Afterglow

19

This morning, I woke up extra early.

The District meet ended last Friday, and PS High was declared the overall champion. Our booth placed second in the total gross sales, and posas booth bragged the first place. Seriously? Bakit ang daming lower years ang nauuto roon?

Today is the first day of our first quarter exams week.

Normally, I would detach myself from the world to focus on the exams, but Gene and I have been exchanging handouts and notes and asking each other questions online. Sobrang useful ng inputs niya, as well as his random out-of-the-box questions related to our topics.

Pagkalabas ko ng kwarto, nakasalubong ko si Mama sa hallway. Kagigising niya palang kaya nakakunot ang noo niya habang pabalik-balik ang tingin sa orasan at sa akin.

"Good morning, Ma," I greeted.

"Wala pang alas sais ha? Why are you up so early? Wala pang breakfast."

I smiled, "Sa café na lang ako kakain, Ma. Exams kasi. Mag-aaral po."

She raised a brow, "With?"

"A friend, Ma," I rolled my eyes.

Hinatid ako ni Dad sa Cornerstone Café kung saan kami mag-aaral. Ito kasi iyong pinakamalapit na café sa school.

Nakapuwesto na si Gene sa pinakasulok. His handouts and notebooks were already on the table, but he seemed busy with his phone.

Almost instantly, my phone vibrated. I shook my head and walked towards him upon reading his text asking where I was.

"Good morning," I greeted as I put my things beside the chair in front of him, "Kanina ka pa?"

"Not really," he put his phone down and stood up, "Order na tayo?"

"Sure."

Gene ordered a ham and cheese croissant and a caffe latte, while I ordered an aglio e olio pasta and a matcha and espresso fusion coffee.

"Damo," Gene scoffed upon seeing my drink.

"Yeah right," I rolled my eyes as I brought out my notebook, "Said someone din."

Biglang napatingin sa akin si Gene, "Said who?"

"Pierre," I honestly replied.

He just nodded and continued scanning his handouts. Binasa ko na lang din ulit iyong notes ko at siniguradong kabisado ko na lahat ng kailangan sa exam mamaya.

"Question," Gene said.

I looked at him, "Ano?"

Hinarap niya sa akin iyong notebook niyang may malaking drawing ng prokaryote. Did he really draw this? He must really be talented.

"Identify the structures of a prokaryote and their functions."

"Ang hirap naman niyan," I pouted but still did what he told me to do.

He tilted his head and rested it on his hand. He was just nodding his head while I was discussing. Minsan, nag-aadd siya ng mga info na nakakalimutan ko.

I narrowed my eyes when I realized something, "What the hell? You've memorized everything verbatim?"

"Wow ha, parang hindi mo naman memorize," he said as he reached for my cup and took a sip from it.

"Not verbatim," I sounded like I was whining, so he laughed, "Also, akala ko ba damo?"

Gene shrugged, "Maybe, I like grass."