Chapter 21
After class, I hurried my way out of the classroom. I didn't wait for Clarisse or for Lio. Diretso lang akong lumabas ng classroom.
I'm suddenly not on the mood to deal with people right now. Parang ayaw ko rin pumasok sa sunod na klase. But I couldn't bring myself to be absent on the next class. Feeling ko ang sama ko kung aabsent ako for no particular reason, just because I don't feel like it. That's not reasonable, is it?
"Hoy! Grabe 'to. Nagmamadali ka, Sis?" Rinig kong sigaw ni Clarisse.
I stopped walking and took a sigh.
What's up with me?
I was already a few meters away from the classroom. Nilingon ko si Clarisse na kakalabas lang ng classroom. Kasunod niya si Lio.
"Hurry up!" I shouted. Clarisse looked at me weirdly pero mabagal pa rin ang lakad niya.
Suddenly, I saw Sir Troy walking out of the classroom. Sa hindi ko malamang dahilan ay mabilis akong tumalikod at nagsimulang maglakad.
Shocks. My heart's beating erratically again. This is insane.
Mabilis akong nakarating to where I parked my car. Agad akong pumasok doon and just waited for my friends there.
"Anong drama mo?" Lio asked when he sat beside me. Clarisse took the back seat while frowning. Natalo ata sa paunahan nila ni Lio.
"Binilisan ko lang kasi baka ma-late tayo," I replied coolly. I started the car's engine and began driving to the other building.
"Late ka diyan. 15 minutes before time kaya nag-dismiss si Sir. OA nito," Clarisse retorted. Hindi ko na lang sila pinansin and just focused on driving.
We reached the next building in no time and hurriedly went to our next class. It was just a usual lecture. It was actually boring kaya hindi ako masyadong nakinig.
At 5 pm, we have a meeting with my orgmates. May upcoming event ata sa school and we were asked to perform. Kinabahan ako nang konti because everybody's pushing me to sing again. Ang gaganda kasi ng feedback.
The school has this confession page handled by someone I don't know. Doon nagko-confess ang lahat about anything. And after the night we performed, maraming nag-post doon that they fell in love with my voice daw and they're looking forward to hear me sing again. It was actually so touching. It makes me want to sing again. Kailangan ko lang mag-ipon ulit ng lakas ng loob.
"So same group tayo. Okay?" Ate Madonna announced. "And Hope, please, please sing a lot," she added and then chuckled after. Nagtawanan naman 'yong ilang members.
I'm getting a lot of attention pero so far naman, nobody's approaching me so it's fine. I can still handle it.
Ate Madonna dismissed us after so we can have a meeting with our groups. Agad namang nagsilapit sina Larah, Kuya Red at Henry.
"Maybe we should let both Larah and Hope sing," bungad ni Kuya Red. Napasimangot ako. Talagang gusto nilang kumanta ako ulit. Kaya ko kaya?
"Yes please!" Larah mumbled. "I wasn't there pero ang dami kong narinig na ang galing mo daw talaga, Hope," she added.
Larah already said sorry about it. Nagka-emergency lang kaya she wasn't able to go on time. But we have already forgiven her. Nasagip ko naman daw ang group namin.
I just agreed to sing pero isang kanta lang. Sa isang kanta naman ay duet kami ni Larah. Though we still have to think about what to sing.
"Now, ano na magiging band name natin?" Kuya Red asked. We were also asked to form a name for our band para formal daw kaming mapakilala sa program.
