Work in Progress

Chapter 33: Memories

*ELI'S POV*

"I cannot believe you are here," I immediately say as I enter my apartment but was surprised to see it empty. Where'd she go? "Tera?" I call out.

"Right here!" I look over and see her hand jutting out from behind the kitchen counter, she was raiding my fridge.

"What are you doing in my fridge?" I say walking over, not amused at what she was doing.

"I'm hungry," she pouts at me.

"Fine," I sigh. "I'll cook you something. But don't go snooping in my fridge again, unless you put things back the way I arranged them."

"I forgot how protective you are of your stuff," she boops my nose with a finger and I give her a look. "Soooo, who was your friend?" She sits on the counter while I start prepping her food.

"That was Sam. She's a friend from school... And someone I'm planning to date."

"Planning? Why not just date her already? Ooohh do her parents oppose of you?" She smirks at me, clearly hungry for trouble.

"As a matter of fact her whole family loves me. But she's younger so... we're just waiting til she turns eighteen."

"You didn't seem to have a problem dating people way older than you before."

"Because I was young and didn't know better. Looking back, I got into some shit because I dated them. That's exactly why I want to wait til Sam's older."

"To be fair, you were already into some shit before you started dating shit. And it's not like you're going to lead her to do shit. Right?" She laughs at me.

I give her the side eye. "Of course not. But there's no rush anyway. I just want her to be more mature and smart about whether she really wants to date me or not. Plus, there's the whole deal about dating a minor..."

"Sometimes I forget how stuck-up and by-the-book you once were. Remember that time you ratted on me for forging my mom's signature? And you didn't even try to hide that it was you. Guurl, I hated you for a whole week."

I laugh at the memory, "Yeah, I was pretty intense then. I guess that's why when I started breaking the rules, I broke every rule."

"There's no in-between for you." We both laugh. "But you're doing good now right?" Tera looks at me now with genuine concern in her eyes.

"I think so. I've... made friends-- good friends. I'm processing more of what happened and starting to open up about it. At least only to Sam. And she's been helping me try to communicate how I feel about what happened. I think... for the longest time... I'm not just living. You know? I'm trying to enjoy life again." I smile at her.

"I like this Sam. I think she's good for you."

"I think so too."

***

"Okay but remember when our teacher asked us to bring coloring pens but you were the only one who brought them?" Tera and I were reminiscing about our middle school days.

I groan at the memory. "Yeah and I was so excited so I brought them out before she asked us to. And when she did and no one else brought them, she basically pitted me against the class." I remember how all my classmates were looking at me. Like it was my fault they forgot about the homework.

"Well you were proof that she gave the assignment." Tera rolls her eyes at me.

"Whatever. What about that time when you almost got me blamed for your cheating. You couldn't have thrown your cheat sheet anywhere else?" I remind her.

"Almost is the key word. You didn't get caught did you?" She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

"No but I almost had a heart attack." I frown at her.

"Again, almost." She laughs at me and I stick my tongue out at her. "Bwisit ka (You're so annoying)."

"At least mataas score ko (At least my score was high)," she smirks at me.

I didn't even notice when we started speaking Taglish (Tagalog-English). Everything was flowing smoothly despite not having seen each other in almost a year. The last time we spoke was when Tera helped me get ready to move last August. It was just one weekend and even before that, we hadn't seen each other in a month; Tera having moved herself. She became my friend in middle school and ever since then has never left my side. No matter how much I pushed her away during my dark year, she still stood by me.

"Ummm, hello? E.T. phone home." Tera was waving her hand in front of me.

I pull myself out of my thoughts and laugh. "It's been a while since I've heard that nickname."

"Don't tell me none of your schoolmates haven't called you that? That's like an apple just waiting to be picked. They could've literally called you an alien weirdo." Tera was moving her arms around exaggeratingly.

"Thanks for the confidence boost, T. But what you don't know is I've made a name for myself in school. I'm sort of the crush ng bayan (crush of the town)," I smirk.

She snorts at me and sarcastically says, "Suuure, I bet they dig that mysterious vibe of yours." Then adds, "You've always been like that but you weren't the crush ng bayan dati. I was (... you weren't the crush of the town before. I was)."

"Guess I've grown into my looks." I wink at her.

A/N: That story about the homework and cheat sheet actually happened to me T_T