matapos agad. I had to help Amara.

"Salem, you don't hav--"

"Getting mad right now won't be a help." pagpuputol ko sa kanya. Ayaw n'ya kasi kapag ginagawa ko 'yun.

"Okay. Thank you. And don't worry anymore, I'm almost fine."

That was all I wanted to hear from her.

We worked in silence. Matatapos ko na lahat 'to hanggang mamaya.

"Grad practice na daw in ten minutes. Let's go."

Agad naming iniligpit ang gamit namin. Kailangan pa naming dalhin 'to sa practice sa gym. Ayaw naman naming iwan sa classroom dahil delikado na.

I fished my ID inside my bag to wear it. The teachers were pretty strict with IDs.

Noong masuot ko ang ID ko, I lifted it up to my face because I saw something peeking on the back of Amara's picture. It was almost unrecognizable because the paper was too small.

I shook it to confirm if it was really there. Noong lumabas ito mula sa pagtatago sa ilalim ng picture ni Amara, I struggled to get it out of curiosity. Hindi ko matandaan kung may nilagay ba akong papel dito sa ID ko.

When I unfolded it, I saw a cellphone number. Caius' name was written below it. It was really small that I had to squint my eyes to read it.

Why in the world would he slide his number in my ID?

"What's that?" tanong ni Amara. When she tried to peek, I folded it again and slid it back in my ID.

"Nothing."

She didn't nag me about it because I didn't give her a reason to. Sometimes, I really liked how my poker face could hide things.

I didn't need to hide anything from Amara. She was my only friend. But knowing someone named Caius Gomez wasn't a big deal enough for me to tell her.

Pero hindi nakatakas sa isip ko 'yung nakita ko kagabi. I was curious about his condition. I wanted to know if he was fine but not to the point that I'd try to contact him. Besides, someone helped him yesterday. I bet he was fine.

We headed to the gymnasium and immediately fell in line. Bukod sa amin na magpa-practice ng march, may mga ibang students from lower grades that were practicing for their intermission numbers.

Hindi kami magkalapit ni Amara sa line dahil magka-iba kami ng surname. She was actually the first one in the line because her surname was Agustin. Habang ako naman ay nasa gitna ng linya.

"Salem!" Agad akong napabalikwas sa gulat noong marinig ko ang pangalan ko. 'Yung mga katabi ko sa linya ay sabay-sabay na tumingin sa akin. I found Caius up on the bleachers. He made his way down towards me. Napatingin ako sa prof na busy sa pagche-check ng mga pangalan sa harapan. I'd be in trouble because of Caius.

Tumigil s'ya sa gilid ko. Someone from the line cleared her throat. Nagsimula na ang mga bulungan nila. This wasn't the first time they've seen me with him.